What Happens If You Miss Your Connecting Flight: What to Do Next

You’ve missed your connecting flight, throwing off your travel schedule, jeopardizing important meetings, and adding stress to your trip. What should you do next? It depends on the circumstances, but knowing the right steps helps you rebook faster, protects your rights to compensation, and keeps you moving toward your destination. In this guide, we will walk through practical strategies to handle missed connections, understand your rights, and get back on track with minimal hassle. You will also learn how Otto the Agent can handle business travel disruptions proactively, helping you stay on schedule.

What Happens If You Miss Your Connecting Flight: 9 Steps to Take

When you miss a connection on a business trip, every minute counts. These nine actions will get you on the next flight faster, help you communicate changes to clients, and reduce costly delays

1. Monitor your flight status in real time. Set up flight notifications or use third-party tracking apps to track flight status. Early alerts give you a head start, helping you avoid scrambling and allowing you to plan your next steps promptly. For business travelers, this means you start rebooking while others are still learning their flight is delayed and have time to reschedule meetings before they're missed.
   
   
2. Check the airline's policy for missed connections. Each airline has its own rules for handling missed flights. Immediately check the carrier’s contract of carriage in their app to see if they will automatically rebook you or if you need to call for assistance.
   
   
3. Know your rights. If the airline caused the delay, you may be entitled to compensation or care. For example, under European Union Regulation EC 261/2004, passengers can claim compensation if their flight is delayed by three hours or more. Compensation amounts range from €250 to €600, depending on the flight distance and the delay duration. In the U.S., the Department of Transportation requires airlines to provide meals and hotel accommodations if a delay is the airline's fault and exceeds certain thresholds.
   
   
4. Carry the right travel insurance. Make sure your travel insurance covers delays of three hours or more, additional transportation costs, and expenses for meals and accommodations. Personal mistakes, such as booking a layover that’s too short, are typically excluded from coverage.
   
   
5. Book flights with ample layover time. Book flights with adequate layover time. Avoid tight connections by booking flights with at least 60-90 minutes between domestic flights and 2-3 hours for international connections. The U.S. Department of Transportation advises travelers to carefully check the time between connecting flights and consider the impact of any delays on their schedule. For large hub airports like Atlanta, Denver, or Dallas, add 15-30 minutes to account for terminal changes and security rechecks. Weather-prone seasons (winter in the Northeast, summer thunderstorm season in the South) warrant even longer buffers.
   
   
6. Utilize airline status and loyalty programs for priority rebooking. If you’re a frequent business traveler, leveraging any elite status with airlines can provide a significant advantage when things go wrong. Airline loyalty programs often offer priority rebooking, expedited security, and access to dedicated customer service lines. In the event of a missed connection or delay, you’ll have a better chance of being rebooked on the next available flight. Ensure your frequent flyer numbers are linked to your bookings for automatic upgrades and perks.
   
   
7. Explore all alternative options. If the next available flight is too far out, ask the gate agent about rebooking with other airlines, flying from nearby airports, or even using ground transportation like trains or buses. Flexibility in your route, airport, or mode of travel can help you reach your meeting on time. 
8. Prepare backup options ahead of time. Save screenshots of alternate flights, nearby hotels, and train schedules. Having this information ready makes it easier to act quickly when disruptions occur. 

How Otto Handles Business Travel Disruptions

Otto is an AI-powered travel assistant that monitors your trips and handles flight disruptions automatically, managing rebookings and coordination details so you can focus on your meetings. Here's how it helps proactively:

Real-time monitoring: Otto monitors your flight status continuously, starting 24 hours before departure, flagging problems the moment delays put your connection at risk, so you don't waste time refreshing apps or discovering issues at the gate.

Airline policy knowledge: Otto works within your airline's policies automatically when disruptions hit, applying your preferences and finding alternatives that save you the time you'd normally spend on hold or waiting in line at customer service.

Flight rebooking: Otto works proactively, identifying backup options before you even realize you need them and presenting them when disruptions hit. Otto keeps your frequent-flyer numbers on file so every option factors in upgrades and mileage earnings. You get faster rebooking than any call center, often while you're still on hold with the airline.

Documentation and claims support: Otto helps document delays and disruptions automatically and tracks which delays may qualify for compensation under EU 261 or DOT requirements, making it easier to submit insurance claims or pursue airline reimbursements when you need to recover costs.

Hotel management during disruptions: When your connection fails and you need an overnight stay, Otto finds hotels near the airport you actually like based on your preferences and books the room automatically. If your rescheduled flight pushes your return date, Otto extends your stay. Tell Otto, "I'm not going to make my flight back, move it to the next day," and it handles both the flight rebooking and hotel extension in one conversation.

Calendar and meeting coordination: Otto syncs your bookings to your calendar automatically and updates arrival times when flights change. 

Available on web, iOS, and Android, Otto handles the coordination work automatically so you can focus on getting to that meeting.

Missed Connections Don't Have to Derail Your Business Travel

When you miss your connecting flight, the disruption can ripple through your entire business trip. Recovering quickly requires real-time flight monitoring, understanding complex airline policies, knowing your passenger rights, maintaining proper insurance coverage, booking smarter connections, and preparing backup plans before problems hit. All while trying to prep for client meetings and manage your actual work.

Otto automates the recovery work when you miss your connecting flight, so you spend less time fixing travel problems and more time focusing on the meetings that matter.