Q I booked a flight on Emirates Airlines to Manila, with connections at New York JFK and Dubai, all on one ticket. The second leg, a JetBlue flight, was delayed and I missed my connection. Emirates got me to Manila, but when I showed up for my return flight, I was informed that my itinerary had been canceled because I had been deemed a "no show." I ended up stranded in Dubai for 22 hours, and it took me 65 hours to get home to Buffalo via Dallas and Pittsburgh. Why was my flight canceled, and am I entitled to denied-boarding compensation per U.S. law?

Double-check your itinerary after a missed connection -- even if it wasn&#8217;t your fault, as an Emirates passenger found out the hard way. Board the
Double-check your itinerary after a missed connection -- even if it wasn't your fault, as an Emirates passenger found out the hard way. Board the rebooked flight with a printed itinerary in hand. (LiPo Ching/Staff Archives) ( LiPo Ching )

A First, let me say this. You didn't have enough time to comfortably connect. Two-and-a-half hours is not enough time to make a domestic-to-international connection at New York's JFK, especially in winter over the busy holiday travel period. You should never accept such a tight connection. Next time, insist on the maximum layover you can get (four hours sounds about right). If your first flight is on time, great. Enjoy the airport. Read a book. Get a day pass to the lounge. It's worth it.





Each airline, in the most polite possible terms, is blaming the other for not "protecting" your return flights. As soon as your inbound JetBlue flight was recognized as being late, both airlines should have realized that you would miss your Emirates connection from JFK, and both should have immediately worked to protect your return flights. Whether because of human error or poorly coordinated computer systems, this was not done.

I think you're entitled to a refund of the return portion of your flight homeward. And I'm shocked that Emirates refused you hotel and meals in Dubai and made you pay your fare from Dallas to the East.

Today's column comes from George Hobica of www.airfarewatchdog.com.