The One Time I Was Happy My Flight Was Cancelled

Few things suck worse than flight delays. You’re all packed, ready to go, at the airport (maybe even on the plane?) and suddenly- something goes wrong.

Such was the case last month as I sat on my flight from Los Angeles to Inverness, Scotland, a basic economy deal that I had jumped on months ago for a cool $440 round-trip. In my case, an aborted takeoff, an hour-long stint on the tarmac, and three more hours in the terminal culminated in the news of our completely cancelled flight. Long story and a lot of headache short- I ended up in the wrong city (Edinburgh) nine hours after my original arrival time, with no means to get all the way to Inverness. 

What Is EU 261?

Now, if you’ve any familiarity with travel,…