Your flight is delayed, and the agent has finished speaking. What can you ask next? Practise asking about another flight, then responding to the alternative the agent offers. Check the departure information before making your choice.
This exercise gives you two traveler turns to practise: asking about an alternative and responding to the agent’s offer. The four complete models come from Parle’s Ask for an alternative after a delay mission. Keep the traveler panels closed until you have attempted each turn aloud.
The setting and timings are fictional lesson examples. For an actual journey, check the airline’s current information. The conversation supplies no fare, ticket-change conditions or passenger-rights advice.
Practise the traveler’s two turns
Start with the agent’s announcement. You may listen, read the French and English, or use both. Opening a panel reveals its complete model and meaning. The speaking prompts remain outside the panels so you can attempt a reply first.
These unchanged models are Parle’s own complete synthetic recordings, originally generated through the online OpenAI speech service. This guide and its original diagram were prepared with AI assistance.
Hear or read the agent’s delay announcement
French announcement · Agent
Bonjour, votre vol est retardé de deux heures.
English meaning: Hello, your flight is delayed by two hours.
Your first turn as the traveler: acknowledge the announcement and ask whether there is another flight. Try the complete question aloud before opening its model.
Reveal the traveler’s alternative-flight question after your attempt
French question · Traveler
D'accord. Y a-t-il un autre vol ?
English meaning: Okay. Is there another flight?
Hear or read the agent’s alternative departure
French answer · Agent
Oui, un vol part dans une heure.
English meaning: Yes, a flight leaves in one hour.
Your second turn as the traveler: in this lesson, you decide to take the flight the agent mentioned. State that choice and thank the agent before opening the final model.
Reveal the traveler’s choice after your attempt
French response · Traveler
Je prends ce vol, merci.
English meaning: I'll take that flight, thank you.
Check what each statement establishes. Open the relevant model and select an interpretation to activate each check. Reading the meanings is allowed.
Open the announcement and choose what the agent says.
Open the alternative-departure model and choose the meaning of its time expression.
Open all four models and choose what the complete exchange establishes.
Native Pause keeps your place. Closing a model rewinds its audio; starting another stops the previous clip. Reset also clears your choices and feedback.
This is supported speaking practice with reading and meaning checks. The webpage does not record or score your speech.
Compare the two time expressions
The first announcement describes the original flight’s delay. In retardé de deux heures, the two hours measure that delay. They do not supply a clock time such as 14:00. A delay also differs from a cancellation: the announcement says the flight is late, rather than saying it is cancelled.
The agent’s later answer concerns another flight. In un vol part dans une heure, the hour is the interval until that departure from the point of the reply. The Académie française’s entry for dans describes this time use as the end of a delay or interval. Keep the whole phrase together when comparing it with the English meaning.
The conversation never gives a current clock time, the original scheduled departure, a destination or a fare. You therefore cannot calculate a real departure time or decide whether the alternative meets a connection. Identify the stated interval, then leave those other details open.
The traveler’s final Je prends ce vol, merci. expresses a decision within the scene. An actual booking change would require the relevant airline process. Practising this line does not establish that any ticket has been changed.
Repeat the exchange with your models hidden
Choose Stop audio and hide all models after your first attempt. Take the traveler’s role again. Your two jobs remain visible in English: ask about an alternative, then state your choice after hearing the answer.
Open only the agent panels when you need the prompts. Attempt each reply before reopening its traveler model. If you stop halfway through a question, compare the complete original turn and try it once more. You can pause and resume a model while rehearsing.
With a partner, one person supplies the agent’s two lines and the other supplies both traveler replies. Swap roles for another attempt. If you practise alone, leave a short pause between speakers and use the closed panels to avoid reading your own answer in advance.
For a self-check, ask whether you requested an alternative before choosing one, kept the two flights distinct and understood what the departure interval referred to. A correct menu choice shows that you identified a meaning in this supported exercise; it does not measure accent or independent listening ability.
Transfer the request to a delayed train
Begin a separate written scene: an agent says your train is 30 minutes late. Ask if there is another train. This is the current mission’s role-play prompt, with these written response frames:
| Written train frame | English meaning |
|---|---|
| Y a-t-il un autre train ? | Is there another train? |
| Je prends ce train, merci. | I’ll take this train, thank you. |
Ask the question first. Use the choice frame only after your practice partner has offered an alternative that you want to take. The prompt alone does not establish that another train exists.
These are written transfer frames on this page. The four audio players retain the original flight conversation. For ordinary ticket buying before any disruption, use the separate train-ticket conversation lesson. The airport pronunciation guide covers broader airport vocabulary.
Continue with the Travel disruptions task
Open the current delay role-play for the train prompt. This website exercise and its audio are free.
With the App set to English, use Course → A2.2 → Travel disruptions → Ask for an alternative after a delay. Travel disruptions is a Premium App unit. All 35 Sounds and the first four First Contact missions remain free; Premium opens the current 120-mission course.
Choose the flight exchange or the train transfer for your next practice. Attempt the question, hear or read the response, then make a choice from the information actually supplied.