# Urgent!  Check your American Airline flights!!



## Cathyb (Jun 1, 2008)

We just had TWO  of our American Airline flights drastically changed from non-stops to one-stops and adding 4-8 hrs in flight time.  More importantly the time allowed between one flight getting in and the next one leaving was only 50 min. -- too risky!

Suggest you recheck your reservations -- especially on American Airlines!


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## grest (Jun 1, 2008)

The same thing recently happened to me with AirTran...a sign of the times??
Connie


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## Dave M (Jun 1, 2008)

Yes, a sign of the times. 

Almost all U.S. airlines have announced service cutbacks of 10% or more by the end of the year. That means a lot of flight changes for those of who book far ahead. That's okay. I would rather buy early and deal with flight changes than have to deal with ever increasing prices by waiting to purchase.


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## timeos2 (Jun 1, 2008)

*Is it required you be coughing & weasing to be there?*

I LOVE transfer flights with 15-30 minutes between flights.  It means I don't have to hang around an airport for hours between flights (which I try to avoid anyway but sometimes you can't).  They have never left without me even if the first flight was late (rare thankfully).  In fact when I get a flight with a two hour delay the first thing I do is to check the gates when I land & if there is a flight to the same place in the next 30 minutes I try to get standby. Works 80% of the time & cuts hours from the trip.  Even 50 minutes is FAR too long to wait unless you enjoy the National Communicable Disease Centers that airports seem to be now days.


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## Ann-Marie (Jun 1, 2008)

I can top yours!!!!  Us Air changed my free compensation flights to *5 min.* between flights!   :hysterical:


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## bigeyes1 (Jun 1, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up, Cathy.  I went to check our Hawaii reservation and sure enough, our flights have changed.  I had to get us seated back together on one flight and then there is a 3 hour layover between the flights coming back home.  We decided to utilize the layover time by eating breakfast before we head back home.  It could have been A LOT worse, so this is something we can deal with.  I'm sure AA still has more "tweaking" to do before our Hawaii trip in Sept.  So, I'll definitely be checking our reservation more frequently now. 

Thanks, again.


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## lprstn (Jun 1, 2008)

*Ditto with me and US Airways...*

We purchased our tickets in Jan..and they changed our fllight to HI from having only 1 stop to now 2 stops...and adding 3 hours onto our travel time...    I think they just did it because we had a cheap fair...


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## Pat H (Jun 1, 2008)

I checked my flights yesterday and they were fine. Just looked again and my return has been changed from a non-stop to 1 stop. Getting in much later too.
My flight was SJU-EWR. It appears there is no longer a non-stop on that route. AA must be out of it's mind.


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## CapriciousC (Jun 1, 2008)

If you're really unhappy with the new flights they've given you, you can call and ask them to rearrange to something more manageable.  We tend to book our flights pretty far in advance, and American has done this to me on more than one occasion.  Last time I just called and said there was no way I could handle a 6 hour layover in St. Louis with a 3-year-old, and they rescheduled me on flights with shorter layovers.


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## Linda74 (Jun 1, 2008)

Pat, AA has cancelled all flights to and from SJU out of Newark.  Call them, hopefully they will accomodate you on another flight perhaps from JFK like they did us, still nonstop.


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## Twinkstarr (Jun 1, 2008)

Checked my Airtran flights(2 trips) and they are still direct flights!


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## Linda74 (Jun 1, 2008)

I think it is really AA passengers who will see the changes and reductions in flights.  Go to their website where they list the flights which will be eliminated.


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## Talent312 (Jun 1, 2008)

lprstn said:


> ...they changed our fllight to HI from having only 1 stop to now 2 stops...and adding 3 hours onto our travel time... I think they just did it because we had a cheap fair (sic) ...



It did not have anything to do with you, personally; but you are on to something.  They likely identified the less profitable routes and shut them down, just as stores shut down their less profitable units.

As airlines struggle to stay alive in these tough economic times, we are all going to experience much more of this.  As folks scale back their optional spending to deal with the high price of gas, we will likely see restructuring and shrinkage in many consumer sectors.  I suspect that the travel and entertainment industries will take the biggest hit.  Not only will routes disappear, but so may some carriers.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 1, 2008)

Airline operating costs are increasing, primarily due to fuel costs. That's puts pressure on operating margins.

Meanwhile the economy has at the least slowed down, if not gone into recession.  Meaning there is people and companies are tightening up on expenses.

Rising operating costs combined with reduced demand means that cutbacks are inevitable.  Routes that are unprofitable or only marginally profitable are going to disappear.

American Airlines specifically has a disproportionate number of fuel-inefficient MD-80 airplanes.  Since cutbacks are inevitable, AA is looking at this as an opportunity to mothball MD-80s.  So AA is particulalry targeting routes they are serving with MD-80 planes, looking to find ways to consoilidate and substitute non-MD-80 planes on those routes. Often that means eliminating direct flights, or reducing flight frequency so they can substitute a larger plane.


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## GrayFal (Jun 1, 2008)

Ann-Marie said:


> I can top yours!!!!  Us Air changed my free compensation flights to *5 min.* between flights!   :hysterical:


You must be EXTREMELY fast on your feet!
Going to check my AA flights now.

edit - oh-no!
There has been a schedule change to your itinerary. If you have any questions, please contact AA Reservations
There has been a schedule change to your itinerary. If you have any questions, please contact AA Reservations

2 out of 3 resies have the warning - but what is on the site still seems okay - just one hour time change.....
guess I will keep checking in.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 1, 2008)

GrayFal said:


> You must be EXTREMELY fast on your feet!
> Going to check my AA flights now.



DS and his DG have been planning a trip to SXM for next June.  The AA changes have screwed up their travel planning.

Side note: since DS does his travel planning about one year in advance, he would seem to be a natural for timesharing. We haven't been able to get him to make the jump though - he still prefers hotel rooms for reasons that are beyond us.  We have TS that we are ready to give to him, but he's not yet ready to commit.  DG may have some of the same issues concerning him.


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## Denise L (Jun 2, 2008)

I *always* log on to the airline sites with a feeling of impending doom.  There is always a change and it makes my stomach hurt. But, your posts made me check it earlier today and get it over with. 

Our AA flight MCO-DFW-SJC for Thanksgiving week is leaving a bit earlier now. Our seats changed, and there isn't much left to choose from now, but so far, it's okay. Longer layover in DFW.

It will probably change again. I should be happy it wasn't cancelled. That would be a mess. Well, unless they gave us a refund and I rented out my points....


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## Pat H (Jun 2, 2008)

Linda74 said:


> Pat, AA has cancelled all flights to and from SJU out of Newark.  Call them, hopefully they will accomodate you on another flight perhaps from JFK like they did us, still nonstop.



Linda, thanks for the suggestion, but I'd rather stop in MIA than drive to JFK for a non-stop.


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## DebBrown (Jun 2, 2008)

Aarrgghh... our non-stop flights to Cancun for a long weekend have been changed to a stopover in DFW.  It looks like the direct flight was cancelled.  When we're just travelling for the weekend, we sure don't want to spend most of that time in the airport.     I'm not sure what our alternatives are.  The fares were really super cheap.  I won't find that again if I cancel.

Deb


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## lll1929 (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up.  My flight to Aruba with a stop in San Juan was changed to a layover in Miami.  I call last night around midnight and had them change the flights which now give me one 3 hr layover versus 2 layovers which were at least 3 hours each.

At least they didn't change my return flight (YET!!)


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## 3kids4me (Jun 2, 2008)

We have flights for next President's week, LGA to MCO, and our flights were also changed.  We are still on non-stops, but leaving three or four hours later than the original flights.  If we want to stay on a non-stop, then I only have a choice of leaving very early in the morning, or late in the afternoon.  It's amazing that they have completely cancelled certain flights to Orlando during President's Week!


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## Talent312 (Jun 2, 2008)

3kids4me said:


> We have flights for next President's week, LGA to MCO, and our flights were also changed.  We are still on non-stops, but leaving three or four hours later than the original flights.  If we want to stay on a non-stop, then I only have a choice of leaving very early in the morning, or late in the afternoon.  It's amazing that they have completely cancelled certain flights to Orlando during President's Week!



Pardon my ignorance, but what the heck is "President's Week?"
I know of "President's Day," which is sometime next year (its not a Florida holiday), but IMHO, they don't deserve a whole week!


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## 3kids4me (Jun 2, 2008)

Talent312 said:


> Pardon my ignorance, but what the heck is "President's Week?"
> I know of "President's Day," which is sometime next year (its not a Florida holiday), but IMHO, they don't deserve a whole week!



I assume you are from outside the US.  It's the week that encapsulates President's Day, similar to saying "Christmas Week" or "New Year's Week" for the same.


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## scotlass (Jun 2, 2008)

I can top all of the above.  I have been on hold off and on for about an hour with USAirways because our flights Dublin-Toronto-Boston were changed and the flight from Toronto to Boston was scheduled for the day before Dublin-Toronto!  They are still trying to sort it out as the tickets are on separate ff accounts.  I think we are almost there.......


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## Talent312 (Jun 2, 2008)

scotlass said:


> I can top all of the above.  I have been on hold off and on for about an hour with USAirways because ....



When I'm on extended hold waiting for a CSR, I put my phone on "speaker" and spend the time playing games on the computer.


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## Ann-Marie (Jun 2, 2008)

I just checked my US Air, AA and NW Air reservations, and all are still good!!


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## JeffW (Jun 2, 2008)

Last year, my MIL had tickets to Bakersfield (BFL) on Continental.  They cancelled service for the Summer (when she was returning), they basically said she could fly out of almost any other airport she wanted (she picked LAX).  They would not allow her to fly another airline (Delta, a Skyteam partner, still had service there).

  This year, on Delta, my BIL and his family, booked an early morning flight from from BFL to the east coast.  Delta dropped that flight, and while it's system automatically moved them to the later flight, it basically barfed when then was no available seats on the connecting flight.  There only practical option was flying out the day before, which obviously cost them an extra night's lodging and car rental.


  Also last year, on a Delta trip to Key West, I think they cut out an a regional jet flight, which increased our layover in ATL from 80min to I think over 4 hours.

   My point being, it's not just AA, and not just this year.  While most airlines are pretty flexible when it comes to changes they've made, sometimes there's just bound to be inconveniences.

Jeff


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## Cathyb (Jun 2, 2008)

John:  At 75 yrs old, our hearts cannot stand the stress of our plane arriving at the gate late and then having to run the length of Dallas Fort Worth to transfer to the next


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## Cathyb (Jun 2, 2008)

OH NO!!!  We just rescheduled LAX-MIA on the AA's MD-80


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## caribbean (Jun 2, 2008)

I found an error on our American flights for November. We booked back in December. They made a change to the connecting flight such that we were negative 2 hours and they just left it that way. Never got an e-mail or anything. I was just checking on general principles. Worked ot my advantage. I previously had to take three filghts in order to use FF miles. They corrected the error by putting us on a better flight with only two flights.


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## JeffW (Jun 2, 2008)

That's one good thing about their changes - if you'd booked a less desirable flight due to price or FF mileage level, they'll often let you change to any flight that has availability.

Jeff


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## timeos2 (Jun 2, 2008)

Cathyb said:


> John:  At 75 yrs old, our hearts cannot stand the stress of our plane arriving at the gate late and then having to run the length of Dallas Fort Worth to transfer to the next



I understand. But isn't that what the cart people are for? Seems like they break all land speed records to mow people down!   Not everyone can "appreciate" a 15 minute transfer time between flights.


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