When Airlines change your flight times...

[DaveNV]

Why don't they tell you about it? What happened to customer service??

[rant]
They want you to book early. They want you to prepay for every little thing, up to and including your seat on the plane. They want to know everything about who you are, where you live, and whether you are a dangerous passenger. They have your street address, your email, and your contact phone number. So why is it when they have a schedule change, sometimes a big one, why don't they TELL YOU ABOUT IT?? They leave it to you to discover it. Frustrating!!

I've had confirmed flights since last December for this coming October on Delta, returning to Seattle from Albuquerque. It wasn't the best itinerary, since it connected through Minneapolis, and I had to change from Delta to partner Alaska Airlines for the MSP-SEA leg of the trip. Not a big deal, because the flight left Albuquerque at a reasonable hour, and the layover in MSP was only about a half hour.

Yesterday I was just checking to see if I could get a better seat assignment, and I find the reservation was gone from my account on the Delta site. I had to go back and find the original purchase email to get the confirmation number, and track down the reservation. That alone was annoyance enough. But there's more:

What did I find, once I retrieved it? That Delta had changed the departure time - by nearly two hours earlier, from 8:45 AM to 7:00 AM! We're staying about an hour from the ABQ airport, so would have to get up in the middle of the night to make this new flight time. In addition, the second flight leaves ten minutes later than before, so what was a 30 minute layover was now nearly three hours!

I spent more than an hour on the phone with Delta, trying to get things changed. It took a lot of time on hold, and a lot of convincing, but at the end of the ordeal, I got my flights switched, and now I'll fly from ABQ to SEA via Salt Lake City, all on Delta, leaving at 8:35 AM. There's only a 40 minute layover in SLC, and a much better arrival time in Seattle. In the end, it'll work out better, but what a hassle!

But what if I hadn't checked? What if I had believed the confirmation I had all this time, and I'd just shown up at the airport to check in and board my flight? I'd have missed it, because it would have left almost two hours before it was supposed to. And even if I had made the flight, the new itinerary would have been a needless ordeal.

Yes, I know airlines have schedule changes all the time. So why not give me the courtesy of a phone call or email, telling me there was a schedule change and that I needed to check into things? For the prices they charge, it isn't like they have to go very far out of their way. They could even automate it. Have a robocaller or email program capture the phone numbers or email addresses of confirmed passengers on the flights, and send them a broadcast message that there is a problem. It seems very simple.

Ok, stepping down off my rant soapbox. Thanks for reading.
[/rant]

Dave

 

[x3 skier]

It is simple. You can sign up for notifications on airline web sites. I registered once each on AA and DL and have always been notified of any changes.

Cheers

 

[DaveNV]

It is simple. You can sign up for notifications on airline web sites. I registered once each on AA and DL and have always been notified of any changes.

Cheers

I thought that was only for day-of-departure flight status notifications?

Dave

 

[mjm1]

This happened to us earlier this year for a flight to the Big Island- Hawaii on Alaska Air. They cancelled our direct flight out of San Jose and didn't tell us. I happened to look and saw it. I called and they apologized, but said it was a recent change and they were in the process of contacting passengers. To keep the same date, they re-routed us to Seattle from San Jose and then to the Big Island. They did give us 8,000 miles for the inconvenience. Not great, but better than nothing.

Still, I wish they would have contacted us right away. I thought I had asked for updates, but I will have to check our profile.

 

[dioxide45]

What I have found is that there perhaps may be other schedule changes to come. They will notify you, but perhaps not until about 3-4 weeks out. That way if there are three or four other schedule changes in there, they aren't notifying you every time, but just one time.

The problem I have is that they often also change metal, so when the schedule changes you end up with no assigned seats. When you go in to re-select seats, there are either none together or they are way at the back of the aircraft.

 

[riverdees05]

That is what I like about Southwest, in all the years we have been flying with them, not one schedule change. That is what I don't like about Delta, you seem to almost always get schedule changes.

 

[dioxide45]

Schedule changes can at times work to your advantage. If there are multiple flights available on the same day and one is significantly cheaper but the times are not ideal, you can book the cheaper flight and if they change the schedule call them up and request to get switched the better flight times. This has worked well for us over the years.

 

[heathpack]

We had something similar recently- first class frequent flier seats on American to Maui. In order to get the first class award seats, I had taken a wonky itinerary LAX to Sacramento on American, then Sacramento to Maui on partner airline Alaska Airline.

I was checking to see if I can could get a direct flight and I found a pair of seats the day before our scheduled departure. When I tried to change the flights on line, I got an error message.

Calling American, it turns out there was a schedule change and my Sacramento to Maui flight was now leaving Sacramento before my flight from LA was due to arrive. I got everything changed but for some reason it was a very difficult PIA for the agent to book and took a really long time.

I was also wondering if American was ever planning on contacting me about it.

H

 

[Talent312]

Typically, I do not endorse using third-parties to book travel. However...
I recently booked a code-share fare on Expedia for less than on the airlines' website.
Expedia, I found, was very quick to notify me on the slightest change...
Two of the 4 flight #'s had changed. That's all. But by noted the change by e-mail.

 

[x3 skier]

I thought that was only for day-of-departure flight status notifications?

Dave

DL allows you to set a time up to two months ahead of departure. Have not checked AA recently.

Cheers

 

[andex]

Schedule changes can at times work to your advantage. If there are multiple flights available on the same day and one is significantly cheaper but the times are not ideal, you can book the cheaper flight and if they change the schedule call them up and request to get switched the better flight times. This has worked well for us over the years.

Has worked well for me in the pass. Since it part of flying today I pick the cheapest way out and change to the more convienant One later.

 

[Timeshare Von]

Of all the airlines I've flown, DL is the worst for making flight time changes. Some are miniscule and I still get notified. (Yes sign up for the notifications service!) The worst, however is when they eliminate a route due to seasonality and then put you on something else, usually inconvenient as hell . . . and then when "back in season" they reinstitute the formerly cancelled flight only to not put you back where you were to begin with.

This has happened with our travel plans to Alaska (both Anchorage & Fairbanks) and Phoenix, AZ. Both times it was a huge issue to get our original flight itinerary back once the seasonal flights were back in the schedule. One time they refused outright.

I have also had issues with DL changing flight times to the point that the event I was planning to attend the evening of arrival was going to be missed altogether. It took a lot of finagling to work it out, ultimately requiring that I flight in a day earlier than initially planned for which resulted in the need for a hotel an extra night (at my expense, of course).

Truly, it is a love/hate relationship with the airlines . . . especially Delta!

 

[Timeshare Von]

Schedule changes can at times work to your advantage. If there are multiple flights available on the same day and one is significantly cheaper but the times are not ideal, you can book the cheaper flight and if they change the schedule call them up and request to get switched the better flight times. This has worked well for us over the years.

Has worked well for me in the pass. Since it part of flying today I pick the cheapest way out and change to the more convienant One later.

I must admit, I have done that before too . . . and will probably have that in the back of my head as I get ready to book flights to Alaska for next summer!

 

[Ken555]

TripIt Pro provides notifications of flight changes. Yes, it's a paid service, but may be worthwhile depending on your travel frequency. I've noticed that flight changes have been accurately reported by TripIt about 90% of the time - so it's not perfect, but is much better than expecting the airlines themselves to notify us.

Like others, I also setup a notification at the airline website. This is usually much more reliable.

The notifications I hate? US Air. They provide an automated call with "an important message about your flight" and a phone number I need to call. They also have my email address, but don't send me info. I've found when receiving these calls that calling them isn't needed - simply login to the website and view whatever has changed and only if I don't like it do I call (they have one of the worst call centers so I really try not to call if I can help it) - I really hope this improves with the merger, but I'm not holding my breath...I just don't fly them often.

 

[x3 skier]

TripIt Pro provides notifications of flight changes. Yes, it's a paid service, but may be worthwhile depending on your travel frequency. I've noticed that flight changes have been accurately reported by TripIt about 90% of the time - so it's not perfect, but is much better than expecting the airlines themselves to notify us.

I abandoned TripIt months ago after using it for years. After they were bought by somebody, the functionality went downhill in my experience.

I use Kayak MyTrips and it seems to work very well and certainly better than TripIt.

Cheers

 

[Ken555]

I abandoned TripIt months ago after using it for years. After they were bought by somebody, the functionality went downhill in my experience.

I use Kayak MyTrips and it seems to work very well and certainly better than TripIt.

Cheers

Thanks. I'll check that out! I've still been happy with tripit but I'm always open to something better.

 

[cindi]

The biggest irritation with those flight changes lately has been they change the time like 5 minutes but then I check and they have moved my darn seat assignments.

I totally dislike being moved from exit rows to some random spot.

=​

 

[jackio]

On Monday I was due to fly on DL out of LaGuardia at 2:59 PM. AT 11:30 called me to say the flight was changed to 6:03. I hadn't left yet, so all was good. Then at 2:30 I got another called saying the flight time was changed to 5:06.
I live an hour and half from the airport! I flew there as fast as I could and had to park in short term parking (expensive) to get in on time.
When I got there, I was told the flight was delayed until 7:30.

No one notified me, and I didn't see any updates posted, so I went on the website and put in my confirmation number. Lo and behold, it said I was rerouted through Detroit and that flight was leaving at 6:30 pm! If I hadn't checked, I would have missed that plane.

As it turned out, there was an accident on the runway that shut down the airport and I never got out anyway, but there is no excuse for them not telling me about getting re-routed.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The biggest irritation with those flight changes lately has been they change the time like 5 minutes but then I check and they have moved my darn seat assignments.

I totally dislike being moved from exit rows to some random spot.

That's among the reason why I ensure that I maintain elite mileage status - when this type of stuff happens I get priority on reassigned seating. I'm quite willing to pay 10% to 15% more on an itinerary, if necessary, to build miles to maintain FF status.

 

[DaveNV]

On Monday I was due to fly on DL out of LaGuardia at 2:59 PM. AT 11:30 called me to say the flight was changed to 6:03. I hadn't left yet, so all was good. Then at 2:30 I got another called saying the flight time was changed to 5:06.
I live an hour and half from the airport! I flew there as fast as I could and had to park in short term parking (expensive) to get in on time.
When I got there, I was told the flight was delayed until 7:30.

No one notified me, and I didn't see any updates posted, so I went on the website and put in my confirmation number. Lo and behold, it said I was rerouted through Detroit and that flight was leaving at 6:30 pm! If I hadn't checked, I would have missed that plane.

As it turned out, there was an accident on the runway that shut down the airport and I never got out anyway, but there is no excuse for them not telling me about getting re-routed.

Wow. That trumps everything I had to say. Let me pass the Annoyed Passenger crown to you!! LOL! Criminy sakes!!

Dave

 

[kwindham]

I hate to even post this because as sure as I do all h3ll will break loose with various flights we have scheduled, BUT we never have problems with Delta & use them almost exclusively. On the rare occasion we have a flight change, we get email, text & phone call alerting us. I'm not sure if it has anything with hubby's status on DL or not but he is diamond or platinum or whatever the top tier is called (I forget). He makes the long hauls to Saudi every month so it doesn't take long to rack up the ff mileage status.

However, I will never use American again. In Jan of this year I flew into SOCal to cross over into TJ mex for cosmetic surgery. Flight there was fine, coming home we were delayed then cancelled. When we finally got onto a packed flight, the idiots took my carryon that contained all my medication bandages etc & put it on checked. This happened boarding the plane. They said there was no room left for carry ons. I explained I had just had major surgery (was in a wheelchair being pushed by my aunt) & I NEEDED my bag. They assured me they would get it to me pronto at my first layover. Well that didn't happen. They sent it to another city! Under my aunts name! When we got to DFW I asked for my bag at the boarding desk & found out after much confusion where it went. By the time I got into AEX (home) I was in serious pain with soppy bandages! & extremely ticked off. Luckily I had conferred with my family dr before I left home about my plans. We called him from DFW & he stayed late in his office to change all my bandages and give me more scripts for pain & antibiotics. The AA employees were extremely rude & hateful over their mistake. Never will they get my business again

 

[x3 skier]

As in most threads of this type, some have wonderful experiences with airline X while others have terrible experiences with airline X.

About the only thing I seem to find consistently is nobody will admit to good experiences with Useless Air.

Cheers

 

[tschwa2]

I think you would have missed your connection on your originally scheduled flight. Flying Delta the whole way through with a 30 min connection in MSP I would have given you a 70% chance of making your flight in that connection time. Changing to Alaska probably would have meant changing to a different terminal and my estimation would be a 20% chance of you making the connection and a 5% chance of your bags making the connection.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

As in most threads of this type, some have wonderful experiences with airline X while others have terrible experiences with airline X.

About the only thing I seem to find consistently is nobody will admit to good experiences with Useless Air.

Cheers

Correct. What any one person experiences with an airline is a very poor indicator of what the true service level for that airline.

If I give you a die and you roll it five times, with the requirement that you pay me $100 every time it comes up six, you might easily roll a six two or three times in those five rolls. You, naturally, would be displeased with the outcomes. Then I might give you an identical die, which you roll that five times, and you don't roll a six at all. Of course, now you are pleased and if offered your choice of die for a third round of play you would most likely choose the first die. But too an outside observer it's clear that there really isn't difference between the two dice, even though your specific results from rolling the two dice int he first two rounds are greatly different.

So it is with airline service. What I as an individual might experience is such a small sample of the overall service that airline that it's silly for me to think that what I have experienced personally accurately reflects the overall performance of the airline.

 

[mspeggysue911]

We only ever fly Southwest most of the time. On our last flight it was scheduled to leave at 5:30 pm. I got an email that day telling me our flight was going to be delayed and not leave until 6:30. We live an hour from the airport so I told my DH we can leave about an hour later than planned because our flight is delayed.

Fortunately for us we always leave in time to make sure we get to the airport 90 minutes-2 hours prior to our flight depending on where we are flying out of. (If we are flying out of home airport, 90 minutes, 5 minutes through security. Flying out of Orlando we get there 2 hours prior because getting through security can take an hour.)

We got to the airport and checked our bags and looked at the digital flight schedule and see that our flight has been CHANGED AGAIN and is now leaving at it's original time of 5:30. THANK GAWD we got to the airport early or we would have missed that flight.

They never sent a follow up email letting us know the original flight time had been reinstated.