Has anyone else been affected by significant flight changes? To say I am livid right now is an understatement!
We had flights booked with Jet Blue and Delta for March to MCO. When we found the parks were closing, we immediately called them and rebooked for September.
I received an e-mail from Delta yesterday saying that our itinerary has changed for our return flight. It’s three hours earlier and now has a layover in Atlanta instead of being a direct flight. I wasn’t happy about this, but it was doable.
However, a few minutes ago I received an e-mail from Jet Blue. They changed our flight to MCO not just by a few hours – but now we’re arriving in Orlando a full day before our check-in date. So, do they expect us to camp out at the airport until the next day when we can check in? Not to mention that we need to make necessary arrangements for work well in advance.
I understand that they need to make some adjustments because there isn’t as much demand, but a full day change is ridiculous!
I imagine it varies depending on where you’re flying from. Also, we fly through Southwest, and have seen changes but they have been minor most of the time. And Southwest is so great about moving a flight if you don’t like the new times.
You do have rights though if they change it by that much.
Call and calmly and pleasantly explain why the current (new) itinerary will not work with you. Be prepared with what you’d like for them to do - perhaps you are okay leaving it as is if they provide a discount of some sort? Or, be prepared to ask for a full refund which I am pretty sure you are entitled to under these conditions.
The key is calm and pleasant. You’ll get it resolved
I have had all of my flights altered. Not by a lot, and twice in our favort. But that’s all nil now as we aren’t going. Still, I understand the concern and frustration.
Absolutely. I agree. No matter how upset I am about a situation, I am always calm and polite to the person I am talking with at any company. I am a customer service rep myself, and I know that I will bend over backward for someone who is reasonable. Besides the issue isn’t their fault personally, so it wouldn’t be fair to take it out on them.
I’ve had flights change on us before as well, but it’s usually been relatively minor - an hour or two in either direction - never a full day.
I phoned JetBlue. They didn’t have any other flights available that would arrive on our check-in day. They said if we would like to cancel we could get a credit to use later or they could issue us a refund; I chose the refund.
Then I booked a flight with Delta instead, which still gets us there a day earlier, but at least it is not a red-eye and it doesn’t have a layover in Boston, as JetBlue’s change had us doing. (I’m hoping that this flight doesn’t get changed.)
Then I phoned Disney and had them bump our check-in to one day earlier. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to do any kind of discount. (I didn’t ask, but the CM took the initiative to check.)
Surprisingly, my DW was fine with having an extra day of vacation. (Go figure.)
So, I am now hoping that our plans will work out – in all aspects.
When you were booking the Delta flight, did you ask them about options for the return? You should be able to make changes there if there as well if there are any available.
I know airlines here are pretty much making changes on a rolling 30 day period. So while I have a flight booked in September- it could completely change come mid-August.
I booked with Delta online, so I didn’t have anyone to ask. In looking at their schedule on their website for our return date, they have only one direct flight, but it leaves MCO before 7:30 am. (Yeah, that’s not happening.)
There is one other that leaves about an hour and a half after the flight they picked for us. The one they have us on now has a layover in ATL of 1 hour 11 minutes and the later flight has a layover in ATL of 2 hours. So, pick your poison I guess.
I went through it with American for my birthday trip last year - in my case they changed me to LGA for non-stop because JFK (where I had booked a non-stop) had gone to only connecting flights. And there was only one non-stop each way to/from LGA. I called and politely explained that I booked JFK for a specific reason (it is much easier for me to get to and from) and I would deal with connections to avoid LGA.
While my flight change wasn’t as bad in September. I had my Delta flight go from leaving 2 hours after work to leaving 1 hour before work. I had to allocate an extra day off for the trip - not originally planned like that but since I have some extra vacation days…
Just as a note for the future for you and anyone else reading the thread, any time the airline makes a significant change (I want to say 90 minutes, but it could be as little as an hour or as much as 2 hours) you have the right to call and ask what their other options are because that change is difficult for you. I have never had anyone refuse to look at options, and they have always confirmed multiple times before making any change of what I currently had (the undesirable change that their flight schedule made).
Granted, I live where I have access to 3 major airports - differing degrees of ease getting there, but they are all doable - so if there is nothing satisfactory from my desired airport I’ll have them check the other two. Sometimes the accommodation is worth going to an airport that is harder to get to. Sometimes if you can be flexible it helps a lot.
I hear ya! I had a flight that was a nonstop flight. Total flight time was supposed to be 1 hour and 53 minutes. Great! I was supposed to leave at 8:30am. I paid to have a park ticket for that day since I was going to have so much time on arrival day.
Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, I got an alert by Delta that my flight had been changed. It now had a layover. I was also leaving at 11:40am. My layover was FOUR HOURS long in Atlanta. I had tried to talk to Delta over the phone but had been on hold for over 3 hours. I had to hang up when I got a call from my job. I messaged them online and never heard back. When I tried to call a second time, I got an automated message saying to try to message them online. I then tried a second time with online messaging and this time I got an automated message saying that they recommended I try to call. It then gave me the number I had already tried to call twice. I agree that you catch more flies with honey…but does not help at all if you can never actually get through to a person, hehe! I tried to get to the airport the day of my flight early to talk to someone… but got told that I should have called Delta a few days earlier… I couldn’t…I just couldn’t…there were no words…
By the time I landed at MCO and gotten over to transportation it was almost 7pm. Changed the entire nature of the day and meant there had been no point in buying a park ticket.
So, I was just noticing that JetBlue has a direct return flight at a perfect time for us. I would much rather take this, as it would allow us not only to have more time on our vacation but not to have to go to another airport for two hours where we could potentially be exposed to the virus. I am thinking about canceling our Delta flight and going with JetBlue. I’m concerned, though, (1) that Delta might not refund our money and (2) that JetBlue might cancel the flight altogether like they did with our original direct flight to MCO. What do you suppose are the chances that JetBlue would cancel the flight? Have they pretty much made all the cancellations they’re going to for now?
Update: I called JetBlue, and they said that it was very unlikely that they would cancel the flight. They used to have this particular flight every night of the week, and now they’re just down to two per week. I also called Delta, and they issued me a full refund for my tickets. However, I did need to be transferred to their refunds department specifically for this, as the first rep that I spoke with could only issue a credit.
January I booked to fly Jersey (the Island) to London Gatwick to Orlando return - 2 flights each way - about 14 hours travel time each way. Then Jersey closed its borders and emergency travel only. BA stopped flying to London Gatwick so JER - LGW became JER LHR (London Heathrow) and LGW -MCO became LHR - MIA (Miami) - MCO. Talking nice to BA got me a very cheap upgrade from business class to First class for the transatlantic sector. Travel time increased to 17 hours. This week MCO to LGW got cancelled. Another call to BA - about an hour and a half on their free call number - another nice talk and another very cheap upgrade to First (sales staff had trouble adding the upgrade but did not relent and eventually amended the booking to my satisfaction - return flights now MCO - DFW (Dallas) - LHR (First) - JER travel time 22 hours.
All I have to do now is wait for the US Embassy to make a decision on whether to be admitted to USA (Jersey is virtually free of COVID-19 with any arrivals being PCR tested at point of arrival - paid for by the Government - and then different levels of quarantine based on travel history/test results. Likely we will need to quarantine for 14 days on return home but as we are able to work from home that will have minimal impact for us.
I think the key to all of this is not to inflict your frustration on an individual you want help from - if you are nice and treat them with respect then in most cases they will do everything in their power to give you a more positive outcome.
I agree with this, and also @OBNurseNH who knows a lot about this kind of thing.
In my personal experience, whenever this happens there are a few concrete steps you can take to improve the outcome.
Read the contract of carriage and find out what their standard response is.
Find a solution to your own problem. Once, I found another flight on a different airline so they paid to rebook me there, another time, I found another route on the same airline, and a third time, I tried a different airport. Believe me, the harried person you contact will be SO glad you found a solution to your own problem.
To do this, I used a website called ITA Matrix which will give you every possible combination of flights, (even some bizarre ones so be careful ) and you can pick multiple airports, too. https://matrix.itasoftware.com
If you are in their frequent flyer program, be sure to go through that help line if they have one.
If you can take these flights, you are still definitely entitled to financial compensation. I usually ask for a ton of FF miles, since they don’t cost the airline anything up front. But I have also gotten vouchers, and in this climate where they are begging for customers, a cash refund would not be out of line. They need you more than you need them.
I couldn’t…I just couldn’t…there were no words…
) and you can pick multiple airports, too.