If Airline goes on strike...

[momofslg]

I'm looking to book CMH to SJU for October 2006. The flights that are the best available timewise are Delta ($383.00 pp) and American ($413.00pp).

 

I'm wondering if an airline goes on strike or adjusts their flight times, can I adjust the times to suit our needs without any penalty? I checked my travel insurance and it DOES cover if an airline goes on strike so I'm safe that I will be refunded, but if they do go on strike can I change to another airline (like if the flights are delayed, you miss your connecting flight and they put you on another airline to get you to your destination)?

 

 

I know that booking this far out can have many time changes but how much time do they adjust by? If they no longer have my flight, can I reschedule on another to suit our travel needs? I don't want to get burned by the airlines by booking early but I don't want to pay an arm and a leg either.

[Globaliser]

What does your travel insurance cover you for in the event of a strike? If it only covers reimbursement of your airline ticket cost, that is far from enough cover.

 

If your airline goes on strike just when you are supposed to travel, you could fairly easily find that your entire trip is wrecked, with you being unable to reach your ship at all. If one major airline is on strike, seats on other airlines will be very difficult to find - and that's assuming that your airline has made arrangements for other airlines to carry you as an alternative (but major airlines usually do this). You could be waiting many hours, perhaps even several days if things are particularly bad, before you can get an alternative flight simply to the embarkation port - but depending on your plans, your ship may have sailed already by then, leaving you a choice between trying to catch up or abandoning the trip.

 

Schedule changes are usually relatively minor. However, if you have scheduled a tight connection, they could make the difference between being able to make the connection and not, so that may cause you to have to reschedule your flights. As a rule, the higher the frequency of flights on a route, the higher the chances that any schedule change will only have a minor effect on your itinerary because the high frequency gives you more options to choose from.

 

In general, it seems like most airlines are willing to cancel and refund a ticket without penalty if their schedule changes make your trip unrealistic, but depending on when the do it, at that stage it may cost you quite a lot of money to buy a new ticket on another airline.

 

Moral of the story (as always): The more flexibility and fat you can build into your trip, the less likely it is that you will have to pay extra to make your plans work if something goes wrong. The less room you leave for risk and error, the more likely it is that you will have dilemmas to face up to at a later stage. Travel is not risk-free; you have to make your choices.

[Baltorep]

If you have a choice and you are concerned I feel your two best choices would be to either leave a day or two early or pay the difference and go with the American option. Either would give you peace of mind. Also remember the insurance will reimburse you but will it pay for the increase in fare you will most likely have to pay if Delta won't cover you. Last minute air fares will be extremely expensive to purchase. Probaly 2x to 2.5x what you would pay now.

[momofslg]

I think that I'm leaning towards AA now. I'd rather not have any problems but you never know. We are leaving 1 day before our cruise but are returning on the day of debarktation. I see that AA has many flight times both on the way down and back so if there are any problems I'll hopefully be ok. I've been told not to book any flights out of San Juan before 12:00pm., I'm trying to get one for around 1:30 or 2:00pm. They still have flights after those times but we want to get home to our kids as early as possible.

[hdawson]

I just returned from travel on American and Aeromexico. Although AirTran is my airline of choice, I had no complaints with American.