Help!! Airlines cancelled flight I booked last

[jmcruiser]

spring for February cruise. I booked at a really great price through an online agency. If they change the times do I have to take the flights or can I request a refund and rebook? I know if I needed to change my intinery, we would have to pay to make the changes, but since the airline made the change I'm not sure. I need to let the very popular online agency know quite soon. Any help would be appreciated. They now want me to fly earlier in the day and fly from Chicago to Pittsburg, in late February this could be a weather travel nightmare. We don't leave for our cruise until the following (always allow for weather) day but I certainly don't like going East to go South. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[can786]

I had this happen once and insisted they put me on the flight I wanted. This was with ATA. They wanted me to take an earlier flight home but I told them that would not be possible since I was getting off a ship in Ft. Lauderdale and driving to Ft. Myers (my mom lives there and I had flown down early to visit her, so had R/T air out of Ft. Myers). There was no way I could have made the flight they put me on, so I had to stay an extra day.

[rxmurphy]

it all depends. The airline may have cancelled the flight altogether, meaning it no longer exists. Very important to always watch your reservation if you book on line as there is no TA to let you know. You are lucky you were informed. I have heard horror stories.

[chriscruise]

We have had this happen to us before, but we usually book directly with the airline. We call the airline and explain that we are on a cruise and the time will absolutely not work. They may have flights that go into other nearby airports that are near your port. We had to fly out of Miami once when our original flights were in and out of FLL. I'd try the agency and/or the airline to try to make a change.

[Chat Noir]

Call the airline direct. We did not book direct through them when reserving our flights earlier this year, but they had no problem working with us directly when flights were cancelled. Following the cancellation, they had booked us catching our second leg before the first one even landed, so THAT certainly wouldn't work. We did have to overnight (our expense) in Seattle prior to flying home into Tulsa because we did not want to travel to Atlanta from Seattle, then back to Tulsa.

 

Good Luck!

[JohnL1935]

I had a non-stop LAX to PHL flight on US Air in Jan 06 (at end of cruise) and about 3 weeks ago I received an E-Mail that my flight was cancelled and the new flight left 11 a.m. No way could I make that and I suggested they look at America West back to PHL. They booked me on A.W. but I have to change planes in Phoenix. I'm about an hour later getting back from my original flight but it is better than a non stop red eye. With airlines trying to save $$ to survive I think there will be more cancelled flights anymore.

 

John L.

[Stevesan]

spring for February cruise. I booked at a really great price through an online agency. If they change the times do I have to take the flights or can I request a refund and rebook? I know if I needed to change my intinery, we would have to pay to make the changes, but since the airline made the change I'm not sure. I need to let the very popular online agency know quite soon. Any help would be appreciated. They now want me to fly earlier in the day and fly from Chicago to Pittsburg, in late February this could be a weather travel nightmare. We don't leave for our cruise until the following (always allow for weather) day but I certainly don't like going East to go South. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Have you considered calling the airline and asking them? You might get a more informative answer there.

[Pam in CA]

Delta did that to us for our flights returning on New Year's Eve from the Sapphire Princess. They changed the 12:30PM flight to about 10:30AM. I called them and we went back and forth. Instead of the non-stop, the only flight they had, we'd have to fly to Atlanta from LAX, have a 3 hour layover before flying to Boston, getting in at about 1AM New Year's Day. I told them that was unacceptable, that I was returning from a cruise and wouldn't be able to make the flight, so they refunded my money 100%. I made sure I had flights on AA before doing that, though. I paid about $100 more per ticket but we have the non-stop flights that we wanted.

[mapsmith]

spring for February cruise. I booked at a really great price through an online agency. If they change the times do I have to take the flights or can I request a refund and rebook? I know if I needed to change my intinery, we would have to pay to make the changes, but since the airline made the change I'm not sure. I need to let the very popular online agency know quite soon. Any help would be appreciated. They now want me to fly earlier in the day and fly from Chicago to Pittsburg, in late February this could be a weather travel nightmare. We don't leave for our cruise until the following (always allow for weather) day but I certainly don't like going East to go South. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

 

As I have learned on Flyertalk, If the airline SUBSTANTIALLY changes your flights (cancellation is substantial) they are required to either rebook you to a similar schedule, or refund your tickets, even non-refundable tickets. Since the reroute goes thru Pittsburgh (don't forget the H) I would assume that it is USAIR, and the cancellation probably has to do with the merge with America West. However, USAir and United did have a code Sharing agreement, and they should be able to book you on a relatively direct flight on United. Since you don't mention where you are sailing from, you might find a flight on AA, Continental, or Delta might work better. (AA and Continental for a Texas Port, Delta or AA for a Florida Port) you also might check my favorite site for checking airfares. http://search.travel.yahoo.com/bin/search/bfsearch?intl=us&oc=tus This link is for Tucson, but all you have to do is change the last three letters to the airport that is your preferred airport (ORD for Ohare, MDW for Midway, MKE for Milwaukee, etc.)

But you really do need to work fast since your sailing is in February, most good fares on airlines have to be 21 days before departure.

 

Good Luck

[Coral]

If an airline drastically changes my times - I have asked for a refund and received it with out any problems. I have done this when the times changed by a few hours. Just tell them the proposed times do not work into your schedule.

[jmcruiser]

Thanks for all your suggestions, the online agency was able to secure a flight with great times. The second time I called I spoke to a different agent, maybe that was the difference. Thanks again for your quick responses.