ATL Domestic Connection

[beerman2]

On 4/2/2019 at 6:45 PM, dfish said:

My experience is like yours.  When I had to redo my flights due to changes made by the airline, I was able to specify my preferences and they did an excellent job of rescheduling me according to those preferences.  I don't feel I have given up control at all and the cost of my business class seat is half what I would pay if I booked directly.  

Just curious as you said you were able to redo flights "due to changes made by airlines". That is a common practice with airlines if they change flights you are given an opportunity to make changes with no fees.

 

Without going back and reading all the post I believe this whole discussion goes back to OP not knowing they could have changed flight to the day before for an additional $25 or $50 PP. Posters have stated both.

 

Like most things it doesn't appear to be consistent with cruise air and more than likely depends on what inventory of seats the airlines have. It can definitely vary daily/weekly.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

15 hours ago, beerman2 said:

Just curious as you said you were able to redo flights "due to changes made by airlines". That is a common practice with airlines if they change flights you are given an opportunity to make changes with no fees.

 

Not a blanket truth.  Depending on the extent of the changes, you MAY be able to get your own changes at no additional cost.  Or you might not.  Each airline has its own policies and procedures and are dependent on just what the airline's changes involve.  For example, if the flight times change by say 15 minutes, and you are still within MCT, don't expect the airline to allow you to make a significant change at no charge.  A two hour change - different story.

[dfish]

7 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Not a blanket truth.  Depending on the extent of the changes, you MAY be able to get your own changes at no additional cost.  Or you might not.  Each airline has its own policies and procedures and are dependent on just what the airline's changes involve.  For example, if the flight times change by say 15 minutes, and you are still within MCT, don't expect the airline to allow you to make a significant change at no charge.  A two hour change - different story.

Exactly.  In my case, the return flights would have qualified for a free change since the schedule change had me arriving in Detroit 10 minutes after my next flight left.   The outbound flights wouldn't have qualified.  The schedule change maintained MCT, but since I wasn't officially ticketed, I could change those flights and did for no cost.  In fact, the cost went down a few dollars.

[rbslos18]

On 4/6/2019 at 7:23 AM, dfish said:

Exactly.  In my case, the return flights would have qualified for a free change since the schedule change had me arriving in Detroit 10 minutes after my next flight left.   The outbound flights wouldn't have qualified.  The schedule change maintained MCT, but since I wasn't officially ticketed, I could change those flights and did for no cost.  In fact, the cost went down a few dollars.

Which airline are you using?  Delta told me they can't change the reservation until the ticket is issued.

Edited April 13, 2019 by rbslos18

[dfish]

2 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

Which airline are you using?  Delta told me they can't change the reservation until the ticket is issued.

I am on Delta and booked through HAL.   Delta won't make the changes for you at this point,   The cruise line would have to do that since you booked air through them.   HAL had no issue making the changes I requested.   I don't know why Princess would.

[rbslos18]

1 hour ago, dfish said:

I am on Delta and booked through HAL.   Delta won't make the changes for you at this point,   The cruise line would have to do that since you booked air through them.   HAL had no issue making the changes I requested.   I don't know why Princess would.

They will make the changes but at a much higher ticket price! They want to rebook and the current fares is $300 higher. 

Edited April 14, 2019 by rbslos18

[waterbug123]

12 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

Delta told me they can't change the reservation until the ticket is issued.

 

10 hours ago, dfish said:

Delta won't make the changes for you at this point,   The cruise line would have to do that since you booked air through them.  

 

9 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

They will make the changes but at a much higher ticket price! They want to rebook and the current fares is $300 higher. 

 

I've re-read everything and here's my guess and what's happening:

A.  OP booked a ticket at a price they liked. HAL reserved seats but hasn't purchased the ticket/Delta hasn't issued it.

B. A schedule change has resulted in a connecting time that is less, but still legal.

C. Since the ticket hasn't been issued, there is essentially nothing for Delta to change; hence the OP getting nowhere with DL.

D.  HAL will change the reservation, but again- they can't go to Delta and say hey you changed the schedule and it doesn't work so give us something else at the same price, because the ticket hasn't been issued.  i.e. there is no ticket to change.

E.  Flight with better connecting time are available from Delta, but at an increased price of +$300.  Because no ticket has been issued, there is no ticket to change, so reserving these flights would be a brand new transaction.  It would be kind of like me calling Delta up and saying "hey I looked at a flight a while back and it was $200.  I didn't buy the ticket but I made a mental note to do so down the road.  Now I'd like to buy it but that flight time no longer works for me so I'd like to buy this other ticket for another flight that you're selling for $500, but I want you to give it to me for $200 that I could have purchased the other ticket for if I'd done so way back when."  It ain't gonna happen, and in this example we can all understand why.  Sounds like it's essentially the same, except that instead of just considering the original flight, HAL had the ability to reserve a seat. But without actually purchasing the ticket, they and the OP have no leg to stand on for getting a change made to a  non-existent ticket.  Since the connection is still legal, the only recourse is to do a brand new reservation at the prevailing ticket price.

[rbslos18]

9 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

 

 

I've re-read everything and here's my guess and what's happening:

A.  OP booked a ticket at a price they liked. HAL reserved seats but hasn't purchased the ticket/Delta hasn't issued it.

B. A schedule change has resulted in a connecting time that is less, but still legal.

C. Since the ticket hasn't been issued, there is essentially nothing for Delta to change; hence the OP getting nowhere with DL.

D.  HAL will change the reservation, but again- they can't go to Delta and say hey you changed the schedule and it doesn't work so give us something else at the same price, because the ticket hasn't been issued.  i.e. there is no ticket to change.

E.  Flight with better connecting time are available from Delta, but at an increased price of +$300.  Because no ticket has been issued, there is no ticket to change, so reserving these flights would be a brand new transaction.  It would be kind of like me calling Delta up and saying "hey I looked at a flight a while back and it was $200.  I didn't buy the ticket but I made a mental note to do so down the road.  Now I'd like to buy it but that flight time no longer works for me so I'd like to buy this other ticket for another flight that you're selling for $500, but I want you to give it to me for $200 that I could have purchased the other ticket for if I'd done so way back when."  It ain't gonna happen, and in this example we can all understand why.  Sounds like it's essentially the same, except that instead of just considering the original flight, HAL had the ability to reserve a seat. But without actually purchasing the ticket, they and the OP have no leg to stand on for getting a change made to a  non-existent ticket.  Since the connection is still legal, the only recourse is to do a brand new reservation at the prevailing ticket price.

 

Correct. I am at the mercy of Princess! Apparently HAL has been willing to help but so far Princess is a no go for the reasons you stated. Thanks All. I just may try again with Princess. Can't hurt.

[FlyerTalker]

29 minutes ago, rbslos18 said:

 

Correct. I am at the mercy of Princess! Apparently HAL has been willing to help but so far Princess is a no go for the reasons you stated. Thanks All. I just may try again with Princess. Can't hurt.

 

Nope...you are at the mercy of the fact that you COULD have purchased your air ticket but didn't.  I'm gonna bet that you chose to wait and make your airplane ticket purchase at the same time as your cruise payment.   The benefits of locking in a price without putting down the cash for the ticket - sounded good, what could go wrong?

[rbslos18]

4 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Nope...you are at the mercy of the fact that you COULD have purchased your air ticket but didn't.  I'm gonna bet that you chose to wait and make your airplane ticket purchase at the same time as your cruise payment.   The benefits of locking in a price without putting down the cash for the ticket - sounded good, what could go wrong?

 

Mea culpa.

[hapster85]

They will make the changes but at a much higher ticket price! They want to rebook and the current fares is $300 higher. 

Is that $300 total, or each? I've connected through Atlanta enough times to know, I'm not comfortable with connections of less than an hour. And even that can be pushing it comfort wise for me.

I swear every time I'm there, I arrive at one end of Concourse A, and my connection is at the end of Concourse D. Each main concourse at ATL is larger than SDF, A & B combined. Not to mention busier every hour than SDF is for the entire day.

So yeah, I'd be changing my flights now, while there's still plenty of availability. But that's me.

Good luck, regardless of what you decide to do. [emoji1696]

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, hapster85 said:

I swear every time I'm there, I arrive at one end of Concourse A, and my connection is at the end of Concourse D. 

You too?  It's good to know that I am not alone with these experiences.

I purposely build-in a longer wait time at ATL in planning my itineraries and have yet to have an issue making a connection.  As you said, even an hour is a really inadequate margin of time between flights.

[rbslos18]

Case solved! The ticket price dropped and we switched our flight to one with a 1:40 minute connection. Thanks for your advise.

RB

[Peachypooh]

I have flown through Atlanta many many times. It is a huge airport but the "plane train" underground is

very efficient in getting you to one terminal to another. They also have golf cart like shuttles that

you can hail down and save walking those very very long hallways.

That said, I always book a three hour layover in Atlanta going down to Florida. This gives us lots of time

in case the first flight is delayed and we can eat a meal and relax a bit. On the way back home we

will do 1 1/2 hours minimum since I don't care if we get delayed coming home. I walk slowly as I

am a senior citizen.

Delta makes a lot of flight changes so you might luck out and there will be another change leaving more time.