Flight times changed on me

[jsiegel]

I just got notification from American Airline/American Eagle that my flight times had been changed. Every one of them. Getting to St. Thomas is no problem with the new times as they only moved them around a few minutes.

 

Coming home however is another story. I booked a 1:30 p.m. flight on the day we disembark at St. Thomas. They changed it to 9:40 a.m. Itinerary says we don't dock until 8 a.m. There is no way we'd be able to make that flight, what with going through immigration/customs both on the ship and at the airport is there? I'll call them tomorrow and hope they can change us.

 

Wish me luck.

 

Jackie

 

Here we are at two months until our first Seabourn cruise, I was getting all excited, and then this gets thrown at us. Shame on AA.

[wrp96]

Sorry about the flight time changes. American is open right now if you want to get it taken care of tonight.

[Iamboatman]

Welcome to the "American screwed up my travel plans" club. After my ordeal this past vacation, I have all but crossed them off my list. (I am paying to fly on Continental rather than use miles and fly free on American!)

 

Try this one on (it is only one of many): I booked my flights (Newark to Reno) last April. There were 17 flight changes which, even with my monitoring things, resulted in my not having any seats on my Jan 2 return flight (Reno to Newark with a stop in Dallas - a direct flight...same flight no., plane, etc.) After being the last people to be boarded (finding seats after paying off the overbooked passengers), we begin our decent into Dallas to be told of a gate change. Huh? We were on the plane already. BAD SIGN.

 

So before going to the other terminal I checked with the gate agent. It was not a new gate, new plane, etc. Our flight had been canceled midtrip!

 

American's offer: Wait for 3 hours, fly to Atlanta then to LaGuardia...and then find my way back home...2.5 hours away. Please. Those that know me know that would never happen. I made them transfer me over to Continental for a non-stop to Newark. (BTW, Continental even gave me 2 complimentary upgrades to First Class because of my status with them.)

 

My suggestion to you: If American can't make it right, tell them you want a refund and rebook with another airline.

 

Good luck!!!

[BrittaniMV]

That's so strange. Delta adjusted our flights yesterday as well. I called Delta and they were so nice (very untypical for any airline). They offered to put us on a different flight for no extra charge if the new times were inconvenient. They had really only moved the times back 30 minutes so it wasn't an issue. Maybe American can rebook you on a later flight. A 9:40am flight means you would need to be at the airport at 7:40am. I don't see how that would be possible.

[alphakitty]

It's happening a lot these days! It's good to get the word out..check those flights. The airlines don't always notify you. I recently had a change in my flight home from Ft. Lauderdale. It gave me 20 minutes to make a connection. We all know that's not going to happen. I looked at the schedules, picked a better flight, called the airline and asked for a change. It was done quickly and without charge. I once had to cancel a flight because of a time change and no alternative that worked for me. We did cancel without penalty and a full refund, so it seems that the airlines will work with you if you have a change. But you have to be aware of it and the onus is on us to watch for it.

[xplrcrzn]

If the airline (rather than you) changes the reservation by even one minute you have the right to cancel and receive a full refund. However, this "right" does not always apply when you change an existing reservation which may involve change fees (depends on the airline). And if you accept the new scheduling of your reservation you loose your refund rights. So be careful about hitting the "Accept" button when viewing online reservations because you may be stuck with the change.

[jsiegel]

Just got off the phone with AA. We've now got a more manageable flight schedule, leaving St. Thomas at 12:30 p.m., routed through JFK, then Dallas, then finally the west coast, but hey, we should make our flights.

 

Thanks all for letting me vent and for all your advice.

 

Jackie

[Iamboatman]

Just got off the phone with AA. We've now got a more manageable flight schedule, leaving St. Thomas at 12:30 p.m., routed through JFK, then Dallas, then finally the west coast, but hey, we should make our flights.

 

Thanks all for letting me vent and for all your advice.

 

Jackie

 

I am glad you are pleased with the "accommodation", but I wouldn't be. Now you must fly due north a few extra hours so that you can fly south(west) so that you can fly to the coast. :eek: I don't know what your original flights were, but Miami, Dallas and Atlanta seem a lot closer than NYC! I would not have accepted that.

 

BTW, schedule changes of a few minutes or flight numbers do not usually trigger your right to cancel the booking. Careful about relying upon that.

[lvtotrvl1]

Unfortunatly this is happening all the time with all the airlines. It is great if there are other flights that will accomodate you, but if there aren't you may be stuck. I know alot of people don't like to hear this, and I don't want to start an argument , by any means, but this is where cruiseline air will be a better buy. It will be up to them to make the changes etc. Save you alot of time and work.

[jsiegel]

I am glad you are pleased with the "accommodation", but I wouldn't be. Now you must fly due north a few extra hours so that you can fly south(west) so that you can fly to the coast. :eek: I don't know what your original flights were, but Miami, Dallas and Atlanta seem a lot closer than NYC! I would not have accepted that.

 

BTW, schedule changes of a few minutes or flight numbers do not usually trigger your right to cancel the booking. Careful about relying upon that.

 

Ironically, the non-out-of-the-way option, flying St. Thomas to San Juan to Dallas to Sacramento would have been about 24 hour total travel time. Going north-east to go west has us at 14 hours total travel time, only one additional hour from the original flights. That's what AA offered me first but I had done my research and knew about the JFK routing saving us 10 hours. The AA rep hadn't considered that route.

 

Jackie

darn there are still 2 months for the airline to change schedules again before our cruise.

[xplrcrzn]

Boatman-what's your authority for the statement that schedule changes involving a few minutes do not allow the passenger to cancel & receive a refund? I agree that merely changing fight numbers will not allow one to do so. Can you refer me to language in the contract of carriage or a website?

[Host Dan]

Ah, flight changes. My flight this April from Lisbon to Tampa via Newark has changed 4 times. This last change had us at Newark 2 hours earlier, with a 7 hour wait at the Airport. Luckily, because I was arriving that much earlier, I was able to change my Newark-Tampa flight to an earlier one. The "funny" thing was that the agent with whom I made those changes with, bumped me from Business class to economy! I spotted that issue right away, and was re-issued Business/First tickets all the way.

 

Host Dan

[xplrcrzn]

Following is Continental's Rule 24 C from its Contract of Carriage, relating to schedule changes (most other carriers have similar language):

 

"C) Change in Schedule

When a Passenger’s Ticketed flight is affected because of a Change in Schedule, CO will, at its election arrange

one of the following:

1) Transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination, next Stopover point,

or transfer point shown on its portion of the Ticket, without Stopover in the same class of service, at no

additional cost to the Passenger, provided that a Passenger who paid a Coach fare will only be transported

on a flight in First Class or Business First Class Service subject to seat availability and if such flight will

provide an earlier arrival than CO’s next flight on which coach space is available;

2) Reroute Passengers over the lines of one or more carriers when a Change in Schedule results in the

cancellation of all CO service between two cities;

3) Advise the Passenger that the value of his or her Ticket may be applied toward future travel on Continental

within one year from the date of issue without a change or reissue fee; or

4) Provide a refund in accordance with Rule 27 A) if the Passenger is not transported as provided in C) 1) or

2) above and does not choose to apply the value of his or her Ticket toward future travel as provided in C 3) above."

[Iamboatman]

Boatman-what's your authority for the statement that schedule changes involving a few minutes do not allow the passenger to cancel & receive a refund? I agree that merely changing fight numbers will not allow one to do so. Can you refer me to language in the contract of carriage or a website?

 

Honestly, I do not have the contract language at hand...I have many contracts at hand, but not that!:) However, as an Elite flier with various airlines and such "awards" as 15 roundtrips to Australia, same day return flights, etc. I have seen, argued and demanded quite a bit.

 

There is a concept in the law which essentially is that a non-material change is not an excuse to terminate or cancel a contract. If the airlines did not have that (or frankly any business), they would have a very difficult time being tied to schedules or risking the loss of business because the airport changed their slot by a couple of minutes.

[xplrcrzn]

Thanks Boatman. I'm a lawyer and also an "elite" FFlyer with several carriers. Rule 24 is a handy reference for any frequent flyer to have available.

[Iamboatman]

BTW, the Rule you cited gives all the options to the airline...not the pax!

 

As an example, when my flight was canceled in Dallas, AA was within their rights to dump me there. However, their rights stopped upon the cancellation. That's when my rights came in and they knew they had to move me...but they wouldn't have done it if I didn't know my rights.

 

Ironically, AA is losing many customers over poor service...putting "legal" before "loyal". It is a wonderful thing that Seabourn stresses loyalty to its guests (they are not passengers!).:D