Options when significant schedule change on award ticket
Apr 26, 2007, 12:50 pm
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSY (finally); previously NYC, BOS, AUH
Programs: AA EXP, 6MM; BA GLD
Posts: 17,236
Options when significant schedule change on award ticket
Am traveling SFO-BOS on an award ticket (2 psgrs in F). I was notified by US of a schedule change that pushes back our flights by over 3 hours. My experience with AA is that they'll be very accommodating in a situation like this, and generally will allow you to choose any flights that work, irrespective of award inventory availability. I'm on hold with US right now, but the initial reaction of the agent was take it or leave it. What has others' experiences been?
[Never mind: the agent just came back on the line and gave me the flights I was looking for.]
[Never mind: the agent just came back on the line and gave me the flights I was looking for.]
Apr 26, 2007, 9:47 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: MR/SPG LT Titanium, AA LT PLT, UA SLV, Avis PreferredPlus
Posts: 30,987
OT, but did they let you know about the change? They've change my flights to LIH this summer twice, 2+ hour changes, and the only way I've found about about them was poking around on the web site.
Sounds like it worked out for you.
Sounds like it worked out for you.
Apr 27, 2007, 2:45 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSY (finally); previously NYC, BOS, AUH
Programs: AA EXP, 6MM; BA GLD
Posts: 17,236
I received 4 emails yesterday. I had another reservation that also changed and received 4 emails for that one too, all in relatively quick succession.
Apr 27, 2007, 1:04 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 75
Change on 707 PHL to SFO
When I originally booked a flight to SFO in May, the departure time from PHL on 707 was 4:20. It has been moved to 5:45, affecting four of us.
I called and the agent was ADAMENT about not letting me switch to an earlier flight (within the 2 o'clock hour). I told her that although I understand that airlines can change schedules as much as 4-hours, I said this time doesn't work for us any longer (dinner plans, hotel, etc.). I never received a schedule change e-mail, and the agent said, "Oh, that probably fell through the cracks when we merged systems recently." Bah. Not acceptable. I *hate* when they do stuff like that.
Anyway, agent said that there were no award seats on the earlier flight. I stood my ground and said "I need to speak with your supervisor." On hold for about 5 minutes, and she came back and said, "Can you hold just a little bit more? The supervisor is on the phone with 'inventory' getting award seats released." She came back and informed me that we had indeed been switched. The earlier flight, I should add, was wide open for seating.
I think, most especially for preferred and award folks like myself, who stuck with the airline in times of uncertainty (against the advice of friends, family and self, at times), that the very least they can do is be kind enough to switch out seats when that happens.
Bottom line? If your award ticket undergoes a schedule change, I think you can stand your ground and get on an earlier (or later) flight. From my experience, most other airlines will happily do this without question to retain satisfied customers. It's always (or most times) a fight with USAirways!
I called and the agent was ADAMENT about not letting me switch to an earlier flight (within the 2 o'clock hour). I told her that although I understand that airlines can change schedules as much as 4-hours, I said this time doesn't work for us any longer (dinner plans, hotel, etc.). I never received a schedule change e-mail, and the agent said, "Oh, that probably fell through the cracks when we merged systems recently." Bah. Not acceptable. I *hate* when they do stuff like that.
Anyway, agent said that there were no award seats on the earlier flight. I stood my ground and said "I need to speak with your supervisor." On hold for about 5 minutes, and she came back and said, "Can you hold just a little bit more? The supervisor is on the phone with 'inventory' getting award seats released." She came back and informed me that we had indeed been switched. The earlier flight, I should add, was wide open for seating.
I think, most especially for preferred and award folks like myself, who stuck with the airline in times of uncertainty (against the advice of friends, family and self, at times), that the very least they can do is be kind enough to switch out seats when that happens.
Bottom line? If your award ticket undergoes a schedule change, I think you can stand your ground and get on an earlier (or later) flight. From my experience, most other airlines will happily do this without question to retain satisfied customers. It's always (or most times) a fight with USAirways!
Apr 27, 2007, 1:36 pm
#5
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: AVL
Programs: AA EXP ; Cunard Plat
Posts: 4,211
...Bottom line? If your award ticket undergoes a schedule change, I think you can stand your ground and get on an earlier (or later) flight. From my experience, most other airlines will happily do this without question to retain satisfied customers. It's always (or most times) a fight with USAirways!
My friend and I had booked a fall Saver Envoy PHL-ZRH roundtrip back in January. I checked after the migration, and lo and behold, our outbound flight had completely disappeared (and no, I was not notified). It turned out that PHL-ZRH is not planned as a daily flight anymore, and our booked flight no longer goes that day. I took that as an opportunity to ask for the flight on another day I really wanted, and it took only a couple of minutes for Inventory to release 2 seats for us ^