Originally Posted by
jackvogt
I'm flying Southwest in June. I booked the flights using points. We were scheduled to fly into IAD 6/13 and out on 6/16. I got an email this morning saying there was a schedule change, and after looking at it, realized my 8:40 am flight had been changed to a 5 pm flight. We are meeting family at a resort in West Virginia and this clearly messes everything up.
I called the number they gave me, and ended up changing the flight to go into DCA, arriving around 12pm. Now, the cost of my rental car is doubled, and my travel time to West Virginia is 1 hour longer (plus fighting with DC traffic.
Do I have any recourse to get compensation for the rental car? Should I just change my return flight to depart from DCA as well? Thanks!
When there is a schedule change that significant, you are entitled to switch your flight to something that better accommodates your schedule, without penalty. I'm not sure what the actual
rules are but in my experience that also includes other airports that are in the same metro area (such as what you experienced with IAD/DCA). I've also had them be able to change my actual travel dates as well, in the event that would work better. If it is more convenient for you to fly into DCA and fly out of IAD, you should be able to do that (just beware of one-way car rental fees that might end up tacked on). Again, I am not 100% sure of the rules here but I do not believe you'd be entitled to anything related to your rental car. Given the large amount of notice you are receiving here, if none of the alternate WN options work you should cancel the whole thing, get your points back, and find better times on an alternate carrier.