cms5001

Hi,

I, along with my wife and 11 month-old daughter, have a reservation to fly on United from EWR to Europe on Thursday evening. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for rain and storms, especially in the late afternoon/evening, which is when we are scheduled to depart. This spring/summer has seen a number of storms in the EWR area completely overwhelm the airport's scheduled departures, and throw a number of flight plans into chaos. I was wondering... does anyone have any experience dealing with United to change travel plans (without incurring change fees) BEFORE one's flight is officially delayed? I ask because when it comes to the late afternoon/early evening storms at EWR, the airline tends to not formally announce flight delays until the powers that be announce a ground delay, or something of that sort. Then, once the storm hits, these transatlantic flights tend to see multiple, lengthy delays, which require passengers to sit in the airport for hours on end because the airline did not communicate or anticipate the delays far enough in advance of the scheduled flight time.

With the above as background, and especially because we will be traveling with an infant, I'm thinking that my options are to either (1) stick it out -- come what may -- with the original flight, or (2) assuming the forecast does not change between now and Thursday morning, call United at that time and preemptively ask if we can be switched to the Friday flight on the same route (without incurring change fees), so as to avoid the likelihood of prolonged delays at the airport on top of a 7-plus hour transatlantic redeye flight. Does Option 2 sound like wishful thinking? Any insight (or alternative options) would be appreciated! Thanks!