Originally Posted by
ijgordon
Irrespective of what DL should or shouldn't allow, I was more interested in where their policy regarding involuntary changes is explicitly (technically) spelled out. Not sure it's in the CoC, haven't looked. But as others have alluded to, it may not matter so much in practice, as DL is generally good about granting waivers.
Personally, I don't think that "accepting" a schedule change that DL made should lock you into anything. I view that differently from proposing one alternative, having the ticket changed, and then proposing another alternative.
This is especially the case if you're pushed into something. For example, a few years ago I got a call (as I was about to grab a train ticket up to JFK to catch my flight) that a flight I had on CX JFK-YVR had been cancelled. They just plopped me on the next day's flight (which I had to back out of), but I didn't even have the ability to check the reservation and confirm that I couldn't use the replacement flight and by the time I called back I had been re-booked. Quite frustrating.
Honestly, giving you at least a few days to explicitly consider alternatives to ask for (presuming the change is happening more than a few days out) doesn't seem unreasonable insofar as sometimes it isn't "just" a matter of picking replacement flight(s) out of a hat. In the CX case, I had to weigh it against a train leaving Vancouver, and in some cases you might be stuck needing to plan for an overnight stay somewhere (if you've got a thin route on either end of things).