mtpatt0

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!