jordyn

While it's fine to disregard the lack of an incoming flight, I probably wouldn't disregard the forecast. I think there's a high probability that many flights in the Northeast will be cancelled tomorrow, so if it were me trying to get back to PHL, I wouldn't rely on that flight operating tomorrow. I agree with ijgordon's advice just to cancel the trip and suck up the $200 fee. It kind of sucks, but if being in Philadelphia is the priority it's hopefully worth the cost. (Alas this isn't even really a situation where travel insurance would help since the outbound today is presumably going to operate fine.)

C17PSGR

I don't disagree ... that being said, maybe wait a bit to see if the flight is cancelled, then call the EXP line and ask for a refund since it would be a trip in vain. Best case scenario is that the EXP desk has more flexibility than normal. Worst case scenario is that the annoying change fee is a cost of doing business.

travellerK

Looks like I will cancel the trip and deal with the change fee later. Both my travel manager and direct manager said I would be crazy to take this trip if I need to be back for Thursday.

alggag

I was supposed to fly FCO-PHL-IAH on Thursday but decided to switch to FCO-LHR-IAH on BA. At first I was going to leave it but then it dawned on me that the flight to operate FCO-PHL might have issues getting out of PHL on Wednesday afternoon which would cause problems with getting out of FCO.

travellerK

As a follow up, I called up to change the schedule (outside the travel waiver dates), the initial agent couldn't help me, but she got a supervisor on the phone who agreed to waive the change fee and only charge for the actual fare change. I switched to worse flights (to save a few dollars) and I will actually be getting a voucher back out of this

kdinino

I am supposed to fly LAX-PHL tonight, but their lovely policy is such a mess with helping a traveler out. essentially, my flight isn't cancelled (yet) so they only allow you to switch to a flight within 2 days ...so the agent allowed me to switch to LAX-PHL leaving tomorrow morning (during peak storm time hopefully) in hopes that if that flight is cancelled then I'll actually get my money back. Same deal for PHL-LAX which was scheduled to leave PHL at 8:20 PM tomorrow night....so I'm hostage about $700 here hoping for a cancellation.

seriously, what other business model can get away with this sort of trash - just hoping to not cancel or that enough pax forget....i had to remind the agent that I had luke $200 in extra charges related to Main Cabin seating etc that needed to be refudned too...I'm sure they don't refund these unless you point them out as well.

Will there ever be a fair and reasonable airline that when weather/storm strikes you just re-book (besides Southwest?)? Seems like a huge opportunity to not be a dirtbag airline but no one wants to change. Yet they advertise "travel waiver" and they "may waive fees"....classic LOL

kdinino

same boat as you as far as quick turnaround. best bet is to change flights for free to those most likely to be cancelled and then once they cancel, to get a full refund......pretty sad huh?

wetrat0

While Southwest has a very generous change policy during normal operations (no fee, only fare difference), during weather events they do not always perform well. Long hold times and limited alternatives due to their point-to-point system. Unless they have made recent changes, cancellation notification comes without immediate option to rebook. Much easier to recover with a hub-and-spoke system like AA (re-route through hub that is not affected by the weather).

kdinino

I dont disagree with you but the AA policy with waiver waivers is a sham when you read through the BS

mediator

I actually had a not-so-great experience re flight cancellation last Friday. I was connecting at DFW, only until 2 hours prior to take off, I received a text said my flight AA2182 is cancelled. I have to spent hours on the phone to rebook myself home on Saturday. Had AA cancelled my flight early Friday morning, I would just spend an extra day at my departure point.

P.S. I notice the AA2182 on 3/7 is already cancelled. Looks like AA is much more cautious this time.

jpsj

So am going SYR-ORD-MKE today. Got a travel notice yesterday about changing flights. Checked weather, looked fine for this morning. Knew plane was coming from Chicago last night. Now, I am at the airport, the flight is ready to go. However, flights to BOS, PHL, NYC--all canceled. DCA is okay. JetBlue is flying to BOS and JFK this morning--DL pulled plug on NY. My guess is that it will get worse for AA here before it get's better.

In this case, glad I didn't take the travel waiver.

3Cforme

How so?

kdinino

But advertising flexibility to make a change without a fee, when in reality not really. That's how.

PHL

But how? Last week and this week prior to the storms I was given the option to change existing flights that fell within the dates in question for no change fee or fare difference.

kdinino

because AA gives you two days to stay within when in reality, business doesn't work like that. My client isn't going to meet on Sat or Sunday. So in my case,they want to meet next Wednesday and AA wants more $$ to make that happen. So it's not really a waiver or courtesy, it looks good on paper but doesn't help many and they still make more $$$