Originally Posted by Anglo Large Clawed Otter

Actually, yes, the law does say so. Contract law does not require that both parties to the contract have parity of rights and/or obligations under the contract. Contracts can be extremely one sided and still enforceable (assuming, of course, the promises contained within are not illusory, or that the terms are not void as against public policy, amongst other considerations). All contracts allow parties to do is to arrange their affairs and dealings in advance with some degree of certainty. Entering into a Contract (in most common law jurisdictions) requires a "bargain" between the parties. In simplistic terms, you know (or are deemed to know) what you are getting into when you fork over money to an airline in return for their promise of transportation.

The conditions the airline imposes upon such an agreement are readily available to the purchaser prior to purchase. It's up to you whether you choose to actually read the fine print. Additionally, it's up to you whether you evaluate that fine print and allow it to influence your purchasing decision. The airline generally has no legal obligation to provide you, the consumer, with a contract that is primarily to your benefit. As businesses, airlines generally craft contracts that are to their benefit. As a consumer, the only power you have to modify such behavior (so long as the behavior does not involve other illegalities such as deceptive trade practices, fraud, etc.) is by withholding your funds from that business, or by finding another business more willing to accede to your requirements for a suitable contract of carriage.

Originally Posted by GoCanes

I agree with the OP. His point is that if he contacted CO and said his schedule changed and he wanted to change the flights, CO would allow him to change it, but would charge him a fee and possibly increased fare if his booking class was unavailable. On the alternate end, if CO wants to change its flight times or cancel flights entirely, the OP is upset that CO does little, if anything, to compensate the OP for the inconvenience. What the OP was trying to get at was that he is Gold on CO, meaning he is a pretty good customer - a pretty good customer who buys Y fares. All he wanted was someone from CO to say - he we messed up, we apologize, we will give your wife a comp upgrade to try to help the situation and ease any burden. So, the OP has a valid point - why does CO think it can do whateve it wants, laugh at him when he offers a solution that will satisfy him as a customer and then expect the OP to continue his business on CO.

To the OP: I would take your business elsewere

Originally Posted by dlen111

why is it that we are completely locked into an a contract, where as the airline can do whatever the F they want while still in the contract and before deptarture.

Originally Posted by chasbondy

I wonder if he didn't mention that he was an observant Jew if you would have replied at all.>>

So now the peanut gallery is trying to make it a Jew thing?? Get a clue. Flights get cancelled every now and then, and the airlines do their best to accomodate cancellations. I'm an observant Catholic, who realizes such things happen with airlines, even on a Sunday.

Originally Posted by chasbondy

My religion would say not to complain about the trivial. They didnt cancel those flights to screw you or inconvenience you

Originally Posted by COmitted

A rerouting from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale is "trivial," but actually expecting you to fly on the flight for which you bought a ticket is certainly worthy of a complaint? I guess your religion would say getting dry crackers is worth a post too, as is the airline actually following its own rules.

Obviously CO didn't cancel the flights to purposefully inconvenience anyone, but -- just as you do sometimes -- the OP "just need[ed] to vent" and was looking for comments. Why give him a hard time?

More substantially, I'm surprised CO didn't make an effort to accomodate the OP in some way - whenever I've had a time or routing change like that, they have gone out of their way to make some minor amends. Maybe try to call the elite line and explain the situation again and see if they go for the Y-up at least one way. That doesn't seem like such an absurd request to me. Good luck!

Originally Posted by stevens397

Well, I never expected two pages out of my venting. Some thoughts:

1. Yes, it's NJ Teacher's Convention weekend, Nov 9-12.

2. Glad we got off the religion thing. Thought the comment was strange but certainly didn't feel attacked.

3. Please realize that this was posted within 10 minutes of getting of the third phone call with CO. I was hot. Now I'm just annoyed and resigned. As many said, I would have been happy with a sincere apology and ANY type of gesture. The flight home on Saturday night from Florida is a very easy time to get a free upgrade for a Gold Elite couple - usually lots of empty seats. I just wanted them to realize that it's a two way street. Fortunately, I was going someplace where there was another airport option, albeit more inconvenient.

And for all those who think it doesn't matter and that it's part of the contract of carriage, remember that when they do it to you!!! :D

Originally Posted by stevens397

Wed, Nov 8th, moved from 8:30 PM to 4:05 PM

Sat, Nov 11th, moved from 8:15 PM (I think) to 5:20 PM

Hey, I'm a big boy and I travel a decent amount. Things happen. It was their cavalier attitude that was the issue.