Question about canceled flights
 

I couldn't find this on the forum, so here's the question. I go to school in DC and I am flying CO back to EWR tomorrow (10/26). The weather is looking nasty, and it seems that it doesn't take much for them to cancel this flight. I think that there is a strong chance that it will get canceled, so I was wondering if I could rebook the flight for a week later? In other words, if it gets canceled, I am almost certainly going to get rebooked for Saturday (10/27). I am coming back Sunday (10/28). That really makes the trip more of a hassle, so I wanted to know if I could request to rebook my flight for the following Friday (11/02) instead of the Saturday (10/27)? My gut says that since it would also change my return flight, it would incur some kind of charge, but I was just wondering if it could be done.

You're rebooking your outbound leg which means you'll have to be reticketed. That means you cancel your existing reservation and will be subject to penalties for cancelling per the fare rules with any remaining money available to credit to your new itinerary. The new fare for the 11/2-11/4 weekend which will likely be high since it's so close to departure.

I would suggest as another option that you get to the airport (you did not mention which of the DC area airports you're actually leaving from) as early as you can and go stand-by on the first available flight if it looks like there will be weather issues, especially later in the day.

Nearly all CO tickets allow stand-by on domestic reservations.

If they cancel the flight on you there are a myriad of options that open up. You don't have to accept their first offer of a rebook and you can actually just ask for a full refund, even on a non-refundable ticket.

You have to wait until the flight is actually cancelled, but if that happens, be polite and work with the agent to suggest something that will be better for you.

S.

If the flight is canceled, you could ask for a "trip in vain" refund.

That brings up the question: What are CO's policies regarding trips in vain?

Sorry, I am going to be leaving out of Reagan. I am taking the 7:30 flight, which is the last 737 flight of the day. They have one more flight after it, but it is an Embraer, so I am guessing that it will be filled up. It will be tough for me to get to the airport before then, so I guess I am going to hope for good weather.

Thanks for all the responses.

I think your best bet will be to plan ahead on what other flights are available out of DCA (vs. trying to take a flight to EWR from one of the other DC area airports, all of which have the last flight out earlier than your scheduled departure).

In the event your flight is cancelled I would immediately head for the nearest customer service desk or the Presidents Club if you can get in (membership, Priority Pass, AmEx, day pass, etc; unfortunately they're also listed as closing at 7pm) and get on the line with domestic reservations/Elite desk on your cell phone to get rebooked.

In addition to the later CO DCA-EWR flight there are a few later leaving flights:

DL1966 7:30p (to LGA)
UA2786 (technically US) 8:00p (to LGA)
UA2788 (also US) 9:00p (to LGA)

The scenario described would not be trip in vain. Trip in vain is when a trip has already begun and gets messed up.

In this case, the trip will not have begun. The pax is allowed a full refund, should they cancel his first flight.

I just had a thought.

There is a 9:00 flight that still has about 15 seats open. If I get to the airport and check in early, can I put my name on standby for that flight, even though I plan on taking the 7:30 flight? If I can do the former, who would get priority in the event of a cancelation: passengers on standby or passengers who are rebooked from earlier flights?

Standbys go after confirmed reservations. If you place yourself on the earlier flight's standby list, and there are seats available, you will be cleared immediately and your reservation is now on the earlier flight. You no longer exist on your original flight.

You're suggesting standing by on the 9p flight in case your 7:30p gets cancelled, right? This is commonly known as "being protected on a later flight" and is something that, in my experience, CO is not particularly happy to do. I've managed to convince some CSRs to do it, but not without much difficulty. They pretty much frown on giving you two seats when they know you're only going to use one of them and they feel they might be able to sell the second, even if the chances of selling it are slim.

s.

If you get cancelled, you can get confirmed on any flight with space in that city pair or comparable city pairs (e.g., IAD/DCA/BWI-EWR).

How do you know there are 15 seats open on the flight? Counting seats on a seatmap is never accurate.

Where in the Contract of Carriage does it say that a passenger can get a full refund if a flight is canceled due to weather? I can't find it.