We have a trip scheduled for next month JFK-IAH-ANC and return. We’ve been fortunate enough to have cleared mileage upgrades for all segments. The first flight, CO820 is the last JFK-IAH of the day that connects to any CO IAH-ANC and has a rather abysmal on-time record. Our connection time at IAH is 1 hour and it seems that most days it’s an E to C gate connection (the story of our life).

CO820 is at 1:29 PM and the earlier JFK-IAH flights are 5:30 and 7:30 AM which would entail a 6 or 8 hour wait at IAH (a thrilling option with a 7 hour flight following). I’ve called the elite desk to find out about changing to one of the earlier flights and because of the in place mileage upgrades, it’s a really nasty process which could cause us to lose some of the upgrades.

My questions concern CO’s obligations to get us to ANC via either alternate routing or other carrier(s) if we miss the connecton. The usual reason for the miss is a delay on the inbound aircraft (usually IAH-JFK) so we would know about the missed connection a few hours before our scheduled departure. There’s no PC at JFK so we don’t have the option to work with the PC CSR’s. I don’t have a copy of the detailed Fare Rules (my bad) but I don’t think that changing to LGA or EWR for the one segment on the 24hr change option is permitted. I can try the 24 hr change for the earlier flights from JFK.

What’s the best way for me to work with this situation? If I see that the inbound is delayed, will the Elite Desk or a JFK CSR work to get me an alternate route and/or alternate carrier? If we don't arrive before the next morning we'll misconnect on ground arrangements.
What would you do (other than having booked it differently to start with)?

The 7:30a flight does result in the long connection, but being at the connection point for too long is always better than watching your intended next flight taxi without you. (A CO pilot once was nice enough to point that out on a flight I was on: "For those of you connecting from Ft. Lauderdale, the flight we had intended to put you on is visible out of the right side.")

I can't imagine that the obligation on CO's part is that much different than any other misconnect. They could certainly try to get you into F on another flight because of being mileage-upgraded, and IIRC displaced F does get you bumped the standby list...but if I were you I would consult the timetable and research your options. Worst case, bump back to the early JFK, potentially sit in back, but know for sure that you will be on time for IAH-ANC. My $.02, G.

There are flights SEA-ANC departing at 10, 10:30 and 11:45pm. Get yourself to SEA and go from there. CO 1888 will get you to SEA around 9:30, which should connect you to one of those.

The bad news is that you run a good chance of getting bumped back to Y instead of riding up front.

Hi Mike,

I'm hoping not to have to, but will do it if we have to. If there was someplace at IAH, other than the PC to go where we could relax it would make that decision easier. She might not talk to me for the next week if we do 6 - 8 hours in the PC. Then again, maybe that's a good idea.

A bump to Y is better than missing a day of vacation.

There's a CO code share on a NW JFK-DTW-ANC at 4:24 PM. Would CO put us on that?

I wouldnt worry but Id Keep my eye on the IAH-JFK Inbound and be ready to go LGA-IAH instead, of cause youd also have to keep track of the avaiolable seats LGA-IAH. I guess if your Gold or Plat you can always pay the $25 for confirmed SBY and know 100% your flying out of LGA 12 hrs before your flight time. I do believe CO will allow LGA & JFK to be switched w/o any problems, chance of remaining up front probably Nil, but then again chance of having to overnight it @ IAH also Nil

not as long as there are any CO possibilities still out there. Such as LGA or EWR to get you to IAH. also if they did allow you to go NW your Upgrades are kissed good-bye

Hi craz,

I just called the elite desk and they got a ruling that our Fare Class is valid for any of the city pairs. They said I can do a SBY to either LGA or EWR at the 24 hr point before my flight to a flight within 12 hrs of the original departure. Since EWR has the most, I guess I'll do that when the time comes. I had assumed that the fare rules didn't allow the change. Good lesson, call before assuming.

Thanks again.

I'd be very careful with this information. EWR is never included as a city pair for LGA/JFK on Continental in any of the fares I pull up. In fact, I pulled up a new one today just for grins and sure enough only LGA and JFK are listed as city pairs. I'm waiting for someone to show me a specific fare rule that lists EWR/LGA/JFK as co pairs.

To get a confirmation I'd call CO back and ask them to check your fare rules again and confirm what city pairs are valid for JFK. If the agent again mentions that EWR is a valid pair then you should be OK.

BTW - I think you can pull up the fare rules on CO.com when you view your itinerary. Do you have the specific fare code for the flights?

-RM

Hi Rob,

I don't have the fare code, which was really stupid of me when I booked it. Now I save the everything as a PDF. The original Fare Class was S. I've looked at every screen I could access on the reservation as well as the receipt and there's no place that I can find the fare rules or full code. As I mentioned in the original post, I didn't think that the fare code we had even allowed LGA as a pair, let alone EWR.

From the Q&A on CO.com:

Can I change my departure or arrival airports?
No. The same-day change fee offer does not apply when changing your departure or arrival airport. In these cases, the full change fee associated with your fare plus any applicable fare difference will apply.

I questioned this as well and it didn't seem to matter.

I'll take your suggestion and give it another call on Tuesday to see if I get the same answer. The CSR did put me on hold and, as he put it, 'Went for a ruling' and repeated that both LGA and EWR were OK. The EWR schedule would be ideal but LGA has a couple of flights that give us a safety margin and wouldn't require us to spend the day in IAH. I can just see the two of us fighting over one computer instead of each having our own with us.

BTW, I think I owe you a few cold brews from a post and question earlier in the spring and if you and yours would like to get out to Davis Park, just PM me & we'll set a schedule. We could even do a Beach DO since I'm certain there are other FT'ers out that way.

Thanks for the information and I'll let you know the results.

G

The saga continues.

The long range weather forecast for the 12th is good at JFK & OK at IAH (where the inbound comes from), so I figured that we'd stick with the original flight since we have the mileage upgrade for all segments. Checking the reservation yesterday I found that my seat was changed. A call to the Elite Desk resulted in "Don't know why that happened. Did the flight get rescheduled ?(No!) Because then the computers screw it up, etc." Every lame reason that's ever been bs'd about. What it probably means is that we've been FAM'd. And, of course, there were no other seat pairs open we could move to. There goes the plan to converse and formalize our dates for the EWR-MSY merry-go-round for Sept - Dec.

So, if we think we can get seats in front on some other flight offered at OLCI, we'll grab them, and if not, suffer through the FAMs.

Mrs SG is trying to figure out how far she can go in outing and bothering them without getting thrown in jail in Houston. Any feedback on that?

FAMs on a 735 - there ought to be a law against it!

The FAMs should be left alone and allowed to do their jobs.

You're completely right. Getting our plans screwed up really got me angry. In any case, it's now a moot pont - someone else cancelled, the seat next to mine opened up, and she was able to get it.

Anyway, thanks for your rational comment!

100% True, but nothing wrong with going over to them and in a whisper Thanking them for being there , just in case, even thou they are paid for being there

I had managed to get us seated together again and decided to keep an eye on the seat assignments. I checked on our seat assignments this morning and I was in 2E with my wife if 2F. I clicked refresh on the PDA web site and my seat assignment had been changed to 1B (the Special Assistance Seat). VERY STRANGE!!!!

Thinking there was an error, I clicked refresh again and it was still 1B. I clicked refresh one more time and I had been changed to 2A which had shown as occupied before this sequence started.

I called the Elite Desk and the CSR denied that anything had been done and didn't understand how it happened (WHAT BS!)