Hello everyone - though I'm a registered user, I'm not much of a poster. I was hoping to get your thoughts on a schedule change, and what my course of action should (and possibly could) be. Here's the scenario:

In February of 2009, I am taking my parents to Hawaii to celebrate my father's retirement (you didn't think I was going to send them while I sat at home in the winter, did you?!). In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I was able to secure three of the super-low round-trip tickets, from PHL-IAH-HNL-IAH-PHL, that were offered around Memorial Day weekend. It worked out well - I am a few hours south of PHL (in Northern Virginia) and my parents are a few hours north.

In checking the schedule, I noticed our two hour layover in IAH on the way home has become approximately five hours and we now arrive at 4.42pm (which, after having lived in Northern Virginia for a few years, automatically makes me think "rush hour traffic"). I immediately thought about simply switching to HNL-EWR-PHL, however it seems that HNL-EWR is not operating nonstop on the day we depart (2/24).

We are all on one PNR. In your opinion, do I have any shot at all of having our tickets switched to EWR-IAH-HNL-IAH-EWR because of this? There is an IAH-EWR flight on our return that would get us in around 1pm. (Though what I'd really like to do is switch them to an EWR departure and myself to a DCA departure).

At the end of the day, if we have to accept the schedule change, I know it's not a big deal because 1) I paid so little for the tickets 2) I am fortunate that, with the economic landscape of our country right now, this is all I have to worry about and 3) We'll still be going to Hawaii, regardless!

Thank you in advance for your assistance

In a similar situation once I was able to get the city changed at ONE end of the r/t to accommodate the schedule change. You will NOT get both ends changed unless you get a ridiculously generous agent.

S.

Thanks for your reply! We still want to arrive and depart HNL, so I am only looking to make a change on one end of the R/T. Have a good day!

You mentioned switching them to an EWR departure and you to a DCA departure. You'd only be able to do that if the schedule change was on the outbound, not on the return. You will NOT get both the departure and the return cities changed to EWR, which is what I meant by "both ends." You have a decent chance of getting the return flight to route into EWR instead of PHL based on the "layover is much longer now and rather inconvenient as I will have to drive when I get there; the other destination is much better." But you won't get the start and end points both changed.

I hope that makes more sense.

Aah - okay, thanks for the clarification! In that case, I'll likely just leave the itinerary "as is" and accept the schedule change, as we'll need to depart from/arrive at the same airport. Thanks again!

Can you stay a day longer? Leave HNL at 8:55 PM via EWR with a 40 min layover and arrive at 1:15 PM in PHL a day later.

In my experience, agents tend to be very accommodating when an involuntary schedule change occurs. I would scope out the various flight possibilities in advance (as you appear to have done) and call, asking what your options are (mention that you don't want to subject your folks to a five-hour layover if there's any pushback from the agent). I have changed entire reservations, including connection cities, when subjected to such a schedule change. You might be able to change the origination city as well if you ask nicely.

Are you serious? I've done this dozens of times on other carriers, and it's never been a problem -- clearly you intend to fly RT, so a swap of one end would require a swap of the other end. Then again, CO does have a reputation for poorly handling schedule changes.


To the OP, I think the rules of alternate airport in a schedule change are some 200 miles. So, if it would help your cause, maybe you can see if you can change the inbound to IAH-DCA or IAH-BWI, but then you'd have to get yourself to PHL for the outbound (1-way car rental?) if they don't change the outbound for you. But it could save you some driving in the end.

But what I would do first is price out a new set of tickets -- there are still some good deals out of DC and the New York Area. If the fares are similar (or maybe even less) on CO or another carrier, you can tell CO the change is not acceptable and ask for a refund, then just buy new tickets.

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There's no way the fares will be less. The OP paid <$300/person for those seats.

And they may have luck getting both O/D cities changed, but I would be surprised if they gave him an EWR-HNL r/t out of this, just because of an extended layover.

Thank you all for your replies! My apologies - I should have mentioned in my original post that the tickets were $273.50 per person; as much as I'd like to cancel and find a lower-priced, more convenient alternative, I'm not sure that's an option

Unfortunately, our dates are pretty well set in stone (as I'm also flying my sister out to the islands from her home in CA as a surprise, so that the ENTIRE family can be together), so leaving a day later and utilizing the HNL-EWR flight won't work.

At this point, I'm inclined to just accept the change rather than mess around with switching airports, etc. I fear (though this is perhaps irrational) that, by switching one ticket to BWI or DCA and keeping the other two as a PHL departure, that things may get screwed up.

Thanks again for your comments, they are most appreciated!

Okay I want to make sure I'm clear of the rules. I just had an agent, who claimed to work the Elite Desk, tell me she has to charge me a fare difference and a change fee to change flights, even though there has been a schedule change and I am now set to depart 2:45 minutes later. Is this true or can I change the flights free of charge?

You can change for free, so long as you're keeping the same origin and destination, and you did not previously accept the schedule change.

Now, CO agents will often accept the schedule change in the system, so that even if you do not agree with the new schedule, the computer will show that you did. You may first need to prove that, especially since you already talked to an agent. It is very likely he/she "accepted" the change for you already.

The agent's response is typical of CO -- basically trying to get more money out of you. You need to counter with the proper terms.

"There is no change fee due to the schedule change."
"They should not be charging an add-collect because this is an involuntary change."

They will likely give you nonsense like "Your fare class is not available on the other flights," or "I can waive the change fee but not the fare difference."

To which you will need to reply:

"That is not correct. The fare class can be overriden since this change is involuntary," or
"I'm not asking you to refare the ticket, I'm asking you honor the original ticket on those flights at no additional cost. Can you do that, or maybe is a supervisor needed do that?"

Basically keep repeating yourself and escalating til you get what you're entitled to.

If they say something like, "Then all I can give you is the flights the computer put you on," you will need to counter with "I do not accept the schedule change."

After a few rounds of this, CO will likely try to offer you a refund. To that, you will need to counter that you're not interested in a refund, you're asking to CO to honor your ticket with the flights you request (if your case is that the new flights you want are nearest your schedule, use that).

CO has a history of being nasty with schedule changes, so good luck!

Were you originally booked on 1476? Not sure exact date you're flying on but CO1476 is connection you want to PHL.