makasha21

Hi all. Husband and I are going to Ireland in November. We booked through a travel agency. We don't fly Delta often, have no status. Just received an email about a schedule change on our return.

previously we were leaving Dublin and flying straight to SLC, with an hour and 15 minutes until our connection home to PHX. New schedule has us stopping at JFK and arriving 30 minutes later in SLC, with only 45 minutes to make our connection. (Its possible we were already stopping at JFK, but now the flight number to SLC has changed...indicating aircraft change? Idk) Is there even any point to me calling Delta ahead of time about this? Arrival time in PHX hasn't changed, but I worry we may be on the last flight of the night to PHX, and if we don't make the connection, end up having to pay for our own hotel room in SLC instead of making it all the way to our own bed. Do I need to call the travel agency as opposed to Delta? Do I just have to suck it up and hope we get out of JFK on schedule?

MSPeconomist

You have to go through your travel agent for changes before the day of travel.

However, you were never flying nonstop on DL from DUB to SLC. If your travel agent told you otherwise, I would suggest never using that travel agent again.

xliioper

DL has no non-stop flights from DUB to SLC. You were booked on DL45 which is a so-called "direct" flight which stops in JFK and has a change of equipment (just because the flight number is the same does not mean the equipment is the same). They are dropping the continuation flight of DL45 for JFK-SLC and there is a new flight 400 that is replacing it and is a continuation flight of FRA-JFK (again separate equipment). DL400 is currently used for FRA-JFK-LAS. There's a JFK-PHX non-stop which they may be able to put you on instead of JFK-SLC-PHX. There are also connecting options via ATL that you could take and would give you more time between connections.

exwannabe

OP:

. Alas you are "formally" out of luck as the new ticket is a proper minor change to the original ticket.

. That said, had you booked with DL they might well work with on a free change to avoid the tight connection on the last flight out.

, BUT, as you bought through a TA, you must deal with them. I doubt anybody here could guess the degree to which your TA will help. But as this is kind of what they are in business for, they should.

. And lastly, the ATL option mentioned by the previous poster is often expensive (at least for ATL terminations).

All I could really suggest is that since you paid a TA, use them and see what they can do if you feel uncomfortable with the change.

If it can not get changed, I would not sweat it. SLC is an easy connection. Of course NYC can meltdown, but in that case you would be in danger no matter what.

MSPeconomist

To reiterate and be very clear about this: Your travel agent was obligated to inform you of the aircraft change at JFK on your "direct" flight. He/she should not have sold you this ticket under the belief that you were flying nonstop from DUB to SLC. If you had purchased the ticket directly from an airline, DOT rules mandate that the stop in NYC be disclosed.

makasha21

Thanks, that part about SLC being an easy connection gives me some hope. Although I am disappointe
d that our TA did not make it clear that DL45 was a connecting flight with an equipment change at JFK, I wasn't previously worried about not making a connection at JFK (because ignorance is bliss, obviously! &#128521. The tighter connection at SLC after the schedule change was what bothered me. Tomorrow I will call the TA and see about switching to a direct JFK-PHX route. Thanks for the input! You all saved me at least an hour of wasted time trying to reach delta

flyerCO

Note DL will take control of the ticket for 50$. From then on the TA can't touch it. May be easier then getting TA to make change.

DL will be happy to reroute to other flights, including via ATL/MSP/DTW. While they require 90 minutes of changes to get a refund, any non-trivial change means DL will allow a rebooking. You also qualify for a change due to routing change. While DUB-SLC had a stop in JFK, you're now booked DUB-JFK and JFK-SLC. Add in the cut in connecting time at SLC and you've met DL conditions for a no charge/ no extra fare rebooking.

Paplover

Another piece of good news is Dublin is a CBP Pre-clearance site. You will clear US customs in Dublin before you get to the gate. This saves time when you land at JFK but you need to get to Dublin airport very early, like 2-3 hours to make sure you get through customs and additional security with time to spare.

MSPeconomist

.....and then be prepared to be trapped in a holding pen with nothing until you can actually board the plane. I HATE preclearance and try to avoid such routings where possible.

kop84

On the plus side if there is a small hiccup in NYC, if there is space, DL would likely allow you to switch to the JFK/PHX flight allowing you to cut out a stop...big hiccups everything goes out the window, but then that's most major hubs these days.

pvn

The Dublin preclearance area isn't too bad, there's a third-party lounge on the ground floor and there are a few newsstand/bar/coffee places. It's not terribly crowded, lots of room to move around. Good runway views from the top floor.

pvn

The one bad thing about DUB is that you go through normal airport security first, then you're in the normal airside area where there are the usual shops/restaurants/etc, then you have to go through security AGAIN to get into the preclearance area.

michael_v

I would try to switch to DUB-ATL-PHX, if only for the sole reason of avoiding JFK.

bennos

Yes, but the second security check is just for your bags and shoes. It's sort of a stupid setup.

With preclearance, 45 minutes is tight but doable at JFK. DL45 seems to usually arrive a few minutes early, though some days it is late enough to jeopardize that short of a connection.

pvn

definitely a better routing. Even DUB-JFK-PHX should be doable at this point.