Ridiculous and non-notified flight change--now sorted, but why did I have to do this?
Jun 13, 2019, 12:53 pm
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: MSY
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Ridiculous and non-notified flight change--now sorted, but why did I have to do this?
A few weeks from now I'll be flying MBS-DTW-ATL-MSY (incredibly, this was the best routing I could come up with to get home from MBS). Last November, I bought tickets for an itinerary that left MBS at 1:50 PM and had a 54-minute connection in DTW. As a frequent AA flyer, I'm prepared for schedule changes on a ticket purchased so far in advance, but DL never sent me any emails or other notifications about changes. Yesterday when double-checking the various itineraries for this trip, I looked at my booking on DL's website and was rather dismayed to see that the MBS-DTW flight had been changed...to one leaving at 6:30 AM! This was not only impossible for me to make, but also resulted in an 8.5-hour DTW layover. I quickly looked at the day's schedule and found that there was indeed still a flight leaving at 1:50 PM--with a different flight number than my original ticket--and it was being sold as a valid itinerary with both of my other flights. I called DL immediately and got myself re-ticketed onto that one, thank God.
My question for the board is, what the hell was DL doing re-booking me onto a 6:30 AM flight when they still had a flight at the exact time I had already booked? And why did they never notify me of any change? I would have never known about this had I not proactively checked on my itinerary.
My question for the board is, what the hell was DL doing re-booking me onto a 6:30 AM flight when they still had a flight at the exact time I had already booked? And why did they never notify me of any change? I would have never known about this had I not proactively checked on my itinerary.
Last edited by travelmad478; Jun 13, 2019 at 1:03 pm
Jun 13, 2019, 1:01 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: MSP/ORD
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Posts: 318
I feel your pain.
i remember a similar issue on UA in the mid-2000s — we had booked tickets ORD-DEN-GTF months in advance, and a few weeks before departure I inadvertently discovered that, without notice, UA had changed our routing to ORD-MLI-DEN-GTF, even though there was still a direct ORD-DEN flight leaving at approximately the same time as our original sector. The idea that a computer would route somebody flying between two hubs on a connection at the Quad Cities still irks me...
i remember a similar issue on UA in the mid-2000s — we had booked tickets ORD-DEN-GTF months in advance, and a few weeks before departure I inadvertently discovered that, without notice, UA had changed our routing to ORD-MLI-DEN-GTF, even though there was still a direct ORD-DEN flight leaving at approximately the same time as our original sector. The idea that a computer would route somebody flying between two hubs on a connection at the Quad Cities still irks me...
Jun 13, 2019, 1:01 pm
#3
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The auto-rebook function does not work well on any of the US legacy carriers. I would almost rather not have it at all, but sometimes it does do what I want and that means one less thing to worry about.
You can pretty much take it as a heads up and then call in if there is something else you want. As you did.
You can pretty much take it as a heads up and then call in if there is something else you want. As you did.
Jun 13, 2019, 2:17 pm
#4
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Join Date: Apr 2003
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It actually does work pretty well on AA. In the past 5 years or so that I’ve been doing a ton of domestic flights with them, including a lot of flights booked with BA Avios, I’ve had dozens of changes, but all were communicated to me as soon as they occurred, and only a handful involved time changes meaningful enough to have to call in for.
Jun 13, 2019, 2:50 pm
#6
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Wondering now about my seat assignment—there is none for the first MBS-DTW flight. I just went to select seats and there are only two available for no upcharge, neither of which I want (I like aisle seats and these are windows). There are quite a few seats available that I’d have to pay for, though (first few rows of coach, exit row etc). Can I assume that if I don’t select a seat in advance, I’ll probably end up getting assigned to one of those? Worst case is I get one of the two window seats that now appear to be free. It’s a short flight and I’ll just deal with it.
Jun 13, 2019, 3:00 pm
#7
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It’s all correct and had to be initially. I bought the ticket online and got an email confirmation.
Wondering now about my seat assignment—there is none for the first MBS-DTW flight. I just went to select seats and there are only two available for no upcharge, neither of which I want (I like aisle seats and these are windows). There are quite a few seats available that I’d have to pay for, though (first few rows of coach, exit row etc). Can I assume that if I don’t select a seat in advance, I’ll probably end up getting assigned to one of those? Worst case is I get one of the two window seats that now appear to be free. It’s a short flight and I’ll just deal with it.
Jun 13, 2019, 3:22 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2013
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My question for the board is, what the hell was DL doing re-booking me onto a 6:30 AM flight when they still had a flight at the exact time I had already booked? And why did they never notify me of any change? I would have never known about this had I not proactively checked on my itinerary.
1) Cancel DL xxxx departing 1:50pm
2) Rebook you on DL yyyy departing 6:30am
<some time passes, could be minutes, could be days since we don't know when your flight changed>
3) Establish DL zzzz departing 1:50pm.
I can't answer the lack of notification, that's something that should always happen.
Jun 13, 2019, 4:39 pm
#9
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Join Date: Apr 2003
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I'm spitballing a bit, but imagine the system went in this order:
1) Cancel DL xxxx departing 1:50pm
2) Rebook you on DL yyyy departing 6:30am
<some time passes, could be minutes, could be days since we don't know when your flight changed>
3) Establish DL zzzz departing 1:50pm.
1) Cancel DL xxxx departing 1:50pm
2) Rebook you on DL yyyy departing 6:30am
<some time passes, could be minutes, could be days since we don't know when your flight changed>
3) Establish DL zzzz departing 1:50pm.
To their credit, Aerolineas Argentinas put me on the next flight later that afternoon, thank God.
Jun 14, 2019, 9:13 am
#11
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I agree that the main problem here is the notification system. I get that flight schedules change and auto-rebook isn't perfect. It happens, sometimes it's frustrating to deal with, but whatever.
What I can't decipher is what logic DL automation uses to decide when to send notification and when not to. I've gotten everything from radio silence to live agent phone calls to tell me about a schedule change (in advance of day-of-departure).
As far as I can tell, there is no correlation between occurrence or type of notification and severity of the change. I've gotten robocalls and emails for flight # changes or 5 min shifts in block time; and received nothing for 3-hour shifts resulting in misconnects.
What I can't decipher is what logic DL automation uses to decide when to send notification and when not to. I've gotten everything from radio silence to live agent phone calls to tell me about a schedule change (in advance of day-of-departure).
As far as I can tell, there is no correlation between occurrence or type of notification and severity of the change. I've gotten robocalls and emails for flight # changes or 5 min shifts in block time; and received nothing for 3-hour shifts resulting in misconnects.
Jun 14, 2019, 11:02 am
#13
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Why do FTers keep posting this stuff. OP, there is a post over in the AA forum that complains about a similar situation with AA (and, btw, that poster never has problems on UA/DL). 
By the way, I've been flying since the 70's and this has ALWAYS been a problem!
Experienced flyers KNOW to check their reservations weekly and at least bi-weekly to ensure that there haven't been any schedule change,
By the way, I've been flying since the 70's and this has ALWAYS been a problem!Experienced flyers KNOW to check their reservations weekly and at least bi-weekly to ensure that there haven't been any schedule change,
Jun 14, 2019, 11:10 am
#14
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Why do FTers keep posting this stuff. OP, there is a post over in the AA forum that complains about a similar situation with AA (and, btw, that poster never has problems on UA/DL). By the way, I've been flying since the 70's and this has ALWAYS been a problem!
Experienced flyers KNOW to check their reservations weekly and at least bi-weekly to ensure that there haven't been any schedule change,
By the way, I've been flying since the 70's and this has ALWAYS been a problem!Experienced flyers KNOW to check their reservations weekly and at least bi-weekly to ensure that there haven't been any schedule change,
Those of us who already know don't lost anything. Those who don't know can gain some knowledge. This seems like a net positive.