Schedule/Equipment Changes are a comin'
 

Logged in this morning and have noticed some changes. Thanksgiving and Christmas itineraries have only minor changes, but I have what looks to be four equipment changes (out of eight segments). Two on Thanksgiving aren't much of a change (i.e. Pinnacle to SkyWest CRJ900s), but two at Christmas are mainline to RJ (MD-88 to CR9 and MD-88 to CR7--ouch!!). I'm waiting for the full update, because some changes are posted, while others seem to be in the works...where the online timetable is updated, but my itinerary isn't quite updated (upgrade shows not eligible and flight number doesn't line up with timetable).

How has everyone's luck been lately with schedule/equipment changes? I've been unlucky as of last summer with finding flexible agents since they followed the rules to a "t" (which I can't fault them for that) when I had schedule changes of only +/- 20 minutes or so.

Should I try and shoot for the moon by asking them to switch my airport from BWI to DCA, along with better times (knowing that times didn't change that much, but major equipment changes) or will that appear to greedy and make a potentially helpful agent think I'm crossing the line?

I had DL accommodate me on different flights when the AC was down-gauged last month BUT the flight change - while at the same time - moved me from F down to a RJ (with no F).

how do you guys keep track of the equipment changes? I get schedule changes every week too but how the heck do you keep track of what kind of plane you were on after the change is there? Do you just remember or can you find it somewhere?

Part of it's memory - when I have itineraries E-mailed to me, I enter the partner AC types and seat assignments (e.g. NW and AF seats I reserve through their websites). When the itinerary changes from an F seat to a AC without F, I don't care what plane I was on originally . . .

Had a schedule change (with no notification) for a flight in Nov. The return became a two connection ordeal with me arriving in SLC at 3:00 and my connecting flight leaving at 1:30. Slight problem, I would say. Called SMS and was rebooked, but am now leaving 4 hours earlier because it is the only itin of the day that will work.

My December trip has been altered twice today, downgrading me to Y on outbound, then inbound two hours later . . . No notifications but resolved now.

A boatload of my upcoming award trips got flight number changes. Only a couple legs had minor time changes. I was hoping for more time changes so I could rebook a couple on different flights. :D

FYI, I just called SMS and got my itins updated. I asked them to tell me what equipment changes occurred and they said even they can't see the type of plane I was on after the flight number changes. They can tell me what I'm on now, and I said, guess what? so can I! Anyway, only way to keep track is to note it beforehand.

I noticed the equipment changes because I booked these flights recently, so I can still remember the finer details. I guessed wrong on the Thanksgiving flights...they have been updated where the flight number changed, but still operated by Pinnacle. The Christmas mainline downgrades where obvious to me because they now show as being operated by DL Connection carriers.

I'll call SMS tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get a sympathetic agent who will throw me a bone and give me some favorable changes.

Friday, I booked LAX HSV in November. I chose DL 1212 at 0600 JUST because it was a 764 with a better upgrade chance (20 of 36 seats available on seat map) and seatback video. Today, it is now a 763. If I wanted to fly on a 763, I could have taken either the 0715 or 0830 flights and gotten some sleep. I just tried calling DL to see if they would switch me for free to the CVG flight where I could use a PMU; no luck. :(

I guess I should have taken the CVG flight originally. :(

I have been out of the country for a couple of years so I haven't had to worry about domestic upgrades. I really thought that SMS (actually international desk) would make the change. Hopefully, the times will change by a minute or two so I can give it another try.

Marc

edited to add:

Sending an email to SMS via delta.com sure works great. Ten minutes after I sent in my request, I received a positive response.

Thanks Delta! :-)

When will the Delta website have a button that says, "Confirm Itinerary, Flight Changes are Fine"? I bought two trips back in March, and have had to call at least 10 times because of various schedule changes. Some were major, but the ones that just loaded this weekend were differences of 5 minutes, and everything makes sense. I suppose this is to prevent people from saying "Flights are fine" when the flyer doesn't review them thoroughly and doesn't notice a misconnect...

I agree. This is a huge flaw in the Delta experience.

It would not be hard to program in the minimum legal connection times and flag any misconnects or extremely long layovers. Otherwise, yes I think they should have a "clean up" button. This would should noticeably reduce SMS calls, which would save DL money and allow SMS agents to handle "real" problems.

How does NWA or other carriers handle the situation?

I don't know, nor do I think it really matters. If their biggest users are on this board complaining about it, and SMS even jokes about the problem, then I think their is an issue. They need to get their IT dept to figure a way around this.