Thanks for changing my schedule, B6
 

Just checked to see if fares had changed for my BOS/LAX/BOS in May, and saw that they've dropped the red eye heading eastbound and placed me on the 12:45PM flight instead, effectively shortening my trip by a full day.

Anyone think there's a chance they'd put me on Virgin America instead of having me cancel that part of the trip (and me ending up with a credit I may not be able to use)?

For a schedule change that long, they'll give you a full refund. Or if there's a different routing that would work better, they'll put you on that.

No, they'll give me credit, since I paid for 90% of the RT fare with credit. Which raises one question and one problem:

A) They told me the cash part I paid "went to the westbound flight which I'm keeping", so I can't get any cash (credit card) credit. How the hell do they get to chose which leg was paid partially with cash?
B) I'm not planning any further travel this year on B6, so the credit will be wasted. We had paid for very expensive BOS/FLL tix in the fall, knowing the price would probably drop, and that we'd be using that credit for this trip. Now we'll have a nice credit that will probably expire.

They offered to send me back from Long Beach, but I have a rental car from LAX, and they can't get me to Long Beach, that's up to me.

Plan C is that I will rebook on Virgin now, and not cancel my return trip until the last minute, so the credit won't take affect until May, and I'll have a bit longer to hopefully use that credit next year up until May. That would work, wouldn't it? I mean the waiting to credit the flight and having the one year calendar not start until then?

Just check with your rental car company how much the extra charge would be to return to LGB. I've found, mainly with Hertz, it is usually only a few bucks if that when the locations are so close to one another. It can't hurt to ask and avoid any headache on the airline end of things. Unfortunately, schedules do change from time to time, but I would recommend looking into returning the car to LGB as it may cost nothing or a few bucks.

Hadn't booked the car yet. Ran a few "simulations" last night, with Thrifty, Hertz, and National, and it was basically $100 extra for each one, dropping off at LGB after renting at LAX. I think I may just stay over at an airport hotel, using points, and take the damn noon flight the following day. Drop the car as scheduled, and just have a relaxing morning at the hotel and shuttle over to the airport.

Have them put you on the red eye to JFK, from there you get a connecting flight to BOS. What time was your return flight supposed to be? Looks like they're still running an 11:40 PM back in late May.

For the record: Don't do the "wait till the last min to cancel hoping to restart the one year" concept.

One of the (incredibly) unfortunate changes with the Sabre upgrade was that all credits go back to the ORIGINAL expiration date if put back in your account. So even if you cancel in May, it will go back to the fall date for the original credit.

I'd try to ask for a supervisor, and ask if they can possibly extend the credit, as it was a schedule change that made you request the refund, but unless you happen to get me on the phones (grin!) I can't promise any other supervisor would do that for you. But it never hurts to ask.

I just didn't want you to think by postponing the cancel, you'd automatically extend the credit. Sabre will put it back to the original date. (And the part about the credit card being on the return is inane. They *can* refund the credit card part, it's just a very lengthy and annoying process. But it's absolutely doable.)