Roxors

I'm quite worried about possible cancellations next week. Myself, my fiancee and my son are flying CLT-DTW-LAS next Wednesday (7/4). We are getting married out there on 7/7 and have thousands of dollars tied up in hotels, reception, etc., along with about 25 guests coming from all over the country. First I heard of the cancellations was last night, a week before our flight, and I checked last nights flight, and sure enough the DTW-LAS leg had been cancelled. So of course, we're quite nervous at this point.

From the sounds of things, they are cancelling these flights a day or so ahead of time, which may help. We need to be out there no later than 7/5. Of course our redeye flight home on 7/8 may be affected but we're not as worried about that one as we are as getting out there in a timely manner. Any thoughts anyone may have would be appreciated. Thanks!

kcnwa

Well, hopefully by next week, things will start to clear up. However, in your case, you may want to call NW and see if they will cancel your ticket, explain that you CANNOT be on a canceled flight and one leg has been canceled already. That might actually get you a free refund.

Then I would take my money and book on another airline that has plenty of options into LAS. And book flights earlier in the morning on 7/4.

At this point, anyone with critical business or personal (such as a marriage!) reasons should not gamble with NW.

Wow, I never tough I would say that!

Roxors

Last night's flight (6/27) from DTW-LAS, the same flight we're scheduled to be on next week, had been cancelled. I would guess it would be way too soon at this point to call them about next Wednesday, wouldn't it? Believe me I wouldn't have gambled at all on them had I known this was going to be happening, we booked the tickets in January, and in fact have been planning this wedding for well over a year.

kcnwa

Sorry read that too fast, thought you saw that last night you flight was cancelled

Anywho, worst you can do is call and ask. Apparently they have extra people on hand to deal with the increased calls. Also, if you get one agent who isn't helpful, hang up and try again.

Roxors

Thanks for the advice. We live in Asheville, about a 2 hour drive from CLT. I checked other options for flying out there from CLT those same days and they were more than twice the price we had paid. Cheaper from Atlanta, about a 3 hour drive or so, but that might be an option. I guess I'll give them a call now and see what they say but I'm sure it will be a bunch of Customer Service mumbojumbo like we got earlier in the month when they cancelled my fiancee's AVL-DTW-MDW flight and blamed it on weather when the weather was fine. Still haven't heard back from them on that one, and we emailed CS like we were told to over two weeks ago.

Any other thoughts anyone might have would be appreciated...thanks again!

azj

THe beginning of the month shouldn't yield as many problems as the end of the month. While NWA is short on physical pilots, I would venture to guess that most of the problems of late were timing out issues. Pilots can only fly (block) a maximum of 100 hours in a 30 day period. Because NWA is short staffed, each pilot is flying more than normal and with added delays for weather and ground congestion, a pilot will reach their monthly cap quickly. To further exacerbate the situation, I think the NWA pilot contract caps the monthly flying at something lower than 100 hours. So, you can see the end of the month will bring on the worst of the problems.


AZJ

nathockens

Next week we'll also be into July, and much of the crew shortages will have been alleviated.

No need to add too much stress in an already stressful time; I'm sure you'll be fine.

SchmutzigMSP

Have you purchased travel/trip insurance? Might not be a bad idea considering how much you have tied into this trip already.

Otherwise, start watching your flight(s) 24 hours out and see how it looks. In the meantime, develop a list of viable alternatives that you can suggest NW to reroute you on if there are problems. For example, US has 5 daily flights from CLT-LAS. Odds are one of those would work and you could probably get switched to that. Otherwise, consider alternate routings on NW through MSP and MEM. Odds are that not all of those flights would have issues. If you do have to look at other airlines, NW likes to reroute their customers on CO first, then DL, then US, then UA/AA last. So look at flight schedules and come up with a few alternative routings *after* your original CLT-DTW flight would have left. They won't rebook you on an earlier flight simply because you are concerned about it, at least not for free.

Roxors

Sounds like more good advice. Frankly I'd love for them to switch me to AVL-DTW-LAS or AVL-MSP-LAS as it would alleviate having to drive to Charlotte, but that would probably hoping for too much. I guess I'll start checking out alternatives now and checking my flights on Monday to see how it's looking. How far ahead of time can you check flight info on their (or some different) website? Are they notifying people of cancellations early via email or other means?

azj

Update - A buddy from Pinnacle has confirmed alot of available flying for all domiciles and both CA and Fo positions for the month of July. We're talking TONS of flying that might prove to be more flying than there are pilots. Just be aware that this issue might end up spilling over to Pinnacle operated flights. As for Mesaba, things seem to be ok for the moment, but I would expect some issues when the deliveries of up to 4 a/c a month starts in September. Mesaba seems to be ahead of the curve for now in hiring and training, but we'll see what happens when all the resources reach their maximum.


AZJ

SchmutzigMSP

They won't send you out of AVL, so I wouldn't even ask (even though it never hurts to ask).

You can start checking your flight status on nwa.com or a site like flightstats.com anytime you want, although the data really only becomes relevant about 24 hours out from departure. They are trying to notify all customers via email/phone calls if their information is stored in the "My NWA Info" area of nwa.com, but I've heard there have been too many cancelleations to keep up with everyone that needs to be notified, so your best bet, as always in these types of situations, is to be proactive and monitor your flights yourself. If you notice a delay that would cause a mis-connection or you notice a cancellation, don't wait for them to call you. You should immediately call them and see what you can work out.

Roxors

Well...back from my wedding trip now and unbelievably they did switch us to out of AVL. On 7/2 got a message from them letting me know our 7/8 redeye home (LAS-DTW-CLT) had a cancelled leg (DTW-CLT), and that we had been switched to a 9:00 PM flight the night of 7/9 from DTW-CLT, which meant a 16 hour layover in Detroit. I called the number they left, and told them that was unacceptable, and the CSR agreed. I then asked if they could switch us to out of AVL and she checked and did, so we were able to get out of the 2 1/2 hour drive to CLT there and back, plus we got an extra night in Vegas out of the deal. So everything worked out for the best. Quite surprised it worked out this way.

MKEbound

Northwest is usually pretty good about taking care of pax. Congratulations on your wedding!

Roxors

Thanks! It was a stressful weekend all in all with the 116 degree temps and the number of people getting married on 7-7-07, but it all worked out relatively painlessly.

NOLAnwGOLD

You can always by some refundable fares on another airline for plan B and if you don't need the cancel and get your money back...