Are non - elite flyers contacted if there is a change in flight schedules? A friend of mine recently arrived at the airport to find that the NW flight schedule had changed and the flight had already left from DEN. He is mad as h*** at NW. For that matter, are elites contacted these days? It might be good to go back to the old "reconfirm your flight" days!

I cant say for sure on non elites, but I am notified via email if a flight changes. I am guessing this is not an elite issue. If you have a world perk number on the itinerary and you profile is up to date on that world perk number, you should be notified. I cant imagine they would program the system not to email non elites. Do you know if his reservation had a world perk # applied and he has an acurate profile?

Sorry about your friend's misadventure. What did NW say in their defense?

I would always verify my itinerary with NW (via NWA.com) before any flights that I am taking (make that for any airline that I am using). These days flights change rather often. NW usually sends me an email for any changes but not always (I think that I catch the changes before they email me). Always make certain you have a email address with the airlines.

I believe (and I know people will correct me if I am wrong) that airlines expect everyone to check their reservation 24 hours prior to your flights. Did your friend do this?

I am non-elite and yes NWA will e-mail you if the flight changes. I booked MSP-HNL in F and got an e-mail like 2 weeks later advising that the flight times changed by like 20 mins and arrival was like 25 earlier.

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Sorry mama i gots to get all the miles i can

Brian

Elite status has nothing to do with messages regarding flight or routing changes. Within the last six months, my wife (silver) and I (platinum) have both had significant changes to routings and flight times without any notice from NW. I routinely call their 800 number one or two days prior to each trip to make sure we don't get into travel trouble because of changes of which we were not advised.

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My experience in the past is that when a phone number is not listed in the reservation, don't expect a phone call. If you purchase a ticket through a travel agent - good luck because chances are they listed their phone number, not yours. Likewise, a contact number at the destination is helpful for the ride home.

I have been alerted via text message on my cell phone.

As a matter of fact, twice last week I took a bump and when they rebooked me, I got a text message alerting me of the new flight times. High tech.

I have a flight booked MIA via IAH in Novemeber
already had an email putting us on a flight from IAH to MSP 2 hours earlier
Long term notice by email - short term by text messenging on CF.


[This message has been edited by jimc_usa (edited 07-02-2003).]

He is a United flyer, so my guess is he is not plugged into any electronic notification system, including an e mail address with them. I do not know if a reservation on an airline that one does not use regularly requires a phone number - I had to give them one for a Contintental reservation today. In contrast, I checked a Delta itinerary the other day and found that a flight had been changed to one that arrived AFTER my connection left (!!) - without a call from them. Good thing I checked! I will ask him these questions. It does reinforce the wisdom of taking personal responsibility for checking on flights.

Have you signed up for the appropriate notification options on nwa.com ?

If your friend got caught up in a schedule change and missed the flight, I have to assume either it was by a few minutes and he was just runnig too late, or it was a major change of more than an hour or two. If it was more than an hour, NW really should have tried to notify him, but then again, many people are hard to find.

Personally, I would never head out for a flight that I had not double checked my intinerary and seat assignment within days of the flight, often hours.

From my friend: "thanx...tell phil that nwa outsources their email deliv...it's unreliable. they did give me a pair of 200 vouchers."

As many have stated already, FF status has nothing to do with flight schedule change notifications. If the reservation is booked via a travel agency, the schedule change is sent to them, in some cases, especially with larger agencies, there are so many changes "queued" to the agency they either end up deleting their "queue" or ignoring them all together.

If NW has an e-mail or home address or phone number and the reservation was booked via NW, there should be at least an attempt at notification except in cases where the change to the schedule is minor (a judgement call here for the most part). Perhaps MSPRSA can give us some more info on the process...

Here are the flight notification options at nwa.com

Select or modify Notification options for your Contacts by checking the appropriate boxes. Refer to the numbers below each proactive Notification option to determine your maximum number of Contacts.

To get details about specific types of Notification, click on the name of the Notification option.

Click "save changes" when you have finished modifying your selections. You can return to My NWA Info at any time to change your Contact information and Notification selections.



Flight Cancellation
4 max. /
3 phone
Schedule Change
3 max. /
0 phone
Elite Upgrade
3 max. /
1 phone
Flight Departure and Gate Status
3 max. /
1 phone
1 hour prior 2 hours prior 3 hours prior 4 hours prior
Flight Arrival and Gate Status
3 max. /
1 phone
Upon Arrival 1 hour prior 2 hours prior 3 hours prior 4 hours prior
Code Share
3 max. /
0 phone


Email Contacts
Sprint PDA

Phone Contacts
Cell Phone N/A N/A

Wireless Contacts
sprint PCS Treo 300 N/A

********************************************

I think northwest has provided just about every possible notification option above.

As discussed earlier in this topic, to take advantage of the various notifications you must sign up.

If you use a travel agent (as discussed earlier) the TA may be notified by Northwest instead of the pax.

RC

Elite status has nothing to do with being contacted / not being contacted in my experience. Prior to being NW elite, I've been notified by telephone. These days NW will often make notifications by email / text pager (goto nwa.com and sign up for notifications).

A few months ago I did get a call from them one morning advising me my noon flight was cancelled and they wanted to re-book me on an earlier flight. I allowed them to do that and then checked the web myself. It turned out my noon flight was canceled but was replaced with a new flight using SF3 equipment.

I called NW back, explained my original flight was cancelled, that I was now booked on a 10am, but I found on the net that they had created a new noon flight, but on different equipment - so they switched me back to the noon flight (operated by Mesaba with a new flight #).

Anyways - I always check a day before on the web and then check again before I leave for the airport. I am also signed up for email / text paging notification, but depending on where I'm at, I don't always have access to my email or my text pager -- thus a phone call or a visit to their website.

If there is a problem, they will make alternative arrangements for you via the phone including putting you onto another carrier if necesary. It's been awhile since they've re-booked me onto another carrier over the phone, but I still had to goto the NW desk at the airport for the endorsement.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

That's basically the process; the notification will go out usually with a time change greater than 15 minutes or a flight number change. The system is pretty automated to either send out a notification my email, mail, or phone directly by the computer. Though even so with the quarterly schedule changes there's usually quite a few that still have to be done manually.




[This message has been edited by msprsa (edited 07-07-2003).]