Schedule Change Question
 

Any change that I could do this?
I am scheduled on a flight BHM-MEM-MSP-SLC in about a month. The schedule has changed about 10 hours and is now BHM-DTW-SLC. I have been offered to change the flights due to the schedule change. My question is do you think that I could get NW to change the departure airport to ATL instead of BHM? If I gave them a good reason? Thanks in advance.

You could inquire and see whether or not a flight out of ATL at this time is cheaper or about the same price. For a 10 hour change I am sure they would offer you a refund of the fare...

As per changing the departure, I think you'd have better luck with NW, then DL. ATL-SCL would be a DL inter-hub flight, and I don't see an airline giving that away. And even if you gave them a good reason to you, it might not be a good reason to them. The most likely scenario is a new flight closer to your time, using different hubs, maybe they'll route you through ATL to get you in/out at the same times, otherwise you have a strong case for refund-without-penalty.

Find a routing you like BHM-ATL-SLC, ask for that, then bring up that you could take it from ATL. That might make it seem more reasonable to them.

I can really see the operating carrier saying you're changing your original routing, and making you re-fare the ticket. Maybe on MX, they'd let you remove the BHM-ATL (hey, it's done frequently enough FNT-DTW-xxx), yet maybe/maybe-not proactively on a schedule change.

I can see either case, which is why you just have to ask and see.

Thanks for the help. I called three times and each time they refused to change to ATL-SLC. That was to be expected, but I had to try. Ended up with a BHM-MEM-SLC. Not too bad of a change.

One benefit that might come out of the merger is more flexibility with requests like this. I live near PUW, fly a lot out of there, LWS (30 miles) and GEG (70 miles in the opposite direction). Delta flys to LWS and GEG, and I choose which one based on price and convenience. Several times I've had schedule changes, and every time I have asked Delta to switch airports they have agreed -- probably happened 4 or 5 times over the years, including twice this past year.