madbrain

So, my husband booked a flight on AeroMexico to travel roundtrip from SFO to Cancun in June, supposedly for 4 nights.

He just got an e-mail from Kiwi that his return flight was rescheduled. That includes leaving 22h48mn earlier, arriving 11h24mn later, and a 35h34mn layover.
It's not even 4 nights at all anymore, barely three. He couldn't reach anyone at Kiwi by phone, so we went straight to online dispute with Chase (flight was booked on our joint Sapphire Preferred).
I don't understand how it's even legal for an airline to do this. Any advice on how to proceed except give Chase the detailed info on original and rescheduled flight ?

RFNJ

That is the worst reschedule I have seen in a long time. Was he originally 2-stop on his way home?

Have him call Aeromexico, as they are the ones doing the rescheduling. Not sure what his class of travel is, but to look on their website, there are plenty of 1 stop (MEX) options on Saturday the 25th. Best looking one to me is a 1:29 departure, 1:10 layover, 7:50pm arrival in SFO (AM529, AM664). If you feel the layover is too short, you can do AM525 (12:16 departure) connecting to AM 664.

Unless he bought a flexible fare, there will be charges. Aeromexico loves their charges.

madbrain

Thanks. Yes, he was originally on a 2-stop on the way home. But the layover was about 2 hours at worst, not 35hr+.

I'm not sure what class of service either, he is at work right now, I will ask him tonight, but probably one of the cheapest classes based on the price I see, and I doubt there is any flexibility. $430 was the the round-trip cost. He booked it a month ago. Thanks for looking for another itinerary with AeroMexico.

Even if he reschedules, whether there is a charge or not, what's to stop AeroMexico from rescheduling again with a similarly horrible result days before departure, or worse, in the middle of the trip ?
The idea of having to pay another penny to fix this in a situation that is completely the carrier's fault seems wrong to me, and I can't imagine it is legal to pull a stunt like this. If it is, then some laws sure need changing.

I think getting a refund and going with another carrier that doesn't pull this kind of stunt would be the preferred way to go. Is a dispute with Chase likely to succeed ? What does one do in this situation if a refund is the desired outcome ?

Also, what would be an alternate carrier for this route that wouldn't pull this ? It seems prices have gone way, way up for this itinerary and dates since he booked it. Traveling through SJC or OAK instead of SFO is an option, but doesn't seem to help the price.

AxelJF

Have you managed to resolve this by now?
I wouldn't really be worried about it and neither say someone is pulling a stunt here. It is fairly common that flights get cancelled and that some automated rebooking algorithm comes up with a rather strange or inconvenient alternative for reasons nobody understands. In such a scenario simply call the airline and most agents will immediately agree with you that such connecting times as yours are more than crap. I'm sure they'll find you a better connection if seats are available. Most likely even without the stopover in GDL.
The airline cancelled so they are in the spotlight now to provide you an alternative that is as close as possible to your initial routing and travel times as possible.
My experience with AM is that agents are usually very capable and helpful in such circumstances. As bad as certain feedback on AM is if it comes to refunds, they are rather easy to deal with if its about rebookings, cancellations, etc. And in no way should you expect to be charged a fare difference or fee if they cancelled a flight. You don't have to accept the initial and clearly automated rebooking if you don't like it. I'd be more concerned if you were flying on lowcost carries such as Volaris or VivaAerobus, but not really regarding AM. Good luck, but I'm sure you'll get this sorted in an acceptable and smooth way.

madbrain

Thanks for the explanation. That makes some sort of sense, but I still don't understand how anyone who have programmed those algorithms would expect passengers to ever accept such an itinerary change. Kiwi.com was of absolutely no help, and wanted him to rebook and pay the fare difference, offering a measly 10 EUR discount for the inconvenience, which is ridiculous.

My husband called AM last night; and they offered him a return on Sunday June 26th, which means he gets to stay an extra night rather than have his trip cut short, and that is OK with him. This is with only 1 connection at MEX rather than two indeed. However, the connection is just 45 minutes. I told him that was very tight and it may not be enough time. If I was on this trip, I would not personally have accepted the new booking, but it's just him in this case. It appears to be all on one ticket, so if the first plane is late, and the second one isn't, the airline would have to rebook him as I understand. But if for some reason they didn't, perhaps the Chase sapphire preferred travel insurance would. I have never had a connection at MEX. Is such a short connection realistic ? Seems like MEX is Mexico's busiest airport. I'm not sure how busy that travel date is. This for the return, so there should be no immigration or customs to go through, and he should not have to fetch any checked-in luggage and check it back in during the layover as can happen in other cases. Any advice would be appreciated from those who have traveled through MEX.

madbrain

Just after I typed this, I got an instant message from him that kiwi refunded his tickets. So now he has to start over with the flight search. Still would like to know what's a reasonable connection time at MEX though, as it may come up again.

AxelJF

They just refunded the ticket without you asking to do so??? That's a rather bizarre thing to do. They really shouldn't if that's not what you requested. I would inquire that in all honesty, demanding explanation why (if you really didn't ask for it).
And generally speaking, I'd always try to avoid the third party such as kiwi.com in case you are facing schedule changes and rather directly speak with the airline. Of course kiwi tries to make money by "helping" you, so they wouldn't tell you it's the airline's job. For a long time I bought my tickets via third parties and I also never had an issue to directly talk to the airline about my bookings.

Anyways, regarding connecting times in MEX. 45 mins can indeed be tough, considering that boarding usually starts within 60-45 mins before international flights. But seeing that you got this connection directly from AM it should be fine. Each airport has an official minimum connecting time. That is what airlines rely on when calculating your connections and routings. So, in official terms, 45mins is enough. MEX can be crowded, but flying through it myself a few times, I never thought it's a mess or not doable. There is no passport checks in Mexico and no stamping necessary, you are just required to hand over your immigration card at boarding that's it. So no waiting times there. Checked luggage should go all the way through to SFO. You are only required to pick up and go through customs in MEX when you enter the country, but not when leaving it. So, you simply go from one gate to the other - and I also believe AM flies from the same terminal. They just recently started to fly out of the other one, too, but afaik only to lesser known destinations. So, without terminal change, 45 mins should be doable, especially if it's the same booking and airline. If in doubt, always inform the crew in flight one that you have a tight connection, so they can tell you if flight two is reachable, if someone might be waiting for you, or that they will simply check with ground staff.

madbrain

This is likely their response to the CC dispute that was placed with Chase as soon as the notification of the change was received. I tried to follow up with Chase, but they said once the case was submitted, no more update could be done.

I have had much less luck dealing with airlines, unfortunately. Lost money in an XL airways bankruptcy a few years ago. Some airlines became very hard to reach by phone during the pandemic. Last year, Delta reported 8 hour wait times when I tried to call them to change an itinerary while in Paris. I finally managed to do it, but it took about a week to reach them. Good thing it wasn't urgent.
I have found some discount airlines in Asia are very hard/impossible to reach by phone, also. Air Asia, etc. I try to avoid those, but it's not always possible.

Thanks for the helpful info. In the end, I used some American miles that had been sitting in the account for years unused because we almost never fly routes that make sense with them. He got a flight from SJC and back, which is much closer to home than SFO since we live in SJ. Just one connection, with reasonable layover, 1h45 on DFW.
Outbound AA 2046, AA 1547 on June 21, return on June 26 via AA 1030, AA 364. Shows up as being $1415 on Google flights right now - crazy for main cabin.
Paid 101,500 AA miles plus $99 of taxes. Wish we had booked with AA earlier last month rather than AM. It would have been far fewer miles. Couldn't predict AM was going to pull this, though.

SK AAR

Next time skip Kiwi - or any other OTA! I'm surprised that AM actaully agreed to deal with your husband rather than referring him to contact Kiwi.

RFNJ

I am glad that in the end, you were able to find flights that worked - though truly a ridiculous series of events you went through. FWIW, I will say that I have been a regular flyer on AM for years, and in general, they function quite well. Terminal 2 in MEX is quite compact, and usually, there is no security screening for domestic transfers coming in, just a passport/boarding pass check. So AM to AM or AM to DL transfers go relatively quick. The thing that makes 45 minutes undesirable is that MEX is an overcrowded airport. I regularly suffer delays ACA-MEX due to flight congestion, and that can add an easy 30-45 minutes. I think you dodged a potential bullet with that 45-minute connection.