Why not a compromise with "use it or lose it:"...
 

As it stands (if it stands), the airlines will only allow full fares to have any leeway withou a fee. Why not make the rules similar to upgradable fares:

1) Only the lowest fares will be "use it or lose it"

2) Some restricted fares will allow same day standby without fee

3) On irregular days, agents should have the authority to place pax from any ticket on a flight with seats if there are delays or overbookings forcast.

4) Enforce the change fee/ Enforce the advance notice of the change/ Don't hold us to a new date.

Moving to TravelBuzz for responses.

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Craig6z
Buzz & United Moderator
[email protected]

In my opinion the airline must compensate me for flight delay or cancellation, even due to weather, if I see the delay and I can identify available alternate flights that will get around the delay and the airline refused to change my reservation to the new flights without extra charge.

In one actual case I got to Boston to do BOS ORD HNL and saw that the BOS ORD leg was delayed. I asked on the spot to change the routing to BOS DIA HNL and they refused. Getting to ORD, the airline had another chance to fix the problem by putting me on the next ORD HNL flight ahead of other standbys but they refused that. They eventually put me on another airline. They did give me some vouchers when I wrote a few weeks later although less than what someone bumped would have gotten, and they did give me miles for the alternate flight on the other airline.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Incidentally my original ORD HNL flight was a one stop in DIA and my first chosen rerouting would have me boarding that same flight at DIA.

I didn't think fast enough to pull out my father's premier card (I have the same name) to get ahead of the other standbys at ORD.

Personally, I can't afford to throw away $200 or $300 here and there every couple of months. Therefore, if I were considering purchasing a use-it-or-lose-it air ticket, I would ask myself several things:

1) Will I HAVE to fly? In the case of Boston, DC, Philly, and even Montreal, the answer may be that driving, Greyhound and Amtrak all provide reasonable alternatives, and thus, I do not need to purchase use-it-or-lose-it tickets.

2) If I MUST fly there, do I have a choice of different airlines? Southwest and JetBlue don't fly everywhere, so it's possible that if I MUST go, use-it-or-lose-it is my only option. In that case, I would go back to square one and ask myself if I REALLY want/need to go, or if I can substitute somewhere closer to home.

3) Finally, If I DO have a variety of options, what are they? Effectively, AirTran is NOT an option. American is not an option, albeit for a different reason. I have United miles, so they are a good choice. Delta, as well. But I really like Southwest's safety record. Not only that, but they are VERY user friendly as to re-using tickets, no change fees, and also, affordable. It would be really tough for me to purchase a use-it-or-lose-it ticket when SouthWest and JetBlue are more accommodating.

I'm just one person, but restricting these tickets is just going to push them all faster into bankruptcy, I'm afraid.