Outrageous Flight Schedule Change
 

Several months ago we made reservations for a long flight to Cancun that left at 11:30 in the morning. The return flight arrived home about 6:00 in the evening. I just found out that the airline has changed the departure to 6:00 AM! and we now get home on our return trip at MIDNIGHT! Can you believe it?

A major criteria for selecting this trip was the airport times!! Driving home this late will be dangerous in terms of falling asleep at the wheel. Now we'll be forced to buy 2 additional nights at a hotel. This just isn't fair!

Do we have ANY rights in a case like this???

Yes, just call them and ask them to change it to a schedule that is to your liking.

Alternately, I'm sure they will provide a refund.

Is this a charter flight? I don't find any regular airline schedule leaving for Cancun at 06.00 or returning at 23.59.

By the way, welcome to FlyerTalk.

If it is scheduled (not chartered) service, the airline is obligated to allow you to pick a new schedule that better meets your needs or to refund your itinerary.

UA has been most generous in allowing me to re-route when severe schedule changes happen.

It seems a bit suspicious to me that the schedule change was from exactly 6pm to exactly 6am. Is it possible that you mis-interpreted the original flight times?

the former case was an arrival for the return; the latter was the departure for the outbound

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

No, it's not a charter, it's Alaska. Unfortunately there are no longer any other flights to choose from. With a little digging I found that the flights jump to this new schedule just 2 weeks before our departure. And I still haven't received any official correspondence from the airline regarding this dramatic change in schedule. (I found out by accident when I tried to check seat assignments on-line and was told to call the airline.)

Canceling the trip would mean other financial penalties. Most of our hotels in Mexico required full payment when we made the reservations... even those booked thru this airline's Vacation department.

I feel like we're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Welcome to FlyerTalk...

As others have recommended, CALL Alaska Airlines and explain your situation. Although they can't book you on another one of their flights, they might be able to rebook you on a partner flight or even a competitor's flights. If you ask professionally as well, they might be able to take care of your hotel arrangements as well.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

Aloha

Whenever an airline makes a schedule change it is required to notify ticketed passengers of the change and obtain their consent to that change. If you don't agree, you are entitled to a full refund even if your ticket is nonrefundable.

Two "tricks" airlines have attempted to use on me in the past when schedule changes have taken place are to call and advise me of the change [as opposed to securing my consent], and where the ticket is issued by an agency to pull the same stunt with the agency later asserting it was the obligation of the agency to secure the necessary consent.

If indeed you have not been formally notified I recommend you play dumb and wait until the eve of departure to lodge your complaint. In the meantime:

1. Secure a copy of Alaska's carriage contract to find out the terms of your contract which address this scenario [Although I cannot find the contract on Alaska's web site, a copy is supposed to be available simply for the asking at any airport or city ticket office].

2. Investigate other options and if you find one or more, only then play your "notification and consent" card. You can always find another carrier who services the route demanding Alaska either place you on that carrier at its expense or you can do so then suing Alaska [see below] for the difference in fares.

3. Notify the Department of Transportation to find out what remedies you may have through their offices [but don't do so until the eve of travel otherwise this will act as evidence you actually knew of the schedule change far in advance].

4. If you play dumb and wait, on the eve of departure there will not be any other options available and the airline will have to offer you "something." If they don't they're in breach of contract for not notifying you of the change [something you can point to with specificity after you have secured Alaska's carriage contract].

If you are unable to secure satisfaction, technically Alaska cannot compel you to pay anything for its breach of contract. So I would dispute the charge asserting your consent was secured by fraud [Alaska's failure to adhere to its own carriage contract]. If successful, Alaska will be relegated to its legal rights and the law of contracts clearly states a party to a contract who itself is in breach loses the standing to maintain an action to recover for the other's alleged breach.

If this doesn't work, sue Alaska in small claims court. Alaska will likely respond your complaint is superseded by federal law and thus barred by the Airline Deregulation Act [another common technique]. However it is not because the ADA says nothing more than you as a passenger cannot sue for damages caused by the airline's choice of routes or pricing. Your suit would be based upon Alaska's breach of contract; something not affected by the ADA.

Good luck and let us know what happens!

Four years ago we were scheduled on AA going to Fort Lauderdale for a few days and then continuing on to Paradise Island in the Bahamas. I suddenly got notified that the flight we were on from FL was cancelled and we were rescheduled on a different flight a full 6 hours later. I did some research and found there was a flight on Continental in the morning and the price was right. I called an AA supervisor and they booked me on the short Continental flight so I got there as originally scheduled. They were wonderful about accommodating us.