mykeylee

I booked a flight for myself and 3 other friends from YYZ to YVR departing January 3, 2005 2:30 pm and arriving January 7, 2005 10 pm.

I was trying to buy another ticket for the same flight online when I noticed that our flight was no longer listed. I called Harmony Airways to see what was going on and was told by a rep that the flight has been cancelled/rescheduled. My option now is to depart YYZ at 7:50pm and depart YVR at 6:30am on the respective days.

The problem now is I already booked other parts of our vacation. I booked a minivan rental at a Budget rental near the airport but they close at 6pm that day. I can try to book a minivan somewhere else but likely at a higher cost (the one I found was the cheapest at Budget Rental). Furthermore, we are going to Whistler for a week and needed to do some grocery shopping before we went. But now that we're arriving at 10pm, we won't be able to shop anywhere, especially without a rental car. Also, our departure from YVR is at 6:30am in the morning which means we have to leave Whistler at 3am at the latest. Problem here is our car rental company won't be open until 7am and they do not allow for key drop offs (I already called and asked but this is a moot point since we can't rent a car there anymore). I am also worried about my drive to and from Whistler so late at night, especially since none of us have ever been to B.C., let alone experienced in mountainside driving in pitch black.

I am allowed to change my flight or cancel without penalty but we already booked and paid for our resort as well as our tickets. I really don't want to cancel the trip.

So what I am asking is this, will Harmony Airways compensate us for our troubles? The rep I spoke to said I should write a letter but I don't know how effective that would be. Does anyone have any suggestions?

What I would like to see happen is we are allowed to book our flight for January 2, 2005 (2:55pm departure) to January 8, 2005 (7pm arrival) and Harmony Airways compensate us accomodations, car rental, and maybe food for the extra days we stay. I don't think that's too much to ask for, especially with a small group of 5 people.

I am annoyed because I was never called by Harmony Airways about the change. How is anyone supposed to plan a vacation with an airline if that airline changes schedules so easily?

I don't mean to rant but I'm not sure what to do.

Can anyone please give me some advice?

Aviatrix

Airlines do change their schedules from time to time. There are two fixed "schedule change days" every year (early April and late October) when everything gets shuffled around, and sometimes airlines change their schedules at other times to account for changing demands. This means that if you are booking some time in advance you always have to allow for the possibility that your flight times might change.

You should certainly ask the airline to let you travel at more convenient times, for all the reasons you mentioned here. You could, gently, ask them if they might be prepared to make a goodwill payment towards your additional costs, but as this would be a goodwill payment (rather than something you are entitled to) I would ask nicely and would only ask for what is reasonable. I certainly wouldn't ask them to pay for your food - after all, you've got to eat no matter where you are.

Write them a nice, polite letter explaining your situation, and see what they'll come up with - hopefully they'll do their best to find a satisfactory solution.

Good luck!

tom911

Is there a competing carrier, even if the price is slightly more, that you can book with? Seems like it might be worthwhile to pay more for the airline tickets if they're more convenient, and avail yourself of a refund on the original tickets.

wideman

I would recommend that you choose an airline with faster airplanes.