Pay attention to your airline bookings

[rodi]

I got an email the other day saying one of my flights to europe (ORD-FCO) was going to leave 10 minutes earlier than previously scheduled.

No biggy - I checked my bookings in my tripit app and I still had more than an hour in ORD between my flights....

Except - when I went online, I noticed they'd given me a different flight from SAN-ORD... one that arrived only 13 minutes before my flight to Italy. I wasn *not* notified of this change in flight# and schedule.

The airline I booked through is not the same airline who's flights changed (code-sharing flights) so they're trying to sort it out.

I would have been so hosed if I hadn't been paying attention. As it stands now I have to leave San Diego a bit earlier than planned (the original flight changed time as well) but that's better than missing the flight to Italy.

 

[grasshopper]

Ms G was checking seat assignments 2 weeks ago, and found out our new flight was coming in 50 minutes after our connection had already left. No email, sorry, FU nada.

 

[MichaelB]

I would have been so hosed if I hadn't been paying attention. As it stands now I have to leave San Diego a bit earlier than planned (the original flight changed time as well) but that's better than missing the flight to Italy.

A good reminder that it pays to pay attention.

 

[athena53]

Nasty that they didn't e-mail you. At least if you get a notification you can sometimes call right away and get another flight with no change fee if they've messed up your schedule. AA once changed our flights home from Europe to one with an unacceptably short layover in ORD; I called and requested another routing, through DFW, and they gave it to me.

 

[mpeirce]

A good reminder that it pays to pay attention.

AYUP.

I once booked a flight to San Jose Costa Rico rather than that other one in California. Failed autocomplete.

Luckily I did notice it and was able to fix things before it got too out of hand.

 

[donheff]

Yes, check and recheck. On my honeymoon 31 years ago the airlines kept our travel agent informed but she failed to keep us informed. The connecting flight from DC to NY changed and we missed our flight. We caught another flight but had about 20 minutes to catch our Swiss Air to Geneva in another terminal. DW ran ahead and I sort of ran following with all of our baggage. Swiss Air held the flight and I struggled aboard in a bath of sweat at the last minute. Wouldn't happen today.

 

[MichaelB]

Yes, check and recheck. On my honeymoon 31 years ago the airlines kept our travel agent informed but she failed to keep us informed.

Yes, travel agents. I recall (back in the paper ticket day, in Caracas) checking in one morning, the agent looked at me strangely, excused herself, and phoned someone. A moment later two big guys appeared and attempted to take me in custody. It seems our in house travel agent had written my ticket over another that was already recorded by the airline. When they entered the ticket number it appeared as fraud. We were able to work out that I wasn't stealing anything - it did take a while - and the agency acknowledge their error, but that was one trip that didn't happen.

 

[jollystomper]

These sort of things make me very reluctant to fly anywhere that I cannot get a direct flight.

Fortunately I live 1-4 hours from 7 major airports, so that doesn't restrict me too much.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes, travel agents. I recall (back in the paper ticket day, in Caracas) checking in one morning, the agent looked at me strangely, excused herself, and phoned someone. A moment later two big guys appeared and attempted to take me in custody. It seems our in house travel agent had written my ticket over another that was already recorded by the airline. When they entered the ticket number it appeared as fraud. We were able to work out that I wasn't stealing anything - it did take a while - and the agency acknowledge their error, but that was one trip that didn't happen.

Whoa!

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks for the heads up, Rodi!

Are you leaving soon?

 

[mpeirce]

These sort of things make me very reluctant to fly anywhere that I cannot get a direct flight.

As a mild counter point...

A while back, DW and I were flying to Amsterdam for a river cruise. We needed to connect through Chicago. Our flight was delayed. First by 15 minutes, then 30, then more.

We had a reasonable amount of connecting time, but the margin keep getting smaller and smaller as the flight was delayed further.

I finally got up to talk to the airline person at the gate and mentioned we had an international connection to make in Chicago and we were meeting a boat in Amsterdam.

Turns out there were four other folks in similar situations. We all were swiftly rebooked onto another airline's flight that was leaving in 20 minutes for Chicago.

We had just enough time to walk over to that flight's gate. It was already starting to board.

We made it to Chicago with enough time to make our connection to Amsterdam. Amazingly, our luggage made it too.

We were quite happy campers that day.

(We almost always fly SWA domestically, but since this was international we were on United. They did a great job that day, so I wanted to mention them.)

 

[audreyh1]

As a mild counter point...

A while back, DW and I were flying to Amsterdam for a river cruise. We needed to connect through Chicago. Our flight was delayed. First by 15 minutes, then 30, then more.

We had a reasonable amount of connecting time, but the margin keep getting smaller and smaller as the flight was delayed further.

I finally got up to talk to the airline person at the gate and mentioned we had an international connection to make in Chicago and we were meeting a boat in Amsterdam.

Turns out there were four other folks in similar situations. We all were swiftly rebooked onto another airline's flight that was leaving in 20 minutes for Chicago.

We had just enough time to walk over to that flight's gate. It was already starting to board.

We made it to Chicago with enough time to make our connection to Amsterdam. Amazingly, our luggage made it too.

We were quite happy campers that day.

(We almost always fly SWA domestically, but since this was international we were on United. They did a great job that day, so I wanted to mention them.)

We always arrive somewhere a day or two ahead. One of the nice things about being retired is being able to pad a trip with a day or two in advance.

We missed one day of a tour in Canada due to horrible weather at a connecting airport, and were able to use a shuttle and get over to join the group at their hotel. But we missed a day of birding! After that we leave early. There is always something to do at the destination before joining a tour.

I sure would hate to miss a boat!

 

[athena53]

We always arrive somewhere a day or two ahead. One of the nice things about being retired is being able to pad a trip with a day or two in advance.

Yeah, that's our plan for Iceland. Flight departs from Boston and we're getting there 2 days early.

 

[HFWR]

Not a frequent flyer, so less experience than some who traveled for w*rk, but I don't share the "luv", pun intended, for SWA.

Probably told this story before, but in 2006 I had a flight on SWA to Detroit. This was right after a large ice storm had nearly crippled the midwest. So, being the paranoid sort, I got up early, checked DAL's website, STL's website, and SWA's website, and there was no mention of any delays or closures. So, I caught the flight, and off we went to STL, the connection to DTW. We flew to STL, circled a couple of times, then were informed the airport was closed. We ended up at MCI in Kansas City.

To their credit, SWA did scramble to get us on other flights ASAP, so I (barely) caught a flight to BWI (Baltimore), and, after a three-hour layover, finally caught a flight to Detroit.

So, no one was aware of the ice storm closure? Really?

But SWA did live up to their motto: You are now free to move about the country. 'Cept it wasn't free...

 

[KM]

Went through something similar two years ago when we went to Europe. My new flight into Ireland arrived an hour after my flight to England left. I did receive an email....but there was no indication that my flights had changed, it just was a new "confirmation" email. Luckily, I do watch for those sorts of things.

I called the airline and pointed out the problem. Their response was "Hmmm....that won't work, will it."

Ya think?

I suspect a lot of these change are automagically generated via computer when the airlines tighten down their times with the airports or whatever. But apparently their computer systems could use a little more "testing".

 

[flyingaway]

Once my flight in Chicago was cancelled and I was put on standby for another flight. I waited until the last minute and got my boarding pass. I went on the airplane and only found that my seat was occupied by an airliners employee who claimed that she did not need a boarding pass and had priority to take the seat. I felt very bad and had to take the next flight.

 

[HFWR]

Once my flight in Chicago was cancelled and I was put on standby for another flight. I waited until the last minute and got my boarding pass. I went on the airplane and only found that my seat was occupied by an airliners employee who claimed that she did not need a boarding pass and had priority to take the seat. I felt very bad [-]and[/-] that they had to take the next flight.

FIFY...

 

[rodi]

Thanks for the heads up, Rodi!

Are you leaving soon?

Not till mid-June. One of the annoying things about having school age kids is we can't travel shoulder or off season. We're tied to the academic calendar.

 

[akck]

I look at my bookings all the time, mainly because the main airline we travel on offers a price guarantee that it's the lowest price. If they lower the price later, they'll give you a voucher for the difference. I've been able to get vouchers for several flights. I also look for any changes in times, but we also get email alerts when changes happen.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[sengsational]

To those of you with Chicago troubles, I learned a long time ago to "just say no" to anything that has anything to do with O'Hare. I'll leave a day early and pay more to avoid that black hole.