Airline Cancellation Vent Thread

[robinb]

Since many of us have had this problem recently, I thought I would add a thread where we can all vent. I'll start!

I have now had two flights cancelled in the same week and my spidey sense says that another one is coming.

I originally booked on Sun County direct out of Madison, WI. I have a habit of checking flight prices even after I have one booked and I noticed that my flights which were both under $80/$130 when I booked them suddenly shot up to over $600 each way. Rut-roh. It was that way for a few days and then came the hammer: last week SC cancelled the entire MSN<->MCO route. SC offered to give me a voucher but they cancelled the only route I'm interested in, so nope.

On Monday I booked flights on Spirit from MKE to MCO. It's an easy drive to MKE and parking is fairly cheap but it cost me about the same with the parking but with the increased hassle. They sent me an email yesterday telling me that my outbound flight was cancelled and they put me on a flight THE DAY BEFORE. I could possibly work with that but I would prefer to keep my original dates. My original flight was $60 (plus bags & seats) and now the flight they moved me to is priced at $230. Rut-roh. I thought that maybe it was full since they seemed to combine two flights into one so I did a dummy booking of that flight. There are only a few people on it who have selected seats. Double rut-roh. I have a feeling that one is going to get cancelled too. Oh, and my return flight no longer shows on the Spirit website but they haven't told me that it's been cancelled yet. The other flight that day shows it's $350 so I think that one's going to be axed too.

Now, I have to find another flight and prices are higher because I am now within 30 days of departure. I have DVC reservations that can't be changed so my dates are pretty much fixed. Oh joy.

 

[MainMom]

Since many of us have had this problem recently, I thought I would add a thread where we can all vent. I'll start!

I have now had two flights cancelled in the same week and my spidey sense says that another one is coming.

I originally booked on Sun County direct out of Madison, WI. I have a habit of checking flight prices even after I have one booked and I noticed that my flights which were both under $80/$130 when I booked them suddenly shot up to over $600 each way. Rut-roh. It was that way for a few days and then came the hammer: last week SC cancelled the entire MSN<->MCO route. SC offered to give me a voucher but they cancelled the only route I'm interested in, so nope.

On Monday I booked flights on Spirit from MKE to MCO. It's an easy drive to MKE and parking is fairly cheap but it cost me about the same with the parking but with the increased hassle. They sent me an email yesterday telling me that my outbound flight was cancelled and they put me on a flight THE DAY BEFORE. I could possibly work with that but I would prefer to keep my original dates. My original flight was $60 (plus bags & seats) and now the flight they moved me to is priced at $230. Rut-roh. I thought that maybe it was full since they seemed to combine two flights into one so I did a dummy booking of that flight. There are only a few people on it who have selected seats. Double rut-roh. I have a feeling that one is going to get cancelled too. Oh, and my return flight no longer shows on the Spirit website but they haven't told me that it's been cancelled yet. The other flight that day shows it's $350 so I think that one's going to be axed too.

Now, I have to find another flight and prices are higher because I am now within 30 days of departure. I have DVC reservations that can't be changed so my dates are pretty much fixed. Oh joy.

Oh no! I’m flying SC out of MSP in 1.5 months. SC has always been our go to airline to MCO. All of these airline issues are stressing me out. We also have DVC reservations.

 

[robinb]

Oh no! I’m flying SC out of MSP in 1.5 months. SC has always been our go to airline to MCO. All of these airline issues are stressing me out. We also have DVC reservations.

I think you'll be fine with MSP because that's their home airport .

 

[Shadowfan]

Not sure if this will help anyone, unless one is unsure whether to fly or drive anywhere……

Saturday, April 2 direct SW flight from MCO-PIT cancelled on the morning of departure. (Made it down to MCO a week prior via flight, no problem.). Elected to rent a vehicle, spend a night at Hampton Inn, thus return home Sunday, April 3. Doable

Yesterday, similar story. On the way to the airport, receive the notice that BNA-CLE Delta flight is cancelled. (Yes, it was not a direct flight. More risk involved with these especially with current travel schedules it seems.) Again rented a car and drove from Nashville back home to Cleveland. Apparently it was quicker than if I had chosen to fly on what Delta had rebooked us on…..if those flights even actually happened.

Somehow our recent return flights have been a bust.

My rant is actually that I unknowingly stepped on gum at a gas station yesterday & the driver’s side rental car floor mat now has chewed gum on it. Really!!!! Are you kidding me? Now I have to get gum out of a rental car floor mat. A car I never intended to have in the first place??

 

[robinb]

Not sure if this will help anyone, unless one is unsure whether to fly or drive anywhere……

Saturday, April 2 direct SW flight from MCO-PIT cancelled on the morning of departure. (Made it down to MCO a week prior via flight, no problem.). Elected to rent a vehicle, spend a night at Hampton Inn, thus return home Sunday, April 3. Doable

Yesterday, similar story. On the way to the airport, receive the notice that BNA-CLE Delta flight is cancelled. (Yes, it was not a direct flight. More risk involved with these especially with current travel schedules it seems.) Again rented a car and drove from Nashville back home to Cleveland. Apparently it was quicker than if I had chosen to fly on what Delta had rebooked us on…..if those flights even actually happened.

Somehow our recent return flights have been a bust.

My rant is actually that I unknowingly stepped on gum at a gas station yesterday & the driver’s side rental car floor mat now has chewed gum on it. Really!!!! Are you kidding me? Now I have to get gum out of a rental car floor mat. A car I never intended to have in the first place??

Oh man, that sucks. It is ridiculous that they are cancelling flights the day of departure. That is horse pucky.

I cancelled my Spirit flight and they are refunding my money. They changed both flights and I just didn't trust them to not mess with me some more and leave me in a situation of paying a lot more at the last minute. I just booked with Southwest out of MKE instead . Please keep your fingers crossed for me. It's a LONG drive to Orlando from Wisconsin.

 

[spiders]

Cancellations always stink but I don’t know why people are hung up on the idea of it being same day. Most cancellations are done same day. That’s what happens…the day starts going sour and then eventually you cancel things to hopefully begin the next day with the right people and the right airplanes in the right places.

 

[robinb]

Cancellations always stink but I don’t know why people are hung up on the idea of it being same day. Most cancellations are done same day. That’s what happens…the day starts going sour and then eventually you cancel things to hopefully begin the next day with the right people and the right airplanes in the right places.

You're right. That's true about weather/expired crew/equipment problem cancellations. The only thing you can do is roll with that. I was probably projecting my own situation on @Shadowfan. Neither one of my cancellations was due to that. It was due to the airlines deciding that they were no longer going to offer my flights but at least it was in advance.

 

[shafke]

Had our JetBlue flight from Tampa to JFK cancelled on 4/3.
It happens, I know but... All the cancellation said was we'll get back to you in an email. Nothing indicating we were rebooked on another day even if it would be 2 or 3 days later. On top of that, because so many flights were cancelled phone hold times were over 2.5 hours at 8am. Luckily we were with other people and ended up keeping the rental car and driving home. One of the people we were with stayed to the chat queue on her phone... about 8 hours later she finally go a chat going and was able to refund her flight. I waited until the next day and still had to wait 8 hours in chat queue to get somebody to refund my flight.

Basic take away message from JetBlue... if your flight is cancelled... you are on your own.

 

[Shadowfan]

Oh man, that sucks. It is ridiculous that they are cancelling flights the day of departure. That is horse pucky.

I cancelled my Spirit flight and they are refunding my money. They changed both flights and I just didn't trust them to not mess with me some more and leave me in a situation of paying a lot more at the last minute. I just booked with Southwest out of MKE instead . Please keep your fingers crossed for me. It's a LONG drive to Orlando from Wisconsin.

Perhaps when you travel—within 30 days that is—and holiday/spring break is not in the mix—demand will have diminished a bit.
Less chance for schedule shifts/changes/irregularities?

Can you build any buffer in pre- or post- trip?

 

[robinb]

Perhaps when you travel—within 30 days that is—and holiday/spring break is not in the mix—demand will have diminished a bit.
Less chance for schedule shifts/changes/irregularities?

Can you build any buffer in pre- or post- trip?

Thanks. If worse comes to worse, we can always drive. I did the back of the envelope calculation of 4 days of driving. The combination of gas prices, hotel stays and extra meals for 2 days made it about the same as flying and a lot more of a hassle. I do think there was a perfect storm of spring break, bad weather and computer failures a couple of weeks ago. I'm sorry you were caught in the middle of it.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

If I had that many flights cancelled on a single airline I'm not sure I'd book that airline ever again.