Airline Changed our post-cruise flight!! What now?

[Jestocost]

If there is nothing acceptable on the booked airline and they made the change, they are supposed to make arrangements that are acceptable - even if that means putting you on another carrier.

I don't believe that's true. Under the terms of the contract of carriage making arrangements to transport a passenger on another carrier--even after cancellations during travel--is at the sole discretion of Delta.

 

[robinb]

Does Delta fly to your airport through Detroit or Atlanta?

I think you should call Delta and they will work out something with you. You may have to take a couple of flights to get there or they may have to fly you into a nearby airport instead.

Good luck!

 

[RedSox68]

Typically when the airline makes the change, if it doesn't work for you and you let them know that BEFORE clicking any kind of "accept" button, they are supposed to work with you to find a solution that works. I don't know what happens if you click that "accept" button and then decide that no it won't work.

Exactly. We had this happen on US Air once and they graciously made other arrangements for us -- including the connection flight. They can't just leave you stranded part way home!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I don't believe that's true. Under the terms of the contract of carriage making arrangements to transport a passenger on another carrier--even after cancellations during travel--is at the sole discretion of Delta.

I can only report that the first time an airline changed our flights on us, and the new flights (that they had) were incompatible with the time we needed to be at our destination, the only flight they could find to work (since they had none) was on another airline. We were changed to that flight, no extra cost.

I thought there was something that covered this sort of thing in the Passenger Bill of Rights?

 

[Jestocost]

I can only report that the first time an airline changed our flights on us, and the new flights (that they had) were incompatible with the time we needed to be at our destination, the only flight they could find to work (since they had none) was on another airline. We were changed to that flight, no extra cost.

I thought there was something that covered this sort of thing in the Passenger Bill of Rights?

To the best of my knowledge, the only thing you are legally entitled to in the event of a "substantial" change in routing or schedule is a full refund of the price of your ticket. I also don't think that in most cases travel insurance will cover any additional costs under these circumstances.

 

[Jestocost]

To the best of my knowledge, the only thing you are legally entitled to in the event of a "substantial" change in routing or schedule is a full refund of the price of your ticket. I also don't think that in most cases travel insurance will cover any additional costs under these circumstances.

Here's the applicable paragraph from Delta's Contract of Carriage, for what it's worth.

Delta will (at passenger’s request) cancel the remaining ticket and refund the unused portion of the ticket and unused ancillary fees in the original form of payment in accordance with Rule 260 of these conditions of carriage. If the passenger does not request a refund and cancellation of the ticket, Delta will transport the passenger to the destination on Delta’s next flight on which seats are available in the class of service originally purchased. At Delta’s sole discretion and if acceptable to the passenger, Delta may arrange for the passenger to travel on another carrier or via ground transportation. If acceptable to the passenger, Delta will provide transportation in a lower class of service, in which case the passenger may be entitled to a partial refund. If space on the next available flight is available only in a higher class of service than purchased, Delta will transport the passenger on the flight, although Delta reserves the right to upgrade other passengers on the flight according to its upgrade priority policy to make space in the class of service originally purchased.​

They are better in some ways than the other legacy carriers, worse in other ways, and the same in some. This blog post has some good information that might be helpful. I see that the OP is now posting in the thread on that blog post and looking for advice from the author.

 

[Cruisin' Allgood]

Gah!! I got an email this morning that Delta changed our return flight. We were booked on a 2:15 from MCO to Minneapolis and Minneapolis into Montana. Apparently they just decided to take away the flight from MN to MT....so they moved the flight from Orlando UP THREE HOURS! So now they have us departing at 11 AM. From what I've read on here, there's no way we can make that right? If it departs at 11, even cutting it REALLY close we'd have to be to the airport by 9:30 to check bags...and it's an hour from Port Canaveral....if we got up early to eat and were first off the ship we still can't get off before 8.....

There is no way for us to get home on Delta it would appear. I can't fly through SLC because the latest flight home is 11 AM. I'm going to call customer service at lunch....but I'm at a bit of a loss. What do I do? I already paid for the tickets. I used my Delta Skymiles card, but I booked the lowest fare. If we have to re-book on another airline, we have to pay an additional ~$100 per person (x4) over the cost of the ticket I got on Delta. Do I suck it up and eat the $400? I don't really have $400. Do I make Delta pay for a hotel room in MN? Then I have extra food cost, and the return home is delayed by an entire DAY, and who wants to randomly hang out in a hotel room and get home like 12 hours before I have to be at work. I'm going to try to get them to book our last leg on a different airline but I'm not sure I can do that.

I just don't see a solution here Anyone have any bright ideas?

If you end up spending the night in Minneapolis, you could spend some time at the Mall of America....that may end up costing you more than the $400 you talked about though. :-/

 

[Imahikergirl]

My daughter was flying to Calgary through Minneapolis and was going to get stuck the night there before continuing on due to weather. She asked the desk agent to try and get her as far west as possible, lol and behold, they could get her to Calgary through Vancouver instead. Maybe a different hub or random location could get you home with good connections, etc.

 

[Madame]

Delta cancelled our Jan 2 6:30AM flight & put us on a 8:30 AM flight.

I called & they switched us to a Jan 1 8:30AM flight, no questions or charges. The Jan 1 flight was more expensive as I'd booked months before at a really good price.

I have experienced 'mechanical' & 'equipment changes' with Delta though & all I can say is oy-vey .

 

[Karlzmom]

Happened to us too. We were able get changed to flights that worked for me w/out incurring any extra costs... in fact need up with a credit to my account for the hassle.

 

[BigredNole]

Contact the airlines and explain the situation. They can't move you to an earlier flight if there is almost no chance of making it. They can choose to leave you on that flight and charge no fees/accept expenses until they can get you on a flight or book you on another flight.

 

[MeliMel702]

I had the same issue happen to me with my Moms flight to Guatemala. I specifically chose the date and time because I work nights and have Tuesday, Wednesday's off and she was traveling 3hrs from the airport to her hometown. They managed to book the only flight with the same schedule 2 days ahead. I ended up having to leave work early that night but I didn't have to pay extra or cancel the trip. They did offer a full refund at first but my Mother declined it. I'm pretty sure they can work something out with you.

 

[lbus42]

Do you have trip insurance? I think you'll be fine with the 11am... we always end up getting to MCO by 9:30am and that's with stalling and taking our time... if you leave the ship as soon as they allow you to debark then you'll be totally fine

Have you been to MCO lately. When we disembarked in April, the lines at TSA were extremely long. We were TSA approved so we had no problem, but the TSA officer told us that it was taking about two hours to get through the checkpoints, if not approved (this was not long after the TSA had its audit and over 50 undercover inspectors got through with fake weapons and explosives).