Airline phoning in the middle of the night re canceled flight

[DonnaL]

Same thing happened to my daughter a few years ago with USAirways. She was flying to Fayetteville, NC to see her boyfriend at Ft. Bragg for a long weekend right before he was shipping out to Afghanistan for a year. She received the phone call at 3:00 a.m........her flight was supposed to be 11:00 a.m. from PHL......she proceeded to call me, hysterical, that she has to go see him before he leaves. I calmed her down and got on the phone with the airline before 4:00 a.m..........fortunately I was able to get her the last seat on a flight leaving from ABE (Allentown, PA) at 8:15 a.m........ABE is closer to us than PHL by an hour.......however, we really needed to hurry to get her to the airport.....since by now it was close to 5:00 a.m. and she needed to be there to make an 8:15 a.m. flight.........what a morning that was........rain and very bad fog all the way to the airport!!!!

 

[dudspizza]

Same thing happened to my daughter a few years ago with USAirways. She was flying to Fayetteville, NC to see her boyfriend at Ft. Bragg for a long weekend right before he was shipping out to Afghanistan for a year. She received the phone call at 3:00 a.m........her flight was supposed to be 11:00 a.m. from PHL......she proceeded to call me, hysterical, that she has to go see him before he leaves. I calmed her down and got on the phone with the airline before 4:00 a.m..........fortunately I was able to get her the last seat on a flight leaving from ABE (Allentown, PA) at 8:15 a.m........ABE is closer to us than PHL by an hour.......however, we really needed to hurry to get her to the airport.....since by now it was close to 5:00 a.m. and she needed to be there to make an 8:15 a.m. flight.........what a morning that was........rain and very bad fog all the way to the airport!!!!

The good thing is you knew exactly what to do and you made it right for the situation. Too many people don't know what to do in this situation and end up being very frustrated if it happens......

 

[kaytieeldr]

I don't know, the telmarketers have figured out how to call when you are available!

Telemarketers are restricted by laws. Airline passengers like DonnaL's daughter must be extremely happy that airlines aren't restrained by similar laws/rules when they're simply trying to help the passenger.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Happens to me a lot more often than I'd like... most recently last week, out of BOS. But my phone call didn't arrive until I was on the Blue line headed to Logan. Nothing available until the next day which would have meant me missing an important hearing. I wandered the terminals until I found another seat on another airline... with about 30 seconds until bag cutoff time. I like to live dangerously.

 

[zoicca]

I got the dreaded call once. There was 11 of us (3 families) all set to go when Alaska called to tell us the flight was cancelled. it was an automated message. I still have a pit in my stomach thinking about this and it was 4 years ago.

 

[DebbieB]

Note this thread is almost 2 years old....

A friend and I were on a SW flight last night @ 7:45pm. We got a call around 1:30pm that it was delayed until 10:15pm. Then got an update for 9:55pm. Then after we boarded, there was a mechanical issue, we didn't leave until 11:15pm. At least we all got $100 vouchers for future travel. You know you are out late when the red lights are blinking yellow (got home 2:30am).

 

[dudspizza]

You know you are out late when the red lights are blinking yellow (got home 2:30am).

The stop lights in my home town used to start blinking yellow at 11pm! We'd sit at the local Amoco station where my buddy worked the overnight shift and watch the light blink yellow as the grain and logging trucks rolled through town......... That's what I get for growing up in Northern Minnesota!

Later in life a small, animated movie called "CARS" came out....... I still giggle every time they show the cars sitting in Radiator Springs watching the stoplight blink.....

 

[Hannathy]

Midnight is the middle of the night?

I thought you meant they called at like 3 AM. I don't call midnight the middle of the night.

I would rather know as soon as they know if there is a problem no matter what time it is. That allows me the most options possible to decide what to do from switching flights to driving if I really needed to be there maybe. Waiting till close to the flight takes away a lot of options.

 

[goofy4tink]

Midnight is the middle of the night?

I thought you meant they called at like 3 AM. I don't call midnight the middle of the night.

I would rather know as soon as they know if there is a problem no matter what time it is. That allows me the most options possible to decide what to do from switching flights to driving if I really needed to be there maybe. Waiting till close to the flight takes away a lot of options.

It's the middle of the night if you get up at 5am!!

 

[Alexander]

It seems the airlines can't win. People complain when they aren't notified, people complain when they are. I don't know how they would decide when a good time is to call. I would rather get the call.

I was thinking the same exact thing!

 

[DonnaL]

This isn't my cancellation story, but, my daughter's and while she was hysterical at the time....she was also very glad the airline DID call her in the middle of the night...she was scheduled to take a 7:30 a.m. flight from our local airport (literally five minutes from home) rec'd a call about 2:00 a.m. stating the flight was cancelled. She was going to visit her fiancee at Ft. Bragg, NC for a few short days before he was leaving for Afghanistan, so was in a panic......called me and I called the airline at 2:15 a.m. (after I had calmed her a bit). Could not get her a flight from our local airport that would get her to Fayetteville for the next two days (he only had four days before he was leaving) so I started naming airports within a two hour radius and having the airline rep check them all. It's now close to 3:00 a.m. and they did find a seat on a flight at an airport which is 1 hour 20 minutes from us and she would be able to make her connection in Raleigh.....flight was scheduled to depart at 8:00 a.m......which means she had to pretty much begin getting ready to leave for the airport by 4:00 a.m. So, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that IF the airline did not call her when they did she would not have been able to see and visit with her fiancee before he left. Fortunately, it all worked out OK and she got there and he left.....is now home and they're getting married in August. So, in certain instances it IS very good that the airlines DO call in the middle of the night.

 

[Hannathy]

This isn't my cancellation story, but, my daughter's and while she was hysterical at the time....she was also very glad the airline DID call her in the middle of the night...she was scheduled to take a 7:30 a.m. flight from our local airport (literally five minutes from home) rec'd a call about 2:00 a.m. stating the flight was cancelled. She was going to visit her fiancee at Ft. Bragg, NC for a few short days before he was leaving for Afghanistan, so was in a panic......called me and I called the airline at 2:15 a.m. (after I had calmed her a bit). Could not get her a flight from our local airport that would get her to Fayetteville for the next two days (he only had four days before he was leaving) so I started naming airports within a two hour radius and having the airline rep check them all. It's now close to 3:00 a.m. and they did find a seat on a flight at an airport which is 1 hour 20 minutes from us and she would be able to make her connection in Raleigh.....flight was scheduled to depart at 8:00 a.m......which means she had to pretty much begin getting ready to leave for the airport by 4:00 a.m. So, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that IF the airline did not call her when they did she would not have been able to see and visit with her fiancee before he left. Fortunately, it all worked out OK and she got there and he left.....is now home and they're getting married in August. So, in certain instances it IS very good that the airlines DO call in the middle of the night.

Exactly my point!