Anything I can do about flight schedule changes?

[disneysnowflake]

We aren't going until October.

I booked with US Air. I'm taking their commuter flight from a nearby small regional airport. Then I'm catching a flight directly to Orlando. Total flight time is 3-1/2 hours.

The only flight I could get out of Orlando returning was to leave at 8am. I was to be home at my regional airport at 1pm.

I was happy.

Now I did a search for that same flight only to find out that our return flight will not be the same, and US Air never told me.

My 8am flight is now a 6am flight. We are going to have to leave for the airport at 3am.
Once we depart at 6am our plane lands in a major airport at 8:30am. We are then stuck in this airport until 12:30.

Now, we are boarding a commuter flight at 12:30 that is taking us to another small regional airport. Then we'll have to depart the commuter plane in this regional airport, wait another 50 minutes and get on another commuter plane and get home after 5pm.

I called US Air. I was told they don't have to notify me of any schedule changes. I was told I cannot change any tickets without a big penalty and there is no other flight scheduled for that day in my area anyway. Sigh.

Is there anything I can do?
I certainly would never have paid for a flight that took almost 11 hours to get home. That's insane.

I'm not a very seasoned traveller. I am very upset. The US Air guy told me that even if I cancelled my trip I'd still be out my $600 for tickets because I can't cancel them for any reason.

This stinks.

 

[Lewisc]

In the case of a major schedule change airlines will generally let you rebook whatever you want. The problem is there aren't any other flights. You could probably get a refund if you push it but that won't get you to Disney.

What airport are you flying from and what other airports are near where you live? Maybe someone can give you some alternate ideas.

We aren't going until October.
and there is no other flight scheduled for that day in my area anyway. Sigh.

Is there anything I can do?
I certainly would never have paid for a flight that took almost 11 hours to get home. That's insane.

I'm not a very seasoned traveller. I am very upset. The US Air guy told me that even if I cancelled my trip I'd still be out my $600 for tickets because I can't cancel them for any reason.

This stinks.

 

[Chicago526]

USAirways schedule change notification policy is as follows:

US Airways does not send a schedule change notification if:

Departure is rescheduled to be 15 minutes or less "after" originally scheduled departure time

Departure is rescheduled to be 5 minutes or less "before" originally scheduled departure time

Arrival is rescheduled to be 15 minutes or less "before" or "after" originally scheduled arrival time



Most (not all) will allow you to get a refund for changes over 90 minutes, but since this varies by airline, USAirways may have a differant benchmark. I was unable to find their policy online.

For any major schedule change, the airline, by law, must allow you to change to a differant flight that day that is still available. What I would do is call back and try to speak with someone else. If you don't get anywhere, ask to speak to a supervisor. You do have rights, you just may have to push to get them!

 

[CarolA]

Step 1. See if there are any other USAir flights you would like. Don't trust them look online at thier schedule

Step 2. Call Back! If step 1 identified better flights ask to be changed. IF step 1 identified NOTHING, ask for a refund! Point out that (A) they do have to notify you otherwise how would you know to show up.... it's called customer service! (B) The schedule is not acceptable.

Be polite, but if a refund is not forthcoming ask for a supervisor. Be sure to get the name and LOCATION of the person you are talking to. (They make up names just like DIsney!)

 

[DebMcDonald]

We booked with Jet Blue and then they had a schedule change and moved me to another time, later in the day, and I called them and asked for a different flight, same day but earlier and they rescheduled me without ANY problem.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

American just changed the departure times on both our flights to and from Orlando in October. It was less than 30 minutes on each leg and they are direct flights, but I called anyway. They changed us to a later flight out of Orlando, which I was THRILLED with. The flight out of Dallas we will just leave the way it was but they DID offer to change that one if I wanted to.

We also had tickets that were non-refundable with a $100 per ticket change fee, but they didn't charge us to change them because the reason we were switching flights was because they changed the flight times.

Good luck! I hope you are able to get this resolved!