ARRGGHH!! American changed my flight!

[CDoobee]

I just received an email today from Orbitz informing me that AA has changed my return home departure time from 7:30 PM to 10:20 AM!! I'm going to lose a whole WDW day!!
I was so excited to have gotten such a late flight home!

This has never happened to me before. Has anyone had this happen to them and was there anything you could do about it? If you were allowed to change to a later flight, did it cost a lot? This is for a trip in January and I booked my flights several months ago.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Debbie

 

[Kae]

Once when I went thru Expedia , USAir canceled my flight & changed my flight so I called & the guy that helped me put me thru to USAir & we changed it to a better time. so check AA flights online first & maybe you can fix it.

I think if they change your flight by more than 3 hours you can ask for a refund. But if you got a great deal it might not help.

Good Luck

Kae

 

[CDoobee]

Thanks, Kae. I'll try calling tomorrow. I would definitely like to switch to an earlier time, even if it isn't as early as I DID have!

Debbie

 

[dirkus]

Definately give them a call. When an airline cancels a flight their idea of when they think you would rather fly quite often does not make a lot of sense. This happened on AA with my MIL once and she called and got a better time (albeit still not as good as the original).

 

[DebbieB]

I would check their schedule to see what is available before you call. That way you can say "can we be moved to the _____ flight?".

 

[CDoobee]

Thanks, everyone! I did it!

My heart was pounding the whole time! I'm not a phone person. I'd much rather do everything by internet, mail, or even in person. I don't know why...I guess I have phoneaphobia! When my oldest DD (Hilside on here) was still living at home, I'd have her make all my calls for me!

This is my first solo trip, so while I'm looking forward to it, I'm also still really nervous about the flight part! So, this change really didn't help!

But, I did it! I called Orbitz and the girl on the phone was extremely nice. She explained everything clearly and answered all my questions. I was able to change to a flight leaving MCO even a 1/2 hour later than my original one was! The only bad part is that it's not a non-stop anymore. I could have chosen one 3 hours earlier than my previous flight, but hey, more Disney time for me! So what if I have to run through the Chicago airport to make my connecting flight. So what if I have to get home 2 1/2 hours later than originally. At least, I have my last WDW day back!!

Thanks again, everyone! The DIS is the best!

And thanks to my sister, too. She looked up the available AA flights and emailed Orbitz about the change. So, she also told me I could probably call and get it changed. Thanks, sis!

I'm so proud of myself!

Debbie

 

[heatherj]

Everyone has had great advice - someone mentioned this already . . . but I was advised that if I ever had an airline try to change my flight time and it affected my arrival or departure by so many hours (2 hours perhaps - not sure) that I could call and try to get a better time or a refund at no cost. Now I could definitely be wrong but I do know that we were able to do this on one trip. We have an early morning flight out and they later informed us it had been changed to the afternoon. We asked for it to be changed (I knew when the other flights were) and they did it at no cost.

Like you said - I'd definitely call first.

 

[robinb]

Heather,

I belive the rescheduled flights are covered by Rule 240 (http://www.freetraveltips.com/Airlines/Air17.htm). If your new arrival time is more than 2 hours different you should be able to reschedule for no additional charge or cancel your flights for a complete refund.

ATA recently changed my flight for the 3rd time since August . They moved my flight from a 2:15 departure to a 4:30 departure with a huge layover that changed my arrival time back home from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. I called ATA and they were able to book me on a new flight they added at 2:14pm. Yes, they left me on the same flight number which would have delayed me 4 hours when they could have changed my flight to the new one that left 1 minute earlier and connected with the same flight I was already on. *sigh* It really all does make sense from a scheduling standpoint, but not from a common sense one!

 

[Chicago526]

Schedule changes are a pain!

The rule is that anything more than two hours, the airline must either change your flight at no cost or give you a refund. But many airlines will do so if it is 90 minutes (1 and 1/2 hours) even though they don't technicly have to. Also, if the change is less than 90 minutes, they will still re-book you (within reason) at no charge if you don't like the new times. They just won't give a refund for less than 90.

The schedule changes are done by a computer, not a person, so that's why you get goofy new times. If you are booked on a non-stop, then it will change you to the next non-stop closest to your orriginal flight, even if that is 12 hours later/earlier than what you had. It does this because the computer "logic" says that you want a non-stop no mater what. Once you get a person on the phone, the airlines won't give you any grief about switching toa connecting flight if the time is more to your liking.

If you ever get a schedule change that you don't like, give the airline a call, the worst they can say is "no", afterall, and they usually will say "yes"!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I would have been upset, also, if I were you. That's a big time difference! I'm glad that it worked out, even if you have a connecting flight.

T&B

 

[javaj]

This thread made me check my Expedia American Airlines ressie and our return flight had also changed YEAY! We originally had an 1120 am return flight (cheapest one LOL), and they changed our flight to 155 pm, I told the agent that we'd be open to any later flight also and she talked to AA and was able to get us the 433 pm flight. YEAY, now to decide where to make a PS for lunch

 

[CDoobee]

Glad my problem made you go check, javaj! And, glad it worked out for both of us!! Have a great trip!!!



Debbie

 

[hilside]

Originally posted by CDoobee
Thanks, everyone! I did it!

My heart was pounding the whole time! I'm not a phone person. I'd much rather do everything by internet, mail, or even in person. I don't know why...I guess I have phoneaphobia! When my oldest DD (Hilside on here) was still living at home, I'd have her make all my calls for me!

Oh, yes, she did.. trust me.

Originally posted by CDoobee
This is my first solo trip, so while I'm looking forward to it, I'm also still really nervous about the flight part! So, this change really didn't help!

But, I did it! I called Orbitz and the girl on the phone was extremely nice. She explained everything clearly and answered all my questions. I was able to change to a flight leaving MCO even a 1/2 hour later than my original one was! The only bad part is that it's not a non-stop anymore. I could have chosen one 3 hours earlier than my previous flight, but hey, more Disney time for me! So what if I have to run through the Chicago airport to make my connecting flight. So what if I have to get home 2 1/2 hours later than originally. At least, I have my last WDW day back!!

Thanks again, everyone! The DIS is the best!

And thanks to my sister, too. She looked up the available AA flights and emailed Orbitz about the change. So, she also told me I could probably call and get it changed. Thanks, sis!

I'm so proud of myself!

Debbie

I'm proud of you, too.

 

[CDoobee]

Thanks, Hil!

(are you hoping for a souvenir? haha Remember this is a budget trip!)

Debbie (or Mom )

 

[hilside]

Originally posted by CDoobee
Thanks, Hil!

(are you hoping for a souvenir? haha Remember this is a budget trip!)

Debbie (or Mom )

What? Can't I just be proud of my mother????

Remember, I like Ariel and Nemo stuff.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

A while back my AA flight was over booked. I voluntarilly took a later flight and received a $300 credit voucher for a future flight.
I don't know if they have to compensate for flight changes anymore, but I thought that was part of the deal when they change your flight times.
I recently booked a round trip flight on AA for April, I hope they don't mess with my times.