at what point am I probably safe?

[pooch]

I obssessively check my Delta flight (booked @ $69, now $220!!!) looking for the dreaded flight change for which Delta is famous. At what point, ie how close to the date, am I probably safe from getting moved? We leave in about 2 1/2 months. Am I ever safe? Even if I knew I was, would it stop me from checking??

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Not Delta, but I've had flight changes up to the day before I was scheduled to depart (this was from SYR to LGA).

 

[msmayor]

I'd say once you step through the jetway and sit in your seat.

Seriously...there is no set-in-stone time when a flight departure is set in stone. You're probably pretty safe a day or two beforehand, but a lot can still happen to cause a change.

 

[francie57]

We leave in 5 weeks and I am still checking each day. They changed our original Delta flights (BDL non-stop 6:50 a.m. and return non-stop at 5:30 p.m.) to Northwest flights at the same time. Then when I checked a few weeks ago they had changed our MCO to BDL flight to a stop over one through Detroit. I called Delta and now am back on the NWA flight to MCO at 6:50 a.m. and on a non-stop 5:30 p.m. Delta flight. Can't wait until all the flights are merged and then we wouldn't have so much to worry about. Seems if they have you on NWA flights and one is discontinued they put you on another NWA flight instead of giving you the Delta flight. We have never had this much trouble with Delta in all the years we have flown on them. Usually just a small change in time.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

We started out when flights became available on May 25th flying non-stop to Orlando with Northwest for our April 2010 spring Break trip, $717 total for the 3 of us.
So far they've changed our flight times, airports, destinations and Airlines.
As of 1 hour ago we're flying non-stop to Tampa with Delta...with better flight times than the originally times for the same cost, $717 for the 3 of us.
The same roundtrip flight today on Delta would cost $2,667 for the 3 of us.
With a little effort you make it work in your favor.
Good luck all,
Joe

 

[kldmom2000]

Wish I had better news for you.... but you're not safe until you're in the air!

December 1999, DH and I had a 6:05am NON-STOP flight booked out of Boston to MCO. We had a towncar service picking us up @ 3:00am to bring us to the airport....

2am, I got a call from Delta informing me that our flight had been cancelled and we were rebooked on an 11:45am flight with a long stop-over in Atlanta with a final destination time of 7:45pm in ORLANDO! Huh?!?!?! I'd planned on arriving @ MCO at 9:15am..... not 7:45pm!

I was in such a fog since the call woke me up and actually had to call to confirm 20 min. later when I woke up because I thought it was a dream

We couldn't change our towncar ride as they weren't going to take calls @ 2:30am.... so we thought we'd have to sit at the airport from 3:30am-11:45am and then in Atlanta for 5 hours

We checked in at the Delta counter in Boston and I just happened to express how disappointed I was in our flight change... the woman was actually quite wonderful in that she looked to see what else was available and she found us a NON-STOP flight @ 9:30 arriving in MCO at 12:30!!!

That being said, the next (and last time) we used Delta was in 2004.... they only changed one flight slightly by 1 hour

Good luck! Keeping my fingers crossed for you that Delta doesn't change anything!!!!!

 

[MAH4546]

Airlines set 90% of their schedule in stone at the 60-day out mark.

 

[crashbb]

Usually, the changes that are occuring right before flight time (i.e day of/day before) are not schedule changes (as had been occurring earlier), but changes due to mechanical/weather/staffing/overbooking issues.

So, usually there is a window of a month or so (depending on airline) where schedule changes are unlikely to occur and before these last minute changes may occur.

 

[uva185]

There is a HUGE difference between a schedule change and irregular operations which trigger a "schedule change". The former is a planned change to their schedule usually 60+ days out. The latter is unplanned and due to a problem in daily operations such as maintenance, weather, and crew issues.

Also, just an FYI, even if you flight is significantly delayed on the day of departure still go to the airport at the scheduled departure time. My last flight I got a call 90 minutes before the flight alerting me of a 2 hour delay. I still went to the airport and got another call as I was pulling up to the terminal about 40 minutes before departure that everything was back on time. If I had decided to go to the airport later than I originally planned I would have missed the flight.