Delta Changed My Flight....or Did They???

[kristenrice]

I have a one-way flight booked in October on a main-cabin fare from Grand Rapids to Orlando with a stop in Detroit with a plane change. I check the website periodically to make sure our seat assignments are still intact. Yesterday, when I logged in, I saw this message:

"There has been a change affecting your trip. If you are not satisfied with this updated itinerary, you may be eligible to change your flight(s) at no extra cost.
If we are unable to accommodate a previously purchased Delta Comfort+® seat, Trip Extras or other trip purchases please select the 'Cancel' button to see eligibility. "

There is a check mark and the words "Schedule Change" next to the Grand Rapids to Detroit leg of the trip. I looked at the schedule and there does not appear to be anything different. It is still scheduled to depart at 5:00pm. I don't remember the originally scheduled arrival time, but since it's still non-stop, that shouldn't be a factor, right? I'm really confused here...

I do not want to accept any changes at this point because we CANNOT depart any earlier than 5pm. The kids do not get out of school until 3pm so if they were to move it earlier, we would want to move to the flight that departs at 6pm. That leads to my next question...

...if they only change the one leg of the connection, am I only eligible to change the GRR-DTW segment at no charge? (Meaning, I'd need to move to an earlier GRR-DTW flight so I can still make the DTW-MCO leg?) Or would I be able to change the entire itinerary and move to the later flight that same day?

 

[sponica]

Check your old confirmation email (if possible), they may have tweaked the arrival time in Detroit.

 

[Sandi]

They will have this message even if all they do is change a departure or arrival time by 2 minutes. It's silly, but no one can complain that they didn't get notice. If there is a big change that would require you to look at alternatives, my experience is that Delta will allow you to change your entire outbound flight sequence (GRR - DTW - MCO). You won't, however, be able to change the return flight back to GRR.

ETA: I just noticed that you have just a one-way flight booked so my return flight comment is not relevant to you. It might, however, be useful to others.

 

[JimMIA]

I've had similar notifications with American where the only change was a flight NUMBER change.

 

[AngiTN]

Sometimes it's nothing more than an equipment change (ie, one type of plane for another)

 

[seashoreCM]

Double check to be sure your seat assignments are still there,. Some airlines including Delta have occasionally lost your seat assignments when a schedule change got made, even for a few minutes' difference. If you made new seat selections then you were considered to have accepted the schedule change.

 

[JimMIA]

Sometimes it's nothing more than an equipment change (ie, one type of plane for another)

Right, and that can mess up your seat assignments sometimes.

 

[sam_gordon]

It could be a time change of minutes (so it's hard to remember) or equipment change. Either way, step 1 is to check your seat assignment. If that is squared away, check the arrival & departure times. If those times are within an hour of what they previously were AND your seat assignments are unchanged, do nothing. Don't accept the changes, but don't deny them either.

If your seat assignment is changed, you can use the online tool to change them again. If the arrival or departure time has changed by more than an hour, you won the lottery! Pick any other flight that day (leaving from and arriving at the original airports), call Delta, tell them you don't like the changes they made and want to be switched the new flight(s).

 

[writerguyfl]

Occasionally, a flight will change in some manner (time or type of plane) only to get changed back to exactly what it was when you purchased. If you didn't happen to view the website during the time it was different, it can be hard to understand why the change message now appears.

This sort of thing isn't particularly new. For decades, airlines have made these types of changes. What has changed is the internet. Today, we have access to information that wasn't easily available in the past. That access can be good or bad, depending upon the situation.

 

[jeff_h]

Unfortunately I got an email over the weekend as well, and the change is not quite as subtle...

I had non-stop from DC to Orlando there and back, now I have a stop in ATL each way - which would not be so bad but layover of 38 minutes on the way down and 35 on the trip back. I might be able to make the connection but one in my party has had multiple open heart surgeries and would never make it.

I called Delta and due to weather conditions in the country they said approx hold time was over 2 hours -- so I sent email on Sunday morning with the flights I'd rather have since they have longer layovers, still waiting to hear back from them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Call again.

 

[bumbershoot]

I called Delta and due to weather conditions in the country they said approx hold time was over 2 hours -- so I sent email on Sunday morning with the flights I'd rather have since they have longer layovers, still waiting to hear back from them.

I agree with Kaytie. Call. It's Tuesday night; you are now behind everyone else who braved that 2 hour hold time or who has called between Sunday and now. Call.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Unfortunately I got an email over the weekend as well, and the change is not quite as subtle...

I had non-stop from DC to Orlando there and back, now I have a stop in ATL each way - which would not be so bad but layover of 38 minutes on the way down and 35 on the trip back. I might be able to make the connection but one in my party has had multiple open heart surgeries and would never make it.

I called Delta and due to weather conditions in the country they said approx hold time was over 2 hours -- so I sent email on Sunday morning with the flights I'd rather have since they have longer layovers, still waiting to hear back from them.

If you can't contact them by phone without a long delay, try contacting them via Twitter. Don't give out personal details unless it's via DM, but sometimes they can expedite matters.

If you don't have Twitter, just call back. And if that person can't help you, use that time honored method of hanging up and calling back to get a different phone agent.

 

[jeff_h]

I agree with Kaytie. Call. It's Tuesday night; you are now behind everyone else who braved that 2 hour hold time or who has called between Sunday and now. Call.

Yeah I will call them today, thanks. Just didn't want to get in line in front of people who were actually stranded mid-trip etc, my flights are still over 100 days away - but I do need the rebook soon before other flights fill up!

Added - change now complete, have layovers in ATL around an hour each way, and now have departure times that are a couple hours better than before (had the earlier flights booked as they were cheaper) - so all worked out. Hope they don't make more changes...

 

[Sandi]

With Delta, when you call and it's a long wait time, they offer to do a call back. I've used that several times and it works nicely. Sometimes the timing is bad, but they will call back.

 

[kristenrice]

I went back and looked at my original flight booking confirmation sheet and it looks like all that was changed was my flight number. Originally, it was listed as flight 791 and now it is flight 701. I think it's funny that they say that I can contact them if I am not satisfied with the updated itinerary.

 

[jeff_h]

With Delta, when you call and it's a long wait time, they offer to do a call back. I've used that several times and it works nicely. Sometimes the timing is bad, but they will call back.

Good point - yes they did that, automated system took my phone number and said wait would be 35-65 minutes and they did call back somewhere around 45 minutes.