Delta Strikes again - Schedule Change

[Elmo007]

This is why I hate buying early on the legacy carriers. I never hear of schedule changes on Jetblue or Southwest.

I booked early to lock in price on roundtrip nonstops from PHX to JFK. I get a phone call (at least they told me in advance) that the PHX to JFK portion is now a change of planes in Detroit and is on a Regional Jet. I looked at the performace data for the flight and found the RJ is late over 30 minutes over 50% of the time. As there is only a 37 minute layover, I had images of spending hours in Detroit waiting for a plane followed by days in NYC waiting for my luggage to follow. I moved up a day to the nonstop redeye. Losing some time on the trip but more likely to get to NYC with my luggage close to as planned.

I knew there is a reason that when I go to WDW, i only fly nonstop. (In all fairness, there are ample opportunities to go nonstop - JFK, LGA, ISP, EWR, HPN, SWF but still getting to WDW straight is important)

 

[bicker]

This is why I hate buying early on the legacy carriers.

I'm not sure I understand the linkage you're making, given that the newer carriers, which you mentioned, don't even allow you to buy tickets that early. The vast majority of schedule changes happen before the newer carriers even entertain the thought of accommodating you. While it's not completely the same (because a minority of schedule changes do happen after the newer carriers open up dates for purchase), you could get something close to the Jet Blue or Southwest experience on legacy carriers, with regard to schedule changes, by simply not buying tickets so early.

Indeed, I think the existence of the legacy carriers, and the fact that they do offer tickets for purchase as early as they do, helps keep prices down. If all airlines withheld sales until much closer to the travel date, then they'd have a better idea just how many people are looking to travel at that time, and so they could do a better job keeping capacity low, closer to actual demand, from the start. The more control airlines have over availability and capacity, the higher prices may be.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I have never heard of any airline that DOESN'T change flights on any given period of time.

I have flown delta, SW and some other airlines............flights change, this has increased more and more in the last 5 years or so.

AKK

 

[bicker]

True, though clearly if you hold tickets for flights 11 months from now you're going to risk a lot more in terms of changes as compared to if you hold tickets for flights 5 months from now. Not only are you holding tickets more than twice as long, but schedule changes tend to be much more significant further out, as opposed to closer in.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I have never heard of any airline that DOESN'T change flights on any given period of time.

I have flown delta, SW and some other airlines............flights change, this has increased more and more in the last 5 years or so.

AKK

Yep ... it seems no matter what airline you fly these days you'll encounter flight changes - it's uncommon not to have any flight time changes or aircraft changes. Plus the further out you book the more likelihood of changes occurring.

 

[DVC-Don]

I've never had a flight time change on Southwest other than weather.

 

[Danibelle]

I've never had a flight time change on Southwest other than weather.

It's rare but it does happen.

 

[Elmo007]

I also never had this problem on SW. I think its less likely to happen since they only operate 1 type of aircraft (for now) and only schedule out a a few months in advance.

What I dont like about the advance bookings with the legacy carriers is that you give them money far in advance and for the benefit of using the money, you get nothing in return. they can change the flight times several times but if you object, you cant cancel for a full refund and you (at least in Deltas case) can only make 1 change. In my case, they changed departure times 3 times before cancelling my flight and rebooking me on the connection. In addition, they are not flyer friendly in that the legacys generally will not let you benefit from fare drops like SW or Jetblue will do, although they only give you credits not refunds

 

[DCTooTall]

I also never had this problem on SW. I think its less likely to happen since they only operate 1 type of aircraft (for now) and only schedule out a a few months in advance.

What I dont like about the advance bookings with the legacy carriers is that you give them money far in advance and for the benefit of using the money, you get nothing in return. they can change the flight times several times but if you object, you cant cancel for a full refund and you (at least in Deltas case) can only make 1 change. In my case, they changed departure times 3 times before cancelling my flight and rebooking me on the connection. In addition, they are not flyer friendly in that the legacys generally will not let you benefit from fare drops like SW or Jetblue will do, although they only give you credits not refunds

My Understanding with Delta is that they waive the change fee once PER CHANGE. That means that if they change the flight, you can get rescheduled w/o a change fee to something that works better for you than what they automatically moved you too. Now, if the new flight then gets changed, that would be another qualifying change that allows you to get the fee waived if you need to make another adjustment due to their change.

Now the caveat to that is it has to be a "qualifying change", so if they just adjust the departure time by 5min it probably won't qualify for the fee to be waived, however if they changed it by 30min you could probably get the change fee waived.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

I have had 4 changes for our September Delta flight so far. 3 of the 4 were very minor and one changed by several hours. I was able to call and get it changed to better times for us with no problems. I always buy early and yes expect it to change several times.

 

[Elmo007]

My Understanding with Delta is that they waive the change fee once PER CHANGE. That means that if they change the flight, you can get rescheduled w/o a change fee to something that works better for you than what they automatically moved you too. Now, if the new flight then gets changed, that would be another qualifying change that allows you to get the fee waived if you need to make another adjustment due to their change.

Now the caveat to that is it has to be a "qualifying change", so if they just adjust the departure time by 5min it probably won't qualify for the fee to be waived, however if they changed it by 30min you could probably get the change fee waived.

That is possible. I read the notice to say 1 change per reservation but i did not save it. If it changes again I will update here.

In all fairness, the notice also said they will only make the change for the same date of travel. I had been on the 6am flight out of PHX and changed to the 10:30pm the night before. That is a different depature date but the same arrival date. Either way they made the change at no charge

 

[bettymae1121]

I also never had this problem on SW. I think its less likely to happen since they only operate 1 type of aircraft (for now) and only schedule out a a few months in advance.

What I dont like about the advance bookings with the legacy carriers is that you give them money far in advance and for the benefit of using the money, you get nothing in return. they can change the flight times several times but if you object, you cant cancel for a full refund and you (at least in Deltas case) can only make 1 change. In my case, they changed departure times 3 times before cancelling my flight and rebooking me on the connection. In addition, they are not flyer friendly in that the legacys generally will not let you benefit from fare drops like SW or Jetblue will do, although they only give you credits not refunds

Actually if they change one of your flights by at least 90 minutes you can request a full refund (this is true of most airlines). But then you have to buy new ticket on another airline, so it's best to check out other airline's fares and availability before asking for a refund, you don't want to cancel and then find out other airlines have really high fares or all the flights are sold out.

 

[OhMari]

DELTA decided that a 30 minute layover wasn't enough time, so they e-mailed me and told me to pick another time to get to my destination. We were coming into Atlanta late in the afternoon and wouldn't get to Savannah till late at nite.
I was able to switch our flight to early morning and with a 40 minute layover.
I just received another e-mail and now I have an hour layover, which is fine. I could change my flight again without a fee, but I am leaving it alone.
We have to change terminals in Atlanta and we will need the hour. I've caught a connecting flight once and did the sprint from one terminal to another in 10 minutes. When I got to my gate, they switched my gate to the last one on the end, and then I had to run outside and board the plane from the tarmac. I was shocked they let me on, since I was under 10 minutes before they shut the airplane doors.