Delta's Sleezy Switch

[islandtimect]

Delta just try to change our 2 hr 50 min morning nonstop to a 5 3/4 hr journey from CT to Detroit to Orlando. The itinerary wasn't even an option on Delta's own website. I checked and our original flights were still available for purchase! What the heck is happening - their merger with Northwest is a joke. I called Delta and they changed us back, but had already given our seats away! Travelling with DB's family so hope they get changed back too. But still worried that Delta will cancel the nonstop.

 

[Carriemel]

When you buy a ticket, all you are buying is passage from point A to point B. The airline does not guarantee HOW you will get there (except via airplane).

 

[seashoreCM]

Ummm --- I don't think the airline can move you to a different flight while the flight you originally booked is still there. At least without your consent. If your caller ID said the call came from your airline then you can call back after dawn and see what's up.

I would suggest not answering calls at 2 in the morning. Occasionally airlines telephone people then to get some groggy passenger to "agree" to switch flights.

They can tell you you may be bumped, but that sentence is always true so as not to need reciting. You can refuse to be rebooked on an inferior flight when the flight you have is still scheduled, and when you show up at the airport anyway the airline has to do the normal bump procedure starting with asking for volunteers.,

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

 

[DebbieB]

I had posted about a problem with Delta and in the replies a few people mentioned a problem with a flight from Hartford.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2208537

 

[MAH4546]

You were originally booked on a Northwest-operated flight. That flight was canceled, and you were rebooked automatically by a computer onto a Northwest flight via Detroit.

The flight was replaced by a Delta-operated flight, but the computer did not auto-rebook you on that one because it couldn't.

 

[eyor44]

Last week we were booked on Delta to NY on flights we normally take. When we arrived at 5:00am for a 6:00am flight with a 9:30 connection through Atlanta, we were told we had been moved to the 8:45am flight out of New Orleans and then to the 2:45pm flight out of Atlanta. Their reason? We wouldn't make the 9:30 conneciton. Yes, we would have. The flights are always in the same terminal and it doesn't take us long to get from point A to point B. The 6:00 was on time and there wasn't any weather, so no reason we wouldn't make it. We had over an hour. Come to find out, Delta had changed our 9:30 connection to 9:05. Baring any unforeseen complications, we still would have made it, we would have still had 45 minutes to transfer. They refused to let us on the 6:00 flight and had already given our seats away on both flights. Believe me, I was not a happy person. We were suppose to leave New Orleans at 6:00 and arrive to NY by 11:45. We didn't get to NY until 5:40pm, due to a mechanical problem on our "New" connection. They said they called us that morning, but they didn't. I stayed up all night since we had to leave our house at 3:30am. When we returned home we checked the caller ID and no one had ever called.

DH is flying out tonight to NY again and has a 45 minute layover in Atlanta and received confirmation of his flights last night. Now, if they thought we couldn't make a 45 minute connection last Thursday then we are they letting DH do it tonight?

PS - at the airport we initially talked to a Northwest agent who couldn't help us with a Delta flight.

We have requested an explanation from Delta, but so far have not received anything.

 

[Kimberle]

You were originally booked on a Northwest-operated flight. That flight was canceled, and you were rebooked automatically by a computer onto a Northwest flight via Detroit.

The flight was replaced by a Delta-operated flight, but the computer did not auto-rebook you on that one because it couldn't.

How do you know this????

 

[francie57]

We had the same thing happen on our return flight to BDL in Aug. The problem is with Delta merging with NWA they are cutting back on flights and since our flight to MCO was changed from a Delta flight to a NWA flight (non-stop at 6:50 a.m.) at the same time of our original booking we were also changed to a non-stop return on NWA. They did away with the NWA flight so they put you on another NWA flight. We just called and are now on the 5:30 p.m. non-stop to BDL but it is a Delta flight. I just now go onto Delta every day and check my itinerary to make sure they don't change it again. Will be glad with the merging of flights is done but also there was an article in our local CT paper that said in the fall Delta/NWA was cutting back on their flights at BDL so that may also be part of the problem.

 

[pooch]

We had the same thing happen on our return flight to BDL in Aug. The problem is with Delta merging with NWA they are cutting back on flights and since our flight to MCO was changed from a Delta flight to a NWA flight (non-stop at 6:50 a.m.) at the same time of our original booking we were also changed to a non-stop return on NWA. They did away with the NWA flight so they put you on another NWA flight. We just called and are now on the 5:30 p.m. non-stop to BDL but it is a Delta flight. I just now go onto Delta every day and check my itinerary to make sure they don't change it again. Will be glad with the merging of flights is done but also there was an article in our local CT paper that said in the fall Delta/NWA was cutting back on their flights at BDL so that may also be part of the problem.

I never book Delta but, come on, $69 flights?!?!? Could not pass that up (they're $220 today!!). But I have 86 days to have Delta screw up my carefully laid plans. Thank God I work at a computer so I can feed my OCD constantly!!!!!!

 

[Lewisc]

Last week we were booked on Delta to NY on flights we normally take. When we arrived at 5:00am for a 6:00am flight with a 9:30 connection through Atlanta, we were told we had been moved to the 8:45am flight out of New Orleans and then to the 2:45pm flight out of Atlanta. Their reason? We wouldn't make the 9:30 conneciton. Yes, we would have. The flights are always in the same terminal and it doesn't take us long to get from point A to point B. The 6:00 was on time and there wasn't any weather, so no reason we wouldn't make it. We had over an hour. Come to find out, Delta had changed our 9:30 connection to 9:05. Baring any unforeseen complications, we still would have made it, we would have still had 45 minutes to transfer. .......We have requested an explanation from Delta, but so far have not received anything.

Airlines have minimum connection times that vary by airport. They allow enough time for delays, for you to go from gate to gate and to transfer luggage. You were told the reason, your connection was no longer legal.
I'm not sure what further explanation you're looking for.

 

[Brian Noble]

Ummm --- I don't think the airline can move you to a different flight while the flight you originally booked is still there.

The NW vs. Delta operator story is pretty likely. There may be a few of these little glitches as the two continue to merge operations.

I don't think there is any rule in the CoC that forbids a move if the original flight is still there, but most carriers also have rules that allow you to switch back if there is space at no cost to you, or request a ful refund if there is not an alternate flight you would accept.