Flight time changes on Delta

[JoeCathyAngelina]

I'm looking to book a flight on Delta and would like to know if anyone who has flown Delta recently has had their flight dropped or times changed.
The last time we flew on Delta, (4 years ago), we had our flight dropped then changed then dropped again and changed several times by as much as an hour before our trip. They even changed our return flight, 2 hours later the day before the flight.
When I talked to the service desk at the Airport and asked for some form of compensation they told me it happens all the time and I'm not entitled to anything in the form of compensation.
Now I'm trying to decide if I want to go back and trust Delta or wait for JetBlue, Southwest and Airtran to post their schedules.
Good Luck All,
Joe

 

[maxiesmom]

It is pretty common for Delta to change their schedules around. If it makes you nervous, and you don't want your flight times to change at all, you may be better of waiting until Southwest and AirTran release their schedules. But if you have found a great rate on Delta, I would book it. And deal with whatever flight changes may occur.

Do you know that if they make a substantial time change you can have them move you to a different flight, and they won't charge you? I've had that happen before too. I had an early morning non-stop flight booked, and they cancelled it and put me on a mid-afternoon flight. I called, and they switched me to a flight later in the day, at no charge. Gave me some extra time at WDW, so I was a happy camper!

Delta will work with you.

 

[OKW Lover]

I fly Delta frequently. Sometimes they do change flights. My sense is that the frequency of this happening has gone down recently. But yes, it does happen. The further out you book your flights, the more chance there is of a change in the flight times.

Sometimes this can work in your favor. If there is a significant change Delta will allow you to change at no cost to an earlier/later flight if one is available. I used that loophole to advantage on a scheduled trip to Anaheim and wound up rescheduling my flight to the morning rather than the evening, giving me almost an extra day.

Oh, note the word "significant" above. A few minutes won't cut it. The change needs to be probably more than an hour or one that will cause a misconnect.

 

[DebbieB]

I got an e-mail Sunday morning regarding my September Disneyland trip. Going out, my connection in Atlanta was cut from 2 hours to 40 minutes. Little tight but the alternatives were much later. Coming home, I'm leaving 2 hours later (now 1:00pm) and I'm connecting in Minneapolis instead of Atlanta.

 

[seashoreCM]

If you like the change, immediately printscreen* the new itinerary and then telephone to reselect seat assignments. The latter locks in the change.

If you don't like the change, hand pick other flights that you would like better and telephone to request those flights, but do not agree to pay any more money either for fare changes, subclass changes, or change fees.

The following I also consider fair game for going ahead and trying to hand pick flights:
1. Your nonstop flight was changed to connecting flights,
2. The connection time became uncomfortably short, even though still "legal".

* Requires more than prssing the prtscn button; exact method depends on your computer and operating system.

 

[sam_gordon]

If you like the change, immediately printscreen* the new itinerary and then telephone to reselect seat assignments. The latter locks in the change.

When Delta has changed my flights, they have automatically reassigned seats. I get a check box saying "accept change" (or something like that). I am then free to go through and change seats (if needed). I can do all this online without talking to a human.

When they've changed flights enough, I've hand picked flights, then called and been switched to the flights *I* wanted at no charge.

 

[maxiesmom]

When they've changed flights enough, I've hand picked flights, then called and been switched to the flights *I* wanted at no charge.

That is what I have done too. I looked at the flights on-line, and picked out the one I wanted. When I called I told them the flight they had changed me to didn't work, and here is the one I would like to be on. They switched me, no problems at all.

 

[seashoreCM]

Once, (it was Delta) I booked Flight A and it was cancelled and I saw on the on line itinerary that I was rebooked on flight B with no seat assignments. I liked flight B and did nothing. A day later I saw I was rebooked on flight C, which was somewhat inferior for me, but flight B still existed. I called them and they said that their computers, not they, "protected" me on flight B which was vastly oversold when flight A was cancelled. Although I finally got back flight B it was only after some long song* and dance on their part.

Later, I read on Flyertalk dot com about "accepting" the change by telephoning in and perhaps reselecting seats at that time. Slightly later I surmised that the sooner you phoned in the less of a song and dance.

* Before Delta set up a short lived subsidiary named Song Airlines. Song may have been just an experiment but it had individual TV sets at each seat while the rest of Delta did not. It primarily served the Florida market. After a few years the planes with the TVs were put on east west transcontinental routes, presumably to benefit business travelers more, and Song was merged back into Delta.

 

[goofy4tink]

When Delta has changed my flights, they have automatically reassigned seats. I get a check box saying "accept change" (or something like that). I am then free to go through and change seats (if needed). I can do all this online without talking to a human.

When they've changed flights enough, I've hand picked flights, then called and been switched to the flights *I* wanted at no charge.

That has been pretty much my experience with Delta.
I try to avoid flying with Delta..unless I absolutely have to. They have a history (at least with me) of changing flights at least three times when I've booked way ahead of time. Now, I understand that this is always possible. But in all reality...flying patterns really don't change all that much....people tend to use the same flights each year...so it's not a huge surprise when the same flight is changed every single year.
I know that I have had a flight cancelled, with Delta, then combined with another, less desirable, flight. The thing that bothered me was that when you checked that new flight, you could see that it was at least half booked...and my original flight was almost 100% full!!! So, how did Delta expect to mix the two flights??? Another DISer had been on my originally scheduled flight, and was put on that new flight as well. But, we both called Delta,and were able to book other flights that day that met our needs. I actually got the flight I had originally wanted, but refused to pay the super high fare for!!

Delta will make many changes..and you need to go online to stay abreast of those changes. They really don't notify you until you get closer to your departure date. And unless it is a significant change, they will not offer compensation, or free changes. A change of 2 or less hours isn't going to qualify.

 

[DebbieB]

That has been pretty much my experience with Delta.
I try to avoid flying with Delta..unless I absolutely have to. They have a history (at least with me) of changing flights at least three times when I've booked way ahead of time. Now, I understand that this is always possible. But in all reality...flying patterns really don't change all that much....people tend to use the same flights each year...so it's not a huge surprise when the same flight is changed every single year.
I know that I have had a flight cancelled, with Delta, then combined with another, less desirable, flight. The thing that bothered me was that when you checked that new flight, you could see that it was at least half booked...and my original flight was almost 100% full!!! So, how did Delta expect to mix the two flights??? Another DISer had been on my originally scheduled flight, and was put on that new flight as well. But, we both called Delta,and were able to book other flights that day that met our needs. I actually got the flight I had originally wanted, but refused to pay the super high fare for!!

Delta will make many changes..and you need to go online to stay abreast of those changes. They really don't notify you until you get closer to your departure date. And unless it is a significant change, they will not offer compensation, or free changes. A change of 2 or less hours isn't going to qualify.

Typically they don't just change one day. They change the schedule for a period of time. So they don't look at your particular flight to see how full it is. In my case, they upgraded the plane from a 737 to a 757 but made it earlier, cutting down my connection time.

I've found them willing to work with me. The last 2 times I used miles to Florida, there were time changes and I was able to get new flights that were much better times. I didn't book those times originally because they were more miles but I ended up with them in the end. One time was only 30 min change and they said no but then it was changed again to 1 hour and I called and got someone to be willing to switch me to a different flight.

 

[chinarider]

I spoke with my TA ( a friend of mine ) and she said that Delta is infamous for changing flights and probably does it more so than any other airline. I have had numerous problems in the past but, am using them on my return flight. I had a couple of hundred dollars in vouchers from them ( because of previous problems) that I had to use and also SouthWest is not set up with the cruise line so, it made it easier for that.