How Many Times Can They Bump Me? (NWA FF Ticket)

[DianaPrincessofWales]

I purchased FF tickets to MCO a few months ago and they have already changed itineraries twice. The first time was only a change of a flight number but now they just bumped my departure time by two hours. A major inconvenience for me and DH who is taking me to the airport!! Yuck! This wouldn't be bad if we'd be getting to MCO two hours earlier too, but that's not the case. Anyone know why they do this? Did someone want to pay $ for my free ticket so they just gave it away or what happened? I'd like to smoke out NWA!! Grrr!! I'm not furious, just ticked! And now wondering how many more times before my departure date (Oct) they'll do this?

 

[CarolA]

Did they change your flight times or just move you? If the flight you were on was cancelled or rescheduled then there is no limit. If they just moved you to another flight I have never heard of that on FF tickets and I use them a lot. Call and complain! You can also call and ask to be rescheduled onto a flight with better times, (That can be harder with FF tickets and I don't know much about NW)

 

[troy mcclure]

This is probably not the result of "bumping", but rather schedule tweaking that all airlines do. The further in advance you purchase a ticket, the more likely you are to experience possibly multiple schedule adjustments (such as a change of a few minutes) to full-blown changes (several hours, change of equipment, etc.). Given there are at least 5 more months before your flight, you might want to get prepared for more changes. It can happen a lot.

 

[ducklite]

Until you are actually at the airport and in an oversold situation, your FF ticket is treated like any revenue ticket.

You haven't been "bumped", they've simply changed your equipment and the flight time--it's still the same flight as you originally booked as far as the airline is concerned. Averyone who paid for a ticket on the original flight is in the same boat as you are.

Chances are there will be at least one, if not two more schedule changes before your day of travel.

Where you need to be concerned is if the flight is oversold and they can't get volunteers to give up their seats. The first to be denied boarding will be non-revs--crew and their families who are flying for free. Next are frequent flier tickets and passengers with no seat assignments, which is first in line depends on the carrier. After that they deplane by the value of your ticket, unless you are an elite FF with that carrier. I've never seen it come to that.

Anne

 

[seashoreCM]

If your orignal flights stil exist the airline has no right to bump you until after you get to the airport.

Sometimes the airline will call you (often a 2 in the morning) asking if you would switch flights. You do not have to agree. They might "say" you can be bumped which is always a true sentence not to be afraid of because airlines can always bump anyone at the airport subject to the aforementioned or similar rules. You then show up at the airport punctually and the airline must pay compensation to bump you.

If your flight is cancelled the airline must put you on another of their flights to your liking that is not sold out in the same cabin but disregarding the fact all the frequent flier seats are gone or all the cheap seats are gone.

In most cases if you are really bumped, including volunteering, the airline may not bump you from the replacement flight unless you volunteer again.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[justplaingoofy]

That stinks, but the airlines do that, often... THink about he people that may have had connecting flights...

This winter we went from Bos-St.Lucia on American with a plane change in Miami... Luckily my husband works at Logan (Air traffic controller) and noticed a couple weeks before our flight had a different flight number..(They had changed the flight number and changed the time by :10min) I looked up the seating chart under the airline and noticed our seats that were supposed to be reserved were now available.... I called and found out that when they change a flight..sometimes the computer reassigns passengers... We were put on a flight leaving a day earlier with a 13hr layover in Miami!!! huh??? I said??
They said they didn't have our email address to notify us!! Its amazing that instead of putting us on a flight that left :10 min later they put us on a flight leaving a day earlier! Imagine showing up for your flight only to find out that they put you on a flight that left a day earlier??

Our friends that were meeting us down there were flying on US Air, and were staying SUn-Sat. she got a phone call the day before leaving for vacation saying that US Air was no longer flying from St. Lucia to her destination on Saturdays!! SO she has to book for another night at the Hotel, (Sandals resort $600/night) so that she could get home!

**Please keep checking your airline reservations!!!!***

 

[WeLoveThePoly]

.....
**Please keep checking your airline reservations!!!!***

Amen! I checked our Delta reservations yesterday and I'm glad I did. The ATL-INDY leg of our return flight had an equipment change (to a larger plane) and slight time change (leaving 25 minutes later) so all of our seat assignments were gone. I called a Delta rep and had them re-assigned.

In the past we'd fly on ATA and once I made my reservations I never paid attention to them again. Now that ATA no longer flys in/out of Indy we had to find another airline. I will definitely continue to check my reservations since we still have 6 months left 'til our trip!

Debbie

 

[Lewisc]

The order of priority varies by airline. Passengers who think their flight is oversold should review and even print the relevant section of the airlines "contract of carriage" to make sure they're being treated fairly.

NW gives priority to handicapped passengers who would face a severe hardship if they don't make the flight and then to unaccompanied minors age 17 and younger.

After that the passengers will be accommodated in the order they have checked in.

Don't let an airline give elite passengers preferential treatment unless their contract of carriage permits it. If necessary ask for the complaint resolution officer.

In general the airlines get enough volunteers so it shouldn't come to that. An airline that wants to protect their elite passengers can simply increase the compensation until they get enough volunteers.

Airlines offer discounted fares in exchange for passengers booking flights that might be off peak, booking early and accepting cancellation/change penalties. The tickets are not being sold on the basis of standby or second class status.

Where you need to be concerned is if the flight is oversold and they can't get volunteers to give up their seats. The first to be denied boarding will be non-revs--crew and their families who are flying for free. Next are frequent flier tickets and passengers with no seat assignments, which is first in line depends on the carrier. After that they deplane by the value of your ticket, unless you are an elite FF with that carrier. I've never seen it come to that.

Anne

 

[seashoreCM]

When the airline does not get enough volunteers, it has a set of boarding priorities to go by. A fairly new prioirty used quite recently is to bump passengers without advance seat assignments sooner. If you are curious you might request this in advance of your flight. Each airline is different.