My ATA flight changed

[Joyciemc]

I was very excited to be getting into Orlando at 11 AM and leaving a week later at 8:30 PM. But the flights changed, and now we lose some time at WDW. It's not too bad, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the flight times don't change too much more.
I've never had tickets this far out for a trip (bought them in Dec. for a May trip), and am starting to think that I'd rather buy them later to not worry so much about the times changing. Does this usually happen when tickets are purchased several months in advance?

 

[sgtdisney]

How much did they change? I think if they change more than a few hours you have options to pick another flight or even another day? I am sure someone else here knows the specifics....

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Joyciemc
I was very excited to be getting into Orlando at 11 AM and leaving a week later at 8:30 PM. But the flights changed, and now we lose some time at WDW. It's not too bad, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the flight times don't change too much more.
I've never had tickets this far out for a trip (bought them in Dec. for a May trip), and am starting to think that I'd rather buy them later to not worry so much about the times changing. Does this usually happen when tickets are purchased several months in advance?

It's very common for airline schedules to change. In my experience, most of the major airlines adjust schedules every three months or so. As sgtdisney suggests, it may be possible to change to another flight without additional charges. Look up ATA's new schedules for the days you depart and return. If something else is better for you, call ATA and ask to be moved to the flights you prefer. As long as the change to the original flight is more than a couple of hours and there are still seats on the "new" flights, ATA will probably grant your request. If the changes aren't all that bad, you may want to wait to see what happens as there may well be another change before your May departure.

Good luck!

 

[Joyciemc]

Thanks for the replies- the times changed about an hour each way. I'm still happy with them, so as of now, I'm not changing anything. I can't remember the last time I bought tickets more than a month ahead of time, so I'm not used to this. Thanks for the insight, I feel a bit better.

 

[atigeg]

We fly on ATA a lot (every 6 to 8 weeks), and the times do not change very frequently...there might be a few minutes here and there, but it's rarely more than 5 minutes. However, there have been a handful of times when the change has been an hour or more. In those cases, if a different flight time worked out better, they were great avout changing us at no extra charge.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Beast2Prince]

We are flying ATA in May and our times changed by about 3 hours both ways. So going down we would have lost 4 hours and coming home we lost 3 hours. Fortunately they had an earlier flight leaving Indy, so we will now be getting to Disney around noon! This means more time to spend at the parks! Our flight home didn't matter because we were just checking out and heading to the airport. But there was no way I was losing 4 hours of my vacation by waiting until 3:30 to leave Indy instead of 11:30. I just hope this is the only change to our schedule. The last two trips down we had no schedule changes, so this is all new to us.

 

[Joyciemc]

Beast2Prince- I'm also in Lafayette. We'll be in WDW May 11-18. Glad you were able to get that earlier flight! So far, mine has only changed by an hour each way, and there are no earlier flights, anyway. Have fun!

 

[dznyacct]

I'm a Lafayette DIS member too! What a "small world"!! Just wanted to say "hi" to my fellow Lafayette citizens!!

 

[Beast2Prince]

Joyciemc- The only problem with the earlier flight is we now have to be on the road by 5:30am We may stay in Indy the night before just to avoid this because I would hate to be so tired our first day there that we can't enjoy it. I just hope they don't change anymore. Have a great trip!

dznyacct- It's truly a "small world" and hello to you too!