Question for my budget buddies.(not disney related)

[chrisann]

I know if your flight changes by more than 5 minutes, the airlines will change your flight for free if you want. What will they do if you have a package and the hotel and air are together? Will they change the day for you?

 

[MomToOne]

I know if your flight changes by more than 5 minutes, the airlines will change your flight for free if you want. What will they do if you have a package and the hotel and air are together? Will they change the day for you?

I never heard them changing your flight for just a 5 minute change. I've always heard it's 4 hours....sometimes they will do it for less of a change, but that's at the discretion of the airline. I know I once had to really argue with United to get a change when my final arrival time changed by 3 hours and 55 minutes! But in that situation, they did also agree change the date of my flight for me.

 

[vicki_c]

I agree - it's not 5 minutes and it varies by airline as far as I know. Ask this on the transportation board and you will most likely get lots of information.

 

[NotUrsula]

If the airlines refunded for every 5-minute change, Delta would be long gone, as they probably do that to at least 70% of their advance-purchase passengers.

Each airline has a time window that they determine on their own for these circumstances and publish in their Contract of Carriage; for instance, AA, Delta and UAL are currently the same at 90 minutes (but that could change at any moment, so don't rely on it.)

If it is a package flight that has changed, you would need to ask for the reroute via the vendor that sold you the package, because on a package bought from a third party the airline would not feel any obligation to check to be sure that the hotel had availability to match the changes.
(BTW, when you approach the vendor or airline, have a couple of choices of your preferred alternate flights already picked out. Most of the time if there are seats available, you will get them, and the agent will be happier with you because he or she doesn't have to waste a lot of time looking for possible alternative flights for you.)

Note that you only get one shot at a change under these circumstances; if you speak to them about it and accept the change initially, you cannot call back and ask for it later without paying a change fee. Once accepted, you are stuck with the new schedule.

(Also, note that the 4-hour thing is usually a reference to providing an airport meal voucher in the case of a delayed departure on a connecting flight.)

 

[chrisann]

NotUrsula, thanks the package was actually through Delta themselves so that should make it easier, but it hasn't changed that drastically so I'll wait. I'm ore concerned on what they would do about the hotel portion of the trip though. Maybe, I'll call and find out what their policy is. As for the 5 min thing, I've actually changed our flight once, with air tran and 2x with spirit, maybe I was just lucky? At any rate, thanks for the tips!