United flight times

[catzle]

So we are going to Aulani in June and found out United has changed our flight. I have a feeling they will do it again. Anyone else find that airfare to Hawaii and their times get changed a lot? We are flying Hawaiian over but United back. Just worked out better that way.

 

[squeezle]

We mostly fly Delta and Southwest and find on both airlines that our flight times usually get altered between booking and the actually trip, but I don't think it has ever been changed more than once.

 

[DisCatGirl]

I have a United flight book next month from California to Maine. The times have changed twice so far.

 

[drcoulsey]

Last week I flew United home from WDW. They changed my flight times about 2 weeks before departure and then just before boarding, that flight ended up being delayed nearly 2 hours to fix a maintenance issue. My last 2 trips on United had last minute flight changes. Now I'm planning a trip to Aulani and I've decided United is not for me.

 

[happymommy]

I tend to book our Hawaii trips (we've been many times and lived there too) very far in advance using airline miles.

With both Delta and American this has happened. I booked our next trip this summer last fall on AA, and it changed twice. Worked out to my benefit, though! We booked first class both ways, and the outbound had us stopping twice (not ideal), so they were able to change it with only one stop and lie flat seats instead!

I check the flights frequently, as sometimes I'm not notified of the change. It can happen with any airline when you book so far in advance.

 

[Tiki Birdland]

Never had a problem with flight changes on United. However, I'd say we got the WORST service on our flight from Maui back to the mainland. So bad, in fact, that I will NEVER fly United again. And, this was before all the blowup on social media of passenger mistreatment.

 

[margot31]

While not traveling to Hawaii....I just saw this pop on the screen this morning....trying to get my mother in law from Oregon to FL for a disney world trip is becoming a PITA with what she can deal with (still recovering from 2 major back surgeries) and money. Starting to stress me out and make me not want to go anymore.

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

They changed our entire plane on the way back from Aulani. Literally had reconfigured the interior of the plane so the seats were different and everyone was freaking out. I know it was out of their control but the 777 plane changed to a 3-4-3 configuration and people were totally confused. My daughter was suddenly seated alone and across the aisle. Took forever to take off and so many unhappy people. The complaints were very loud from unhappy customers.

 

[Elima2015]

Unfortunately for planning purposes, flights change all the time - every carrier, every destination. We book far in advance for vacations (usually) and it seems that at least a portion always changes. This past February we took two big trips, one was to Hawaii. Between the two trips, we flew on American, Delta, and Alaska. EVERY single travel day was adjusted pretty significantly. I'm talking different connecting airports, going from 1 stop/plane change to 2 stops/plane changes, departure time changes by 4 hours, no assigned seats left after we previously had 5 seats all nicely together, an overnight stay in one city to accommodate a connection that was shrunk to 30 minutes. That is 4 out of 4 cross-country travel days altered by the airlines between booking and travel. So...it stinks, it happens, there isn't much you can do but keep checking your itineraries, and be flexible. FWIW, every time the airline made the adjustment, we were able to make our adjustments free of charge and I believe, you can even receive a full refund for your flight.

Anyone else find that airfare to Hawaii and their times get changed a lot?.

I'm sure you know - but just want to clarify that as long as you have booked the reservation, the airfare you pay shouldn't change. That same flight airfare will fluctuate a bunch, but yours is locked in. If the airline changes your itinerary, you can call and make some adjustment as needed without penalty. I have never had to pay any change fees or the going-rate in those cases (I'm not talking changing by weeks, but like different airports or +/- a day)

 

[Psymonds]

we usually fly on miles to hawaii, and book early, and we almost always have one time change between booking and the trip. this year we are coming back from Kauai and they changed the date of the flight. we were offered multiple options to rectify but we are flying back to a different nearby airport on our desired day instead, one which we probably couldn't have purchased the miles ticket from originally.