USAir Question

[Briar rose108]

We are going to WDW in November for 5 day resort/3 day cruise. I booked our air on my own. I regularly check the USAir site. Well last night when I checked the flight numbers were there but they were changed significantly.
Departure was originally 7:30am when we booked in January. Then it changed to 7:00am, which was even better in my opinion. Now it is 11:30am, which is unacceptable! Will this change? Will I be able to get a flight for approximately the time I booked? Any suggestions?
Now this is only part of it........
Our return flight was originally 1pm. Now it has been changed to 10:30am. I don't even know if we will be able to get to the airport for a 10:30 flight!

I know our trip isn't for a while. But I am very concerned about these changes.

Are they obligated to keep our flights close to the times that they were originally?

Thanks for the input.
Debbie

 

[TravelSheryl]

They aren't obligated to keep your flights near the times they were when you originally booked, but if you explain you are going on a cruise, I don't think you will have a problem getting your flights changed. We just continue to hear over and over and over about US Air schedule changes so you really need to check on a weekly basis, as they could change several more times between now and then.

Go ahead and give US Airways a call and explain your situation and ask that your flights be changed now. Also, ask them to enter into your record that you are taking a cruise so if your flights change again, it will be documented that flight times are crucial to your trip.

 

[Briar rose108]

Thanks Sheryl for you quick response.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

just so you know because it wasn't mentioned here..but there will be 2 more major schedule changes before your flight time so you might as well wait. jul is the next major change and then oct would be the last one before you fly. so you will have to call after the oct one again and during that change it may just be changed back to what you originally had.

 

[pamk]

We have had our reservations with US Air since March 29th and our flights have been changed TWICE already. The first time, in April the times were just changed. The second time, in May (just last week) the flights were cancelled and we were put on other flights. I'm almost afraid to see what will happen next.

 

[pats]

They are good about accomodating you when they change schedules. They put me on another flight of my convenience for no extra charge...a better time for me as it turned out. I just called them on the phone and it was no problem. Im not going till august so i keep checking to make sure they dont change on me again ...guess i better check again after the july schedule changes come out

 

[glindamood]

The DIS is awesome! After reading this I was concerned as we are scheduled on US Air for our Dec. WDW and cruise trip. I checked their website and the times have not changed (from my memory but it could be 5 minutes earlier departing) but the price went up $50.00. Makes me feel good that I had already booked and the prices changed. I will add to my file to check in October to verify no other changes have been made and not even worry about the July change.

 

[pats]

I know what you mean about the changes..i check perodically and the price for our flights, which we got for$118 ea. is now $375!! I'm so glad i made my ressies when i did.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

during each schedule change time frame your flight could change as many as 50 times. in fact they are loading a whole bunch of changes in this weekend.

 

[JPerry]

I just want to add that if your changes are unacceptable, they will refund your money even on non-refundable tickets. I just had to do this for our flight on US Air for this coming October. It took all of five minutes. We rebooked on Delta for $5 more with better times. Two days after I did this, the Delta flight went up $28 more dollars each! I'm glad I made the change when I did.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

Jperry your flight would have changed again for october on usair! you would have changed during the jul sched change.

 

[Meagansmom]

Beverly Lynn - Are these changes common just for USAir or for all airlines? I have been looking at Delta and Northwest and am now curious if they will be making some changes.

 

[TravelSheryl]

Based on this message board and an air travel newsgroup in which I participate, it seems that US Airways has far more schedule changes than the industry average.

Southwest has far fewer than the industry average. In fact, a schedule change is rare with Southwest because their schedules are only out 4-6 months prior to the latest date in which they will issue a ticket.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

yes it is pretty common in the industry. I worked for American Airlines in res and we used to get picked at random to work the schedule changes. at usair we had a team of people to work the changes. this is all we did. they are quarterly and in those quarters your schedules can change up to and including 50 times. I have seen flights that I had to go thru pages and pages to clean before I got to the final change. and other ressies I had maybe one change. Continental airlines has them as well. not as many but still they have them. DL also has them. Air Tran had them too.

 

[JPerry]

Beverly Lynn, I figured that they would have a least one more change, but I fly out of BDL and I have a friend who works for US Air (she happens to be joining us this trip!) She said that they are most likely going to be eliminating a few more flights and there weren't anymore direct flights anywhere near our timeframe. I REALLY need direct flights as I am NOT a good flier. Flying is about the only time I ever take medication.

But...thanks for the heads up! I read all your posts carefully and you have helped so many people.

Jen