Flight changed!

[BillsFanGabe]

Im going to WDW in November and my flight coming home from orlando to rochester, ny has been changed, it was orginally scheduled to leave orlando at 6:17 pm and they changed it to 12:06 p.m. I was like what the heck Airtran. So I said that we didnt want to come home that early so i called WDW, because we booked the airfare through them and they said that they would gladly change our flight for us for free since airtran changed our flight, so we got the latest flight wich is 6:07 p.m., and the castmember said to us that we should keep our original tickets coming home, so were using different tickets for a different flight but same day, anyone else had this happen to them before?

 

[OneLuckyMom]

I booked a red-eye flight for our August trip back in February.

In early April, American Airlines cancelled all of their red-eyes out of our airport. They rebooked us onto an early morning flight.

Not a huge problem except for the fact that American JUST TODAY emailed me to notify me of the rebooking - almost 3 months after they did it!!!!!

While I am sympathetic to what the airlines are going through with the increase in fuel costs, and the fact that they need to juggle their schedules accordingly, their total lack of concern for their customers is absolutely NOT EXCUSABLE. To hold back telling folks about a significant change (6 hours in our case!) in their flights for so long is a joke!

 

[Shadowdawn]

Just because of this thread I checked our flights for AirTran out of White Plains, NY....oh the surprise (note the sarcasism) when I found out that our going flight went from an 8:10am to almost 2:00 pm and our returning flight from 6:30ish pm to 10:00ish am....both we're totally not acceptable...so now we have to change times, now have a layover in Atlanta both ways, and returning we are flying into laguardia instead of white plains....never ever again w/ AirTran I swear.....:fork:

Oh and we were never notified

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Generally, the rule of thumb when I worked as a travel agent was that if the airline changed flight times by more than 15 minutes (earlier or letter), thet were to notify you directly, whether by phone or email of the change. I can't remember if that was a set in stone policy, or more of an industry standard.

If the change was less than 15 minutes, no notification was sent out by the airline. Small changes are quite common; with so many flights in and out of different airports, small shifts in scheduling occur all the time, from the moment you book until you actually take off/land.

The sad truth is, you have to check on your flights. Often. I check my flights at least once a week, usually every few days.

If a huge change is made, you should be notified. But the responsibility ultimately is that of the passenger. If a major change in scheduling is unacceptable to you, call as soon as you can and try to make changes. The earlier you do, the better chance of getting what you want.

Yeah, when I checked my Airtran flight going to MCO, it went from 1:00pm to 6:40pm. That is almost a 6 hour difference and got NO notification. So I was angry about that. Thankfully I found out when I did because they ended up putting us on an earlier flight than what our original flight time was. The guy we spoke to sent me an email with our new flight info and confirmation. On the email it said that "if your flight time ever changes, an email will be sent to you immediately about it."
I couldn't help but laugh!!! They never even notified me about my 6 hr change that was made...So now I do not trust them and will be checking every day. :brick:

 

[jjgoo]

Just because of this thread I checked our flights for AirTran out of White Plains, NY....oh the surprise (note the sarcasism) when I found out that our going flight went from an 8:10am to almost 2:00 pm and our returning flight from 6:30ish pm to 10:00ish am....both we're totally not acceptable...so now we have to change times, now have a layover in Atlanta both ways, and returning we are flying into laguardia instead of white plains....never ever again w/ AirTran I swear.....:fork:

Oh and we were never notified

I would say consider yourself lucky that you at least found out, but there is nothing lucky about this. We flew Air Tran out of White Plains this past September. We had the 8:10am flight as well. We were at the airport and ready to go at the right time and had a friend drop us off. Well... at about 8:20am they cancelled the flight.

Luckily I noticed something fishy going on and I left my DW with the bags and ran out of the boarding area to the reservation/check-in so I was one of the first people in line (DW caught up with me) we had to rebook for the 1:10 pm flight and sit in the airport (very small and boring) until then. We did take it in stride although there were a lot of very angry people. I guess it helped that it was just us and no young kids to entertain while we waited. We also made it on to the 1:00 flight and some people had to wait until I think 4pm!

So why would they almost board and then cancel the flight? The flight crew never showed up. The pilot and co-pilot were there and ready, but no crew. From what I heard the crew had been delayed because of thunderstorms the night before and it was too early by regulations for them to fly again. Somebody at Air Tran knew this, but did nothing about it, not even notifing the pilot! So it is no surprise to me that they are cancelling, rerouting, rescheduling and changing times with no notification to passengers. They probably aren't even cicrulating the information internally.

After this and some minor but annoying delays on the way back (they didn't have a gate for our plane) we (DW and I) said never again to Air Tran. They are not worth the minor savings.

 

[Shere_Khan]

I am just surprised at all of us who did not get notification.

When I told the lady on the phone I never received notification, she told me I was wrong and that they sent it June 4th.
I did not receive anything. I did receive an email after I spoke to her, detailing the changes we just made. So obviously their email is not set to junk mail or anything since I did receive the one she sent me.

Just ridiculous. What are they telling you when you tell them you received no notification?

 

[disneygirl1]

Thank goodness I read this thread!!! We are flying AirTran from PHL to MCO in December and low and behold my flight times were changed as well. I am going solo with my son, so I will only fly nonstop, they had me coming and going with connecting flights! Needless to say I was alittle annoyed... I called AirTran and they apologized for the inconvenience and were very accommodating in letting me pick new flights with no additional charge. I am actually very happy with the new flight times!

I will definately be checking my itinerary weekly to make sure no additional changes have been made from now till December. (I'm hoping there isn't!)

I have flown AirTran to Orlando now for the last 4 years and I have never experienced this before. I wonder what the deal is? I know the airline is slowly pulling out of certain markets, but I wonder if the price of gas has something to do with it as well?

 

[tigsmom]

Fuel prices are certainly coming into play and unless things change they will only get worse.

I keep checking my flights for August and so far (knock wood) everything is still the same. *crosses fingers* I can leave earlier on the 16th, but we have to be there that day, no ifs, ands or buts! We are not flying into Orlando so I think that's why we haven't been changed.

 

[disneygirl1]

Fuel prices are certainly coming into play and unless things change they will only get worse.

I keep checking my flights for August and so far (knock wood) everything is still the same. *crosses fingers* I can leave earlier on the 16th, but we have to be there that day, no ifs, ands or buts! We are not flying into Orlando so I think that's why we haven't been changed.

Well my fingers are crossed for you! Here's hoping there are no more changes :animwink:

 

[disneygirl1]

Fuel prices are certainly coming into play and unless things change they will only get worse.

I keep checking my flights for August and so far (knock wood) everything is still the same. *crosses fingers* I can leave earlier on the 16th, but we have to be there that day, no ifs, ands or buts! We are not flying into Orlando so I think that's why we haven't been changed.

Well my fingers are crossed for you! Here's to hoping there are no more changes :animwink:

 

[Computer Magic]

We have been hit with the flight change as well. Its not bad as we leave for WDW 55 minutes earlier but that does make the departing flight 6:30 AM!!!! but hey we get there at 10am.

Our return home has changed to 10:30am. Not real happy about that as we were set on leaving at 11:25am. Not a big deal.

From the looks of it they reduced the number of flights coming and going.

Seems everyone is being hit by the bug

 

[Horizons_03]

When I was in wdw back in 04 we stayed at the bordwalk and this was before magical express had really taken off and we were not using it. We had confirmed the day before our flight was to leave orlando that there were no flight changes from air tran. Our flight was origianlly supposed to leave at 12pm. When we arrived at teh airport at 10am we were told we missed our flight and we looked at the people like they were joking and they told us the change was made late yesterday evening after we had already called. Our flight left at 730am. WE were never notified of the change. It is rediculous. I will only fly southwest or american airlines from now on. This is rediculous.

airlines need to stick to schedules they set or if change them within reason and not the day of the flight cancel or make the flights leav earlier then scheduled.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Thank goodness I read this thread!!! We are flying AirTran from PHL to MCO in December and low and behold my flight times were changed as well. I am going solo with my son, so I will only fly nonstop, they had me coming and going with connecting flights! Needless to say I was alittle annoyed... I called AirTran and they apologized for the inconvenience and were very accommodating in letting me pick new flights with no additional charge. I am actually very happy with the new flight times!

I will definately be checking my itinerary weekly to make sure no additional changes have been made from now till December. (I'm hoping there isn't!)

Hey there! I am also flying from PHL to MCO but in November. Question for ya... Did airtran send you an email after you called them, with your new flight and all that? They sent me one, and right under the new flight info, there is a Billing Summary and the price of our 2 tickets...I'm not really worried about it because the guy I spoke to said there was no charge at all for my flight switch. But I was just curious if your email is similar to mine. I'd hate to get to the airport that day and have them try and pull something and charge me when I was told I wasn't being charged.

And they were very polite on the phone, and didn't give us a hard time at all for the switch. (they shouldn't anyway...our flight was pushed back almost 7 hours!!!)

 

[WildLodgeFan]

Wow - glad to hear I'm not alone. It's been a crazy weekend with AirTran. We received our first notification of a change (from expedia, where we booked the flights) on Saturday - we have a connecting flight in ATL and the change was onlygoing to give us 19 minutes between flights and I imediately called AirTran to inquire about this. They immediately seen our issue and changed the connecting flight so we have an hour between flights. And we would get in an hour earlier than originally planned - YAY!

Then I had an email from Expedia today that there was another change - this time our connecting flights wasn't until 8 PM (from 11:25 AM) - were they CRAZY? So I called Expedia and they spoke with AirTran and I got back on the 11:25 am flight, but our return change to leave an hour earlier at 7:30 am - which we will live with I guess (early morning get-up though with DME).

So I'm keeping all the email correspondence in a folder to access as needed and will continue to monitor it along with everyone else on board. Luckily we have been notified promptly with the changes, so I can't complain about that or the attitude/promptness of the agents that I've spoken with at both places.

This is our first time flying AirTran - so, my question is this common with them? Or is this an industry reacting to increased fuel costs and lower tourism numbers?

 

[disneygirl1]

Hey there! I am also flying from PHL to MCO but in November. Question for ya... Did airtran send you an email after you called them, with your new flight and all that? They sent me one, and right under the new flight info, there is a Billing Summary and the price of our 2 tickets...I'm not really worried about it because the guy I spoke to said there was no charge at all for my flight switch. But I was just curious if your email is similar to mine. I'd hate to get to the airport that day and have them try and pull something and charge me when I was told I wasn't being charged.

And they were very polite on the phone, and didn't give us a hard time at all for the switch. (they shouldn't anyway...our flight was pushed back almost 7 hours!!!)

Hi! Airtran did send me an email confirming out new flight info... but there was no billing summary with it. When I spoke with the woman from AirTran I asked her about any additional changes for the change, but she said that b/c the airline cancelled the flight I was originially booked on there was no charge.

Tell me about it, the flights they tried to put me on were several hours later coming ang going any they both had connecting flights. There was no way I was going for that!

 

[disneygirl1]

Wow - glad to hear I'm not alone. It's been a crazy weekend with AirTran. We received our first notification of a change (from expedia, where we booked the flights) on Saturday - we have a connecting flight in ATL and the change was onlygoing to give us 19 minutes between flights and I imediately called AirTran to inquire about this. They immediately seen our issue and changed the connecting flight so we have an hour between flights. And we would get in an hour earlier than originally planned - YAY!

Then I had an email from Expedia today that there was another change - this time our connecting flights wasn't until 8 PM (from 11:25 AM) - were they CRAZY? So I called Expedia and they spoke with AirTran and I got back on the 11:25 am flight, but our return change to leave an hour earlier at 7:30 am - which we will live with I guess (early morning get-up though with DME).

So I'm keeping all the email correspondence in a folder to access as needed and will continue to monitor it along with everyone else on board. Luckily we have been notified promptly with the changes, so I can't complain about that or the attitude/promptness of the agents that I've spoken with at both places.

This is our first time flying AirTran - so, my question is this common with them? Or is this an industry reacting to increased fuel costs and lower tourism numbers?

Well I am glad you were able to gat back on the flight that you originally booked. Leaving early from Orlando really stinks since ME pick up time is 3 hours before your flight!

As far as this being a common theme with AirTran, I have flown them to Orlando from Philly for the last 4 years and have never experienced this before... I definitely think that this has to do with the rising fuel prices. When I first started monitoring flight prices back in March, there were a heck of a lot more flight coming and going then there are now.

Lets hope for everyone there are no more changes!!!

 

[Computer Magic]

We have been hit with the flight change as well. Its not bad as we leave for WDW 55 minutes earlier but that does make the departing flight 6:30 AM!!!! but hey we get there at 10am.

Our return home has changed to 10:30am. Not real happy about that as we were set on leaving at 11:25am. Not a big deal.

From the looks of it they reduced the number of flights coming and going.

Seems everyone is being hit by the bug

well this confirms what is going on:

FORT WORTH, Texas - American Airlines will cut back flying later this year at many airports, including hubs in Dallas and Chicago, as it attempts to cope with record high fuel prices.

The nation's largest carrier gave more details Wednesday about capacity reductions it announced last month.
American said it will reduce departures at its Chicago O'Hare Airport hub by 28 flights and sister airline American Eagle would cut 34 flights, beginning in September.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, American will cut 19 departures and Eagle will ground 23 flights.
American said it will cut eight daily departures in St. Louis and five at New York's LaGuardia Airport. American Eagle and AmericanConnection will cut 35 flights in St. Louis and 37 Eagle flights at LaGuardia.
Fort Worth-based American had already said it was closing operations in Oakland, Calif., and at London's Stansted Airport in September, and it said Wednesday it would end service to Barranquilla, Colombia.
Eagle will end operations in Albany, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; Harrisburg, Pa.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; and Samana, Dominican Republic.
American announced last month it will cut domestic capacity 11 percent to 12 percent, and Eagle will cut capacity 10 percent to 11 percent, compared with levels of late 2007. The company is trying to reduce costs in the face of fuel prices that have nearly doubled in the past year, surpassing labor as American's biggest expense.
Chairman and Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said last month that American will probably eliminate thousands of jobs as a result of fewer flights, but the company has not yet disclosed a precise figure.
A spokesman said Wednesday that job effects might not be known for some time. The company repeated Wednesday that it intends to offer voluntary-departure programs to reduce layoffs.
Shares of parent AMR Corp. rose 17 cents, or 3 percent, to $5.88 in afternoon trading.

 

[WildLodgeFan]

^^^^ Thanks for the update! :wave:

 

[michelek73]

I was searching a question about Southwest on Wikipedia and this was at the bottom:

New service
Southwest announced that they will be participating in Disney's Magical Express program in Orlando, FL. The program allows passengers to check their bags through from their home airport through to their rooms at a Walt Disney World resort.[45]

I always use Southwest to get to Disney, and the bags are waiting in our rooms. However, we have to check them in ourselves when leaving, does this mean that should change????

 

[kimmychad]

I was searching a question about Southwest on Wikipedia and this was at the bottom:

New service
Southwest announced that they will be participating in Disney's Magical Express program in Orlando, FL. The program allows passengers to check their bags through from their home airport through to their rooms at a Walt Disney World resort.[45]

I always use Southwest to get to Disney, and the bags are waiting in our rooms. However, we have to check them in ourselves when leaving, does this mean that should change????

we always use southwest also, but never use magical express so this wouldn't affect us. but don't believe most of what you read on wikipedia, anyone can edit that information and until its corrected by someone else it stays wrong. i would suggest calling disney directly.

 

[tink68]

I just got an e-mail that our flight coming back is now an hour earlier also. ugh! Just once I would like to sleep in on the day I leave. :brick: Oh well.