Northwest/Delta Rage

[WeLuvBuzz]

We are flying Delta at x-mas. I found $144 round trip tickets that I booked even though I was not thrilled with the times, the airport is close and the price was right. Several months later I noticed they changed my flights and did not notify me. Yes, they have our e-mail as we fly all the time and receive all sorts of e-mails about early check in (just received these notes last week when DH & DD went to Disney for aau bball nationals). The flight home was much better, but the flight down left at about the same time, but had a layover and we did not get in until 12:30am. They quickly and nicely changed our flight down to the direct flight I originally wanted but would not pay and extra $80 times 5 people when I booked the first time around. I also asked why I was not notified and they could not tell me why. Bottom line, check your flights frequently.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their insights! I think I would not have been so frustrated if we hadn't originally booked a Saturday-Friday trip, then decided to spend the extra $$ and stay one more night to get an extra day out of the vacation. That's what gets me the most. I am a reasonable adult, and I understand they cannot certainly fly a plane with only four people on it, nor can they put one in the air for me just because I complained. My biggest beef about the entire episode was the rude customer service agent the first time I called. After calling back and getting someone who actually listened to me and understood that I would sit by my children on the flight, and that two of our party must have aisle seats, he bent over backwards and helped me out. The first rep wouldn't even listen or attempt. She just told me over and over again there was nothing they could do (but obviously, since the other rep DID do something, she was caught!). I just want to be treated as I treat everyone else. I never lost my cool, but I came close that day!

I will be travelling other airlines from here on in, just for the customer service reasons alone.

I guess we should all be happy that our complaints take us to the happiest place on earth, just to salve the wounds a bit!

[MinnieMommie]

Wow! How disappointing. I would call back to see what can be done for you. Be persistent and polite and be willing to go up the chain of command as high as need be. If you talk with someone who does not know or does not have the ability to make the change you need then ask then who does and then ask to speak to that person. I also think it helps to politely ask for the names of the people you talk with.

I can understand how disappointing and frustrating this is for you. Flight times are an integral component of trip planning. When flight times change it throws off all the other trip pieces. And by the way...no excuse for not being notified of a change at the time change is made. Especially when airlines have your contact information.

[BugeyedMuggy]

Delta has done this to us before and it took us hours on the phone to get our money back. We will not fly Delta again due to this reason.

[Phantod]

It's not just Delta/Northwest, these problems can crop up with every airline. We typically fly American and have 2 horror stories in this vain.

The first occurred a couple of years ago. We were flying to Miami to catch a cruise. American modified the flight time to arrive an hour after the cruise left the port. And, no notification. My DW checks on this regularly and found the situation. We were able to fix it only by flying a day ealier.

Last August, we were heading off to Hawaii. From Sacramento, which is the local airport, they wanted to fly us to Dallas/LA/Honolulu, since we use air miles to get there. Sorry I'm not doing that. So we found a flight out of SFO direct to Honolulu. We decided to spend the night in SF, and do the Friday morning flight. So we drive to SF, stay at a wonderful motel, and get a call on the cell at 8 PM. Our flight has been cancelled, but oh, they've been kind enough to book us on a flight Saturday evening instead to Chicago. It's American's new way to go west...fly east instead. My DW was able to talk them into another arrangement, fly to LA via American and then switch to Hawaiian Air to Honolulu.....just cost us our entire afternoon on Oahu.

Flying is becoming such a pain.

[DizneyRox]

It's not just Delta/Northwest, these problems can crop up with every airline. We typically fly American and have 2 horror stories in this vain.

Absolutely, you're right, it's not just Delta, but it's also not every airline.

I have yet to hear of this type of service from Southwest. Maybe a delay due to weather problems, etc, but this type of behavior borders on bait and switch.

[javamama]

I swear I'm not just saying this because I work for them, I just was recalled back yesterday! It really does happen all the time, especially when you book out far in advance. I booked Airtran for my trip this past April, we booked in November and it was changed three times before we ever left the gate(I just deleted all my emails a few days ago from this years trip to WDW). As for the agents being rude, I know lots of them aren't very happy w/this merger stuff(I'm from DL) not that it's an excuse, sorry they were rude. If your not happy with the schedule change ask for a supervisor/customer service to help you get things fixed--and that's with any airline. AirTran had us on a really late flight 9pm, and that didn't work w/my 2 year old so we had to lose half a day also. As for seat changes, the agents at the airport can do that too when you check in there. HTH, have a great trip!

[TheRustyScupper]

I have yet to hear of this type of service from Southwest. Maybe a delay due to weather problems, etc, but this type of behavior borders on bait and switch.

1) Southwest, and some other budget carriers, are different.
2) They fly point-to-point, and don't use a "hub" system.
3) It is harder to cancel a ptp, because the plane is left stranded.
4) In a hub system, they just reroute the aircraft.

[sdewan]

We always book our flights 11 months in advance, so we expect several itinerary changes over time.

This happened to us on Delta for our WDW trip in January 2009, but customer service handled it well. We had booked the 7AM non-stop flight leaving MCO. With two young kids we will do anything for a non-stop. Then several months before the trip we got a notice saying that the entire flight was cancelled and we had been booked on a later flight making a connection in Salt Lake City. Connecting flight in Salt Lake in the winter? That didn't sound good to us but we had no other options. Then with about two months left before our trip I was looking at timetables on Delta and I noticed that the original 7AM non-stop was on the schedule once again. I called up customer service and asked to be restored on that flight, and they were glad to put us back on it. The only annoying thing was that if I hadn't looked, we would have had the connecting flight and not even been aware that we could have been back on our desired itinerary.

[jillluvsdisney]

Midwest just cancelled their service to Orlando when we had reservations booked. We got a refund. I booked on Air Tran. They changed the flight times several times. I was always notified by e-mail about it every time though.

[LilRonGal]

This thread has made me paranoid, so I had to go and check my flights. Everything looks good, thank goodness.

I am so sorry you had to deal with this.

[wonderalice23]

Ah memories....makes me think of last August when JetBlue flew our party into JFK (from Syracuse) enroute to MCO....at 11pm ( we were supposed to leave at 5). So we're thinking, we're finally on our way and there will be a plane ready to connect all of us to go to Disney. We arrived and the rest of the people waiting for the same flight were in the waiting area. At 2am they told us they may have to cancel because they couldn't find a pilot! (They had a good, oh, 7 hrs to figure this one out?) People were irate and yelling, children and adults - myself included - were crying from being upset and tired! HOWEVER! A wonderful pilot did arrive at 4am, to a round of applause! He even joked with us pre-flight ("I'm sorry you were all screamed at like school children, let me get you all to Orlando soon") So if you are that pilot reading this - you rocked! Ranks right up there with Disney magic! But then again, my fiancee and I have tried driving once to Disney now....its a lot cheaper for long stays, like we usually do. Might continue for a while - hey - I'm a girl and I can pack more that way too.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

See? This is why !
I can tell my story and people here understand and respond. I'm so sorry that folks have to deal with this experience, but it truly does feel better to know that there are those out there who understand what you are going through and how those "best laid plans" go awry sometimes. Thank you to everyone for sharing! You guys are awesome!

58 days and counting!

[Ian]

First off, this is why I fly Southwest exclusively. They never pull this "stuff."

Secondly, does anyone know (I mean really know ... Ed?) if the FAA has any regulations around flight changes? I honestly can't believe that an airline is allowed to just randomly change your flight without ever notifying you of it. That seems highly unlikely to me.

And further backing that up is the fact that, when this happened to my Mom with JetBlue, she called and complained. They told her they emailed her. She said, "I never got any email from you on this and I got the other 10 you sent me. Why would I not get this one? Re-send it to me." they quickly balked and immediately offered her her money back.

I'd keep complaining to Delta and threaten to go to the FAA.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

And further backing that up is the fact that, when this happened to my Mom with JetBlue, she called and complained. They told her they emailed her. She said, "I never got any email from you on this and I got the other 10 you sent me. Why would I not get this one? Re-send it to me." they quickly balked and immediately offered her her money back.

Ian, that is so amazing that you mentioned this. Northwest also advised they sent an email to me. I have received a dozen emails from them in the past few weeks. Since I had a trip booked, I read them all, just in case they had something to do with the trip. Most of them were just promotional emails. Funny how I get all of those emails, but not the one that changes my trip. They did offer to cancel my flights and give me my money back, but in Minneapolis, we don't have too many non-stop options to get to WDW, so sadly, I had to stay with them.

Thanks Ian!

[Ian]

Well what happened to my Mom and her friend was they showed up at MCO at like 5PM to catch their 7:10PM flight home and JetBlue told them they had missed their flight by like 12 hours. They had moved them to a flight that left at 7:30AM.

So they were basically stuck there and all JetBlue was willing to do was get them on standby for a flight home the next day.

So my Mom called me and I told her to walk over to Southwest's counter and see what they had. She was able to get a flight home that same night on Southwest, but it cost her like $250!

So she called JetBlue when she got home and, after the above mentioned wrangling, they ended up refunding her the full cost of her round-trip fare on JetBlue. It still cost her more money than it should have, but at least it was something.

[sainter]

Airtran changed our flight times this year and I noticed a few days before we received an email from them. But we did get one. And it said if this is acceptable to click on a link to accept and if not, it gave a number to call. I didn't respond within a few days and then received another email asking for an answer.

We have had flight times change on Northwest and Delta (before merge) also. Until Southwest flies to and from all locations it will be tough to fly them exclusively. BUT, they are starting flights out of Milwaukee to Orlando in November! I think with Southwest and an expanded route list with Airtran, we could see some great prices to some destinations from our hometown airport!

[MNNHFLTX]

I'm sorry for your frustration and disappointment. I know some airlines do change passengers' flights frequently (Delta is famous for it). I almost always fly Continental and have never had this happen, thank goodness.

I would continue to talk to the airline to see if you can get some compensation for the inconvenience.

[AllyMonkey]

IF you purchased your tickets with a Visa credit card and they change your original itinerary to one that does not fit with your travel plans, you are not required to accept the alternate itinerary that is offered. If you call and they still will not accommodate you to something more closely resembling your original itinerary, you can contact your credit card to dispute the charge because the airline was unwilling to provide the specific service that your purchased.

(However, keep in mind that once the credit card disputes it on your behalf, the tickets will be cancelled completely and you'll be back at square one playing the "which airline won't ask for my life's savings to sit in their tiny uncomfortable seat" pricing game.)

[mjstaceyuofm]

Karen, I see you're in MN, which means, like me (who lives in MI and flies out of DTW), our choices are extremely limited because NWA (Delta) has a very large hub here in Detroit and in MN/St. Paul.

For all those that profess the greatness of Southwest - they don't fly direct to Orlando from either location. Honestly, I don't know what the fascination is with Southwest. I've flown them twice to Vegas, but felt I had no better service than w/ NWA. Their price was no more or less competitive than NWA's price and quite honestly, I've never had significant problems with NWA and typically find cheaper airfare on any flight on NWA out of Detroit.

My wife and I are Elite members, so we don't have to pay for bags so that argument goes out the window.... If you pay close enough attention, there are some serious bargain airfares to be had if you can be somewhat flexible. We're going to WDW in 2 weeks - cost us $364 for FOUR tickets - non-stop, round-trip. It was a web-only promo fare of $91 pp. Yeah the flights aren't that wonderful (we fly out of Detroit at 9 pm, but when we wake up in the World, it's all worth it... That beats the "ding/need to get outta here" price any day.

In the past, I have had NWA change flight times on me, but never significantly and never to bump me from a non-stop to a service with stops... Probably because they have so many non-stop flights to MCO from DTW.

Anyway, that's a bummer to hear that your flight was changed. Try to make the most out of it...

One last thing - the RustyScupper's analysis on the flight industry was very insightful.