Flight Changed Drastically - WWYD?

It would be nice if the airline did the same.
it would be able, but, especially if you didn't book air travel as part of the cruise package, not only does the airline no t have any reason or incentive to refund of credit, it has zero connection to your travel plans.
 
Had the same notification for our Disney Paris trip for the runDIsney races in Sept. Our 5:00 PM flight is now 1:30 PM-the 2 1/2 hour layover is now 6 in Philadelphia. Ugh!! Also screws up our ride as our son was taking us to the airport to cut out parking fees-now he can't as he's at work. We also now have to take additional half days off for PTO as we had planned on working until 3:00. It's worse coming back-my wife is a very slow walker due to a torn achilles in one ankle and a knee replacement on the other leg. Our flight from Paris is fine, but our flight back to KY moved up, leaving us with 55 minutes to deplane-go through immigration/customs, find the gate at Charlotte, and board. When AA was called for possible changes, we didn't find much to fit any better, they did state the flight from Charlotte to Lexington would be tight, but if we missed the flight another would fly out later-or we could catch flights into Louisville or Cincinnati instead. They did offer a refund, but where else am I going to find RT flights for under $400 to Paris right now? They are currently $1100+. Beggars can't be choosers, we kept the new flights. The differences will be an Uber cost to the airport and maybe a long layover in Charlotte upon return.
 
Let's imagine and pretend that, on the day you were booking your flights, all you found were the flights that existed yesterday. Would you have booked the not-so-good flights on your favorite airline in the first place?

Regrettably seven day six night vacations often end up being seven day eight night vacations or five day six night vacations.

My main argument is that when the airline changes the schedule it should not restrict you from alternate selections of your choice just because the same seats are priced a little higher or involve different airports. In other words they should give you pick of the remaining litter with getting a full refund being ultimately your choice not theirs.. I would (+4? +5) not agree that they owe you you meals and hotel if they cancel your flight for any reason before you begin that leg of travel.
 
This is really not AA’s fault; the blame belongs with Boeing. Everyone wishes that there were never any problems with the MAX aircraft, causing two horrific accidents, but you can’t change that now. Until the MAX is deemed safe to fly, there will be problems with fleets, necessitating airlines to move their flight schedules around, considering the circumstances. Try to work with AA - they will try to make the best arrangements possible for you.

It is obviously disappointing that your special trip may have an unexpected blip in the road, but try to be slightly flexible and look at the big picture. You have received some good advice here.

All airlines with the MAX in their fleets are experiencing similar schedule issues that are causing them lots of $$$. Believe me, they would rather not be having these scheduling problems, either.

I hope you can come up with an acceptable solution.
 


it would be able, but, especially if you didn't book air travel as part of the cruise package, not only does the airline no t have any reason or incentive to refund of credit, it has zero connection to your travel plans.

I didn't mean for me. I contracted with the airline to get me from point A to point B in a certain time frame and they haven't changed it (yet). I was just saying it would be nice if airlines gave you something when they make big changes like they did in the OP's case, without an alternative closer to her original flight plan. When they make big flight plan changes they impact peoples travel plans and sometimes significantly.
 
I was just saying it would be nice if airlines gave you something when they make big changes like they did in the OP's case, without an alternative closer to her original flight plan
you're right, it would be nice. Airlines cover themselves with the Contract of Carriage, though. Consumer expert Chris Elliott (www.elliott.com) had a letter this week from someone who couldn't get to grandma's funeral due to mechanical issues. He quoted the CoC as, ultimately saying "we do not promise to get you where you're going when you need to be there".
 
I think I am just screwed. Which sucks because, even though I know there is isn't anything AA could have done to keep my flight intact, it would be nice to get something for the trouble...oh well.

The best you are going to get is the option to cancel and get a refund...@ least it’s early enough to regroup. I had a SWA flight cancelled from SAN to PIT a month ago just a few hours notice due to the air max issue.

Just for giggles googled your dates, Alaska airlines has nonstops for under $400 pp

We recently flew Alaska air for the first time. Had no idea they flew out of PIT. Obviously, Not my favored airline but they had best flight times and prices from west coast/HNL. Wish I had the points earned on SWA but you have to be prepared to make trade offs to achieve your primary objective...whether it’s cost, times, etc.
 


Keep in mind that your times will probably change again prior to the trip. Calling and speaking with someone is the quickest way to get resolution. There may be seats available you you cannot see.
 
Maybe I shouldn't be that frustrated, but to me it is a HUGE change. We now need to schedule off from work for our departure day, which we were originally not doing, we need a hotel room that night, and we are losing 6 park hours on our departure day. We aren't gaining any park hours on the front end to make up for this as the parks will be closed by the time we could get there on our arrival day, and due to our original arrival time we were already planning on a full day of vacationing.

What would you do? I am probably going to have to live with this, but I honestly want some kind of compensation. We didn't get cheap fares and the plane was over 1/2 full when we booked. The flight we were booked on appears to be GONE and there are no similar red eye flights in existence. I am just super stressed and miffed. In order to accommodate the additional night we are re-arranging our entire trip to hopefully make the most out of a bad situation, but we were already trying to do a lot and losing hours of our vacation is not making me happy. I don't want to yell at a poor customer service rep, but I'd feel better if I knew they understood that this was a very big change that is costing us over $1000 (there are four of us plus an infant) in taking time off and hotel and my time rescheduling and trying to accommodate the change.

In your particular case, the change may be due to the problems with the 737 MAX aircraft. AAL just extended their grounding of the MAX aircraft through September in the last day or two. (So did SWA)

We had a similar change for a flight in late August - Sept on AA (different routes) but this applies to all airlines because of the 737 MAX aircraft. Our return would put me on a redeye alone with 2 young kids - not gonna happen!! I called AA because I will keep the outbound - we lose a full day of vacation (arriving at night instead of in the AM) but it's still workable, but I will need to book a different return because neither a 1-stop nor a redeye work for me. Luckily I was able to find one on another airline. AA will refund the second leg of the flight.

This is really not AA’s fault; the blame belongs with Boeing. Everyone wishes that there were never any problems with the MAX aircraft, causing two horrific accidents, but you can’t change that now. Until the MAX is deemed safe to fly, there will be problems with fleets, necessitating airlines to move their flight schedules around, considering the circumstances. Try to work with AA - they will try to make the best arrangements possible for you.

It is obviously disappointing that your special trip may have an unexpected blip in the road, but try to be slightly flexible and look at the big picture. You have received some good advice here.

All airlines with the MAX in their fleets are experiencing similar schedule issues that are causing them lots of $$$. Believe me, they would rather not be having these scheduling problems, either.

I hope you can come up with an acceptable solution.

^^^ This 100%. Of course you can ask for compensation all you want, and it probably won't get you on the naughty list, but at the same time, do you really think you're going to get any compensation? There are thousands, probably 10s to 100s of thousands of pax who are getting displaced and inconvenienced here.

I get that arriving the day before will "cost" you in vacation time, and I'm sorry about your anxiety, but your best bet may be to book a stay at the Hyatt at MCO (you don't even need to go outside), have a good night's rest and breakfast at MCO, get on the early DME and hit the parks after you've had better sleep.

And as @shoreward said, I hope you find an acceptable solution. I'd rather be in the situation I am in, than flying on aircraft that might be unsafe.
 
I fly every other week on Southwest and never issues like this. I have been on AA exactly once in the last 5 years and the only way I got home was me personally moving my flight time. They had mechanical delays for 5 hours and then ended up needing to cancel because of inclement weather at the destination but were planning on blaming the weather to avoid paying for hotels.

So no its not the world of air travel.

Southwest is not immune. I had a non-stop flight LAX-PIT on August 26, the only non-stop on SW. It was cancelled due to Max 8. I'm now on a connection through Las Vegas, they allowed me to switch to SNA. Have to get to the airport an hour earlier and get home an hour later. I know, could be much worse.
 
From what I know following a pilot who does you tube videos and has an app Delta is one of the few US airlines who did not purchase the Max 8 and thus is not affected by having those grounded on their fleet. I for one am looking forward to the day when I can afford to travel again because that 6 am MTime flight that gets us to MCO around 4 pm ETime has been upgraded to an Airbus 319 from a CRJ 700 (though I think we actually had one from the 5 or 600 series) which means we don't have to gate check the small rolling suitcases because they won't fit in the overhead bins for that particular flight. Plus for at least one of the layover cities that flights land at from my hometown airport we don't have to use the air stairs and the wind tunnel to get into the terminal building waiting area for all the flights using that plane which is not fun in the middle of January.
 
If the Alaska flight is better you might ask if they would switch you to that. I know AA and Alaska have some sort of partnership. I’ve flown legs of AA tickets on Alaska aircraft and I am allowed to use the Alaska lounge if the AAdmirals club is unavailable.
 
OP, I don't know if you have travelled before with your infant but if not you may be underestimating the challenge especially if you aren't buying your child a seat. Even in a dedicated seat with a familiar car seat, long flights are not easy on very young children. This is what I would do if I were in your shoes. I would look into staying at the MCO hotel or something else in the area on the night of your arrival, perhaps even near Disney Springs. I would also consider moving my return flight to Sunday and also stay at the MCO hotel Saturday night. This would allow you a full day to enjoy the parks on Saturday and have a good night sleep before the long flight home. I would ask AA to reimburse you for the cost of the arrival night hotel and dinner since it was their decision to change your arrival to a day earlier. I think this will make it easier for you to travel with you child, maximize your park time and minimize any extra cost. It would also eliminate second guessing yourself for what you would miss in the parks if your last day was cut short. I would assume the cost of the end date hotel since it would be my choice to stay an additional night. You can try to ask them to reimburse you for the extra PTO time you'll need to use but I wouldn't count on that. It doesn't hurt to ask for these things.
 
Call - don't rely on the internet to show you everything. Let them know the issue and see what else they can offer. An agent can check several different scenarios faster than the site online. It's worth the wait on hold to see if they can do something else for you. Time is on your side as far as date of travel goes but I'd contact them as soon as possible. Even if nothing is available today they can note your reservations so if something opens in the future ( meaning a month or so down the line ) then you're not getting socked with 200.00 change fees for each ticket.
 

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