First, let me say that we have flown United to Florida, Hawaii, and California--all in the last year-- and they continue to change/cancel flights and wreck our plans with each trip. We have received some substantial travel vouchers in return for these changes but this last change has me really up in the air.
We booked for President's weekend all the way back in October. DH has a business trip and we all all joining im a couple of days later. Since Monday, the 18th, is a peak travel day, we booked early.
I was confirming our flights today and discovered that our 8:45pm outgoing flight from O'Hare was changed to 6:20pm. I had specifically booked a late flight because we live 4 hours from O'Hare and didn't want to take our children out of a full day of school, just to travel. They would have only miss the last 30 minutes, which is no big deal. I could not accept the new flight time.
Our only recourse is to fly out the next morning. That will waste 1/2 of a WDW day! In addition, I will now book a hotel room in Chicago to avoid getting up at 2am to get to the airport by 6:30pm. To add insult to injury, we no longer have assigned seats. I will be flying with a special needs teen and my 9 yr old son. We need to be seated together, which is another reason we booked so far in advance.
They offered to refund me the money but I can't find good airfare now that would give me more time in WDW. The only applicable flights on the 18th were early morning, which would cost us 1/2 at the end of the trip.
I am calling Customer Service in the morning, just to vent. I am sooooooo tired of the airlines changing my plans and I'm hoping that they will at least get me seat assignments for my distress.
Thanks for letting me vent! I will be calm when I talk to them...... I WILL be calm...... I will BE calm....... I will be CALM!
UPDATE:
I called customer service and they kept repeating that they have the right to change the schedule. I don't disagree with that and I usually expect that. The problem is that they changed it in Nov. and I just found out about it.
I told them that we should have been notified last 11/3/01 (or shortly thereafter) when it was changed so that I would have had the time to come up with a better solution. He kept apologizing for not notifiying me and offered me $50/person in travel vouchers. Well, I still have $772 in vouchers to use (from a price change) and I don't know if I will use the $150, too. I told him that the hotel was "cash out of pocket". The vouchers were the best that he could do.
For the seat assignments.... I told him that I booked in advance so that I would be sure to be seated with my kids. He repeatedly told me that the new flight is full and that nobody can assign seats now until we arrive at the gate. Absoltely nobody. Is that true? Is there nobody that can step in and help here? He put a attached a note to my file to recommend getting us together.
I told him that I booked early, paid, and did everything according to their policies. Now, I am very concerned that I will not be able to take care of my children. (I won't go into details but I MUST be seated with them for their safety; I'm not just being paranoid, I'm being realistic.) He asked me what I wanted.. I told him seat assignments were a priorty. (A free hotel would have been nice but I didn't ask.)
Does anybody have any ideas? Suggestions?
We booked for President's weekend all the way back in October. DH has a business trip and we all all joining im a couple of days later. Since Monday, the 18th, is a peak travel day, we booked early.
I was confirming our flights today and discovered that our 8:45pm outgoing flight from O'Hare was changed to 6:20pm. I had specifically booked a late flight because we live 4 hours from O'Hare and didn't want to take our children out of a full day of school, just to travel. They would have only miss the last 30 minutes, which is no big deal. I could not accept the new flight time.
Our only recourse is to fly out the next morning. That will waste 1/2 of a WDW day! In addition, I will now book a hotel room in Chicago to avoid getting up at 2am to get to the airport by 6:30pm. To add insult to injury, we no longer have assigned seats. I will be flying with a special needs teen and my 9 yr old son. We need to be seated together, which is another reason we booked so far in advance.
They offered to refund me the money but I can't find good airfare now that would give me more time in WDW. The only applicable flights on the 18th were early morning, which would cost us 1/2 at the end of the trip.
I am calling Customer Service in the morning, just to vent. I am sooooooo tired of the airlines changing my plans and I'm hoping that they will at least get me seat assignments for my distress.
Thanks for letting me vent! I will be calm when I talk to them...... I WILL be calm...... I will BE calm....... I will be CALM!
UPDATE:
I called customer service and they kept repeating that they have the right to change the schedule. I don't disagree with that and I usually expect that. The problem is that they changed it in Nov. and I just found out about it.
I told them that we should have been notified last 11/3/01 (or shortly thereafter) when it was changed so that I would have had the time to come up with a better solution. He kept apologizing for not notifiying me and offered me $50/person in travel vouchers. Well, I still have $772 in vouchers to use (from a price change) and I don't know if I will use the $150, too. I told him that the hotel was "cash out of pocket". The vouchers were the best that he could do.
For the seat assignments.... I told him that I booked in advance so that I would be sure to be seated with my kids. He repeatedly told me that the new flight is full and that nobody can assign seats now until we arrive at the gate. Absoltely nobody. Is that true? Is there nobody that can step in and help here? He put a attached a note to my file to recommend getting us together.
I told him that I booked early, paid, and did everything according to their policies. Now, I am very concerned that I will not be able to take care of my children. (I won't go into details but I MUST be seated with them for their safety; I'm not just being paranoid, I'm being realistic.) He asked me what I wanted.. I told him seat assignments were a priorty. (A free hotel would have been nice but I didn't ask.)
Does anybody have any ideas? Suggestions?
