In an earlier post I recommended to readers that they always reconfirm airline reservations in order to not be caught unaware of itinerary changes made by the airline after booking.
In this post I would like to take this a step further and provide some suggestions for dealing with a mangled itinerary.
Let me begin with a recent personal anecdote.
My partner and I are going to Austin, Tex. (AUS) next month. About a month ago I reviewed the reservation on Uniteds website and it showed a new schedule and a request to contact United to confirm the schedule change.
The flight from Chico (CIC) to San Francisco had changed little, but the previously nonstop flight from SFO to AUS was now a connection via Denver (DEN).
The arrival time in AUS was about the same as before but we obviously would prefer a nonstop over a connection, all things being the same. Plus, since our trip originated in Chico it would have meant a double connection if we also had to connect in DEN. Oddly, the return flight from AUS to SFO remained nonstop.
Before I called United I did some simple sleuthing. I searched on the United website just for flights from SFO to AUS. Sure enough, there was the original nonstop flight although departing SFO slightly later than originally confirmed.
Armed with this knowledge, I called United and, as I expected, it was not a problem to get them to switch us back to the nonstop flight.
Why did this happen?
I cant say for sure but my guess is that one of two things happened. United may indeed initiated a flight cancellation for the nonstop flight, reaccommodated us on the connection, then reinstated the nonstop, but failed to reverse the change to our itinerary.
More likely is that the airline simply changed the operating times on the SFO-AUS flight but when the system looked at our entire trip (CIC to AUS) it didnt like the long layover in SFO and automatically rebooked us on the connection instead. (The rules for domestic airline fares limit connections to no more than four hours layover.)
Here are the points to take away from this tale:
– Check up now and then on your itinerary if you book it far in advance
– Dont assume that the airline rebooked you on the best or most logical replacement
– Before you call, check the schedules the airline offers for the day youre flying
– In a market where an airline offers one daily nonstop flight (like SFO-AUS for United) it is rare to have a nonstop in only one direction. Its not cast in concrete, but usually an airline offers an equal number of nonstops in each direction.
But there are three more very important things to bear in mind.
If, for example, an airline really wreaks havoc on your schedule then you should request more significant changes.
Lets say for example, that you were booked on an afternoon connecting flight from Sacramento to Cincinnati by way of Salt Lake City. A month in advance you check your itinerary and find youve been rebooked on a morning connection because the original flight from Salt Lake to Cincinnati was canceled.
Thats fine for the airline but not for you because you have to work that morning.
Check the carriers schedules to be sure that they couldnt put you on a later connecting flight from Salt Lake to Cincinnati if youd be willing to accept a double connection. (You can also see if maybe there is an afternoon connection from Sacramento to Cincinnati offered via an altogether different city.) Otherwise check the schedules for the following morning.
After you’ve done your research, call the airline and ask them to move to move you to a better schedule the day after (or day before).
They should do so without complaint because it was their changes not yours that messed up the trip.
Dont settle for any of these three possible responses:
– We can change you to the day before/day after but well have to charge you the change fee and/or charge you the difference in fare
– We cant change your reservation in that way because you were booked in XYZ class but the only seats available on the new flight are in ABC class
– We can’t rebook you via a different connecting city because the fare you purchased does not allow that routing
With regard to the first possible dodge, just repeat something like this: Delicous Airlines, not I, changed my itinerary in such a way that it’s now impossible for me to use. It’s the airlines responsibility to make this reasonable change without charging me for it.
As for the second dodge, keep in mind that on most aircraft there are two cabins: first class and coach (and sometimes business class on long-distance flights). For many years now, all airlines have employed a system known as yield management. What that does is slice and dice prices and availability on flights in order to maximize the yield (i.e. revenue).
For example, United uses the following letter codes to sell coach seats on its flights:
Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, K, L, G.
Do you really think there are that many different flavors of coach service on a plane? Of course, not!
Y is used for full-fare unrestricted coach (this is true for all airlines) but the rest of these inventory codes can be used to sell coach travel at a discount, provided fares are published that correspond. (Each airline uses a different hierarchy of inventory codes for discounted fares but the concept is exactly the same.)
Bringing this back to the matter of schedule changes, if the ticket you purchased is booked, for instance, in W class, but the airline says, So sorry but we cant switch you to that later flight because there are no W seats available, politely insist that they do so.
There isn’t any qualitative difference between a W seat and a Q seat or a Y seat. The airline can book you in a Y seat and override the system anytime it wishes, forcing it to accept a previously purchased ticket booked in the W inventory. It might cause a tiny wrinkle in their precious yield management system but thats their problem.
Finally, dodge # 3 about rerouting, is as specious as the W vs. Y seat “problem”. If your search for a better schedule (using the same Sacramento-Cincinnati example) reveals an acceptable connection via Atlanta, then the airline can rebook you on that and override the system. Too often now, airlines display a bad habit of trying to enforce rules at the expense of any shred of good and sensible customer service.
If you dont get satisfaction from the call center agent you speak with first, then dont hesitate to politely but firmly ask to speak with a supervisor. Explain briefly and calmly how the airlines schedule change has wrecked your trip. They can and should do what is necessary to fix things if the solution is sensible.
By the way, if you booked your trip with a travel agent he or she should keep you in the loop when they see schedule changes affect your itinerary. Yes, you have to pay a fee because the travel agent doesnt get a commission from the airline for selling the tickets but this is where having a good agent on your side really pays off.
Care to read more on the subject of schedule changes?
Janice Hough, a Bay Area travel agent, writes great articles for Tripso, one of the sites I track with Google Reader. Recently shes written twice about the subject of schedule changes (mostly in the context of problems on the day of flight) that I enjoyed and found very useful. I think you will, too.
Take a look:
Automatic Rebooking Systems
One time you should never listen to the airlines
