jiffer111

I booked a trip to New Orleans at the end of December for travel over Easter weekend and I will be flying with Delta.

Since I have booked this trip my flight times has changed 7 times. On 4 of the flight changes they have me arriving after my connecting flight leaves and on the other 3 flight changes they did not give me enough time between flights. (usually around 15-30 minutes at Atlanta airport)

On all 7 of these changes Delta has never contacted me once. I caught the change when I check on the flight myself. Is this common for Delta to change so many times. I have never used Delta before and after this experience I wont be using them again.

pat

I flew with AA, and they did the same thing. When I called them after the first change, they said there would probably be more changes, and there were.

gail

It is infuriating to have changes - I book vacation and holiday period travel far in advance. In recent years, the itinerary I fly is never the same as the itinerary I booked.

I am wondering what I am doing right, because on Delta, USAirways and AA I have received emails about changes (once to tell me departure time had changed by 5 minutes). Can't figure out why - I am wondering if there is an email option that I select when booking on line.

I think all airlines are doing this more often as they shift schedules and aircraft in an attempt to make some money. But it is maddening for the traveler.

jiffer111

Yes it is very infuriating to have so many schedule changes. I just dont understand why the airline needs to change someones intinerary 7 times in 7 weeks. It makes it really hard to plan anything ahead of time. I know booking in advance there might be a change or two but 7 times in 7 weeks is just crazy. But I also did not want to wait to book to close to my travel dates because it is easter weekend. I guess it is just a catch 22.

DebitNM

I had this happen on AA last OCtober on FF tickets that had been acquired in May. They changed repeatedly. As I had booked my interisland ticket on my own, that became a real issue when the change final change did not leave me enough connection time in HNL. I got the interisland flight changed without fee [got AA to say it was there fault] but AA told me if another change occured, they would not pay for the changing the interisland flight again. They only intervene when the tickets are all acquired through them.

Also happened last spring on flights to St.John USVI from ABQ. That trip involved 3 flights each way. All on AA, so at least each time they changed flights, all got changed. Again on FF tickets, but I don't think that has anything to do with it.

Be happy you don't have connection to deal with -- it is a real problem.

It just seems to be a way of life now if you book early.

Debi

MsSteinrunner

In November, I booked May flights on Delta (using FF miles)to Seattle involving 5 different flights. I checked today and everyone of the flights had changed - and one of them had been changed twice. All of my seat assignments were gone as well as the ability to electronically choose seats. It took me 15 minutes on hold to get new seat assignments and I'm betting I'll end up doing it all over again before May!

bellman

I'm flying to Seattle in May as well (May 30th) and I noticed yesterday that my seat assignments were cleared. Selecting seats was not even an option--it seemed very odd.

I'm glad to know that it wasn't just on my itinerary.

Brian_in_Charlotte

My Skymiles award tickets for May were all changed, and one of the flights was moved to a much later time causing a 5 hour layover in ATL even though there is a flight which is closer to my original departure time. I understand that schedule changes can occur, but isn't Delta obligated to keep me on an itinerary closest to my original?

Their representatives in India are no help, telling me that earlier flight (which is closest to my original) is not available (meaning not available as a Skysaver) and sending a detailed e-mail of the problem gets a response telling me I need to call a representative. Ugg, indeed.

jlillberto

Not all Delta or United's reps are in India. If you get someone from India, either hang up and keep trying for someone in the US or ask to be transferred. I had to call DL the other night and got a very bored man in the states.

Patty

Brian,
Try getting an agent in international reservations. They should be US based. I've had agents open up Skysaver availability for me when there was a schedule change.

Patty

One more thing about the seat assignments. Unless your flight had an equipment change (not just a schedule change), your seat assignments are still there. You just can't see them under your itineraries. I noticed a schedule change on one of my itineraries last week (only slight time changes). I did nothing. Today I logged in and my seat assignments "reappeared" exactly as before. So I usually just wait a little while unless of course the schedule change itself is unacceptable. But if you're uncomfortable, you can call and they will "clean up" your record right then and you can see your seat assignments again.

letour

This rescheduling of flights has happened to me on my past two flights (with family.) Last time with AF and this coming weekend with Delta. Drives me crazy! There is often an inconvenience...in Paris last December the change added three hours to a wait in a frigid TGV station at CDG. This weekend, my son and I will need to rise at 3:00AM and drive to a neighboring state to catch a flight, which will get us back on track in catching our original connecting flight. Here is a matter that I would like to see legislated against, although, I suppose, having to meet their obligations might just put some of these carriers out of business, and then there might not be any planes to fly!

gail

Just found out Delta also got us for Easter as well - making a very short 2 1/2 day trip to Savannah to see our son, so the 4 hour later departure does make a difference - we could change to an earlier flight, but the one we are on is the only non-stop of the day so it would not really save us much time to leave earlier. Grrrrr - but there is not really anything we can do about it.

eimflan

In January, I booked a flight to Phoenix with Continental leaving Saturday, 3/31 at 4:30 PM. I printed out my itinerary and when I checked my email later that night, the departure had already been changed to 6:05 PM. I got another email 2 weeks ago stating that the departure had been changed to Friday, 3/30 at 6:35 PM arriving Saturday, 3/31 for a flight duration of 28 hours. When I called Continental, the rep just laughed and said there must be a problem with their computers.