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-   -   Departure Times - Can These Be Confirmed? (https://www.fodors.com/community/air-travel/departure-times-can-these-be-confirmed-1117849/)

EugeneNY Jul 11th, 2016 06:59 PM

Departure Times - Can These Be Confirmed?
 
Greetings,
I may follow up this post with a specific question/situation but, for now, have a general question. Is there a way to find out, perhaps from the FAA or the DOT whether the departure/arrival times being advertised by a smaller airline are legitimate? Case in point: there is a start-up airline offering superb departure times for a certain daily flight (which is not scheduled to start until a few months from now) out of JFK. I have reason to believe that they do not have this departure slot approved and are just using this as a bait and that, at some point, they will just announce drastically different departure time (at which point most people - they hope - will still decide to stick with this airline as it will be too late or prohibitively expensive to look for alternatives). Thank you!

janisj Jul 11th, 2016 10:19 PM

You do realize that any departure time can change/any flight cancelled/any schedule modified? What do you expect the FAA or the DOT to tell you?

I'm flying long haul on AA next month and since booking in late Feb the schedule has changed four times. And AA isn't a start up or using 'bait and switch'

sparkchaser Jul 12th, 2016 12:47 AM

janisj is correct.

EugeneNY Jul 12th, 2016 06:47 AM

I understand that they can (and sometimes have to) reschedule. This is different, however, than intentionally scheduling a flight for a time slot that you do not have in order to sell tickets. For example, passengers traveling to the Caribbean resorts from the Tri-State area are often prepared to pay a significant premium to fly out early in the morning and return in late afternoon/early evening. If you do a search, you will notice a significant price difference between "convenient" and "inconvenient" flight times for the same direct flights. There is, therefore, all the incentive in the world for a small airline to sell tickets for convenient departure times (which, again, they do not have and, due to the politics in the airline industry, are very unlikely to get) to attract passengers.

RoamsAround Jul 12th, 2016 09:12 AM

There's always been a price differential between what some people deem are convenient vs. non-convenient flight times. Airline scheduling is quite complex and how schedules for various airlines, be they large carriers or small commuter airlines, mesh is only one factor in determining specific flight times. For instance, there may be a need to get an aircraft to a specific airport very late in the evening so they can offer that more coveted early morning flight to a different destination the next day.

One of the main reasons "inconvenient" times are priced less is simply a way for an airline to try and induce passengers to take a so called "repositioning flight" that might otherwise have a lot of empty seats.

EugeneNY Jul 12th, 2016 09:38 AM

RoamsAround, agree with everything you said but it still does not address my point (or maybe I am just frustrated :-) Should an airline be allowed to continue selling tickets for a "convenient" time slot even after being told by the DOT that they are not getting that coveted departure time?

sparkchaser Jul 12th, 2016 09:52 AM

Did DOT say anything to them or is that speculation/wishful thinking on your part?

EugeneNY Jul 12th, 2016 10:54 AM

Nope, not speculation. The airline in question announced the time change (to the less convenient departure slots) for June and July and had to cancel all flights in August-October because they could not get any slots. My flight (early November) is still being shown with the original (preferable) departure time but the airline has admitted (in writing) that they are still working with the FAA/DOT to secure departure times that are "close" to the ones they were originally selling the tickets for. This airline has already been dropped by every reputable reseller and all flights for November and December are shown as "sold out" on this airline's website. In the meanwhile, they would not refund the money because they have yet to announce cancellations for November/December.


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