Travelocity Changes Our Flight--and Forgets to Tell Us :(
 

We booked our flights to Utah at the end of this month on Frontier Airlines through Travelocity. I've never used them but the fare was irresistable: $335 inclusive from Atlanta to SLC, with one stop in Denver each way.

I noticed we had a pretty tight connection in Denver going out, and called Frontier to confirm our reservations and to ask if that would be a problem. The clerk informed me that, instead of leaving Atlanta at 9:30 a.m., Travelocity had changed us to a 6:30 a.m. flight the same day, with an almost four hour layover in Denver.

Funny, they never emailed or called with the change! The clerk changed our Denver to SLC hop to an earlier flight and practically eliminated the layover, I'm happy to say. But I was horrified---and so was she---that we weren't notified of the change.

Has anyone else had this particular problem with Travelocity? I'd like to know if this is SOP or just an anomaly. . .so we'll know whether or not to use them in the future.

Nothing to do with Travelocity. I seldom get notified for change, either from airline or travel agent (online or otherwise). One has just have to check your schedule often, regardless.

Travelocity did not change your flight - the airline did.

I can not remember the last time I booked a flight far in advance and DID NOT have some change in schedule or itinerary. I always get rebooked ons omething - sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't, but I have never had any trouble changing the change with a phone call.

It's an unacceptable level of service for us.

We made the reservations about one month out, not really that far, and we've always been notified by every carrier because I book directly. This was an exception, and I wondered if it was also an exception in the world of online consolidators. Sounds like it isn't.

Check this out:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34946553 ((*))

Obviously I haven't been too clear with my question, and I apologize.

Let me rephrase it:

Is it less likely that you will be notified of a change when you purchase tickets from a consolidator or other service, such as Travelocity or Expedia, than the airlines?

In the past we've always been notified by airlines in a timely manner. This EXCEPTION is what made me ask the question.

Except that, since we probably won't use Travelocity again, it is no longer a question but rather a cautionary tale.

I can't say when it is most likely to happen. I can say that I have had more than one airline change flight times without telling me - when I had booked the flights directly with the airline.

I am now in the habbit of checking all upcoming flights once a week. More often when I get closer to the actual trip.

Keith

Hi kswl, I had a friend who had their morning flight to get home cancelled and they did not learn about it until after they arrived at the airport. They were not notified either. I am not sure how they booked their flight however. It seems to be happening more and more. So I agree, check and double check.

I have received emails from individual airlines and once from Expedia about flight changed times. And on Monday United airlines called my husband to tell him his Tuesday flight had been cancelled (weather - ORD).

However, I have no idea if it is more common with carriers or other points of purchase.

"Less likely"? I don't think so. Reason being that being notified of a change well in advance of travel by the airline is "not likely".

This is beside the point but travelocity is a travel agent, aren't they, not a consolidator.

Now that you ask, I am not sure, Mr Wonderful. I called them that because they were described as a "consolidator" on a website about travel, low fares, etc. that I read occasionally. They reserve blocks of tickets ahead of time, according to this writer, and that, apparently, is a consolidator. They may also act as a travel agent in other situations, I don't know. Or, my information may just be wrong. :)

Changes to flight times seems to happen often these days, and I have yet to ever be informed of one. It doesn't matter if I purchased through a booking site, consolidator, or the airline.

On our trip to Europe two years ago, a phone call to confirm my son's flight from Dayton to Vancouver revealed it had been changed to two hours EARLIER! He would have missed the flight and then our connection to London if I hadn't checked again at the last minute.

On the way home three weeks later, we discovered upon check-in in Paris that his flight from Vancouver to Dayton had been cancelled. And I had "reconfirmed" two days previously!

They were able to reroute him to Indianapolis, but this required calling people back home from the airport in the middle of their night, etc.

This time I'm going to try the sms "flight notification" from AA. Not sure if it would help with a big schedule change though.

On my last trip with AirCanada, they called me about 12 hours before my flight to tell me that the food service went on strike and that I should eat before getting on the plane in case they ran out of food. :)

I use their flight notification service and get text messages starting from about 24 hours before the flight telling me of any delays, changes, etc.

Pretty funny, Toedtoes, and very nice of them, too.

I've always been notified by the airlines, and that is why I was so surprised and assumed it must have been because of the Travelocity booking. Of course, we ALWAYS call the night before . . .

Actually, i did get notified when jetBlue cancelled a flight a couple of weeks in advance. United doesn't notify of a schedule change.

I've recently had 2 telephone calls with notification of minor time changes direct from airlines.
One call from KLM and the other from a small Indian airline. Both were regarding different trips.

Re United - last winter I was emailed endlessly about 5 minute schedule changes Boston-Miami. (As difficult as it is for me to say something nice about United). Seems that there is great inconcsistency, even among same airline as to whether or not they notify you. And if that is the case, it is as good as not notifying you - if you can't count on it, why bother.

I've received (automated) calls from United about 3-4 schedule changes in the last year. Typically, these have been with big changes that affect a connection or a more substantial time change. For small, 5-10 minute time changes or flight number changes, I have not been notified, or I catch those before they have a chance to call. I tend to watch my itineraries very closely--particularly if I have an upcoming international flight, as United's schedule changes have been known to alter seat assignments on occasion (I'm keeping a close eye on our upper deck seats to Australia right now).