Be sure to confirm your flight reservations!
 

We are leaving in two days for our trip to italy!!!! Thanks to all the Fodorites whose knowledge I have been gleaning. I am more of a lurker than a poster. Although, I may post a trip report if I can get one together.

Anyway, we called yesterday to reconfirm our flights. We were told that our return flight had been bumped to Nov 1 instead of Nov 2!!! (I can't imagine the frustration of arriving at the airport and being told that our flight had left the day before!)

To Delta's credit, the person we spoke with last (after numerous transfers and holding) was very sympathetic. She got us back to our original departure and even said that she'd try to get us into business class on the return trip for our troubles.

We had confirmed the flights a couple of weeks ago, but decided to do it once more to be safe. I'm so glad we did!

wow, why didn't they email you?

Thanks, Mr. Green,

Even though I always confirm, reconfirm, reconfirm, etc., there is always room for human error.

Obviously, someone dropped the ball and did not notify you, and get your confirmation that you understood the change in your itinerary.

Personally, I would have broken out into a cold sweat just hearing from an airline that my itinerary was changed to that extent: one full day!

It sounds like it all worked out well for you though, and I hope you get those Delta business class seats to compensate for their ineptness.

Wow....guess I'd better reconfirm mine again. Thanks for the tip, MrGreen.

Hi Mr. Green,

My horror would have been to find out that I have to come back home from Italy ONE FULL DAY EARLY, lol.

I believe the knowledge that my plane had left and I HAD to remain in Italy, would be music to my ears!

All kidding aside, yours is a good tip and yes, I always confirm, and reconfirm my flights.

I think maybe for our upcoming Italy trip though I will only confirm the outbound flight.
:S-

Have a wonderful, wonderful trip ~ you will know what I mean about not wanting to leave when you get there.

And yes, please do post upon your return home, ok?

Happy, safe journey, Tiff

With one week to go till trip, I checked on my flight times online to find that my airline folded, cancelled all flights and didn't even notify ticket holders! That would be Transmeridian Airlines. Highly mad and have been scrambling to get flights, etc. At least you get your money back with charters, they hold must money in escrow.

Yes, it's important to call to reconfirm! A couple of years ago I arrived at CDG only to find that my United flight had been canceled! I kept wandering round and round the terminal trying to find a United counter, but there were none because all the United flights had departed for the day. I finally found someone with a United uniform on who told me that the flight had been canceled because the flight number was 911 and United had determined that number would no longer be used. So I went back into Paris and spent the night and United booked me business class the following day. That was a very weird experience, though, getting to CGD and not finding a single United check-in counter!

Whoa, StCirq. You spent an extra night in Paris and got to go business class for your trouble? What a darn shame!

Yow Linda, what a kick in the teeth. I'm glad you're not out the money, and best of luck with finding a different flight.

We were pretty upset about not being notified. Once they figured out what happened, they put it down to a computer error. (Sure!)

We would have had to cut a half day from Venice, had they not corrected the problem. Poor Mrs Green was nearly in tears.

Tiff - I'll have to admit that on our last trip to London, we considered (only half-seriously) "missing" our flight home!

LLindaC - That's a terrible thing to do! If they are going out of business, they should at least have the decency to contact those affected. That doesn't cost a thing.

StCirq - What a nightmare that must have been. Even if it eventually turned out for the better, I can't imagine the confusion and sense of helplessness I would have felt in that situation. Your stress level must have been understandably through the roof.

Well, Mr. Green, I wouldn't characterize it as a nightmare, becaues I got to spend an extra night in Paris, but it certainly was incredibly odd to be at CGD with absolutely no trace whatsoever of United Airlines. I guess I'd never realized that the counters actually shut down and the signs all disappear when they "dismantle." I really thought I'd lost my mind:(

I don't ever reconfirm flights. However, I do log on to the computer and check the flight status, that is so easy to do nowadays. The time of departure is really the issue for me, as they are often changing a little bit in the last few months. That would tell you if a flight were cancelled, also.

As for Delta, there was just an article in my paper recently (which I believe was national news) that they admitted they sometimes cancelled flights just because they weren't full.

It isn't clear what happened here, as I don't think airlines can just switch you to another flight on a different day, at least that isn't common. If the original flight were actually cancelled, that's another story, and then airlines do automatically transfer you to another.

But this almost makes it sound like MrGreen was just moved to another flight by a computer mistake, even though the original flight had not changed at all.

Christina - I think that is exactly what happened because the original departure flight was not cancelled. The departure time was moved by about four minutes for some reason, though. Our departure time was moved to the previous evening, but the arrival time was still the same time on the same day. Which would have given us almost a full day's layover in JFK.

Excellent reminder MrGreen. Two years ago we show up at the Swiss terminal to find out that in August, Swiss decided that all flights departing LAX on Sunday were cancelled for the month of September. No one told us. We had purchased the tickets in June. We had spent over 200,000 frequent flier miles in order to travel first class. We had to go back home and come back the next day. They got us on a business class flight with AA. We missed our first night in Rome. We had to forfeit our hotel reservation. Bad way to start a holiday.