Airline Change Of Flight Time
 

What does one do when an airline suddenly changes your confirmed flight time from 6PM to 2AM?

Call the airline.

Either go with it or ask to be moved to a different flight.

What kind or airline leaves at 2am? Is this a super cheapo? A charter?

Or is this a change for a specific day due to weather conditions or mechanical problems? (If this is the case - you can get your money back - then find another flight.)

1. Cancel the reservation (get $$$ back)
2. Change the reservation (no change fee)
3. Show up at the airport at 2AM and board your plane.

Which airline?

Unless it is a redeye that is running late, what airline departs at 2AM? Most don't have staff around at that time.

His other post mentioned "Caribbean Air". LIAT, perhaps?

Delta changed my flight time once on me out of San Francisco. I fought and fought with them but to no avail for a discount. Granted it wasn't a 2am departure, but I did have to change my plans (changed from a 2pm to a 9am departure).

Recently, our flight home from Phoenix to Philly (which included a layover in Chicago in December) was changed from 11PM to 4 PM. My husband (who has status on the airline) called and argued with them; they switched us on to a non-stop red-eye leaving closer to the original time. It turned into a great deal for us!
WHat really irks me is that when he first called, the person he spoke to could not understand why he was annoyed about the change. If we wanted to leave at 4, we would have booked a flight for 4!

Anything we say is just conjecture -- give us more details -- airline? airport? Destination? Many airports have curfews and there aren't any 0200 flights.

Oh, there's a brand new airline called "Caribbean Airlines" that started 1/1/07, formed from the previous BWIA that shut down 12/31/06.

Maybe it is this one.

I fly half a dozen times a month for business, and I've seen just about everything but never a flight re-scheduled for 2 AM. Most airports don't allow flights out that late/early. I'd be suspicious that once it got closer to 2 AM that the flight time would be changed again. Also, note that all airlines have the right to change the flight back to the original time, so if you aren't at the airport in time for the 6 PM flight there is actually a chance they would leave earlier than the 2 AM change time and you'd miss your flight. I'd ask them to re-book if I were you. Give us the airline, and the airport, and someone will know if that particular airport has a curfew, and probably also have similar experiences with the particular airline.

I have no idea about the OP's situation, but plenty of West Coast flights to mid-continental hubs like IAH or DFW leave close to 1am.

And there are even later flights from West Coast to Asia, like the 1:30 EVA SEA-TPE or 1:45 Cathay YVR-HKG (which is often delayed too as it came from JFK).

In Asia, many flights going to Europe depart after midnight or close to midnight. HKG is most busy after 10pm each night with such flights, and the last BA to London departs 1:10am.

And then you have airports like Dubai (DXB) where passenger flights arrive and depart to/from Europe and Asia basically the whole night.

Are there any regulations regarding how far away from your original flight time an airline is allowed to change your flight?

I should hope so, it seems criminal to be able to change the time that drastically without offering a full refund or a flight on another carrier.

That's ridiculous, there really ought to be some kind of consumer protection laws for these kinds of situations.

You can always request a full refund. At least on all US scheduled airlines (not charter), as SAPS says in the reply earlier in this thread.

Problem is that if one's flying to some small islands in the South Caribbean, there may not be many choices when it comes to flights.

I have spoken to Customer Relations for Caribbean Air, they say there is nothing they can do. They moved my flight up by 16 hours and have cost me a day of my vacation. Is there any recourse?

saps have already given you the options in the 4th post in this thread.

I certainly feel for you. Delta did this to us recently and it will ruin our last day of vacation in March (I booked the tickets in July 06). Delta has been the only airline to ever do this to us and we travel often. I must tell you after speaking with a "supervisor" they did offer $50 vouchers for future travel, which I declined as we will no longer fly Delta. You could try calmly pleading your case with someone with authority.

(On another note, I find it interesting and sad how mean some people are in their respones to posts.)

Good luck to you, you're not alone!

So, you are scheduled on Carribean Air on a flight within the Carribean or connecting to somewhere else on another airline?

It sounds like a schedule change from 6pm to earlier, 2am on the same day?
If the carrier flies more than once a day on the same route you can ask for another flight. If once a day you can ask for the 2am flight on the next day, 8 hours later than you had planned. If not daily, then you don't have much choice with them. Also, if all the other flights are full you don't have much choice with them.

You can ask for a refund for the ticket. Again, is it one ticket with CA or a combo with another airline? Did you buy one ticket for the entire route or two separate tickets if connecting? If separate tickets, the other airline will not be very sympathetic. If you can refund, is there any other airline you can book with that meets your plans better?

It helps to talk to the airline with your proposed alternative ready. I always check what flights I want before I call to solve the problem.

Just yesterday afternoon Delta's automated service called to tell my husband his flight this morning at 8am was cancelled out of Atlanta (they were expecting ice, though the computer call of course didn't give any reason) and he was "protected" (rebooked) on the 2:30pm flight. I checked the schedule online for a list of flights between 8am and 2pm for him to consider as alternatives and planned to called Delta. However, his meeting was changed, so the 2:30pm turned out to be just fine (except I just checked and it is delayed). I'm not used to it working out in the flyer's favor.

The week before Christmas, Delta called and changed my New Year's Day return flight from Charleston to a 6:30 AM flight from a 10:30 AM flight. 6:30 AM on New Year's Day!?! I called them and asked for another flight time. Without a hesitation, the rep offered a 12:30 pm or 2:00 pm flight. Easy enough. Apparently this is not always the case.