jinz

Has anyone else has this experience with Delta? After spending considerable time researching flights from Cancun to Los Angeles we booked a flight with Delta. We wanted an evening departure so that we could enjoy a last day in Mexico with the shortest flight time back to LA. Now Delta has not only changed our flights to the middle of the day but now we ar now on a very long flight with a 2 and half hour stop-over (on Aeromexico). There is an option to change the flight on their notification but when I went to change to a flight that is better for us they want to charge us $800! Now we have lost our last day in Cancun (hotel already paid for - no refunds allowed) and we are getting into LA at nearly 11pm after a very long flight. I contacted Delta who have said nothing they can do. Is this a usual event with Delta? We are very disappointed.

Ackislander

It happens with all airlines. I have had it happen on United and American. The only way to avoid it for certain is not to fly. But you can offset the risk with some travel insurance policies. I am also going to guess that you can somewhat -- only somewhat -- ameliorate the problem by not booking too far in advance. Most of us -- even in my family!!! -- want to lock in our travel plans as early as possible. I have had a flight change three times from the time we booked it until the time we took it.

Dukey1

Wish I could offer advice. In my own experience with other airlines when they have changed an itinerary by SEVERAL hours I simply tell them it is unacceptable for whatever reason and something better has been arranged. But no guarantees and of course, 'there's nothing we can do" just as "we have no idea how that happened" (when your seat was given away or changed to a different location) to that cancellation (due to weather or mechanical difficulties but it is NEVER EVER done because there aren't enough passengers on it) and if you believe any of this, well....

spirobulldog

I do agree it happens with all Airlines, but I fly Delta as a last resort, even if I am paying a few more dollars on another carrier.

Myer

I booked Delta to fly from FLL to JAC for last Aug. I had 1 change each way.

Within a month, every time I checked my itinerary there was a change. The first thing they did was change my flight to 2 plane changes from one.

Eventually it turned out that it would be better form me to take an earlier flight. This is what I did.

The next time they made a change (however slight), I didn't confirm/accept it.

I called on the phone and was very indignant. I let the agent have it (be as polite as possible as they will hang up on you if you go too far). Eventually she asked what she could do for me. Ahaaa!!!.

I asked to move to an earlier flight that on their web site was more expensive. She did it without any charge whatsoever.

She also changed my seats to exit rows (they have more leg room) whenever there was one available. I got 4 out of 6 of those going both ways.

The reason for the increase in stopovers is probably to make their flights more efficient. They have the flights go thru hubs as much as possible to reduce the number of long flights to obscure, lower volume places.

I guess JAC is a relatively low volume destination.

qwovadis

Call them directly and ask to speak with a supervisor.

If Delta is unhelpful and is unwilling to make a satisfactory

change at no charge to you I might dispute the charge with

my CC company file a so called "merchant reversal".

That usually gets them going when they stand to lose your

booking and the money associated with it...

I always www.insuremytrip.com also helpful...

Good luck!

clarkgriswold

They should be able to change to that better flight that you wanted at no charge, call again and be persistent.

pampam

I would be so mad if this happened.

jent103

jinz, your post inspired me to check the itinerary for my flights to Italy in May - lo and behold, they've done it to me too! Apparently the Detroit-Rome flight we were supposed to take no longer exists, so they've routed us BNA-DTW-JFK-FCO. I'm not happy about it. Thanks to the rest of you for your advice - looks like it will come in handy for me as well!

(I do agree that this could happen on any airline; I've had similar things happen before. Just never quite this dramatic!)

NewbE

This is terrible! I don't really understand how it's legal to change a purchased itinerary THAT significantly, but I know it is b/c it happens often, on all carriers.

1travelbug

It works both ways, though...our United flight out to MT was changed by more than 3 hours, so now, legally armed with the option to freely book another flight with another carrier, we ended up with similar flight times on a different airline for $100 less per ticket

sf7307

This is terrible! I don't really understand how it's legal to change a purchased itinerary THAT significantly, but I know it is b/c it happens often, on all carriers.

Presumably the "contract" (the small print) allows them to do this. We lucked out recently - flying on FF miles and were routed SFO-Seattle-Seoul. The Seattle flight was cancelled, so they were going to put us on another SFO-Seattle flight, either one with a 20-minute layover in Seattle (that is no exaggeration), or one with a 6-hour layover. We nicely mentioned that going through Seattle was their idea in the first place and wasn't there something else they could do? They ended up routing us on a non-stop from SFO-Seoul. On the other hand, we lost a few hours in Vancouver in November because our later flight was cancelled and we were put on an earlier flight.

clarkgriswold

If this new schedule puts you back into Los Angeles LATER than the original flight that you had booked, then their contract states that they need to find you something else. Either that flight that you requested (and not for $800 more...) ....or they must find another carrier that will get you to Los Angeles on time.

(Naturally this rule does not hold for "weather delays", but this is not weather related so they need to accomodate your wishes)

jinz

THANK YOU THANK YOU! I got on the phone and contacted them as suggested. They were very apologetic and changed to an earlier flight with no costs. We have still lost our day in Mexico at least we do not have a three hour stop-over. Makes me wonder how many other passengers are simply paying up.

sf7307

Glad it worked out! (It is crazy how many people will just "pay up" rather than doing the research and making a phone call, isn't it?)

jent103

Amen - thanks to this inspiration to just ask for exactly what I wanted , I just got a slightly better itinerary than my original one. I was on the phone less than ten minutes. Yay Delta customer service and jinz for posting! So sorry you lose a day in Mexico, but glad you got a somewhat better solution.

Myer

I'm glad I stopped to tell my story and I'm glad it worked out reasonably for you.

With the cost of personel, many companies go out of their way to avoid having a live person spend time with you.

If you monopolize a person they may just want to get them off the phone and give you a better deal.

jinz

I have decided to be positive - losing a day in Mexico means an extra day in LA to see something we may have missed otherwise. So glad that my post has helped others while I was being helped by so many great posters. Our trip is ten weeks away and I am thinking of very little else! Our first visit to the US!

michele_d

I'm glad you had a quick resolve to your problem. When our flight was changed from nonstop LAX-LHR to a five hour layover at CDG I called immediately and they 'found' a flight LAX-CDG-LHR with a two hour layover instead. I've had nothing but very positive interaction with the Delta phone reps. I'm glad you did also.