When an airline changes your flight plan
If your flight is canceled, negotiate with the airline to get on a flight that works with your plans. Credit: Bloomberg News, 2006
It's a sad tale.
You book a ticket on a nonstop flight, but the airline cancels it a few weeks later, leaving a computer to automatically rebook you. Your new itinerary includes a layover, turning a five-hour trip into an eight-hour journey.
With airlines cutting schedules because of high fuel costs, travelers who booked flights in advance now might find their plans upended. And it's likely to get worse.
Delta, US Airways and United have collectively cut nearly 1,000 flights from their fall schedules, according to Barclays Capital.
"You are more likely than ever to find the plans you made for November might change and might change dramatically," says aviation consultant Michael Boyd.
To prevent a travel nightmare, arrive a day early if taking a cruise or attending a wedding. Provide an up-to-date phone number and email address when making a reservation so airlines can contact you immediately in the event of a schedule change.
If your schedule does get changed:
* Don't just accept the computer's picks. Call the airline and see if it has a better option.
* Search schedules online and ask to be placed on the specific flight you want.
* Check other airlines. You might be able to get a refund and buy a new ticket on another carrier.
The Department of Transportation's airline customer protection rules don't address the issue, except to say that airlines should offer refunds for "a significant change" in departure or arrival time.
What constitutes a big change varies among airlines. For instance, Delta offers refunds to passengers who don't arrive within 90 minutes of their originally scheduled time. American offers vouchers for changes of more than one hour and cash refunds for changes of more than two hours. US Airways will refund a ticket if any schedule change is unacceptable to a passenger as long as it was purchased directly though the airline.
But refunds often aren't helpful to passengers. By the time a schedule change comes, there might not be another flight available at a comparable price.
