More airline questions....

Beth,

about half an hour away from you is the Sacramento Travel Group meeting, getting underway at 10 your time.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/sacramento-travel-meeting-saturday-9-19-10-00-a-m

They tend to run for several hours, although with Andrea not there this month you never know, and I'm sure they would all be happy to run over all your questions with you.

So, do you think you could put in a stop at the Panera and meet these wonderful people?

Nigel.....thanks for the tip on the Sacramento Travel Group! I can't meet them today, but have sent Andrea a message to put me on their contact list.

Hi beth. When you buy an airline ticket, you are entering into a legal contract with the entity you buy the ticket from. (This legal contract is called a "contract of carriage".) So if you buy a ticket from United Airlines, even if the planned route involves flights on other airlines, United would be responsible to get you from Sac to Nice on the days specified. The routing shown when you buy can be thought of as their 'tentative plan' to fulfill this contact, but they have the right to change the method (i.e. flight details) as long as they get you from point a to final destination. Enjoy your trip!

Bob said it exactly right.

There is no responsibility beyond transporting the passenger between points A and B.

The airlines do stick to dealing with changes according to the fare class that you booked. If you are booked in the cheapest or most restricted fare category, and you need to be put on a different flight than you originally bought, then they will try to find available seats in the same fare category. So, although a more direct flight may be in the system, if no same-class seats are left, you'll be put on a less direct or more inconvenient connection. If this happens, and you insist on a more direct routing, sometimes an approval can get sought from higher up. That has happened to me, when a schedule change actually got me a better routing.

The only other concession, that is typically afforded to the passenger, is the option to have the transaction cancelled and the ticket fully refunded, if the routing and/or schedule change is quite significant. Then it is up to you to find and buy another ticket that is acceptable to you (of course, paying whatever new price is available at that time).

You buy the tickets from the airline that can sell them to you. Or you use a travel agent who can string multiple flights together for you.

Your routing sounds reasonable. Not sure if United can sell you that complete trip or not (their web site wants to route this trip through Dulles to get on Swiss or through Chicago on Lufthansa on the random dates I chose). You may have to purchase each flight independently, but the issue with that option is the flights are not connected so if you have any sort of delay that causes you to miss a flight, you are on your own. If you buy the tickets together from a single airline, they will do what they can to reaccommodate you on the next available flight (not that the next available flight will necessarily be soon enough to get you where you need to be within a reasonable amount of time). No matter where you buy your tickets, you should get a ticket number and the 6 character number you use to check in with from each airline involved for each flight.

One of the issues I have found with flights where you buy the ticket from one airline and then have a problem with one of the operators along the way is they like to just point the finger at each other and tell you to contact them for problem resolution. But you should always work first with the airline where the issue occurs as they are the one that should fix it for you.

While in Europe there are regulations covering delays and cancellations. EU 261 spells out what the airline must do for you.

Mark might actually be onto something for you with his mention of a travel agent. They are used to handling complicated arrangements, and would be a contact with contacts if something were to go wrong. I believe that they make their fees from the airlines, not one hundred per cent sure on that. Might be worth at least asking around in your area.

Sounds like your time concern would be alleviated if they depart a day earlier. The time could be useful combating jet lag.

I agree with ^^^^^ since it's critical that they get there for a specific event at a specific time, go a day early. If you book multiple connections with an airline (and its partners) they'll eventually get you there if something along the way goes haywire. The thing is to book it as a single itinerary, not as separate one-way tickets. The other key word is "eventually". I'd rather have a day to kill before the Monaco GP, or a cruise, or a night at the Paris Opera, than spend the event sitting in an airport waiting for weather to clear or the next flight on the schedule.

Agreed that a travel agent can be helpful when/if things go wrong. They no longer make a commission from the airlines, so most charge you a fee; $100 would not be unusual.

That helpfulness only extends to the travel agent's hours of operation.
Leaving a day early is their best best - then if a delay or change occurs, they won't be stressing themselves out (and every other person they would have to deal with)... including you.

Thanks again for all the responses to my questions. I have decided to add a day to my husband & son's trip and contacted the apartment in Nice today to adjust my reservation. It made a lot of sense and I already feel less stressed about that part of the trip. I also contacted the travel agent that Chloe from France recommended in my town and we have been communicating about my travel plans to see if she can be helpful. If I could buy you all a glass of wine or beer, I would........I can't tell you how valuable this forum has been for my "trip of a lifetime" to Italy this summer. Those of you who live in my area should take me up on my offer....we have some great wineries and micro-breweries here in the Auburn area!

Good plan! :-)