Codeshare Partners "Divorcing" Day of Travel?

I'm sorry. I have had something similar but with Delta/KLM/Air France. Luckily it was a couple weeks prior to the trip so we were able to sort it out. It took a couple of phone calls though. I assumed it was a computer glitch. I tend to watch for changes on a daily basis when getting close to the date I leave. The airline has not always notified me when legs are changed or cancelled. I've had to catch them myself.

Advice - in the future, check your flights for changes and don't wait for the airline to notify you. They don't always or may not be timely when they do notify you. At least that has been my experience.

And again, I'm sorry. To have a flight changed right before a trip is awful.

Oh, I’m sorry. We haven’t had the best luck with AA changing our flights in the past either but at least there’s been enough time to redo connections. I now think twice about using them unless it’s nonstop. I would check the cc you paid for your flights with to see if they offer trip interruption to cover your hotel.

That's just weird. I'd be suspicious, too.

So you're saying American Airlines told you your British Airways flight was cancelled, but it wasn't? That is really weird, and sounds like you're getting a raw deal all around with the Economy seating and losing a day in Zurich. In 2017 we had flights to Milan via New York and a return from Rome. Booked through Air France, but it was a Delta flight to New York and then Alitalia to Milan, and back from Rome. I was keeping an eye on our flights, and a couple months in, the Delta leg of the trip disappeared. Long story short, Alitalia wouldn't confirm their flight from New York to Milan at that point (about 6 months out), so Delta picked up their marbles and went home. Air France, at my request, rebooked us on KLM to Milan and left the Alitalia return flight from Rome in place, but with a new reservation number. When I tried to use the new number to check in the day before our return flight, it was not recognized in the computer system. Fortunately I still had a record of the old reservation number and we were able to straighten things out at the airport in Rome. If British Airways is providing your homebound flight, you might want to check with them to make sure your return flight reservation and seating are still valid.

You may be able to recover the cost of the hotel room if you have travel insurance- either Trip Interruption or Trip Delay, whichever seems to fit best.

Who did you book your trip with?

I have booked with American on a codeshare with British Airlines ( BA plane.) The record locater I get is from AA. But that's not the record locater for the BA flight. So I'll either call AA or BA and get the BA record locater. This way, I can get seats, order special meals, and keep an eye on the flight. Remember, in this case AA is just selling you the flight; they are not operating it.

If this happened to me, the first thing I would have done was to log into my BA flight to see the situation. If it showed as operating, I'd first contact BA to confirm then contact AA to find out what is happening.

You also need to expedite this up the chain at AA. If you can confirm the BA flight actually operated, you might be able to get something from American.

So sorry this happened to you. But, it is another lesson for all our future bookings - be vigilant in checking your flights for changes (as noted above) and when changes happen, ask questions. Make the phone calls, get answers that satisfy you.

On a different note, we were flying to Cairo with a change in Heathrow on BA. It was only 50 minutes to transfer and calls to the airline were meet with high change fees. We took a chance and went to the airport early and the agent at the check in very nicely put us on an earlier flight. No fee, no hassle, just a smile and have a good flight. Sometimes things do go well.

Just curious, what did the BA agent say when you explained about the change from AA?

Like Gail, I had a similar issue with Delta/Air France. In April we were scheduled to fly from ORD to CDG on the only non-stop flight of the day. The flight had been booked on Delta's website but was being operated by Air France. I had a Delta record locator number and knew both the DL flight number and AF flight number along with my ticket number. On the day prior to travel, I got an email from Delta with subject line, "There's been a change to your upcoming trip." The email had no details but was directing me to use the Delta website or app and enter my record locator number under "My Trips." When I did that, red letters warned me that the flight from ORD to CDG had been cancelled.

I went into the booking feature to see how I might get to CDG on an alternative flight and could no longer see any non-stop flight listed, which seemed to confirm the cancellation. There were some options with layovers and I called Delta customer service with the intention of working with an agent to book one of those. While on hold, I received an email from Air France notifying me of a "modification" to my flight, now departing ORD at 19:10 instead of 17:10. What? Still on hold with Delta, I tried to check into the flight using the Air France website. I got an error message telling me to contact an agent. While remaining on hold to talk to the Delta agent, I checked back under My Trips on Delta's website. It still said my flight had been cancelled.

When my call was taken, I related all of this to the Delta agent. He put me on hold and when he came back, he said that it was a 2 hour delay, not a cancelation. He said that when Air France has a delay of that length, they assign a new flight number to the flight, and this required that our tickets be re-issued, which he'd just taken care of. He admitted that when this happens, the Delta website "lags behind" the Air France website.

I was satisfied that I had a secure flight, but contacted Air France customer service because of the "contact an agent" message I'd gotten when I tried to check in. The Air France agent confirmed the two hour flight delay.

Within a few hours I was able to check into my flight on the Delta website. I kept checking back under My Trips on the Delta site just because I was curious to know when this "lags behind" issue would be resolved. Interestingly enough, despite the fact that I was checked in, each time I entered my record locator number under My Trips, it still had a red lettered message that my flight was "cancelled." At the airport the next day, through security and waiting for my flight, entry of my record locator number under My Trips STILL said the flight was cancelled!

This is what is known as the new normal in flights and travel.

When i was getting ready to book air, I consulted with members on this ste and I was warned about changes by my airlines.

And that is just what happened. I booked my flights almost a year ago going through Delta.

Delta put me on Virgin Atlantic from Austin to London. I have had three changes always making my trip more inconvenient. Now I am being flown to London 24 hours ahead of time and have had to book a hotel room for a Saturday night which was expensive. When I first booked my flight, I deliberately booked Sunday thru Friday so that I would not have to pay for a hotel room on Saturday night. Guess what, I am now paying for a hotel room for a Saturday night.

But even worse is coming back. I am on Delta from Lisbon to Austin and I do have to make a connection. I chose Lisbon to Austin with. a stop in Boston. Layover was 6 hours which is what I wanted . I hate rushing . Well Delta made two changes already. The first change shortened my layover in Boston to 4 hours which was ok. I can live with that. But the latest change gives me only 2 hours and 15 minute layover in Boston which is not ok. I might not be able to make my connection, This is the last flight between Boston to Austin If I miss my connection, I get to spend the night sitting in a rocking chair in Logan Airport, I am forced to do exactly what I hate doing and that is rushing.

I keep meaning to call Delta about this problem but have not yet gotten around to it.

The sad truth is that the IT systems of every major air carrier are pathetic.

What they all need is a complete and total rewrite but iyou can just imagine the logistical challenge that is so we just keep patching and then there is communication between Delta and Air France and American and British etc. They keep adding features, they keep adding cabins etc. and it’s like a hodgepodge. I have a friend who works for IT for a major airline company and, it’s a house of cards as we saw with United last week when they just shut down because of the computers

Honestly, the first thing you should do when you get anything from any airline is go online and start looking for yourself as to what options you have. And don’t just check your carrier check their partners. So if you have AA flights, and they tell you they no longer have a flight from Philadelphia to London on July 3 check British Airways. If you have Delta check, Air France check, KLM, etc. See what’s available see what has your cabin and then pick up the phone and tell the airline you canceled my flight. I want this one. Do not depend on them to give you the best option.

I don’t know how it works on American and British, but if you are flying Delta, I suggest checking every Monday. Saturday is schedule change Saturday Sunday can be a little messy because schedule change Saturday sometimes doesn’t work ( see paragraph one). but Monday you can see what’s going on with your flights. I check all of my flights every Monday it’s just part of my routine now. And I travel not a lot for business but enough that I have right now about 4 open trips coming up

I will check Delta today and then next Monday and then the following Monday. Then I am gone.

What do you means when you say "open" flights?

Advice, please? Or at least commiserations?

I suspect it is too late to change your revised flight. However, I would follow up with the airline in writing, You probably won’t get any compensation, but they may give you some frequent flyer points as a good will gesture.

Check to see if your original BA flight actually flew. You can check https://www.flightstats.com/v2 for details. If it did fly, I would write to AA customer service detailing your interactions with the airline, your monetary loss of one hotel night, and questioning why you were changed from your original flight.

I received an email time stamped 10:30 from American Airlines this morning, telling me this leg of the trip was cancelled...................... A rep from British Airways called us to find out why we weren't showing up for the flight. So it wasn't cancelled on their end.

Smells like fraud or at least gross incompetence on the part of AA to tell you the flight was cancelled when it fact it wasn't.

When you get home I would suggest you follow up with AA to get appropriate compensation.

Hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly

If you need contact information, if you choose to follow up with the airlines, Elliott Advocacy has that information. Also a good site for how to advocate for yourself.

https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/

Sadly, this is what they say regarding American Airlines

American has had a consistent reputation when it comes to customer service -- consistently bad. The service problems range from inflexible policies to late refunds. Sometimes, customers even end up at the wrong airport. Although it is trying to improve, American has a long way to go.

Extremely scary situation, especially on the day of your flight!

I have read other travelers having similar situations, but with no solution.

For my flights with alliance legs, I download the app from all airlines involved. Other travelers have reported that app’s don’t always update for changes on the day of flight.

I also use:
FlightAware
Flighty app (w/fee)

This is the most informative RS thread I have read and I am book marking it.

They have to put you in the same Premium Economy Seat or higher. Here is what you do call up American and ask them to endorse your ticket to Swiss Air in Full Fare Premium Economy or Business Class or BA in World Traveler Plus or Club World. I always refuse a downgrade and tell them I booked this seat due my low vision and Neuropathy. It helps to add a Special Service Request at time of booking so if being rebooked they would give you the same or upgraded seat.

Once when flying to Europe the airline tried to play me for a fool and downgrade me at the SFO ticket counter. So I asked to speak to the Duty Manager and he typed away. A very friendly man who upgraded me to First Class and added 75,000 bonus miles if I took the nonstop earlier flight which I was fine with as I arrived early .

It was a win win .

Fellow travelers:
We flew American to Philly and then to Zurich. Not a pleasant flight, and yet I was determined to make what remained of our trip time as fun as originally planned. I did miss a dance class at Zurich's Opernhaus, but we shoe-horned everything else on that portion of the trip.

I'll be following up with letters to the corporations involved, as well as posting a complaint on the Transportation Department's website.

Thank you for your generosity and suggestions. Both were gifts at a very stressful time.