Flights Changed With No Notice

I strongly agree with Faith on checking your tickets occasionally. We had the same difficulty on United in booking our flights to Italy and Switzerland 8 months early on business class points. We did get automated phone calls from them informing us of the changes. And, schedules change. Fortunately, none were as bad as Faith's. We did not have any cancelled flights. But with today's high fuel prices, watch out.

As a side not on one change, they did have us on a plane from Florence to Austria the day after we arrived home in Sacramento. It all worked out but check your tickets.

Wise words Faith.

In theory all airlines should make every effort to contact passengers in the case of a re-scheduled flight.

In practice this is all too often far from being the case.

I agree with checking your tickets ocassionally. It is very typical for airlines to change times (although usually by minutes, not hours) every quarter when they change schedules. The reason you probably lost your seats was because they changed the plane type as well, meaning they can't just transfer over the seat assignments.

I strongly echo the comments made so far...don't depend on the airline to contact you. I had a flight out of New York to Canada last fall that was supposed to leave at 5 pm, allowing me an extra day of meetings there...they switched it four times, with the final decision setting my flight at 10 am (after cancelling the later flight). They offered me a refund after I called to complain that changes of that sort simply weren't acceptable. I did get notifications via e-mail for three of the changes.....but they arrived up to a week after the changes had been made. I now check bookings much more frequently...as much as once per week leading up to departure, then almost daily just before I'm to leave.

Good advice! I've received one change to my upcoming itinerary - but I just checked it to be sure it was correct!

Where was your Travel Agent in all this?? Back in the day we were supposed to CALL our clients and INFORM them of any changes in their itinerary. Isn't that standard procedure??

I thought that was just one of the advantages of having a Travel Agent "work for you". You did use a Travel Agent, right?? Or did you book your travel arrangements yourself, online? If you did the later, I would not be too surprised...

Those services are good for the most part but I still consider my Travel Agent to be my travel partner and vital ally. She's been there and done that, keeps me informed and always looks out for my best interests. I'd gladly give her the commission for the security and peace of mind that a true professional affords me. I have a degree in Travel myself but still appreciate a good Travel Agent.

Wow, bummer.

I booked a flight on Vueling from Paris to Rome for this July.

They changed my flight time to 15 minutes later, and they sent me an email to notify me. I thought that was standard, unforunately not.

Thanks for posting, it will help someone else I am sure.

Rick considers his Travel Agent to be his "Travel Partner and vital Ally". And Rick is a smart traveller!

I guess there will always be the DIY Travellers...The do-it-yourselfers...And that's fine, too. If you want to deal with all the arrangements to save a few bucks...then more power to you!
If you add up all the time DIYers spend doing research, shopping around and confirming travel arrangements...That would have easily paid for the Agent's commission and saved a considerable amount of time. I believe that time is money and DIY isn't always the way to go.

If it's something relatively simple and straightforward, then maybe you can DIY but other than that, I'll leave it to the professionals! But then again, I also seek the guidance of a Financial Advisor and refuse to DIY that, as well!

I always check my flights online to be sure of what's going on or what may have been changed. And as for the travel agent - wholeheartedly disagree. I'd rather save the commission and do it myself and have the peace of mind that everything is taken care of. I don't like to rely on someone else to double-check my plans. With the advent of the internet, online booking, and travel forums like these, TAs are just rarely needed anymore.

Regarding the use of a Travel Agent. I'm using freqent flyer miles, hotel points and timeshares on my three week trip -- no travel agent in his or her right mind would want to fuss with this. It takes HOURS at least 10 months in advance to coordinate everything so we're flying and staying for no or little charge.

I took my own advice and checked on our flights to and from Montreal this July -- sure enough the times are starting to shift a bit. The largest shift was only about 20 minutes, but again no notification came. These flights are on American Airlines and in the past we've gotten email notification on a five minute change.

Flight Attendant, did you ever think that many of us actually enjoy doing the planning of our trips. If we didn't, we'd take tours. And it's not about saving a few bucks.

I personally like to do the research, ask questions, figure out what I want.

But then there are others, who don't like to break the rules, who don't like to take risks, who like to let other peoplse make decisions for them. And that's okay too.

As a former travel professional, I have dozens of stories where travel agents truly screwed up. Maybe that's why I try not to use them. Especially since it's not just the commission--its the additional service charge they tack on.

The topic is wandering,but I wanted to add my bit on TA's.

I got totally overwhelmed at planning our trip.I contacted a local TA and told him what we were looking for. He said he could handle it.
1 1/2months later, he still didn't do a thing. Then went to AAA. They said that they would look into it and get back with me. Two weeks later I called them and they said that they referred my trip to "one of their preferred partners", and they couldn't help me - but they would be glad to book my airfare.I then contacted a TA in New York that specialized in what I was looking for. All we wanted was airfare, rental car and B&B vouchers in a package. They screwed up our plans so bad, that we are now back to making our own plans.

3 travel agencies, NOT ONE CALLED ME! I had to call and check up on them. I guess if it's not a trip to Disney or a tour, they aren't interested. And to think I was willing to pay extra and they didn't want my money! How do you find a good TA?

Travel agents get paid differently than they did in the past. Airlines have decreased the percentage that they pay them, so it more profitable for them to book tours. But, there are TA's who can help you. If you book your own airline take advantage of the services that airlines offer. For example, American Airlines offers flight notificaton service where they call to tell of changes in a flight. I routinely sign up for this. Of course, the higher you go in the frequent flyer hierarchy the faster you'll find out about changes. I'm Platinum and I get called. There aren't as many advantages these days to flying with one airline, but finding out first that your flight has been cancelled may be one of them.

Pam

I am fortunate to have a good travel agent who books my travel for work. It's a form of insurance--she can rebook me onto flights when things go wrong while everyone else is in long lines or on hold on the airline's reservation line. Travel agents can also arrange special tickets--for example, when I wanted to fly from Seattle to Italy but wanted to stay a few nights in New York on the way back. Try booking that on Orbitz! That said, I generally book my vacations myself. Like most travel agents, she doesn't book small hotels or B&B's, doesn't do discount European airlines, and doesn't know the train and bus systems throughout Europe. So I use my agent when it makes sense to and don't when it doesn't.