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Reader Diane writes in:

My family bought 3 roundtrip tickets on American Airlines […] with a connection through St. Louis, due to a cheap fare. Last week, my hubby got an e-mail of schedule changes. The changes are terrible, but it was a non-refundable fare. The flight now requires a 5:30 am departure and twice as long layovers each way through St. Louis. Looking for advice and/or direction that you might be able to give. Do we have any options with American Airlines or are we totally stuck?

Well, Diane, the options you have are limited. The American Airlines Conditions of Carriage statement, the contract which governs the ticket you purchase from them, contains this lovely provision (emphasis mine):

American will endeavor to carry you and your baggage with reasonable dispatch, but times shown in timetables or elsewhere are not guaranteed and form no part of this contract. American may, without notice, substitute alternate carriers or aircraft and, if necessary, may alter or omit stopping places shown on the ticket. Schedules are subject to change without notice. American is not responsible for or liable for failure to make connections, or to operate any flight according to schedule, or for a change to the schedule of any flight. Under no circumstances shall American be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages arising from the foregoing.

Wow. I knew the airlines were absolving themselves of responsibility, but the degree to which American Airlines describes its own timetable as meaningless is amazing.

That said, the airline is known to be more flexible than that. American has traditionally allowed one itinerary change or a complete refund if your departure or arrival times changes by 90 minutes or more. It’s my understanding that such a refund would be considered “involuntary” and thus incur no change fees.

Without knowing what times your flights were originally scheduled for, it’s hard to say if you qualify for a free re-routing. But it’s worth a call. For now, I’ll assume your times changed more than 90 minutes, in which case you can request a reaccomodation, regardless of the fare you paid. Check the timetable online to see what flights might work better for you. Then call, say your flight times were changed, and ask to make a change. Make sure you’re not charged a fee.

If the times were changed less than 90 minutes, then you may not have any recourse.

Incidentally, these rules are more explicitly and publicly codified by other airlines. Both Continental and United, for example, publish their 90-minute rule.

Bottom line: If an airline changes its schedule after you buy the ticket, and the itinerary becomes problematic, it’s always worth calling to try to change it.

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Advertisers love the idea of guaranteeing an audience for their sales pitch, and what better audience than those addicted to travel, and willing to watch ads for miles. Enter e-miles.com.

The program lets you earn miles on Continental, Delta, Northwest, or US Airways by viewing internet advertising and then answering questions — questions to prove you watched the ad, and then questions to gauge your interest.

This isn’t an entirely new idea. American Airlines has been awarding miles to people who take surveys through OpinionPlace for some time, and these surveys are 50% market research and 50% advertising.

Is it worth the time, effort, and intrusion into your life by nosy advertisers? Probably not, but the program could help you keep some smaller balances alive if they’re threatened with expiration.

The payoffs aren’t huge: 20 to 30 miles per minute spent watching advertisements, according to this report. (Notably, the company doesn’t specify earnings rates on its own site, which I find fishy.) But you still need to wait until your balance reaches 500 miles before you can transfer points over to an airline. This might take a while, since only 14 advertisers have signed up thus far.

If people sign up, consider dropping me a line describing your experience. How long are the ads? How much are you earning? Etc. The contact button is at the top right of the page.

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Last week, I mentioned that Orbitz had removed the flexible search option from its website. It turns out that the search function has been hidden from the main pages, but it’s still on the sitemap, and you can reach it (for now) via this deep link. It’s one of the better search tools out there, so it’s good to have it back.

(Thanks to reader Tom!)