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George Hobica reports on a nasty practice: Delta, apparently unhappy that some of their passengers had booked cheap tickets on nonstop flights, rebooked those customers onto far less convenient connecting flights. Like cell division, one flight had turned into two.

A friend of Hobica’s bought a New York-Denver nonstop around the holidays for a piddly $138, but…

…a couple of weeks ago, Delta called him and told him he was now on a flight leaving JFK around 6 AM, and he’d have to make a connection both coming and going. Worse, Davis is now flying on regional jets, instead of a big jet.

Naturally, he’s not pleased. There are still seats left on the Delta nonstop, but they’re selling for over $600 RT for Davis’ itinerary. It’s pretty clear what happened here: Delta kicked Davis off of the nonstop, and will now sell seats at a much higher fare than he paid to last minute purchasers.

Before anyone says it: Yes, the Delta contract of carriage (pdf) mentions that schedules are subject to change without notice, but that’s not what happened here. The schedule didn’t change, and the flight wasn’t canceled. Only this one ticket changed. The airline simply rebooked him onto a different itinerary at the same price.

Hobica hypothesizes that the airline is pre-bumping the cheap-seat customers to less convenient flights so they can continue to sell higher-priced tickets on the most desirable nonstop routes. And unfortunately, this is highly plausible.

Note that this isn’t the ranting of some crackpot who can’t tell Delta apart from Skybus. The author is a credible travel writer and the founder of the airfarewatchdog.com fare alert site.

And based on the comments of other readers on his site, the case wasn’t isolated. Several readers report the exact same phenomenon. (Several readers miss the point, too, and rant about schedule changes. Frustrating, too, but not the complaint at hand.)

If this ever happens to you, complain. If that doesn’t work, then escalate.

Related:
- Reader mail: The airline changed its schedule, what are my rights?
- Customer service: the nuclear option

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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If you’ve got reservations on US Airways for flights on or after September 20, you’d better check your itineraries after September 4. As reported in Travel Weekly (registration required), the airline is merging the fare class structure and codes between America West and the old US Airways. Flight numbers are changing as well for all reservations made before September 1. The changes will go into effect between September 1 and 4.

What this means:

Travel agents will need to accept the schedule change and cancel the old segments to ensure their clients have a smooth experience with Web and kiosk check-in, automated first class upgrades and seat assignments, the airline said.

Anytime I see “cancel segments,” I get nervous. And with reason: I’ve had itineraries get completely messed up after a schedule change required an agent to cancel and rebook segments. On US Airways, no less!

Hopefully tickets purchased directly from the airline will automatically update, but you’d be wise to check your itineraries after September 4. Look for missing segments, seat assignments, frequent flyer account numbers, and upgrade requests.

An FAQ, aimed at travel agents, but illustrative of the scope of the changes, is here.

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tags: travel | US Airways