Heads up if you are flying Delta Airlines to FLL for Cruises in next couple months.

[Luxana]

On 7/24/2021 at 12:32 PM, terrydtx said:

Heads up on anyone who is flying on Delta Airlines for FLL cruises over next couple of months. Delta has made some major changes to flights across the country this morning. Both our flight to Ft Lauderdale and home to San Antonio were changed. The flight changes coming home were unacceptable to us and I just got off the phone with Flights by Celebrity to have them changed to ones that are acceptable. If you booked directly with Delta you need to contact Delta if any changes are not acceptable. Delta has changed the flight schedules from FLL to Atlanta which could effect your return flights.

Terry. we are also on the Equinox August 27th.

[BEAV]

This article about how to navigate flight schedule changes appeared today in this travel blog I follow...

 

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/handling-flight-schedule-changes/?utm_source=TPG Daily Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2637185&utm_usr=41b0d06002828017ef709f5094a2872d0ae344a60d536ffa05222862f9d24a5a&utm_msg=8f46615ff6ef401d8e21ac11c8488223&utm_date=2021-07-25

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Luxana said:

Terry. we are also on the Equinox August 27th.

See you soon then

[5:00_Somewhere]

Thank you for the heads up about this. Against my better judgment - because they've changed our flight times drastically in the past - I booked Delta to FLL for our December cruise. A few weeks ago, they changed our flights such that one leg was completely unacceptable to us, but I couldn't change it online without a change fee (despite the promise in the change email that there would be no fee). So I had to call; ended up taking more than 9 hours to do it on the phone. After waiting on hold for 45 minutes, I accepted the call-back feature the recorded message kept recommending, which promised a call in 1-2 hours. I thought that was bad enough, but when I didn't hear anything for 9 hours I'd given up hope, then the phone rang and caller ID said it was Delta.  I felt so bad for the CS rep. She sounded absolutely exhausted, but she was able to rebook us on a slightly less inconvenient flight with no cange fees.  I just wanted to share this to give people a further heads up to help people know what they might expect.  Fortunately, I haven't gotten a notice about further changes to that trip, although our flights for a wedding in September were changed, but only by a few minutes.

[curtsfan]

On 7/24/2021 at 12:32 PM, terrydtx said:

Heads up on anyone who is flying on Delta Airlines for FLL cruises over next couple of months. Delta has made some major changes to flights across the country this morning. Both our flight to Ft Lauderdale and home to San Antonio were changed. The flight changes coming home were unacceptable to us and I just got off the phone with Flights by Celebrity to have them changed to ones that are acceptable. If you booked directly with Delta you need to contact Delta if any changes are not acceptable. Delta has changed the flight schedules from FLL to Atlanta which could effect your return flights.

Delta changed our flight for our upcoming cruise & the seats as well.  Thankfully we went through Celebrity Air & was able to change to American Airlines.   I don’t have a lot of faith in AA but what choice do we have!

[lkj1301]

6 hours ago, zitsky said:

I'll get unruly if I don't get my one drink.  🙂

I always bring a "nip" or 2.  TSA doesn't care 😁

[lkj1301]

With Delta, I've always had to watch my flights.  They always seem to change.  I'm a planner so ten d to book everything as soon as I can.  And it never fails that I eventually get an email from Delta that something has changed.  So always keep an eye on flights and call them as soon as there is an unacceptable change.  

 

 

[3red7s]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:26 PM, Denny01 said:

Yup terry I know all airlines are adjusting as they add aircraft and aircrew back on; I’ve got a number of changes by especially Delta with multiple changes each flight. Some are as reported, 10-15min, others are complete changes in code and depart/arrivals. had to make the calls too. 

 

Isn’t it great to be posting about actual issues that relate to cruising! Love it. 

 

Den

i am sure all of us will agree that flying, on any airline, is surely not like it used to be....so changes and issues

[terrydtx]

Want to follow up on our Delta flight changes. After Delta canceled our return flights and put us on a late afternoon flight  that got us home late at night, I called Celebrity Air to see if we could get changed to a return flight that leaves at 12:05pm. This flight is almost sold out but the CA agent said he would send a request for the change to Delta, that was Sunday morning. Last night I received a message from CA that our request was accepted at no additional charge from Delta. We will now be home in San Antonio at 5:10pm. I am a very happy CA customer.  BTW with all of these changes by Delta, I have yet to receive an email from Delta about them. 

Edited July 27, 2021 by terrydtx

[CHEZMARYLOU]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:52 PM, blueboro said:

Our Southwest flights to and from FLL were changed.  Both were quite significant changes so Delta not alone.

Our SW flight to FLL was changed last night and it was significant enough that we decided to fly in 2 days early, not 1. Luckily I had a reservation at the hotel for both nights.

[cangelmd]

I want to comment again.

Delta makes these changes best I can tell beginning about 2 months out. Before Covid, my experience was that there was one round of updates 6-8 weeks out, and that was it unless there was a real problem or a major change. Now though, I’ve seen multiple changes.

Check your seats! I have a flight from Mob to Las Vegas in Oct, so it just came up for revision. My flight out from Mob was moved by 15 minutes, and I lost my first class seat! They put me in the first Comfort Plus seat, and want me to pay $43 more to go back to first class, which looks empty right now on the seating chart. I paid originally with a miles and money combo. This is a 55 minute flight, so it’s not worth my time to get on the phone with Delta about this OR to pay the $43. My other flights, out to LV and back are unchanged and all first class- I do care about those.

[ExArkie]

Last weekend, evidently there was a major IT fumble with Delta's flight schedule changes. As is being discussed on the Delta board of FlyerTalk, a lot of people had schedules completely bollixed. For example, it appears that many flights booked on an Airbus A330 were rebooked onto narrow-body aircraft, with serious disruptions to time tables. There are multiple threads on that discussion board about the effects. Most people seem to have ended up having to call Delta to get flights straightened out.

 

So, while our discussion on schedule changes is still valid, it seems that last Saturday's schedule changes took things to a whole new level.

 

Link to the Delta FlyerTalk board: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles-665/

 

[TFree]

I have two things to report on that might be helpful to some.  First, we had a significant DL flight change that popped up when this thread was started a couple of days ago.  This was on an October trip, and the original routing was ORD to MXP and then BCN to LAX.  I went online and was able to change to a better set of flights on the same itinerary.  No additional charge, as DL was price-protecting our fare.  But the real question I wanted to ask was whether I could switch the ORD to MXP flight to make it MSP to MXP, which would be more convenient to our plans.  So I called DL, and there was a 9 hour wait.  A friend suggested that I use the chat function on the DL website, and I got through to an agent that way within a reasonable period of time (maybe 30 minutes - I was not tracking the time).  The even better news is that they permitted the switch to MSP instead of ORD.  That could not have been done online, but it was done through the chat agent.

 

Tom & Judy

[cangelmd]

36 minutes ago, TFree said:

I have two things to report on that might be helpful to some.  First, we had a significant DL flight change that popped up when this thread was started a couple of days ago.  This was on an October trip, and the original routing was ORD to MXP and then BCN to LAX.  I went online and was able to change to a better set of flights on the same itinerary.  No additional charge, as DL was price-protecting our fare.  But the real question I wanted to ask was whether I could switch the ORD to MXP flight to make it MSP to MXP, which would be more convenient to our plans.  So I called DL, and there was a 9 hour wait.  A friend suggested that I use the chat function on the DL website, and I got through to an agent that way within a reasonable period of time (maybe 30 minutes - I was not tracking the time).  The even better news is that they permitted the switch to MSP instead of ORD.  That could not have been done online, but it was done through the chat agent.

 

Tom & Judy

Does anyone know if there is a time limit on calling and making these changes? As I described above about my Las Vegas flight, I’m kind of on the edge of whether my seat change matters or not, and if it’s worth my time. Online chat might be doable, but I know they are swamped and it isn’t that big a deal.

[DCPIV]

8 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Does anyone know if there is a time limit on calling and making these changes? As I described above about my Las Vegas flight, I’m kind of on the edge of whether my seat change matters or not, and if it’s worth my time. Online chat might be doable, but I know they are swamped and it isn’t that big a deal.

 

There typically is some time limit.  I don't know what it is for Delta, but it's 14 days for Southwest.

[12cruise2]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:52 PM, wrk2cruise said:

I've never had SWA change flights on me before, I thought they were better at it since they don't do their schedules out so far.    Just got a notice that our 11:05 non stop FLL to RDU was changed to 2 something to BWI connecting to RDU arriving at after 11 pm.

 

I went online and changed it to the 5:15 non stop which is better but now have to figure out what to do for the day in FLL.

I had Southwest "change" my flight to two, connecting flights that didn't even connect--they sent an email about 5 weeks ahead.  The second flight to home was earlier than the departure first flight from the departure city and made no sense.  Thank goodness I read the email, and also that I for years have checked all flights at least weekly.  Two airlines took the liberty of changing my seats to terrible locations and didn't notify me.  Even checking one of those weekly, by the time I found the problem that week, several of the seats I'd already picked were sold.  We were traveling on award seats, so I assume they wanted to sell the seats and give us terrible seats so they could make money rather than "give away" our own seats--so much for loyalty to an airline and the way they treat us passengers!  Once I purchase tickets, I always check flight times, flight numbers and seats to be sure and have always luck contacting the airline to get better flights--if they are available!

[DCPIV]

We've all seen that there's a lot of flux and struggle with getting travel back on track.  We all just need to account for that when making our plans and roll with the changes when they happen.  Otherwise, we're just shouting at the wind and causing ourselves our own pain.

 

We have had two trips with Southwest since May and seven more scheduled by year's end.  Nearly all of them have had at least one leg changed, although one also was cancelled.  Fortunately, nearly all those changes have been of little or no signficance, and a couple of them have even been something we preferred.  The most significant ones have been moving an 8am flight to a 6:30am flight (Oof!  Early morning!) and changing a non-stop to a "one stop" flight (i.e., same plane, but a brief layover on the way--added about 80 minutes to the trip).

 

All that irks us, of course, but none have been a matter of life and death or major inconvenience, especially since the schedule adjustments have been made several weeks or so prior to the flight.  That's allowed us to adjust our own plans (or just make peace with with the change).  

 

 Obviously, the cancellation also was a problem, but that one really was due to weather, and they worked with us to take care of rescheduling.  I'm not going to hold it against an airline for not flying into a city where the airport is closed because of a blizzard. 🙂