Always - Always check you flight reservations

[jimc_usa]

Many people book their flight reservations as much as a year in advance and then assume nothing can go wrong! WRONG!

 

It is a computer not real people that makes changes and modifications.

 

For example, Airlines constantly do load checks (the amount of seats sold on a particuclar flight, on a particular day. The computer may decide that over a projected period of six months a certain flight should be discontinued, especially in the "off season" like October - April.

The computer will then assign the booked seats on that discontinued flight to another flight and "route". Your Non-stop may become a 1 or 2 stop, and to be fair most people are only concerned about arriving at the correct destination and the time, give or take a couple of hours is no big problem.

That is unless you have a cruise ship to board.

 

I know, the airlines should write you, email you or simply call you.

But folks, you MUST check your reservations frequently, and if you want decent seats you must call and (usually within 90 days of the flight date) and get the seats assigned. Other wise you are not necessarily sitting next to your spouse, and in the dreaded (between two huge bodies) middle seat, next to the smelly, noisy toilet!

[Travel Angel]

Couldn't have said it better than the OP above......with the turmoil in the airline indutry right now, you wonder if booking a flight a year in advance is the wisest idea w/out taking trip insurance !!!

[MandyGirl]

Some airlines don't put schedules out for sale that far in advance, although you brought up some good points. However, after having been a roommate with someone who actually wrote the schedules for an airline (it's a small department that does it), I can at least say I know that some airlines do use real people. And, it's a huge job taking into account all of the variables to plan those thousands of flights a day (which type of aircraft can fly into which airports, wingspans and room at the gate, turntimes needed, direct vs nonstop vs connecting service, where to overnight the aircraft, etc). Being a math person, it seems like a really cool job!!

 

I had previously been AAdvantage Gold, so I used to fly a lot a few years ago. I can definitely vouch for double-checking flights closer to your date, especially when making reservations early (such as when cashing in frequent flier miles). I've had several flights change by just a few minutes or just a few hours several weeks/months in advance...

One solution for those smelly, noisy toilets is to not have them on the planes... and provide more legroom. :) But then you might end up either right behind the engine (like on a -757) or right in front of the engine (like on the MD-80s that can be so loud). But those toilets are probably a "must have" - at least there are some lengthy flights I've been on that they were definitely appreciated!!