 Poster: A snowHead
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Why do flight times get changed so much and often after they are booked? When I book flights you look at the different airlines and flights on offer and part of my decision is price but the other part is the times of the flight. It almost makes me wonder if they do it deliberately to make a flight look more attractive to get the bookings them change it to more unattractive times once they have sufficient numbers booked knowing that you can't get your money back?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NickyJ, you're talking charters aren't you? to make them look more attractive? possibly... also, they poss start selling holidays before slots are allocated / bought so they have no idea what the times are to begin with, in which case if course you'd start out with attractive timings wouldn't you?
haven't been on a charter flight in over 16 years so have no experience.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm pretty sure it's not a scam it's just the industry balancing allocated slots, fleet utilisation and crew rostering with route popularity. Book in advance and face the problem, book late less of a problem but probably pay more. Or take your business elsewhere and drive/train/teleport.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I guess you mean charter flights. I would call it "consolidation". They advertise a lot of stuff, then adjust their supply to meet actual demand, and tweak the provision so they don't have flights which are running half-full. There are other obvious things they will do.
The alternative, which many of us use, is scheduled flights, which are mostly completely predictable, not always full, and therefore generally more expensive. You're trading cost for that herded cattle feeling.
I don't think it's "bait and switch", just a practice which keeps your prices down. You can probably buy package holidays based on schedule flights if you want. Pay money, make choice.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Referring to both my scheduled flights for February have just been changed so that we are now arriving there at 23:35 and get home 1hr 15mins later.
Had similar with charter so not referring to either specifically. Just wondering why there is so much change if it is devious.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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under a new name and philwig, not just charters.
Last year my BA flight to Lyon was changed to 4 hours later which made original train connection impossible.
This year had 2 Easyjet flight times changed: one from Toulouse to London, the other Luton to Edinburgh.
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Actually I can't remember that any flight I've ever booked/taken has had the time changed (other than for delays for weather, volcanoes, etc).
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Happened to me several times. BA, Easyjet, American Airlines... Never an explanation, they just automatically book me onto the revised timed flight but give the option to cancel if I want. Not always been convenient.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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My delta flights for Vegas have changed. Also BA for December
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Monarch took the pee with us two years ago with scheduled flights. We booked to fly from Manchester about 7 months in advance of an Austria DIY trip - to find ONE of the flights was cancelled altogether about six weeks before departure.
Their offer was to swap the cancelled leg only(!!) to Gatwick; swap both flights to Gatwick; or give us a refund.
We went for the refund - and would never use them again.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Dave of the Marmottes,
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I'm pretty sure it's not a scam it's just the industry balancing allocated slots, fleet utilisation and crew rostering with route popularity.
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You're probably right, but when the only penalty is that they may lose a clients booking, there seems little incentive for them to care either way.
We are exhorted to 'book early to get what you want,' and then as @NickyJ, has said, the perception is that they (both carriers and TOs) can do what they want. (Could those here with legal knowledge explain why this isn't breach of contract.)
If these companies were obliged to find you another carrier to closely match your booked travel schedule, or were obliged to get you to your departure airport if they cancelled the return leg (on pain of significant fines), I don't think they would mess customers around so much........
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@fatboyski, I`d guess the legal out lies in the t&c! I wonder if you would have any redress if you made the times of the planes essential to your booking? Is there even a way of doing that?
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I think UANM and DOTM called it right straight away - its just a combination of flying charter and booking a long time in advance. I fly a fair bit, and they only airline I can recall moving my flight time were Monarch a couple of years ago. But I rarely book flights much in advance - 6 weeks at the outside. There seems little incentive outside of school holidays - I'm currently sat at Gatwick waiting to board a flight I booked 4 days ago for £44. It's full, too! I do appreciate NickyJ needs to travel in school holidays though... Nicky, have you ever thought about driving? Easy to do at Easter.
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You know it makes sense.
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Yeah, never happened to me, and I've mode frequent flyer miles than many, but then I never book flights very far in advance, which may explain it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I find BA changes good. Twice they have cancelled or changed a flight date or time and its worked out in my favour. On the S11BB they paid for an extra nights stay in venice at the end of the bash as they put my flight back an hour. very nice indeed 
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Poster: A snowHead
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The cheapskates Irish airline did it to us for our summer holiday to Denmark - changed the return time by 3+hrs so we could cancel at no charge. Cancelling the holiday was not an option and their new schedule was not only at a better time but 80 quid cheaper for us all. Forgot to confirm the flight return change to the car park people so that was a pleasant couple of hours at Stansted while they dug our car out whatever far away field it'd be service parked in- not!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| Actually I can't remember that any flight I've ever booked/taken has had the time changed (other than for delays for weather, volcanoes, etc). |
Same here, apart from the odd switch by about 5 or 10 minutes. It sure if that's because other people fly more than me, although I usually have 2 or 3 holidays in a year.
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