I think I’m pretty much screwed, but I wanted to run it by you guys in the hope someone can offer advice:
In June I made reservations for my son to fly from Sioux Falls to Milan Malpensa. Semester abroad and all that. Leaving in August and returning in December. There was a surprising flight available, Sioux Falls to Atlanta to Milan on Delta. But the fare was $2200. Class H coach fare. I’m thinking, only one connection, and returning back in December, he’d be coming through a southern city…less chance of weather disruptions. So I booked it, even though I could have got 2 connection flights through northern cities for $800-$1000.
Well, you guessed it…Delta cancelled their direct flight to Sioux Falls. They never notified me…I was just running his confirmation number just for the heck of it, and found that they had cancelled his ATL to FSD leg. But I guess they made the decision first week of September. Now it looks ike his options would be ATL to MSP to FSD. Or maybe ATL to DTW to FSD.
Can anyone offer any advice about what I should say when I call Delta? After I calm down, that is.
You’re not screwed. They’ll reroute him however possible to get back to FSD. As you say he’ll probably have to go through MSP or DTW, but they’ll change the tickets to accomodate.
This might work out to your son’s advantage. First and foremost, avoiding Delta at ATL will add several years to his life. With Delta and NWA’s merger, they can better serve FSD on international trips without going all the way to ATL.
If you can get a comparable or better fare right now, you are entitled to a full refund as there was a change in routing.
Basically, if you call Delta they will reconfigure the flights any way you want (within reason) since they canceled the nonstop FSD-ATL.
If there is a weather issue in MSP that causes a disruption there was likely a weather issue in FSD as well. And a little dust of snow in ATL on occassion causes far bigger delays than anything DTW or MSP experiences
charter, you’re missing the point. He’ll still have to go through ATL (or JFK) since DL/NW doesn’t fly DTW-MXP or MSP-MXP.
I would try to implement Rule 80 on the International Contract of Carriage which Delta gives you first class if you were involuntarily rerouted (though it probably won’t work). Basically, in Delta’s Domestic Contract of Carriage, we reserve the right to change everything but your origin and destination. Trust me, flight schedules are not final, I’m still waiting on our Memphis plane to land, it was due in May 1st.
Also, let me say thank you for actually keeping track of your flights, I had a pax on Saturday going to someplace we only fly once a week miss her flight because she didn’t keep track of her flights. The good news, there is no fees if you were not notified.
Notification doesn’t matter - there are no fees if you have an involuntary schedule change greater than 15 minutes (which this is).
If you have not called Delta. do so and see what options they have to offer you… In 1999 I was flying from Portland to Dublin Ireland via ATL for the new years and while checking my flight from Dublin back to Atlanta I noticed it was no longer showing, I called them and they got me rebooked on another flight through JFK back to Portland but how it helped me was instead of flying out the 26th of December I was able to get at no charge to me a flight out the 23rd of December to Atlanta, spend a few days with my parents who live in Georgia and then continue on to Dublin for the New Years. So maybe you can get no charge luggage or an upgrade, maybe not all the way to Europe to even if it is first class on the US flights, it is a plus.
drdisque- I never said they wouldnt have to go through ATL. What I interpreted, was that the poster was trying to avoid 2 connections vs 1 and a connection that wasnt in a northern city due to winter weather
CC
Correct, however, he now has no options to avoid a double connection. There will be no airports with nonstop service to FSD that have nonstop service to MXP once FSD-ATL ends.
I just dealt with a similar issue regarding Delta. I routinely check my itineraries weekly as these changes happen all the time. The “great” part about my change was they only changed one leg of my flight and my connection to my home airport was due to leave 6 hours before my new flight was to arrive. Yes my red eye was changed to a morning flight and they left me on an early connection. When I called the first time they told me I had to pay to change since I was changing. I just hung up and tried again. This time they put me on the flight I really wanted originally, but it was $300 more at the time of original booking. Yeah its a T fare and I can’t get n automatic upgrade, but I went from a cramped 737 to a 767 and 4 more hours of sleep. I prefer the widebodies as well.
If you ever run into them wanting to charge you the change fee again in a similar situation, just mention that there was an involuntary schedule change.
There is a note of it in the PNR but the agent probably didn’t see it.
He doesn’t have to go through a 2nd domestic city. Tell DL to put him on NW/KLM flights and go MSP-AMS-MXP.
I’d think it’s more of a hassle now that he has to go through three countries than two.
Maybe. But when I flew STL-DTW-AMS-VCE I didn’t regret it for a second. The AMS-VCE segment was way better than another segment within the US.