<p>I made reservations w/ Delta overThanksgiving. I decided to pay more to get a non-stop. About 3 weeks later, I received notice that they changed my non stop flight to a connecting flight. I could have flown another airline if I wanted a connecting flight, for a cheaper rate, but by the time I learned of the change, other airline prices were higher.</p>
<p>They will allow a refund, but it won’t do much good now since other prices have gone up. Figured it was just an unfortunate circumstance.</p>
<p>Well… last week, another family member made reservations for Christmas. They decided to pay more, and secure Delta non-stop flights. I just flew the same Delta route non-stop, and non-stops were still posted over Christmas, so they felt my circumstance for the Thanksgiving flight was just an anomaly. Low and behold, today, they received a notice that their non-stop flights were changed to connecting flights.</p>
<p>I read online, that this might be a planned ruse. Supposedly some airlines never intend to have certain flights. They basically lure you in (at higher prices of course), and then purposefully change it later. I called to complain, and the reservationist confirmed that sometimes they’ll open new non-stops later, but it is up to the passenger to keep looking and find it, request to be placed back into the non-stop (it is often a day or two on either side of the former flight), and hope they will allow the change (especially if the date has changed, even slightly). They won’t notify the passenger of any new added flights. Of course, I’m now wondering if they purposefully add NEW non-stops, luring NEW passengers to pay higher rates.</p>
<p>I know air travel has gone nuts in recent years, and we’ll certainly think twice about booking non-stops with Delta in the future, but I’m wondering if this is a definite pattern.</p>
<p>Sounds like too much of a coincidence to me. Anyone else have the same experience?</p>
<p>D1 had this exact experience last year at Christmas. Delta initially changed her inbound leg from a non-stop to a connection, with the connection being at an airport only about 40 miles from the final destination. We weren’t happy about it, but since she’d still be reasonably close if something happened we rolled with it…initially. A few weeks later they changed her connection to go through Atlanta (several hundred miles away) and I called and ripped them a new one. They apologized, and changed her back to a non-stop with a different flight number that was 3 minutes different on the departure/arrival times from her original schedule. EXACTLY what you’ve described above.</p>
<p>About a week before she was set to come home, we received notice that her return leg was changed from a non-stop to a connection…through Atlanta!! :-w Since she was scheduled for a 2+ hour layover (time to recover if any weather delays occurred) and was heading back with a full day to spare before classes started we opted to not fight the battle and left the return leg as re-scheduled.</p>
<p>We’ve already got her tickets booked for this Christmas…non-stop both ways currently. I fully expect to see Delta pull the same crap as they did last year. It’s absolutely a scam to book a larger number of overpriced non-stop flights while only having to fulfill a limited number. They’re hoping most people will just “smile and nod” and accept the connection(s) without complaining or asking for some of their money back.</p>
<p>So far, with United, I have never had this experience and would be VERY annoyed, as I purposely book non-stop flights, partly for medical reasons. I would NOT like a connecting flight when I purposely paid extra for the nonstop and booked early to boot!</p>
<p>Wolverine, why did you book again with them if you think they are scamming? We had a very sketchy experience with Delta years ago and don’t fly them anymore.</p>
<p>We’re running out of airlines to avoid! We’ve had major hassles with United. The last one involved my 19-year-old flying back from Milwaukee. The flight to Chicago was canceled, so they put him on a bus there instead. When he showed up at the Chicago airport, they said, “What are you doing here? You should have stayed in Milwaukee!” Then they kept giving him the run-around. At least they put him in a hotel overnight, but he got home more than 24 hours later than he was supposed to! And it wasn’t due to weather. </p>
<p>United’s best trick is to NOT assign you seats when you buy your ticket. When you call, they tell you the seats will be assigned at the airport. THREE TIMES, we have gotten to the airport and told, “Oops, sorry, the flight is overbooked and you don’t have seats!” So now, if we have to go United, I get on the phone and tell them I won’t get off until they give me seats. I sat for an HOUR once before they finally agreed. Great service!</p>
<p>We flew Delta to CA from the midwest this past summer and they changed our flight, also. But no increase and we didn’t have nonstop to begin with. Then I had to change our flights due to the school extension due to the winter and they charged us $200 MORE per person ($800 total). Add in the cost of our luggage to and fro ($50 per person) and I will NEVER fly Delta again. Southwest all the way…no change fees, 1st 2 bags are free and the only flight changes are minutes difference.</p>
<p>I’m not a United flyer, but on some other carriers, after you’ve purchased the ticket, you can go to the airline’s website and change/select your seat online. A lot of websites have “manage my reservation” or “manage my trip”. See if United has that.</p>
<p>I will never fly United again…NEVER. They rebooked one of my flights. Trouble was, they had me arriving indenver AFTER my connecting flight departed (seriously…what brain trust thought that would work). My original itinerary still appeared on their website…connection through Dallas. It took me an hour or so to get them to change me back to my original itinerary. Oh…and they had me departing my original flight at 6 a.m. When I had specifically chosen an afternoon departure.</p>
<p>lol, there is one particular low-cost carrier I absolute hate with the passion of a million burning suns, and I keep vowing I will never fly them again. But whenever I hear that siren call of a special, super-low fare to vacation-destination-X, I can’t resist like a travel-crack addict…</p>
<p>I avoid United because the couple of time I flew with them I thought their attendants were very grumpy. Blech. Who needs that?</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up about Delta. That’s terrible that they change non-stop to stops and don’t change the fares. FWIW, it looks like Atlanta is one of Delta’s hubs, which might explain why they keep routing planes through there. </p>
<p>Atlanta is I believe Delta’s main hub and they route a lot of flights through there. I haven’t had any problems with United, when I booked my tickets I did the seat assignment online, and you can print the boarding pass 24 hours in advance at home or on your smart phone these days. Delta is notorious for poor service, there is a reason why they have all those commercials (with Donald Sutherland’s voice), touting how they are doing so much for customer service, and their rankings show it. They are notorious in the musical world for trying to force instrumentalists to put their instruments into checked baggage (bigger instruments have no choice, like String Bass, Cello players would have to buy another seat), and I also have heard about things like changing a non stop to a connecting flight, they airlines are using systems that are designed to maximize efficiency (from their standpoint), and if they bump, for example, you from a non stop it can mean charging someone else more for those seats, and can mean other airplanes are flying full, they have all these models they work off of, and if it jerks around the passenger, they don’t really care, because frankly there isn’t all that much difference between airlines. On many routes, there isn’t much competition, and it shows. </p>
<p>I am that rare creature, a United fan. Buy online through their website, choose your seat, fly. Sure some of the staff are a little grumpy, but I am always amused that they (generally they are women) are much (much) less grumpy with a guy flying alone …</p>
<p>Returned from vacation this morning to find this thread. My first thoughts were ‘ugh, not again.’</p>
<p>The ‘non-stop flight bait and switch’ is news to me but not surprising. What is surprising is how far the mighty have fallen. Was it that long ago that Delta routinely had the highest customer satisfaction rating? Jeez. And United’s service was second to none back in the day. It’s as though Frank Lorenzo is still alive and having the last laugh. He’s the former Continental CEO who ended up being the most hated man in the air travel industry. And too many customer service agents at the airports these days act like Bob Crandall, another former airline CEO. A guy who cussed and fussed like sailor.</p>
<p>S, H and I have been mostly happy United fliers. I even splurged and paid $999 for an annual economy plus subscription for me and 8 passengers domestically. It seemed like a good idea because we were flying with my folks, sis, BIL & nephew and wanted to have a nice trip. I also fly about 25,000 miles a year or more most years.</p>
<p>I have nearly always gotten seats when I purchase and never had problems getting on any flight that I purchased. I would be quite upset if I had the experiences you all are describing. Our S has flown Untied about 100,000 miles a more every year and been happy with UAL too.</p>
<p>We have also mostly been happy with the other airlines. Hawaiian is also a good airline, but has limited flights and cities. Many of the budget carriers to not serve Hawaii and also do not fly between the cities I prefer. UAL is still my first choice of airlines, warts and all.</p>
<p>I’m sad to hear how far Delta has fallen. I worked for Delta part-time during college (reservations office), and full-time for a couple of years afterward (couldn’t resist the free trips - weekend in Paris for $10, including hotel!!!) At that time, they were a wonderful company to work for and their customer service was superb. They had never laid off an employee at that time. I will never forget a young man who worked there, with several children. He was diagnosed with epilepsy. He was called into the manager’s office and told that he would have a job with Delta for his whole life, no matter what. </p>
<p>I have on many occasions paid higher price for a certain United flight then a week before that flight they cancel the 8 PM flight and put me on the latest flight 11 PM only to go to work the next day tired. I have not have them change from nonstop to connecting like described in Delta. I have seen for years the worse attitudes ever with United staff. Interestingly, I just flew United last week and they took a 180 degree turn in sweetness. Even made announcements on the plane- welcome little girl or congratulations to married couple etc. I was shocked. It was either sweeps weeks or they read the survey and threatened to fire people.</p>
<p>I doubt this is a United-specific trick, since many airlines reserve blocks of seats that cannot be preassigned in order to make it easier to reseat families with small children and others who must sit together. United’s Economy Plus seating also cannot be preassigned unless you have elite status, although they will fill such seats with non-elite passengers on check-in. Of course, lack of seat assignment does increase the risk of being involuntarily bumped in a true overbooking situation, particularly if you do not have elite frequent flyer status and wait until you arrive at the airport to check in. Passengers without seat assignments should do web check in as soon as possible (usually 24 hours before flight time) to reduce the risk of an involuntary bump.</p>
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<p>Most airlines give much better service to passengers with elite frequent flyer status then to passengers without. On United, elites will be able to preassign Economy Plus seats, reducing the risk of having no seat assignment at booking time.</p>
<p>I splurged and bought economy plus seats for myself + up to 8 passengers with UAL for $999 for 1 year. Because we fly 5-10+ hour flights, it’s worth it to us! I fly about 25-30k miles a year. I like those few extra inches so I can pick up things I drop, especially on long flights. Was happy my folks and sis, BIL and nephew flying with us were upgraded too. </p>