Comments on: Booking A Flight In a Time of Uncertainty

By: Alltop Assembles Definitive List of Kick Ass Travel Blogs | Taking Off

Alltop Assembles Definitive List of Kick Ass Travel Blogs | Taking Off — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:05:13 +0000

[...] Booking A Flight In a Time of Uncertainty The CrankyFlier Booking travel pretty well sucks these days. This post offers gorilla tactics for minimizing angst when booking flights. [...]

By: Booking A Flight In a Time of Uncertainty [ The Cranky Flier ]

Booking A Flight In a Time of Uncertainty [ The Cranky Flier ] — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:36:23 +0000

[...] 15th 2008 3:11pm [-] From: crankyflier.com [...]

By: The Cranky Flier » Canceled by Midwest, But All is Not Lost

The Cranky Flier » Canceled by Midwest, But All is Not Lost — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:11:35 +0000

[...] I wrote my post “Booking A Flight In a Time of Uncertainty,” I knew it was bound to bite me. Sure enough, it happened yesterday when Midwest canceled [...]

By: KR

KR — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:56:24 +0000

I was in Denver this past weekend and you could tell Southwest is sinking its teeth into the market. Huge marketing displays lined the TSA security checkpoint and even in Concourse A, which Frontier uses, there was obvious marketing ploys to boot them out. I would much prefer to fly into Denver via Frontier, but its going to be a sad day when I concede that Southwest has won.

By: Alltop Assembles Definitive List of Kick Ass Travel Blogs

Alltop Assembles Definitive List of Kick Ass Travel Blogs — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:08:07 +0000

[...] Booking A Flight In a Time of Uncertainty The CrankyFlier Booking travel pretty well sucks these days. This post offers gorilla tactics for minimizing angst when booking flights. [...]

By: Embo

Embo — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:41:16 +0000

That’s what I was afraid of after I checked and saw other carriers flights were $300ish to just MKE, and I had only paid $247 with my connector…
lucky for me, I guess, I know enough about the industry to BS my way through, and the poor lady unfortunate enough to answer my call probably just wanted to get rid of me….
I documented the lady’s name, date and time of the call – but I better keep my trap shut until this is all said and done!

By: CF

CF — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:33:22 +0000

Embo - You know, it's weird. In my quick glance at Midwest's contract of carriage, I don't see schedule changes referenced. Have a look for yourself (pdf). That's a pretty surprising offer, actually. Usually you'll see them just offer you a refund instead of providing all the other stuff.

By: Embo

Embo — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:21:29 +0000

This already happened to me for a Midwest flight in June.
My best tip: I did my research before I called and knew all of the alternative flights they had and how to refute that they wouldn’t work for me. They ended up offering $100 hotel credit and $100 rental car credit to fly the night before instead of the early am flight and then drive the hour my connecting flight would have eliminated. (which was actually what I wanted in the first place but that flight was too expensive…)
As Andy said, are they legally required to do this?

By: CF

CF — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:20:25 +0000

Andy – Most airlines will rebook you on the next best option out there, but if the new times don’t work, you are usually allowed to just request a refund. You can check with the contract of carriage for the individual airline to see individual policies.

Wes – Yes, as you said in your edit, my point wasn’t about the cost but about reliability of getting where you need to go on time. Still, you raise an interesting point. It’ll now cost me around $130 to drive roundtrip to SFO from LAX. If I have more than one person, yes, it still makes sense to drive. But if it’s just me, it can easily be cheaper to fly.

By: Wes

Wes — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:59:31 +0000

EDIT to my previous comment as I missed your point… By driving, you would avoid the potential of being left high and dry be a flight cancellation. Got it…