It really doesn't matter what flight times I book; airlines will do what they want

[flyboy08]

Request use of their lounge?

I have Priority Pass which offers access to lounges all over the world and it's damn well worth it...comes free with Amex Platnium...I also get direct access to a few with the Amex...pays for itself 10 times over, but then I travel a lot.

 

[NDL_Diver]

They pull this stuff on me all the time. However you don't have to accept the new itin. Once you do, your stuck. Go back online and find a flight you like. Call ghem and tell them this is what I want. There will be no charge for any changes. You can also get full refund. If booked through Travelocity or similar you have to go through them.

 

[DandyDon]

Request use of their lounge?

Good answer...!!

They pull this stuff on me all the time. However you don't have to accept the new itin. Once you do, your stuck. Go back online and find a flight you like. Call ghem and tell them this is what I want. There will be no charge for any changes. You can also get full refund. If booked through Travelocity or similar you have to go through them.

Yeah, but I can't find any flights I like better. There is only one round-trip plane DFW-CZM a day, so I need to leave Lubbock to catch it, then fly back to Lubbock after I arrive back in DFW on return. Not many choices from/to Lubbock.

Opting to go thru Cancun was my original thought, but it'd be more time, trouble, and money with no gain.

 

[ggunn]

They pull this stuff on me all the time. However you don't have to accept the new itin. Once you do, your stuck. Go back online and find a flight you like. Call ghem and tell them this is what I want. There will be no charge for any changes. You can also get full refund. If booked through Travelocity or similar you have to go through them.

Once while I was on Cozumel the airline canceled my return flight and scheduled me to leave a day earlier. I called them and told them no way. It was their decision to change things, not mine. I'd stay a day longer but there's no way I'd leave a day earlier. They dragged their feet a bit and even made a half hearted attempt to charge me a change fee, but finally they relented.

 

[amoses]

Once while I was on Cozumel the airline canceled my return flight and scheduled me to leave a day earlier. I called them and told them no way. It was their decision to change things, not mine. I'd stay a day longer but there's no way I'd leave a day earlier. They dragged their feet a bit and even made a half hearted attempt to charge me a change fee, but finally they relented.

Really? Wow..... That is Bogus. I have had many changes where the flight gets moved an hour or two, but never a whole day, lol. That's going way too far.

 

[DandyDon]

Really? Wow..... That is Bogus. I have had many changes where the flight gets moved an hour or two, but never a whole day, lol. That's going way too far.

Yeah, I played one of those to our advantage last year. We were flying into South Dakota to tour a few national parks, catch the solar eclipse in Idaho, then had to be back that night. We wanted to return from Idaho Falls, but the fares were absurd with the eclipse, so we bought tickets returning from Bozeman Montana I think it was, figuring we had just enough time to watch the eclipse then rush north for our flights.

A few months before the trip the airline tried to cancel our return flight and move us up to one several hours earlier, before the eclipse! No way! I called to object, dragged the call on a bit just saying that we absolutely could not make it that early to hopefully get the agent mildly frustrated, and then - suggested we could return from Idaho Falls on that late afternoon departure, if he could arrange that. He agreed, we cut 150 miles off our drive, and we were all happy.

My daughter drove while I watched google maps, warning of her of known traffic jams, and suggesting detours. I was really impressed at how well the service seemed to track the hordes of cars that day.

Here's the rest of the family eating our sack lunches at a city park near the hiway, before time to don viewers, happy to have clear skies for the event.

 

[deepsea21]

I've been through this too when booking a great deal far in advance. The flights keep changing and they keep sending you new itineraries via email in which they ask you to AGREE. Just disregard all those emails and NEVER click on AGREE to any change. As soon as they start that, if your departure time is earlier than you booked or your arrival time is later than you booked you are now able to shop as you see fit for better flights and better prices and your fare will be fully refunded after you've booked alternate flights that fit your schedule.

Heck, I booked great flights one year that had me flying from ORF to MIA to CZM easy peasy and then it started changing to the point that 6 mos later they wanted to fly me up the east coast and then to midwest before flying back down to a hub and then on and finally ending up at CZM. It was insanity. I found and booked cheaper flights on another carrier that matched my schedule. I then called the airline and requested my fare be fully refunded as these were not flights I had paid for and they were outside my departure and and arrival times. Full refund and I actually found cheaper flights than I originally had booked because I kept shopping and NEVER agreed to the changes they asked me to agree to.

 

[ggunn]

I've been through this too when booking a great deal far in advance. The flights keep changing and they keep sending you new itineraries via email in which they ask you to AGREE. Just disregard all those emails and NEVER click on AGREE to any change.

It's been a while since I got one of those emails but I don't remember them asking for my agreement to anything. If my departure time changes from 6:02AM to 6:05AM why would I have to agree to it?

 

[deepsea21]

It's been a while since I got one of those emails but I don't remember them asking for my agreement to anything. If my departure time changes from 6:02AM to 6:05AM why would I have to agree to it?

They want you to agree to the changes so they don't have to refund your $. If you initially purchased a nonrefundable ticket and they changed your schedule each time you agree to a change it again becomes nonrefundable. Now, generally no one is going to complain about a flight that leaves later and gets you to your destination earlier.. It's when they start scheduling you to leave earlier or get in later that it becomes problematic and that is usually the types of changes they've tried to push on me.

 

[ggunn]

They want you to agree to the changes so they don't have to refund your $. If you initially purchased a nonrefundable ticket and they changed your schedule each time you agree to a change it again becomes nonrefundable. Now, generally no one is going to complain about a flight that leaves later and gets you to your destination earlier.. It's when they start scheduling you to leave earlier or get in later that it becomes problematic and that is usually the types of changes they've tried to push on me.

What I am saying is that the emails they sent me did not ask me to approve the changes.