Help please . . . award flight changed, no notice

[Suzie]

I just saw today that our flight in November has been changed from JFK to HKG to EWR to HKG. The flight is using AA miles on a CX flight in J.

The problem is that our return flight is into JFK. We drive about 2.5 hours to get to JFK and park our car at a long term.

The outbound flight was made on my miles. Return on husband - so two one ways.

I've already checked the BA website and there are not any J's showing availability in any combination of HKG/JFK/EWR.

I received no notice of this from either AA or CX.

Any thoughts on how I handle this with them? Flights were booked at 11 months out.

 

[italdesign]

If you can't get back to a JFK origin, consider parking your car at JFK and then go to EWR (not sure what's the best way but doable I imagine).

That said, conventional wisdom is that AA can (at their discretion) open up space on their own metal. They have to have their oneworld liaison work with CX in order to open additional space on CX - much harder from what I read.

Still, doesn't hurt to call up and explain to a good agent.

 

[Suzie]

Do I have any recourse on this? I imagine them offering to cancel flights with no redeposit fee but we don't want to cancel our trip.

Not easy to go between EWR and JFK (traffic - even though it should be only 35-40 mnutes) and a taxi is ~$100. I don't want to haul luggage around train/subway.

Thank you for quickly responding. I thought I was going crazy, but luckily I had printed out the original ticketed itinerary leaving from JFK. No, not crazy - now just mad

 

[italdesign]

Do you know what caused the change?

 

[milesfortravel]

If there is still a JFK-HKG flight on CX metal that you want to book, then AA has a Cathay Pacific liaison who can talk to Cathay Pacific. I have used the liaison in the past for a different booking issue and it took a while, but was ultimately resolved positively.

 

[Suzie]

Searching on ITA our original flight does not seem to exist anymore. Original flight was leaving at 12:45 am arriving HKG at 5:40 am and connecting to DragonAir at 8:20 am into Siem Reap.

The flight we've been rebooked on from EWR leaves at 1:10 AM - AR 6:00 AM - so connection still good. The other flights that day leave at 9:00 am or 1:55 pm from JFK resulting in an extra day off from work and an overnight layover in HKG.

Returning from BBK to EWR results in arriving at 9:00 pm rather than 6:00 am - which was preferable for driving home and getting settled before work the next day - rather than getting home at midnight.

I guess they were trying to give us similar flight times so can't fault them for that. Not sure what we will do.

Thank you both for suggestions. I learned a lesson - need to check my existing reservations more frequently!

 

[MickiSue]

One of the reasons they may not have notified you is that minute flight changes happen multiple times between making a reservation and the flight leaving. They don't always start to notify, if the change is far out from the travel date.

Last year, Husband was booked through JFK to CDG to VCE. The flight from MSP to JFK got changed to one 35 minutes later (Delta, BTW). He already had a tight connection at JFK, and the distance between the domestic and the international terminal is long. This made it nearly impossible to make the connection. And, of course, the flight to CDG was the last one that night.

I called, and they rebooked that side of the roundtrip, MSP to AMS to VCE. I had to paint the picture of him racing between terminals, only to have missed his flight, and Daughter, SIL, Grandson and I waking up, heartbroken, to find that he was going to be there so much later.

Made it so much less time hanging around in airports. Delta NEVER opens seats on their VCE via AMS flights anymore, so it was an extra bonus.

When the change is this big, that they've changed your airport, being politely insistent should do it, even without tugging at the CSR's heartstrings.

 

[GettingReady]

Our flight were changed returning from EU. I found out due to getting a notification from Award Wallet.

 

[Maverick17]

Just keep calling AA. It sounds like your flight was cancelled, so you either need to a) accept the change, b) take a different JFK flight and work around new times, or c) maybe try a workaround, like AA to ORD, then CX usually has lots of availability there to HKG. Or via YYZ etc.

 

[Suzie]

Thank you everyone.

Here's what's happened so far . . .

AA said they would put in a request to CX to change our return to EWR - so we would leave BKK at 1:10 pm instead of 7:10 pm - giving us really no extra time in BKK. They said no to changing it to the next day as that would trigger a change fee. AA said it would take a week to hear back from CX on the change - is this normal? A week?

I'm for that option. Husband wants to accept the leave from EWR, return to JFK option and pay the $100 taxi ride. I'm really not liking how much aggravation that adds to the beginning of the trip.

 

[Maverick17]

Why would it be a change fee to change a date, did AA devaalue their award changes as well and I missed that? First I don't think there should be a change fee for one day. Second, no way you should have a change fee with an involuntary schedule change and just moving it one day.

How many times did you HUCA? I'd keep trying.

 

[Suzie]

After several frustrating HUCA's (one being a CSR that told me CX definitely does not fly out of EWR despite my having a confirmed ticket), I was able to get a different flight from JFK 4 hours earlier than original, but not horrible.

Got a great CSR this morning who sat on the phone with me for quite awhile going over many different routing options.

But she did tell me to keep checking because they've had a lot of flight changes and it could change again. Great.

Thank you everyone!

 

[MickiSue]

You know, the idiocy of some CSRs is not able to be quantified, it's so enormous, isn't it?

Congrats (for now) on having the issue dealt with.

BTW: if you end up back at EWR, and you have an Arrival+ card, cabfare is able to be used at the 1.05% travel rate, so long as it's over $25. And, of course, yours would be.

 

[Maverick17]

Nicely done. Sounds like an "okay" alternative. You're now on the flight via YVR I guess? It's not bad, and in J now you get more "hours in J per mile".

 

[smittytabb]

@MickiSue perhaps I misunderstood your post, but to use a travel charge on Arrival+, it has to be over $100 now, not $25. Is there something I am missing?

 

[Suzie]

Nicely done. Sounds like an "okay" alternative. You're now on the flight via YVR I guess? It's not bad, and in J now you get more "hours in J per mile".

Yes, that's the flight and an excellent way to look at it! No plane change so I'll just relax

 

[MickiSue]

Smitty, you are right. But still...a cab ride from JFK to EWR will definitely hit that minimum. Even an Uber ride will, if you add the tip.

 

[Suzie]

I don't have Arrival+ but now that Citi and Chase are out sounds like should be my next app!