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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Perpetual Change on May 17, 2011, 03:33:16 AM
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So, today my advisor decided I needed to change my flight and leave for home a day later than planned. This would be fine, but I don't
havewant to pay money to actually change my flight, and the only other available tickets are much more expensive than the ones I bought. Another thing that sucks is I can't use my return ticket if I didn't use my depart ticket. So even though I may find a cheaper one-way flight, I can't book it because I've already got a round-trip.
One thing someone recommended me do is go late to the airport and say you've missed your flight. According to him, the airline will put you on the next flight and charge you far less than they would have for doing a change in advance. I don't believe that though, even though this person claims to have done it a couple of times. This person has a lot of money and I doubt they notice when an extra hundred is tacked onto their credit card bill for no apparent reason.
Anyway, does anyone have any stories about missing flights? Or any suggestions about how to deal with it?
I can't get a refund for this particular flight, unfortunately, so I'll likely have to bite the bullet and part with like $600 to change the date (the around trip was already $1000). So yeah, I just paid like $600 for one less vacation day :facepalm: At least I knew there was good reason why I didn't splurge on the Neal Morse box-set and more expensive smart-phone.
I guess I just need to be thankful that things could be worse.
EDIT: Wow, this post is everywhere.
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I'm confused... you can't just take the flight you originally bought your ticket for?
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I'm confused... you can't just take the flight you originally bought your ticket for?
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No, I can't. I happened to have booked a flight for the same time I'm supposed to be in a very, very important meeting. You'd think postponing that for a day later would be easy, especially since it's a month from now, but it's actually not at all. Well, it is, it's just EXPENSIVE.
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Why are you paying the price for something imposed by him?
Regarding missing a flight, I have accidentally missed a flight (London->Düsseldorf) way back when I lived in England for a while, and yes, I did end up getting for free on the next flight. But, I had to lie about the cause of my missing the flight. Reality was that I totally underestimated the time it would take for a cab to go from Surrey to the airport, but I told them there was an accident on the road there (well, there was, but that added max 5 minutes to the trip). That apparently was the correct answer as it then constituted an influence outside my control.
Mind you though, this was still in happy-times of early 2001, where flying was about happy people going places. Not about cavity-searched suicide bombers and airlines at the brink of bankruptcy. So, this way of getting on the next flight might not work anymore.
rumborak
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Why are you paying the price for something imposed by him?
Because even though I asked him when I could go home and he said "any time is good," I didn't bother to fill out the leave application correctly before booking my ticket. Then the department decided I needed to be there, before I filled out my leave. The department can't justify paying me for holding me back, because according to the paperwork I hadn't filed for leave before they told me I needed to be there. (And, I was a bit liberal on the form about when I was actually going anyway).
Rumby, I'd love to try something like that-- but not while I'm still in HK. When I'm back in the states, and don't give a shit if my vacation accidently gets extended? Sure. But when going home is on the line, I'm not sure I want to risk it.
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I've missed a couple of flights. AA will just bump you to standby on the next available flight and it was free (back then, anyway). Frontier also did that, but they offer a guaranteed spot on the plane for something like $40 (worth it since I had a concert to attend that night). Keep in mind that if there aren't a whole bunch of flights, then standby slots are a bit of a gamble. Flying AA to LAX is a cakewalk since there's a flight every hour. Not sure how frequent the flights out of HK are or how crowded they are. I'd suggest that your friend is right. Missing the flight can be a great way to reschedule, but there is definitely some risk involved.
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Yeah, more and more people are telling me that works. I'm going to try it.
For this flight, though, I'm gonna be going two days later than planned. So I'm out 2 days and $500, which I guess is better than being out 1 day and $600. Or it's about the same, I'm not sure. The good thing is, at least, that my flight is straight through now. So I'll be coming in on Saturday afternoon, rather than like midnight on Friday. I guess, in the long run, I'm not missing out on much anyway.
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southwest has the next available flight (stand by) rule with no upgrade. other airlines may or may not allow it, and I've seen both. in any case, it will likely be less costly than paying to change your flight
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So are you actually going to go to the gate 10 minutes late? I don't see how it's something you could pull off over the phone. Both times I missed my flight, the plane was still parked at the gate but they'd given my seat to stand-byers. When you go running up to them in a panic like [pre-homicidal] O.J. Simpson, they're a lot more understanding about it.
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So are you actually going to go to the gate 10 minutes late? I don't see how it's something you could pull off over the phone. Both times I missed my flight, the plane was still parked at the gate but they'd given my seat to stand-byers. When you go running up to them in a panic like [pre-homicidal] O.J. Simpson, they're a lot more understanding about it.
Yeah, I'm definitely not going to do it on the way out, because I'll be, at best, 2 hours late. I'm not sure how that'd work. On the way back, I don't know. Maybe I won't try it. What's the point of sitting in an airport for an extra couple hours?
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I went to Florida two summers ago. My flight was suppose to leave at 10:00am. As that flight was fueling they found something wrong with the hydraulics. It got delayed until noon. Crazy weather came in and flights were grounded until 3:00pm. The plane I was suppose to get on was too small (remember the first one fucked up). Some really old lady was telling me in the terminal how she was going home to visit her eight year old grand daughter who just went into the hospital. I let her take my seat. By this point I'm not booked to get on a plane until 5:00pm, and I was going to have to change over. 5:00pm rolls around, and that flight gets grounded due to a possible short in the dash or something. I expressed my frustration to the ticket lady in a polite way, and she called the head guy down. I told him the story, and he gave me $20 dollars in food vouchers. I spent that at the bar on long islands (this was when I was only 20, so I was super bad ass). The voucher was cool, but he then told me that the only flight with room on it going to CT, only had first class seats remaining. He gave me one of them, which was pretty fucking awesome. First class was amazing, and they gave me beer. I landed in CT only to find that my bags ended up in Colorado....
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So are you actually going to go to the gate 10 minutes late? I don't see how it's something you could pull off over the phone. Both times I missed my flight, the plane was still parked at the gate but they'd given my seat to stand-byers. When you go running up to them in a panic like [pre-homicidal] O.J. Simpson, they're a lot more understanding about it.
Yeah, that would be my biggest concern really. I mean, if you casually stroll in a few hours late, they're not going to be very compassionate. Which means, to pull this off successfully you really have to be wheezing in front of the person 5 minutes after the gate closed. And that, it seems, defeats the original purpose.
rumborak