Airlines love to tout the benefits of mergers for their travelers. But seldom make a big deal out of the potential problems. The worst potential post-merger issues are schedule changes and equipment (i.e. aircraft) changes.
Travel agents generally get messages from the airlines about schedule changes for tickets they have booked, which they pass on to their clients. But with bookings made online or through an internet agency, there may not be such a message. Or, to be fair to the airlines involved and the online agencies, they may send a message and it doesn’t get read by the client.
(One client admitted to me that he gets so much “junk” from his preferred airline that he has tended to ignore most of their messages and missed a flight as a result.)
I have learned over the years to get an actual email or phone acknowledgment that the traveler has seen my message, regardless of an email delivery notice.
Presently, the biggest airline mergers are Southwest with AirTran, and Continental with United. In both cases the airlines involved have talked about significant changes in future, Southwest most recently at their new Atlanta hub.
We haven’t seen that many Southwest/AirTran schedule changes, yet, at our agency (of course, we are on the West Coast, and don’t have that many regular Southwest clients). Plus, Southwest in the past has not opened their schedule 331 days in advance as other carriers do, so that reduces the chance of a passenger booking many months in advance.
However, with United and Continental, changes of schedules and equipment are coming fast and furiously. As with Delta-Northwest merger last year, changes resulting from United’s merger with Continental have much more potential for problems.
These equipment and seat changes are adding a new hassle to travel with this newly merged United/Continental entity. In some cases, passengers booked in EconomyPlus seats on United, end up on Continental-operated aircraft with no premium seating. In other cases, seats completely disappear, which for a family trip around the holidays can be unpleasant indeed. There seem to be fewer complete misconnects between flights, although that has happened.
As for advice, it is pretty straightforward. Anyone who has booked a ticket well in advance on any carrier known to be merging should keep an eye on the reservation, or ask their agent to reconfirm. While checking every day is overkill, checking every month probably won’t hurt. If there is a problem, the earlier the better as far as fixes.
If a flight has been canceled, ask for the most convenient rebooked schedule possible — occasionally the airline will offer something better than the original flight. If there’s a seat issue, don’t take “we’ll fix it at the airport” for an answer. Stick to your guns and be insistent, usually there are blocked seats that a supervisor may be able to assign.
Finally don’t assume that if you’ve fixed a schedule change or seat problem once, that it is done. Keep checking. With one joint United-Continental late-December ticket from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco schedules have been changed twice since it was booked in June and there are three months to go before Christmas.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
