Flight times changed aarrrrghh!

[LiliLil]

I know there’s nothing that can be done, I know it’s in their T&C’s that flights are subject to change but it’s so bloody frustrating.

Booked a holiday with 2pm flights, meaning we’d arrive at the hotel early evening, have some food and relax, we have two children.

We now fly at 9pm so will arrive closer to 3am, miss a full evening of our holiday and the kids will be exhausted.

To change airports will cost £1000, we’ve scrimped as it is for our first holiday abroad as a family so this isn’t an option.

I’m so pissed off!

Had this recently for a hen do. We called the airline and as it's classed as a major change to flight time they agreed to change our flight to a more suitable one from another close by airport. There was also an earlier flight at the same airport we could have changed to.

Give them a call and see what they can do.

This makes me so tense about booking flights. I am happy to pay more for convenient flight times but then you run the risk they'll change them anyway!

Definitely call, see if you can get on an earlier flight instead. Had this happen when we went to America, tried to move us to later flights, we phoned and got earlier flights. Airlines really try their luck.

I had this happen with a certain low cost company. But I was offered the option of changing to the earlier or later flight than the one offered, which helped with tying in with ongoing journey arrangements .

Oh no I hate this, I do like to arrive when things are open and have a bit of food and drink. Is there an earlier flight?

Thanks all, I’m glad I’m not being unreasonable. I know it’s a first world problem and plenty of people won’t be going on holiday but after a year of shit this has just topped it off.

I have called them, there are no other flights available that day from East Mids.

There is a 6am flight same day from Birmingham, but the holiday cost will increase by £1000!

We booked the holiday and paid extra to pick these flight times, I wouldn’t have booked it otherwise 😞

A flight change over 3 hours is classed as a major change, check your T&C but I would expect you to be offered a suitable alternative or compensation.

A certain low budget airline have done the same to me, having paid more for convenient flights.can’t change as only a few flights each week from very convenient airport. Will arrive at destination really late with small children which is why we booked sensible times. Return flights also put right back so we’ll have to wander once we have to leave the hotel in the morning.Nothing to be done it seems but it’s so infuriating.

Aw its so shit, happened to us but its why I never book packages now. I booked 8 nights and ryanair changed the flight so we'd arrive at 1am in the morning but they let you change your flight for free to day before or after so I changed it for early morning flight the next day arriving at 10am and changed hotel to 7 nights so saving money. Its infuriating that you now basically lose a day of hols in the hotel you paid for.

I remember this happened to us too when we had small children - flights were part of a package and we enjoyed the holiday very much in every way, but at the end I made it clear to the travel rep we would never book with them again because they messed us about on the outgoing flight

What about changing to a flight the day before? It'll mean paying an extra night for your accommodation but it might work out reasonable. I'd be putting it to the agent that any extra costs for the flight change would be on them as it is a significant change.

Or is there another airline flying at a reasonable time from the same airport ? Could the agent arrange to swap over the flights.

I'd definitely be asking questions, a lot of things they can do won't be common knowledge and you have to ask. Also, your old 2pm flight would have been more expensive than a 9pm flight. You'll find that both flights weren't full so they put everyone together on the cheaper later flight, meaning less cost only running one plane.

Oh this is so crap when they do that. Unfortunately as the change is less than 12 hours they won't change it to another flight or airport for free. We had this last year where we paid £400 for a better flight time, they then changed it to stupid o'clock in the morning which meant we then had to incur cost of an airport hotel.

This has happened to us too, albeit not changed as much as yours has. It’s so annoying because like you I’d specifically chosen those flights mainly because of Ds who has autism so we would arrive at a decent time and could keep to a routine as much as possible. So annoying!

"We booked the holiday and paid extra to pick these flight times, I wouldn’t have booked it otherwise"

So let them cancel the whole thing and find another holiday then. That's an option.

Check if there are flights from East Midlands Airport from any airline, or Birmingham from another airline. If a better time, then contact the company again.

Terms and conditions can be unreasonable in law in some cases, not that I know if this would be the case.

If it's over 5hrs it's a major change to t&C's and you should be entitled to a refund. It means finding another holiday though which might be imposed at short notice.

Ugh, this happened to us with tui last year, they cancelled the flight altogether and we ended up rebooking via Manchester for crappy times and airport hotel costs. Fun!

Thank you this is really helpful.

There are flights the day before, but again a lot more expensive. We go 1st September so anything before is school holiday prices I guess.

No other flights at all from East Mids that day, there are flights with EasyJet from Birmingham and Luton the following day, but again almost £1000 to change!

I have asked what the cancellation procedure is in cases like this, surely they couldn’t keep the deposit?

did you book a packaged holiday or do it all yourself/through a travel agent

It's infuriating. We made the strategic error of booking flights and accommodation separately for our summer holiday. We had been flying out of Scotland but the bastard airline pulled the route and the only place we can fly out of now is London. So two more days leave and an extra £500 onto our holiday!

As a package through the website.

No you'll get a refund or accept the flight change. There will be an abundance of cheap holidays leaving early September. Just get a refund and start again.

Jet2 did that with us, we paid more for a morning flight 6am so would get there for lunchtime and then a few months after booking got an email saying they had changed flight to an afternoon one. Contacted them as I was pissed off as we had paid more for an earlier flight, they basically said tough shit and they are allowed to do that as states in their T&C’s …wouldn’t refund us the extra we had paid. Although it was a change in booking they said it wasn’t a ‘significant ‘ change.

OK, what about transferring your deposit to a different holiday?

It's a travel agents web site? You just paid deposit?

Travel agents can change your holiday. You ask them to use your deposit to book a different holiday. It's not until September so they can do it.