Airline cancellations other air travel horror stories?

With all the quirkiness going on in the airline industry these days, I%26#39;m growing concerned about what we might experience during our Maui trip this October.

We%26#39;ll be traveling from Boise to San Francisco to Kahului on United. Should I be worried about any ';bumps';, cancelled flights or other unexpected travel issues? Any other ';traveler beware'; kinds of stories to tell and/or lessons learned?

Airline cancellations other air travel horror stories?

I plan to keep doing what we have ALWAYS been doing, for over 20 years...take a look at all our United itineraries online (I have 5 stacked up now)and call them to fix anything that is not how I wanted it--and be sure that my United profile has the ';alert'; preferences set for changes.

I am sure flights I am on will be changed--or different equipment used. I know I need to keep on top of it to be sure they put me back in a seat I want (AISLE, NOT WINDOW!!!) and that our upgrades are maintained on the new flight. My husband has ';fixed things'; on our January flight 4 or 5 times since March. That%26#39;s just the way it is.

The thing NOT to do is (1) pay for a ticket without having seats assigned or (2) never check and find out you are unhappy a couple of days before the flight, when the seats you want are gone or (3) miss the checkin cutoff.

Airline cancellations other air travel horror stories?

My United flight changed 3 times in 24 hrs this week. My flight on the 26th was changed to earlier in the day, putting us in Maui at 8pm instead of 4:30. Coming from the east coast that was not cool. Called United and the guy was very accommodating and put us on the earlier flight putting in Maui @ 4:00 pm (30 min prior to our original arrival). Very cool! The next night I came home to find they had changed my flight AGAIN. They determined we didn%26#39;t have enough time to make our connection in LA. Now I had SPECIFICALLY asked that question when he changed it. They told me it would be a $150 change fee per ticket + $25 due to making the arrangements over the phone plus any price difference. I calmly but firmly (and nicely) explained the ONLY reason I was trying to change my ticket was because they changed the last leg of our journey, the time difference, etc. Finally she caved and change ALL my flights so that we could still make the 4pm arrival. I thanked her for saving 1/2 day of my vacation.

Oh yeah, I%26#39;m not even going to go into the whole having to completely rebook my flights %26amp; paying more $$ after ATA went under....

United through SFO can be very trying. I%26#39;m spent many a lonely evening stuck here. For your trip, you won%26#39;t have to change terminals, so if your layover is at least an hour, you%26#39;ll be fine. If it%26#39;s any shorter than that - cross your fingers now.

I%26#39;m actually flying through there on United to Maui in 3 weeks. Just to be safe, I booked a 5:30AM flight (and I live an hour away from my airport) - so guess when I%26#39;ll be getting up? The reason? The 10:30AM flight only had a 45 min layover. In Portland PDX - no problem. San Fran - it%26#39;s a huge gamble and not worth it in my book. I%26#39;ve learned the hard way.

rich

why didnt you fly hawaiian non stop from pdx

In checking today, I can see they%26#39;ve tweaked the times a little bit, nothing that will mess us up too bad... so far. We are now getting into Kahului about 40 minutes later than what was the case when I first booked the trip (first booked in early July and we don%26#39;t leave until late October). I%26#39;m assuming the rental car outfit - Dollar in this case, tracks these changes as they have out flight number, yes? I%26#39;d hate to find my car rental reservation cancelled case we were later than expected.

Our return trip is now about 20 minutes earlier than when first booked.

I%26#39;m assuming we play this game right up until the day of travel huh? (and then pray the flight isn%26#39;t cancelled alotogether??!!)

The only bumps you should worry about are the ones you might experience landing if your plane is arriving in Kahului in the afternoon. It can be a bumpy ride!

Truelight

can%26#39;t you check in with your car rental ahead of leaving? I don%26#39;t think the rental companies keep track of airline information. They have a hard time keeping track of their own reservations! We checked in about 3 days before arriving(in Kauai and the Big Island) and had no problem picking up our cars.

lougee - I would have loved to take Hawaiian from PDX, but it%26#39;s a 4 1/2 hour drive from home (we%26#39;re in Southern Oregon.) We actually did that in April and it%26#39;s great flight. We drove up the night before, got a room by the airport w/the park %26amp; fly package and it was a very nice way to do it. Coming back was rough due to a maintanance issue. Our 11PM return to Portland wound up being a 4 AM return and then we still had the drive home. Not what I wanted, but all in all it was a great trip.

This time we%26#39;re cashing in United miles. W/ tax our cost = $10 each. At that price I%26#39;ll get up at 2 - 3 in the morning, drive 40 miles to the airport, and even fly United through SFO. A buddy of mine is flying to Maui from PDX on Hawaiian on the same day and Hawaiian has some great prices now.

Truelight - As far as cancelled flights, I wouldn%26#39;t worry about that at all. Once you%26#39;re in SFO, they can get you to Kahului no problem. There are tons of options. Even when things go really bad for them, it just winds up delaying things. On the up side, the food at SFO isn%26#39;t horrible.

Four of us flew to Alaska in July, having booked our flights in January. We watched them, times were tweaked on several occasions, no problem.

Then the first big hit, two weeks before we were due to leave they cancelled a flight on our return trip out of Las Vegas and put us on another flight that left before we got to Las Vegas!!! Between my DH and I we spent over 7 hrs. trying to correct what they had messed up!!!

When we arrived at the airport, the morning of our departure (less than 24 hrs. after last speaking w/booking people), our names were in the computers, but we were not shown as having any flights (at this point there should have been 3 connecting flights going to AK and 4 connecting flights returning to Ohio).

Luckily we had arrived plenty early, it was a good 30 minutes for them to get all of us straightened out and we had to check in at the desk at each airport, each time we changed planes. At one point it looked as if we weren%26#39;t all going to make it to Juneau at the same time (all the flights are overbooked), but in the end we did. None of us sat together (we had booked seats right from the very start).

Basically, watch as best you can and grin and bear it, we%26#39;re all in the same boat!!! You%26#39;re lucky if you get everything you want and get there on time with all your luggage.