Return Flight Bummer

So I just got notification from Delta that my flight home is no longer on the sched. I was originally leaving at 5PM, arriving back at DTW at 11:58. Now they have me leaving at 2:00, and getting in at 8:58. So my option is to keep that or slot into the red eye leaving at 11:15 and arriving at 6:03am. I'm totally not digging my last day being truncated. But I'm also not a fan of red eyes. Gah. Decisions decisions...

Staying later would mean I could spend the morning at the Mirage secret garden and aft at the MO spa as planned, will cost a few hours more on the rental car. I just fear being Vegas weary after the MO spa and time to return the rental (and I'll have been there over a week at that point).

Feel free to weigh in with opinions to help with this first world problem dilemma

 

Is the following morning an option if you can get a room? Because you've lost the next day more or less anyway unless you would still go to work.

Corinne

 

It's a Friday. And I'm not working on Saturday at all. And next day isn't an option because the change fee wouldn't be worth it, nor would the cost of a room for a Friday night. I can only change no fee for same day.

 

Just got the same notification! Also not a fan of the redeye, so I think I'll stick with the 2:00 flight. Who knows by then they may add it back...

 

Id call and ask. No reason they should charge you a change fee given they cancelled your original flight. You should complain and guessing they will waive. If flight prices haven't changed you should have the option of a refund and then rebook the other flight on sat.

 

You should be able to get a full refund for a non-refundable ticket for the scheduled departure delay you mentioned. A couple months ago Delta changed my scheduled departure time in October by a little over an hour and permitted me to select another flight with zero hassles. While I was able change to an earlier flight on the same day (which was way too expensive when I originally booked), they also would have issued a full refund had that been my choice. You should have no difficulties getting another flight for the next day at no charge. As always, if you don't get the answer you want, call back and try again! It's amazing how many times the second or third attempt gets results. Good luck.

 

Thanks for all the tips! I'm still very undecided and I think secretly hoping they bring back the 5PM departure (not likely!). Any other time I've had flight changes like this its been on the craptastic United who are anything but helpful (and also a HUGE part of why I don't fly United anymore). I *do* have 5 full days on the strip so I should be able to fit everything in that I want to do, and it's not like I won't be back Doughy are you on that same Friday flight?? Looks like we'll be on the strip at the same time.

 

My wife and I stay Sunday through Friday most trips and we always tried to book a late afternoon return flight. We discovered last year that by the time Friday rolled around we were ready to go home so now I try to book a flight around 2:00 in the afternoon that puts us back in Texas before 7:00. That still gives us the morning to have a nice breakfast and do a little last minute gambling.

Mark

 

I don't know exactly what the window is, but I think if your departure time is moved by more than a certain amount, you're entitled (either by regulation or by policy) to cancel it and get a full refund, which would enable you to possibly book a better time on a different airline.

 

The folks mentioning that you should be entitled to changing your flights sans change fee are correct. Give them a call and you'll be fine.

 

If you can sleep on planes, I'd suggest taking the red-eye. I'm not sure how long your flight would be, but you could get say 3-5 hours of sleep. Then you could enjoy Vegas on your last day and not have to worry about trying to take a nap at some point.

If you can't sleep on planes, then you might as well take the earlier flight.

 

Delta has been extremely helpful to me when I've had to call them about changes they've made. The rule, unless it has changed recently, is that the airline has to allow you to change without charge for any changes to your itinerary of 2 or more hours OR if they're change gives you a connection that isn't doable. However, it's also the case that your changes have to be for the same day, not the day before or day after.

BellaBLVD, I'm not sure if you're flying nonstop or not, but if you would consider a connection somewhere, you'd more than likely see more options available to you than the 2 flights you've mentioned. Connections aren't desirable for a lot of people, but in some situations, they can make things somewhat easier.

Sorry for the double post, but I didn't read all the posts before I posted the first one.

 

DON'T count on them adding the 5pm flight back on the schedule, I fly Delta from DTW just about every trip.

For the return flight back to DTW, they always have a red eye at 11:15 pm, a 6 am, a 9:30 am, a noon, and a 2 pm flight.

I've never seen a 5 pm nonstop flight home, so I'm not surprised they canceled it.

They are usually very helpful if you call and complain when they change stuff on you.

I've called and bitched a couple times about having my seat assignment changed from an aisle seat to a center seat and they always made it right for me.

 

Yes I'll be on the now 2:00 flight, for me the 3 hours isn't a big deal...I'll be on the strip 3 of the 4 nights and thinking of staying at The D for my one downtown night. It's getting close, can't wait!

 

Small world gets smaller? My first 3 days are at GVR, strip for the rest.

Thank you everyone. I'm definitely not opposed to connections so I'll look at that. I can sleep on a red-eye, but since I'm flying first one of the things I'm thinking of is all the drinks I'd miss out on drinking . I'm not a total lush but those drinkies are part of the first class $ to be taken advantage of imo! The idea of being able to cancel and rebook is also super appealing, so I'll look at that too. Thanks for turning a bummer into opportunity. Or I may just suck it up and forego the MO spa on my last day and do the secret garden on one of my other 5 days on the strip.

@ams722 How lucky are you to live in A2??!? I'm a totally unapologetic Michigan fan and think A2 is gorgeous!