Independence Air loses my business
Sep. 18th, 2005 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjarvisA month ago, I had booked air fare from Dulles to Cleveland to attend October's "Load The Boat" fly-in. We usually arrive a couple of days early to help with decorating the hall, have a blast for the fly-in and then shuffle back to DC on Sunday evening, dragging ourselves into work on Monday looking more exhausted than when we left. It's just what we do for fun.
I just received an e-mail from Independence Air, informing us that our selected flights had been cancelled and they had rebooked us on an earlier departing flight from IAD on Oct 6 and a mid-afternoon flight from Cleveland on Oct 9.
I think not.
I'd rather chew my own foot off than get to IAD in early morning rush hour traffic; my original booking would let the rush hour fade off before attempting to travel. And there's no way we're departing Cleveland before the event wraps up, we've taken down the decorations and ensured that our friends survived.
Now an hour later, I've cancelled our flights on Independence (qualifying for a full refund since they intiated this issue rather than us) and I've rebooked almost precisely the original desired flight times on Continental from BWI, a much more accessible airport for us. Yup, the Continental flights are a total of $30 more expensive, but I think it's worth it.
I can understand airlines rationalizing their flights after examining their seat sales, and I do appreciate them notifying us a month in advance rather than 24 hours prior (American did that to me once) but scheduling is one of my hot buttons, esp. if we're travelling to an event where the start/end times our outside my sphere of influence.
Now I just have to hope that Continental doesn't go belly-up before October 9.
I just received an e-mail from Independence Air, informing us that our selected flights had been cancelled and they had rebooked us on an earlier departing flight from IAD on Oct 6 and a mid-afternoon flight from Cleveland on Oct 9.
I think not.
I'd rather chew my own foot off than get to IAD in early morning rush hour traffic; my original booking would let the rush hour fade off before attempting to travel. And there's no way we're departing Cleveland before the event wraps up, we've taken down the decorations and ensured that our friends survived.
Now an hour later, I've cancelled our flights on Independence (qualifying for a full refund since they intiated this issue rather than us) and I've rebooked almost precisely the original desired flight times on Continental from BWI, a much more accessible airport for us. Yup, the Continental flights are a total of $30 more expensive, but I think it's worth it.
I can understand airlines rationalizing their flights after examining their seat sales, and I do appreciate them notifying us a month in advance rather than 24 hours prior (American did that to me once) but scheduling is one of my hot buttons, esp. if we're travelling to an event where the start/end times our outside my sphere of influence.
Now I just have to hope that Continental doesn't go belly-up before October 9.
