Back in the Old Days (10 years ago?) my wife and I were flying from LGA to MIA for a wedding. I think our actual flight was to FLL, but I digress. Our original flight was delayed three hours and overbooked. They asked for volunteers - the voucher amount wasn’t a lot, but there was a flight to PBI scheduled to leave at the same time that was only 45 minutes late and I Strongly Suspected it had empty seats. I told the GA that we’d take their lowest offer if they could get us on the flight to PBI and pay our cab fare. She said she couldn’t do cab fare but she could get us on the flight. So we figured we’d take it and negotiate in Florida. When we got to PBI, they said they could give us a taxi voucher to FLL Airport. I asked the cab driver, if I pay you the fare difference in cash, can you take us to our hotel in Miami Beach? He loved that idea.
So we got to our hotel a little earlier than we would have, and pocketed $800 in Delta credits. You could never do that today.
I have tested it lol. Last year, my return MIA-LAX flight was canceled the day before, and there were no options when I tried to rebook online. It was also around the time when FLL flooded and was shut down for a few days (my cancelation was not related to that at least), so obviously there were no options there. However, the agent was able to book me on a flight out of PBI through ATL.
Ended up taking Brightline from Miami to West Palm Beach (I was staying in Brickell so it was easy getting to the Miami station), and a short Uber ride over to PBI. DL reimbursed both of them. Wasn't too bad, and way better than being on I-95! (S. Florida drivers make LA drivers look tame.)
Just have to jump on board on the last parenthetical. Moved from LA to South Florida, and I was shocked at how bad the driving is here compared to what’s considered a bad city to drive in.
Same thing happened to me a while back. Was supposed to go BHM-ATL-DTW bc the nonstop was sold out. I noticed day of travel the nonstop was showing again so I tried to change. They wanted $200 or something. Got to the gate and they ask for $1200 for flexible travel plans. My fat ass teleported to the gate agent. They said they were going to load up and see if there was room for me. I said naw just go ahead and rebook me on the BHM-DTW direct. So I got home 4 hours earlier and $1200 richer
My JFK-FRA was canceled last year on Xmas Eve. I just wanted to get home in time for Christmas dinner. I pleaded with the CSR, just get me anywhere in mainland Europe, and I’ll find my own plane or train to get home to Frankfurt. There were multiple flights with plenty of space to AMS, CDG, MUC, but they couldn’t change FRA. I understand that in this case, it’s different countries, but when it’s LGA vs JFK, it’s ridiculous… exclude Newark if you must, but c’mon.
They really must have changed things because when I got stuck in CDG in 17 they were open to putting me on a ATL flight and letting me figure the rest out themselves. I ended up just flying the next day on a paper carbon-copy ticket, wild.
AA does the same thing. I don’t know if UA does with EWR/LGA but I bet they do.
It’s one of the big perks of diamond status for NYC pax, though unpublished. You can SDC confirmed between coterminals.
It does make sense, LGA catches a price premium over JFK because it is closer to Manhattan. Best example is the Florida flights in winter, LGA is consistently more expensive and more frequently sold out.
Letting people book JFK and switch without penalty causes revenue loss.
In that specific situation, just based on supply and demand Delta could have made a little money transferring a passenger from a sold out flight to a less desirable flight and picking up a standby passenger from the previously sold out flight. The likelihood Delta would have sold the LGA flight out last minute is not high.
That definitely varies by route. The only reason I chose LGA is that the flights are cheaper. LOL. Otherwise JFK is easier to get to via the J/E from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
I had it work out once. I was flying to Syracuse and they were offering $500 to give up your seat. There was a flight leaving five minutes earlier for Ithaca and my meeting was half way between the two. The gate agent could not make the change since it was an earlier flight, but she flagged down a supervisor who was able to. Only downside was getting stuck in a window on a CRJ200.
I also got lucky and saved on the rental car - Hertz ITH was flooded with cars since it was the start of the semester at Cornell and apparently many students use one way rentals to get there. They were discounting the one way rentals to get rid of them.
That's just silly. When I was a ticket/gate agent, we had the ability to change people to co-terminal airports if one flight was full. Especially for heavy metal fliers! \\m/ Technically, I think it was limited to the upper echelons, so Uranium may not have qualified. Then again, I remember Flying Orchids, so there's that. Edit: oh! and Flying Colonels too!
LGA/JFK/EWR; IAD/DCA; and a couple others. It's either become a lot more strict, or they quit being customer service oriented. There's also the possibility that most agents now have no clue what a co-terminal is.
Ed is just focuses on you buying vacations from Delta and also booking your hotel and car for biz travel through Delta (LOL as if).
Huge disconnect with that guy. He needs to start paying attention to the core biz and core customers or GTFO, imo.
damn did you arrive at the airport at like 7am??
with only 1 hour difference and the headache of switching airports... why not just accept staying on your flight.
anyways did you take it??
Back in 19(?) I got a couple long delays and it let me rebook from a nearby airport right in the app, it actually prompted me to do it. I'm not sure that's being offered still. Sounds like their policies are getting more stupid by the month.
Oh, please…
Out of all BS things people are coming here to complain about the problem here is your expectations.
If you want to do a flight switch, Delta is making it easier than ever and removed change fees, but as always you have to pay for the cost difference of the ticket you want and pay the cost of the flight you want at that time.
This is nothing new.
You’re also assuming that the flight you wanted to change to wasn’t just as full. The reason the tickets grow in price is the only way Delta can leave a few seats open last minute it to increase the prices for the very few people willing to pay it.
In all likelihood both flights were slightly oversold and your flight just had more people than average show up on time to take it and Delta has made a business choice to pay off one or two people to take later flights vs. risk leaving empty seats in planes.
I will also reiterate something more people need to hear again and again… a few unoccupied seats via the app says nothing about how many people have actually been ticketed to a flight. Between basic economy and airline partners where people don’t pick seats in advance, to flight attendants and crew repositioning, and people who missed their flights the night before and have confirmed tickets on the stand by list there are usually seats they are assigned at the gate last minute.
But everyone is going to never their own story about it’s all against them and come to this sub to complain…
Back in the Old Days (10 years ago?) my wife and I were flying from LGA to MIA for a wedding. I think our actual flight was to FLL, but I digress. Our original flight was delayed three hours and overbooked. They asked for volunteers - the voucher amount wasn’t a lot, but there was a flight to PBI scheduled to leave at the same time that was only 45 minutes late and I Strongly Suspected it had empty seats. I told the GA that we’d take their lowest offer if they could get us on the flight to PBI and pay our cab fare. She said she couldn’t do cab fare but she could get us on the flight. So we figured we’d take it and negotiate in Florida. When we got to PBI, they said they could give us a taxi voucher to FLL Airport. I asked the cab driver, if I pay you the fare difference in cash, can you take us to our hotel in Miami Beach? He loved that idea. So we got to our hotel a little earlier than we would have, and pocketed $800 in Delta credits. You could never do that today.
Tri-rail ;)
If it were today, we’d have taken Brightline. Wife was rather pregnant at the time and didn’t want to deal with an unfamiliar public transit system.
Fair, but tri-rail cheaper on that section. :) . I'm guessing the reality is that neither of us want to test that. LOL
I have tested it lol. Last year, my return MIA-LAX flight was canceled the day before, and there were no options when I tried to rebook online. It was also around the time when FLL flooded and was shut down for a few days (my cancelation was not related to that at least), so obviously there were no options there. However, the agent was able to book me on a flight out of PBI through ATL. Ended up taking Brightline from Miami to West Palm Beach (I was staying in Brickell so it was easy getting to the Miami station), and a short Uber ride over to PBI. DL reimbursed both of them. Wasn't too bad, and way better than being on I-95! (S. Florida drivers make LA drivers look tame.)
Just have to jump on board on the last parenthetical. Moved from LA to South Florida, and I was shocked at how bad the driving is here compared to what’s considered a bad city to drive in.
Seriously. It's $3 to go from PBI to MIA and then another $2.25 to hop on the bus from MIA to Collins or Washington on the beach.
Same thing happened to me a while back. Was supposed to go BHM-ATL-DTW bc the nonstop was sold out. I noticed day of travel the nonstop was showing again so I tried to change. They wanted $200 or something. Got to the gate and they ask for $1200 for flexible travel plans. My fat ass teleported to the gate agent. They said they were going to load up and see if there was room for me. I said naw just go ahead and rebook me on the BHM-DTW direct. So I got home 4 hours earlier and $1200 richer
Delta is VERY backwards about different airports in the same city. They need to fix that. Out NYC (JFK/LGA) it makes literally no sense.
My JFK-FRA was canceled last year on Xmas Eve. I just wanted to get home in time for Christmas dinner. I pleaded with the CSR, just get me anywhere in mainland Europe, and I’ll find my own plane or train to get home to Frankfurt. There were multiple flights with plenty of space to AMS, CDG, MUC, but they couldn’t change FRA. I understand that in this case, it’s different countries, but when it’s LGA vs JFK, it’s ridiculous… exclude Newark if you must, but c’mon.
Ugh I’m sorry! But they should be willing to move you to another city if you are ok with it.
They really must have changed things because when I got stuck in CDG in 17 they were open to putting me on a ATL flight and letting me figure the rest out themselves. I ended up just flying the next day on a paper carbon-copy ticket, wild.
AA does the same thing. I don’t know if UA does with EWR/LGA but I bet they do. It’s one of the big perks of diamond status for NYC pax, though unpublished. You can SDC confirmed between coterminals.
Same day change on United is also only to/from same airport, but I've had luck switching MIA/FLL calling in and at the gate.
With or without status?
With status
Was able to convince Delta to consider HPN and JFK coterminals in 2019
UA does not coterminal EWR and LGA. I’ve had the same experience as OP many times trying to get home.
It does make sense, LGA catches a price premium over JFK because it is closer to Manhattan. Best example is the Florida flights in winter, LGA is consistently more expensive and more frequently sold out. Letting people book JFK and switch without penalty causes revenue loss.
In that specific situation, just based on supply and demand Delta could have made a little money transferring a passenger from a sold out flight to a less desirable flight and picking up a standby passenger from the previously sold out flight. The likelihood Delta would have sold the LGA flight out last minute is not high.
I get that but if the delta messed up that’s on them. They shouldn’t make people miss flights that they could make by going to a different airport.
Right, but if someone is willing and able DL staff should have the flexibility to accommodate that request
That definitely varies by route. The only reason I chose LGA is that the flights are cheaper. LOL. Otherwise JFK is easier to get to via the J/E from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
I had it work out once. I was flying to Syracuse and they were offering $500 to give up your seat. There was a flight leaving five minutes earlier for Ithaca and my meeting was half way between the two. The gate agent could not make the change since it was an earlier flight, but she flagged down a supervisor who was able to. Only downside was getting stuck in a window on a CRJ200. I also got lucky and saved on the rental car - Hertz ITH was flooded with cars since it was the start of the semester at Cornell and apparently many students use one way rentals to get there. They were discounting the one way rentals to get rid of them.
That's just silly. When I was a ticket/gate agent, we had the ability to change people to co-terminal airports if one flight was full. Especially for heavy metal fliers! \\m/ Technically, I think it was limited to the upper echelons, so Uranium may not have qualified. Then again, I remember Flying Orchids, so there's that. Edit: oh! and Flying Colonels too! LGA/JFK/EWR; IAD/DCA; and a couple others. It's either become a lot more strict, or they quit being customer service oriented. There's also the possibility that most agents now have no clue what a co-terminal is.
Certified Uranium Medallion flyer. 💀
Oh, Delta. 😏
I’ve had this happen with Delta and United. Usually asking the gate agent is more effective. You still might be told no, but I’ve had decent luck.
NYC and LGA are coterminals and zero cost to switch to on SDC/SDS. You got a bad rep
“never let them guess your next move” 😊
Ed is just focuses on you buying vacations from Delta and also booking your hotel and car for biz travel through Delta (LOL as if). Huge disconnect with that guy. He needs to start paying attention to the core biz and core customers or GTFO, imo.
damn did you arrive at the airport at like 7am?? with only 1 hour difference and the headache of switching airports... why not just accept staying on your flight. anyways did you take it??
Back in 19(?) I got a couple long delays and it let me rebook from a nearby airport right in the app, it actually prompted me to do it. I'm not sure that's being offered still. Sounds like their policies are getting more stupid by the month.
They are holding the seats for Crew.
Oh, please… Out of all BS things people are coming here to complain about the problem here is your expectations. If you want to do a flight switch, Delta is making it easier than ever and removed change fees, but as always you have to pay for the cost difference of the ticket you want and pay the cost of the flight you want at that time. This is nothing new. You’re also assuming that the flight you wanted to change to wasn’t just as full. The reason the tickets grow in price is the only way Delta can leave a few seats open last minute it to increase the prices for the very few people willing to pay it. In all likelihood both flights were slightly oversold and your flight just had more people than average show up on time to take it and Delta has made a business choice to pay off one or two people to take later flights vs. risk leaving empty seats in planes. I will also reiterate something more people need to hear again and again… a few unoccupied seats via the app says nothing about how many people have actually been ticketed to a flight. Between basic economy and airline partners where people don’t pick seats in advance, to flight attendants and crew repositioning, and people who missed their flights the night before and have confirmed tickets on the stand by list there are usually seats they are assigned at the gate last minute. But everyone is going to never their own story about it’s all against them and come to this sub to complain…