USVI-On-Line

This has happened to us in the past and I'm reluctant to let it happen again. Anyone else face this and is there any recourse other than not flying American?


The only airline that flies direct to STT from Boston is American. We hate to lose a minute of vacation time so to be down there by 2:00ish is ideal. So we spent a little more and booked with them only to have them contact us a few weeks before departure telling us that they canceled the direct flight and rebooked us onto a flight with a lousy connection. We would have saved time and money had we booked a less expensive flight on another airline with a connection. Of course by the time American cancelled the direct flight all the other airline's good flights were booked. This ever happen to you?

Did your arrival or departure time change by more than 90 minutes? Is it too late to book another airline at a decent fare? Read this:

http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006 ... my-rights/

When are you flying? We booked direct on US Airways from Boston to STT and, in addition, it was more than $100 less than AA.

Thanks alw. This happened in the past and the arrival was over 6 hours later and it was too late to book a better flight. I thought maybe that was a fluke and a rare event but reading the comments on the link you posted I think I'd rather not risk it.

The other way we have enjoyed getting down there early was to take a Jet Blue to San Juan the night before and a puddle jumper (Cape Air) over to STJ in the morning. Used to be that this was cheaper than the other airlines but Jet Blue has been creeping up in price.

This happened to me in November, 2008. They cancelled the direct flight and booked me with a connection through SJU with ~8 hour layover.

I called and was able to get rebooked with a better connection through Miami with no charge. I was traveling solo, so that may have helped.

We are booked direct again next spring and hope it doesn't occur again.

I used to prefer Delta to AA, until Delta nearly stranded us in Atlanta a couple of times due to missed connections. And, yes, Jetblues fares have crept up steadily.

Good luck.

Armchair, we are going in March this year on it appeared as though AA is the only direct flight available. I'll check again.

Agent 99 - They did that to us last year...or at least tried to. I booked tickets for 7 people in January to fly direct from Boston. We live in Connecticut so we were going to drive to take advantage of a direct flight. They not only cancelled our direct flight, but then tried to get us to fly from Bradley and pay $200 more per person for a connecting flight. I pitched a fit and made them get a supervisor on the line. I told them that their changes were NOT acceptable to me and I expected them to rebook me on a comparable NONSTOP flight at the same price. The only option they could offer was to fly us direct from LaGuardia which was a pain, but at least it was a direct flight and I absolutely refused to pay extra. This year we used U.S. Air from Bradley, but it takes all day to get there on a connecting flight and they moved our flight time up from 8:30 am to 6 am. I don't understand why is takes less than 3 hours from New York City direct but took 2 hours from CT to NC and then 3 1/2 hours from Charlotte NC!!! Not to mention the layover in between. We were wiped out by the time we got there because we had to get up at 3 am and didn't get to St John until about 4:30 in the afternoon. We were exhausted by that point.

It is basically Bait and Switch. They should not be permitted to hide behind a disclaimer.

Lindy, in response to your question: I don't understand why is takes less than 3 hours from New York City direct but took 2 hours from CT to NC and then 3 1/2 hours from Charlotte NC!!! Not to mention the layover in between.

I think the flight from NYC takes more like 3.5-4, but I digress. When you have two flight segments, most of the time gets eaten up on take-off, landing and taxi-ing to your gate. They build all of that in. Plus, if you consult a map, NYC is much further east than Charlotte or Atlanta. Our direct flight from ATL takes us 3:45, even though we are so far South. ATL is about the westernmost point of the Eastern time zone, so that's one reason.

Layovers are a pia, so I pay extra to avoid them. I hate that AA routinely does this to people.

We are booked on AA non stop from BOS in Jan. Hope this doesn't happen. Does this seem to happen on flights that aren't full or does it matter? I am going to go check and see how booked my flight is. Maybe I'll even check flights leaving STT shortly after we arrive.

We have taken to flying out of Logan the evening before. For STJ, we take Delta to Atlanta. The next day, they have direct flights that get us into STT at 2:00. It works for us in that to take a direct flight, we would have to stay in Boston the night before anyway and it's much less expensive to take a connection and stay in ATL. I find by the time I get to STT, I am already in vacation mode having spent the night before away from home.