djh Posted February 18, 2018 #1 Share Posted February 18, 2018 We are booked American business class Houston to Dallas, then Dallas to Santiago Chile next month. Choice air informed us of a change in our schedule, changing our connection time from 2 and 1/2 hours to 48 minutes. Of course this has us extremely concerned. We called Choice Air but they state our connection is within the allowed time so they will do nothing unless we cancel and rebook. I have two questions- 1) Has anybody had any luck in getting choice air to change a connecting flight in order to make an international flight? Is it worth calling several times and possibly getting someone more helpful? 2) if we miss the flight because our first leg is late, is it Americans problem or must we still deal with Choice Air. Any input will be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashland Posted February 18, 2018 #2 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I don't blame you I would be concerned too....Just another reason to book direct with the carrier. Hope this all works out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tompeter Posted February 18, 2018 #3 Share Posted February 18, 2018 It would be AA problem. Hopefully you are flying in at least one day before your flight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlyerTalker Posted February 18, 2018 #4 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Choice air should get someone to check on what the actual MCT for AA is at DFW. My sources say that the MCT for a domestic to international connection there is 50 minutes. I suspect either a lazy agent, an ill-informed agent, or a Choice policy not to make changes unless the passenger really squawks about out. Nothing more than guesses on those. Finally, if you get no satisfaction from Choice, contact AA directly. If there's a ticket with an illegal connection, I'd think they would want to change that, especially for business class passengers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfanderso Posted February 18, 2018 #5 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I too would be nervous about that connection going from domestic to international at DFW. There are lots of flights from Houston to DFW each day. If I were you I would call back and tell them to give you one of the earlier flights from Houston. You certainly don't want to miss your international flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizmark'sMom Posted February 18, 2018 #6 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I would be really nervous about that connection time. Have you contacted AA directly to see if you can get an earlier flight from Houston? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djh Posted February 18, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Thanks for all the info. It was helpful when dealing with American and Choice Air. First we called American to find out what the MCT was and it was 45 minutes, but the agent was very helpful. She said yes, if there is any kind of delay, we’re screwed. She also said that since American made the schedule change, Choice should change it without fees. Next call to Choice Air, they said we would need a waiver code before the could cancel and rebook the flight (hoping in the meantime that our seats are still available). Then we called back to American, and got a very helpful agent that said, let me see if I can just change it. We questioned him about the fact that since it was a third party reservation, but he said, no problem I’ve changed it to an earlier fight. Very thankful that American was so helpful. Even though we are flying in two days early, this was really stressing me out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
em-sk Posted February 18, 2018 #8 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Then we called back to American, and got a very helpful agent that said, let me see if I can just change it. We questioned him about the fact that since it was a third party reservation, but he said, no problem I’ve changed it to an earlier fight. Very thankful that American was so helpful. Even though we are flying in two days early, this was really stressing me out! The airlines can always "take over the reservation" (which sounds like what they did here), they just try to avoid doing it unless they have to. Once they do take over the reservation things are a little easier all around. After that happens choice air may not see the change in their system, that is ok, your best bet is to deal with American if you need any additional changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlyerTalker Posted February 18, 2018 #9 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Thanks for all the info. It was helpful when dealing with American and Choice Air. First we called American to find out what the MCT was and it was 45 minutes Very interesting. KVS says 50, so I may need to have a bit of scepticism on their data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdt10 Posted February 18, 2018 #10 Share Posted February 18, 2018 You may want to let choice air know of the change once it is completed by AA. I had a similar problem last fall and changed it directly with the airline without problem. Choice air called 2 months later and said they saw the change and it would be invalid unless choice air reissued the ticket. Not sure that would be true because I had the confirmation from the airline and reserved seats on the new schedule. Choice air said they would reissue the ticket to conform to the new schedule and sent me a confirmation that everything was fine. No change fees from the airline (Delta) or choice air as the schedule change was caused by Delta moving our departure to early morning on disembarkment day. We moved our return flight to the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janert Posted February 18, 2018 #11 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I have flown out of DFW internationally frequently and 48 minutes is not enough. International flights are closed out by the airline 30 minutes before departure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach1213 Posted February 19, 2018 #12 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Very interesting. KVS says 50, so I may need to have a bit of scepticism on their data. And, in another direction, FlyerTalk's recent AA: DFW thread says :40 :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djh Posted February 20, 2018 Author #13 Share Posted February 20, 2018 You may want to let choice air know of the change once it is completed by AA. I had a similar problem last fall and changed it directly with the airline without problem. Choice air called 2 months later and said they saw the change and it would be invalid unless choice air reissued the ticket. Not sure that would be true because I had the confirmation from the airline and reserved seats on the new schedule. Choice air said they would reissue the ticket to conform to the new schedule and sent me a confirmation that everything was fine. No change fees from the airline (Delta) or choice air as the schedule change was caused by Delta moving our departure to early morning on disembarkment day. We moved our return flight to the next day. I just received an email from Choice Air notifying me that the airline has changed my flight so now I’m good to go. I’m thankful that I didn’t have to talk to them again. Thanks for all the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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