If you fly with any frequency, you’ve almost certainly dealt with airline schedule changes. You may have planned the perfect trip, only to have the airline change the schedule for your flights significantly. While schedule changes are a curse for most, some of us actually view them as a blessing, at least under certain circumstances.
In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at airline schedule changes — why do they happen, and how can you make the most of them?
In this post:
Why airlines make schedule changes
Airline scheduling is an incredibly complex game that’s always evolving. The folks working in airline scheduling take into account all kinds of factors, including demand to a destination, aircraft utilization, optimizing connections, any travel restrictions or airspace closures, and much more.
As a result, it’s common for airlines to constantly tweak their schedules. While most airlines start accepting bookings roughly a year out, schedules are really only solidified as the departure date approaches.
At least for domestic travel, most people plan their flights within two months of departure, and at that point schedules are generally pretty reliable. The further out you book, the higher the odds of there being a schedule change.
I’ll take it a step further. On some level, the schedules that airlines publish a year out are more or less only placeholders. That’s to say that most flights will have some sort of schedule changes between the time they become bookable and when flights actually operate.
Schedule changes can come in all kinds of different forms:
- The timing of a flight can be changed; in some cases it could be moved by a couple of minutes, while in other cases it could be moved by several hours
- The aircraft type used for a route could change; based on demand or a variety of other factors, airlines might move around the planes operating particular routes
- A route could be canceled altogether; sometimes demand just doesn’t pan out the way airlines hope, and routes are canceled altogether
Always monitor itineraries for schedule changes
In theory, airlines should reach out to customers (generally by email, but sometimes by phone) in the event of schedule changes. However, that doesn’t consistently happen, especially in a timely manner. If you book a flight, I always recommend monitoring it as the departure date approaches.
That’s not just for schedule changes, but also to make sure any seat assignments you may have requested remain intact, etc. If you’re booking way in advance, maybe check your itinerary every couple of weeks. Meanwhile if you only book within weeks of departure, maybe check it every few days.
It’s a good practice to avoid disappointment.
Use schedule changes to secure better flights or get a refund
A schedule change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Heck, many of us welcome schedule changes:
- If you have a significant schedule change, the airline will typically let you change to another flight at no extra cost
- If you have a significant schedule change, you may be entitled to a cash refund if you no longer want to travel; the exact policy of how big the change needs to be to be eligible for a refund varies by airline
There’s almost something to be said for booking a cheap flight on a route you want to fly when the schedule first opens, and then improving on that when there’s a schedule change as the departure date approaches. When you change your flight following a schedule change, there’s no fare difference, so you can change to another flight for free:
- You can potentially rebook on a flight that has more desirable timing, which may have been more expensive when you initially booked
- You can potentially rebook on a more comfortable aircraft; for example, if you booked a premium cabin ticket, maybe you can rebook on a flight with a better product
- You can potentially change where you’re connecting, in a way that works better for you
To be clear, don’t expect that you’ll be allowed to make a major change if you have a two minute schedule change. However, if there is a significant change, airlines will almost always work with you.
Maximizing schedule changes on award tickets
Schedule changes can be both the best and worst when you’re on an award ticket, depending on whether or not you’re booking a partner award.
If you use the frequent flyer program of the airline you’re flying with (for example, redeeming American AAdvantage miles for travel on American), then I generally view a schedule change as a positive. You can possibly rebook on a flight that would have required a lot more miles originally. Airlines can generally open award space to rebook you, even if there aren’t otherwise award seats.
The area where schedule changes get really complicated is with partner award tickets. For example, say you redeem American AAdvantage miles for travel on Qatar Airways, and there’s a major schedule change that causes a misconnect. Typically your itinerary will then be updated with new flights, but you won’t necessarily have the same flexibility you’d have if you booked through the same airline you were traveling with.
Airlines can’t generally open award space on other airlines. However, there are liaisons between airlines that can make reasonable requests. However, this process can be ridiculously time consuming, and isn’t instant. Generally it comes in the form of messaging back and forth, so it could take many days (or even weeks) to get what you’re looking for.
Usually I try to avoid booking complex partner awards too far in advance, given what a headache schedule changes can be. To be clear, I’d have no qualms booking a simple partner itinerary with a reasonable connection time, but I generally avoid booking super complex partner awards far in advance.
Bottom line
Airline schedule changes happen, and the further in advance you book, the more likely you are to have one. Schedule changes can be inconvenient if you’ve picked out perfect flights and have planned your trip around them. However, you can also make them work in your favor, as a significant schedule change typically allows you to change flights at no extra cost.
Have any OMAAT readers used schedule changes to their advantage?
This article does not say anything new or different
American award on AA metal - could I change the destination airport if less than 200 miles apart ?
Due to schedule change (2h45min) , could I ask for destination change from JFK-BGI to JFK-MIA-SVD ?
+1 vote for “gardening” your reservations - I check at least weekly for flights months out, weekly for the month before and about daily for the last 3-4 days. I fly quite a lot, but it’s worth the time investment.
Also, if you are calling to make the change, you can’t understate the importance of knowing what you want before you call.. If you’re properly prepared with your new desired flights you can almost always...
+1 vote for “gardening” your reservations - I check at least weekly for flights months out, weekly for the month before and about daily for the last 3-4 days. I fly quite a lot, but it’s worth the time investment.
Also, if you are calling to make the change, you can’t understate the importance of knowing what you want before you call.. If you’re properly prepared with your new desired flights you can almost always get exactly what you want. If you let the agent search for you, a lot can get lost in translation even without a language barrier.
Here's a twofer Ben. Two years ago we booked LH FC from FRA-HND. As we live in Malta, we were to catch a flt to FRA, connecting to HND leg. As it was vacation trip, we booked early. So natch, there was a sked change on the MLA leg. They rebooked our MLA leg for the previous day.
We stayed at FRA airport Hilton Inn. Since we had half a day the next day,...
Here's a twofer Ben. Two years ago we booked LH FC from FRA-HND. As we live in Malta, we were to catch a flt to FRA, connecting to HND leg. As it was vacation trip, we booked early. So natch, there was a sked change on the MLA leg. They rebooked our MLA leg for the previous day.
We stayed at FRA airport Hilton Inn. Since we had half a day the next day, we walked over to the LH FC terminal. Our first time there. A very good experience. And we got our first duck. Have gotten few more since then.
My own experience: the perfect itineraries I book change for the worse, while the speculative flights I end up not needing and requires cancellation fee never move.
This is Murphy's Law. A good example of it that I find these days is that despite playing basketball for 40+ years, my dexterity and aiming skills get worse and worse. Yet when I toss my keys on our foyer table after a long day, I consistently manage to hit the perfect stride and angle of attack for those keys to slide with the perfect velocity and direction to slip right into the gap between...
This is Murphy's Law. A good example of it that I find these days is that despite playing basketball for 40+ years, my dexterity and aiming skills get worse and worse. Yet when I toss my keys on our foyer table after a long day, I consistently manage to hit the perfect stride and angle of attack for those keys to slide with the perfect velocity and direction to slip right into the gap between the table and wall, whereupon they drop to the floor and I have to go fish them out on creaky knees. It's just how it has to work; the universe will not allow otherwise.
And I stink at cornhole, ironically.
Good ol’ Murphy and his dastardly law.
Back before Covid, I'd fly coach to Australia every December. I'd book it as soon as the flights were available. It was always AA with QF across the Pacific. I'd simply take the cheapest routing. Without fail, there would be a schedule change, and I could always use the involuntary rebooking to get them to switch me to the flight schedule I always wanted.
I used Alaska's numerous COVID related schedule changes out of Love Field in 2021 and 2022 to a massive advantage to score a TON of miles on them. Made MVP100K two years in a row as aresult!
Timely post—I just dealt with a schedule change this week. On Tuesday this week, I booked 2x LAX–SFO–FRA–DEL for early 2026 (LAX–SFO in econ, rest in biz on LH). Then Thursday night, LH 455 SFO-FRA was canceled, so UA auto-rebooked me: one itinerary became LAX–SFO–EWR–DEL all in biz, the other LAX–SFO–MUC–DEL* with just the short hop in econ. I hadn't linked the two bookings yet.
* side note, this passenger never got an email with...
Timely post—I just dealt with a schedule change this week. On Tuesday this week, I booked 2x LAX–SFO–FRA–DEL for early 2026 (LAX–SFO in econ, rest in biz on LH). Then Thursday night, LH 455 SFO-FRA was canceled, so UA auto-rebooked me: one itinerary became LAX–SFO–EWR–DEL all in biz, the other LAX–SFO–MUC–DEL* with just the short hop in econ. I hadn't linked the two bookings yet.
* side note, this passenger never got an email with the rebooked itinerary; only showed up on UA website; maybe it wasn't ticketed.
I asked a rep to move both to LAX–EWR–DEL, but he slipped one entirely into econ and the other with LAX–EWR in econ—without telling me. When I caught it, I told him to restore the original auto-book, but I think he lost the LH space and escalated me to a manager. He had claimed domestic legs on mixed awards had to be all econ, but like I said, one itinerary was auto-booked in LAX–SFO–EWR–DEL all in biz, so I had proof he was wrong.
Thankfully, the manager knew what she was doing. At first, she also claimed domestic legs on mixed awards had to be all econ, but I pushed back (UA prices mixed awards the same as all-biz, and I’d already been auto-booked fully in biz). She eventually agreed and opened biz space on LAX–EWR-DEL for both passengers. All of this was at the saver rate, so 88k -- not 245k, UA's current award asking price for this date.
Unfortunately, after all was done and ticketed, I noticed there was no refund of the German taxes. But I'm going to wait until after the flights to ask for the ~$40/pp tax refund.
I don't know how I got lucky that LH 455 SFO-FRA was canceled on certain Wednesdays -- I don't see any schedule change announcement on LH's website.
In my experience, redeeming miles to fly a carrier’s partner can sometimes cause a world of pain if a schedule change disrupts the itinerary. For example, back in 2018 I redeemed UAL miles on Swiss for my husband and me to fly from Boston to Brindisi, Italy in business. Swiss retimed and renumbered the connecting Brindisi flight from Zurich. The schedule shift was minor and not impactful to the itinerary. However, Swiss unilaterally dropped the...
In my experience, redeeming miles to fly a carrier’s partner can sometimes cause a world of pain if a schedule change disrupts the itinerary. For example, back in 2018 I redeemed UAL miles on Swiss for my husband and me to fly from Boston to Brindisi, Italy in business. Swiss retimed and renumbered the connecting Brindisi flight from Zurich. The schedule shift was minor and not impactful to the itinerary. However, Swiss unilaterally dropped the ZRH—>BRI segment from our itinerary. I noticed it immediately and called United to have the second segment reinstated. It took a week of discussion and major escalation on my part to have the situation corrected. Similar issues occurred when I redeemed AA miles to fly IB, UAL miles to fly JV partner LH (for my in-laws no less and only a week before they were scheduled to depart), and (dating myself now) USAIR miles to fly SQ. While IN THEORY you should have the same passenger rights whether a ticket is purchased in miles or for cash when schedule changes happen, your actual experience may be very different. Having status on the carrier where you are redeeming miles, regardless of the operating carrier, can help. It is also helpful if the ticketing carrier also flies to your destination. But, at the end of the day, if the operating carrier will not cooperate and the ticketing carrier has no alternative space to open up (either because they don’t fly there or there is no inventory for sale) then your goose could be cooked. Heck, once I was with a party of 4 and we were flying from Santorini to Athens on Aegean as part of a longer itinerary booked via UAL on a combination of LH/Swiss/Aegean. There was a scheduled ATC strike on our day of travel and Aegean had already cancelled our short hop to Athens. We could have ferried but I was worried that the portion of our trip back to the U.S. would become at risk. Aegean was of no help even though they were the operating carrier causing the problem. They forced me to call UAL. And I spent hours on the phone resolving the problem. Agents now lack much institutional knowledge so resolving issues like the one I had are very challenging to them. I eventually came up with a workable solution but I had to guide the phone agent every step of the way. Even then I had to insist on speaking to a supervisor to obtain the routing I wanted. In short, you must be very knowledgeable about the (possible) solution(s) you seek, have a lot of patience and be adaptable if the exact routing you seek does not seem to be available (either because of lack of inventory or cooperation by the operating carrier). Obviously, while problems can occur with paid tickets too, award tickets can definitely add an additional layer of complexity that may not be for everyone.
If I had a dollar for every time AA cancelled the first domestic leg of an international award ticket in the middle of the night literally 8 hours before departure and blew up my routing, I'd have $2. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.
I do this all the time. I recently booked flights to Cape Town via Newark with only an hour connection from my travel origin. United changed the flight time by 15 minutes and was able to change my first flight so I have four hours in Newark. Rather not risk it and lose 1-2 days of vacation, plus I can chill in the Polaris Lounge.
You said, "When you change your flight following a schedule change, there’s no fare difference, so you can change to another flight for free".
If I make the change myself via the AA App, would it allow me to change the arrival airport (say, from JFK to LGA)?
Try it and report back!
In my (albeit limited) experience, the app will not let you do that. It doesn’t have an issue with changing the connection city but I was unable to change a flight departing LAX to a flight departing BUR. However, I had absolutely no trouble when I called.
Depends on the airline. Air Canada can be very difficult to deal with for a sked change but United and AA are super easy.