Is this something that happens often?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s really hard for your mother; I’m sorry her trip has been made so difficult.

But it does happen. Maybe you can arrange wheelchair escorts or buggy service through the airline to help her navigate the transfers? My mother used to disdain this kind of support, until she tried it. Then she used it whenever possible.

Best of luck to you both!

How could I do this? Just call JFK and ask they meet her at her flight? She would gladly ask but she does not speak English, another reason why she avoids these scenarios!! I am actually a little shocked they did not put her on a direct partner flight (there was one) because she visibly does not look well, it would be striking. She is also likely very frazzled right now.

I don’t mean this to be rude but she does not remotely sound like a viable candidate for solo overseas travel. This is actually a fairly common occurrence. And yes if you change planes in the US, you have to pick up your bags and walk them through customs and recheck them.

This is such an ignorant comment - likely made by someone who is only looking through the lens of their own international travel experience (came into it as an adult, goes to a lot of new places). International families around the world do this kind of thing all the time. To make an American analogy, this is like feeling comfortable with your elderly parent driving an established route, but maybe not wanting them to navigate an unfamiliar highway alone, which they wouldn’t. Now imagine the main road has been closed, unannounced, and most other familiar roads are blocked (a scenario that doesn’t really occur while driving - usually it’s possible to get some information about part of the route ahead of time). Doesn’t mean the parent is not remotely viable as a candidate to drive.

OP, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I really see it as emblematic of the state of air travel today, and I think it’s only going to get worse for the large majority of us in the middle as the wealth gap widens.

It's pretty absurd (and entitled) to assume that an aging relative, who isn't tech savvy, doesn't speak the language and is ailing physically, is going to continue to be able to do this unaccompanied the exact same way they have been doing for the last 25 years. If you are going to live a continent/ocean away from an aging relative, the scenario of them no longer being able to travel alone has to have occured to you.

I'm not assuming anything. Obviously I am VERY aware my mom is getting older. Are we not all aware our parents are aging? And not sure why you are trying to school me on my own experience as an immigrant with parents abroad. That's my whole adult life... We will see how this trip goes. And there is nothing entitled about me. I am going to visit her this summer as well but she insisted on coming, 100% HER choice, for something for my dd. For the poster saying she should speak English, she left school at 16 for financial reasons and never studied English. We all speak her native language so we don't speak English together at all when she comes.

Well you assumed she could manage this trip which she clearly can't.

You don't actually know that she can't.

Granny is stuck somewhere overseas and can't communicate with anyone. So yeah, she's having issues. Unless she now lives in the airport.

Are you there with her seeing how it's going? No. I think we've all had experiences out of our comfort zone that sometimes went well, and other times not. So this is premature judgement. People are surprising and resourceful.

Sure they are but not the geriatric, non technical, non english speaking, non mobile people. If they were OP wouldn't be posting here now would she?

[Anonymous]

Every major international airline will have special assistance for travelers with needs - the elderly, children traveling on their own, the disabled, broken limbs, and so on. My grandmother eventually needed assistance and they were super helpful with wheelchairs and helping her make connections. Call the airline and explain the situation. It'll be fine. They do this thousands of times a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s really hard for your mother; I’m sorry her trip has been made so difficult.

But it does happen. Maybe you can arrange wheelchair escorts or buggy service through the airline to help her navigate the transfers? My mother used to disdain this kind of support, until she tried it. Then she used it whenever possible.

Best of luck to you both!

How could I do this? Just call JFK and ask they meet her at her flight? She would gladly ask but she does not speak English, another reason why she avoids these scenarios!! I am actually a little shocked they did not put her on a direct partner flight (there was one) because she visibly does not look well, it would be striking. She is also likely very frazzled right now.

I don’t mean this to be rude but she does not remotely sound like a viable candidate for solo overseas travel. This is actually a fairly common occurrence. And yes if you change planes in the US, you have to pick up your bags and walk them through customs and recheck them.

This is such an ignorant comment - likely made by someone who is only looking through the lens of their own international travel experience (came into it as an adult, goes to a lot of new places). International families around the world do this kind of thing all the time. To make an American analogy, this is like feeling comfortable with your elderly parent driving an established route, but maybe not wanting them to navigate an unfamiliar highway alone, which they wouldn’t. Now imagine the main road has been closed, unannounced, and most other familiar roads are blocked (a scenario that doesn’t really occur while driving - usually it’s possible to get some information about part of the route ahead of time). Doesn’t mean the parent is not remotely viable as a candidate to drive.

OP, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I really see it as emblematic of the state of air travel today, and I think it’s only going to get worse for the large majority of us in the middle as the wealth gap widens.

It's pretty absurd (and entitled) to assume that an aging relative, who isn't tech savvy, doesn't speak the language and is ailing physically, is going to continue to be able to do this unaccompanied the exact same way they have been doing for the last 25 years. If you are going to live a continent/ocean away from an aging relative, the scenario of them no longer being able to travel alone has to have occured to you.

I'm not assuming anything. Obviously I am VERY aware my mom is getting older. Are we not all aware our parents are aging? And not sure why you are trying to school me on my own experience as an immigrant with parents abroad. That's my whole adult life... We will see how this trip goes. And there is nothing entitled about me. I am going to visit her this summer as well but she insisted on coming, 100% HER choice, for something for my dd. For the poster saying she should speak English, she left school at 16 for financial reasons and never studied English. We all speak her native language so we don't speak English together at all when she comes.

It's just weird that you seem surprised that anything about travel or your mom has changed in 25 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe your mother's plane was only 40% full and they decided to redistribute the passengers to other flights.

The others on the list were reasonable, this one is not. Major airlines do not cancel flights the day before (or even the week before) because of low bookings. It's too disruptive to operations. Cancellations/changes months in advance, yes that is very common.

https://onemileatatime.com/insights/airlines-cancel-empty-flights/

Oh BS

Delta just did this to my sister out of Heathrow
American dies it all the time

Yeah they really don't.

[Anonymous]

OP, I hope this ordeal won’t be too terrible for either of you.

[Anonymous]

Op here! She made it! Arrived very late but totally fine and happy. She requested help at the first airport after being told about the change and they handled every aspect of the layovers for her, drove her between terminals in a little cart and then wheelchair all the way to her gates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had a bad stretch of flight cancellations. These include plane repairs, navigation computer problems, crews timing out because of delays and so on. A couple of times we've seen the airline takes a plane scheduled for one flight and transfers it to another flight to move passengers who have been stranded for longer. Often they change the plane to another smaller or larger one and change the seat allocation.

It has happened so often to us that we travel with a toothbrush band extra outfit in our cabin baggage.

Thanks. If it is becoming such an issue then I don't think she will be able to come anymore. I guess I don't understand how we can get charged so much for flights and then get a totally different experience, including destination, with zero compensation. There isn't an incentive to make things better for passengers.

I think you're entitled to compensation under the EU rules.

Also, if I were her I would have approached the customer service counter and asked for a different flight since the one she was changed to won't work for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here! She made it! Arrived very late but totally fine and happy. She requested help at the first airport after being told about the change and they handled every aspect of the layovers for her, drove her between terminals in a little cart and then wheelchair all the way to her gates.

Great news. I'm glad she managed well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s really hard for your mother; I’m sorry her trip has been made so difficult.

But it does happen. Maybe you can arrange wheelchair escorts or buggy service through the airline to help her navigate the transfers? My mother used to disdain this kind of support, until she tried it. Then she used it whenever possible.

Best of luck to you both!

How could I do this? Just call JFK and ask they meet her at her flight? She would gladly ask but she does not speak English, another reason why she avoids these scenarios!! I am actually a little shocked they did not put her on a direct partner flight (there was one) because she visibly does not look well, it would be striking. She is also likely very frazzled right now.

Oh, come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had a bad stretch of flight cancellations. These include plane repairs, navigation computer problems, crews timing out because of delays and so on. A couple of times we've seen the airline takes a plane scheduled for one flight and transfers it to another flight to move passengers who have been stranded for longer. Often they change the plane to another smaller or larger one and change the seat allocation.

It has happened so often to us that we travel with a toothbrush band extra outfit in our cabin baggage.

Thanks. If it is becoming such an issue then I don't think she will be able to come anymore. I guess I don't understand how we can get charged so much for flights and then get a totally different experience, including destination, with zero compensation. There isn't an incentive to make things better for passengers.

I think you're entitled to compensation under the EU rules.

Also, if I were her I would have approached the customer service counter and asked for a different flight since the one she was changed to won't work for her.

She said she didn't have the opportunity to do that: they told her your flight is cancelled, you are rebooked on the JFK one. If it doesn't suit you we can cancel your trip. That was it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had a bad stretch of flight cancellations. These include plane repairs, navigation computer problems, crews timing out because of delays and so on. A couple of times we've seen the airline takes a plane scheduled for one flight and transfers it to another flight to move passengers who have been stranded for longer. Often they change the plane to another smaller or larger one and change the seat allocation.

It has happened so often to us that we travel with a toothbrush band extra outfit in our cabin baggage.

Thanks. If it is becoming such an issue then I don't think she will be able to come anymore. I guess I don't understand how we can get charged so much for flights and then get a totally different experience, including destination, with zero compensation. There isn't an incentive to make things better for passengers.

She is not going to a different destination, she's just needs to take an extra flight to get to that destination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had a bad stretch of flight cancellations. These include plane repairs, navigation computer problems, crews timing out because of delays and so on. A couple of times we've seen the airline takes a plane scheduled for one flight and transfers it to another flight to move passengers who have been stranded for longer. Often they change the plane to another smaller or larger one and change the seat allocation.

It has happened so often to us that we travel with a toothbrush band extra outfit in our cabin baggage.

Thanks. If it is becoming such an issue then I don't think she will be able to come anymore. I guess I don't understand how we can get charged so much for flights and then get a totally different experience, including destination, with zero compensation. There isn't an incentive to make things better for passengers.

Some idiot decided RIFs for FAA would be a good idea, along with RIFs for the noaa who helps flight planning. Flying is not safe until a new admin is installed. This should be one of first priorities for new admin. No wonder trumpet wants a private plane gifted for life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had a bad stretch of flight cancellations. These include plane repairs, navigation computer problems, crews timing out because of delays and so on. A couple of times we've seen the airline takes a plane scheduled for one flight and transfers it to another flight to move passengers who have been stranded for longer. Often they change the plane to another smaller or larger one and change the seat allocation.

It has happened so often to us that we travel with a toothbrush band extra outfit in our cabin baggage.

Thanks. If it is becoming such an issue then I don't think she will be able to come anymore. I guess I don't understand how we can get charged so much for flights and then get a totally different experience, including destination, with zero compensation. There isn't an incentive to make things better for passengers.

Some idiot decided RIFs for FAA would be a good idea, along with RIFs for the noaa who helps flight planning. Flying is not safe until a new admin is installed. This should be one of first priorities for new admin. No wonder trumpet wants a private plane gifted for life

So don’t fly now. Your choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here! She made it! Arrived very late but totally fine and happy. She requested help at the first airport after being told about the change and they handled every aspect of the layovers for her, drove her between terminals in a little cart and then wheelchair all the way to her gates.

Sounds like she's way more resourceful and travel-savvy than you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here! She made it! Arrived very late but totally fine and happy. She requested help at the first airport after being told about the change and they handled every aspect of the layovers for her, drove her between terminals in a little cart and then wheelchair all the way to her gates.

Sounds like she's way more resourceful and travel-savvy than you are.

Who are the nasty weirdos posting that shit? Find a hobby.