<p>Wow! Well, I learned something new. I will just make sure to vote with my wallet and spend my money with other airlines. My son did not fly with them yet, so he does not need to start flying with them.</p>
<p>Someone upthread suggested flying Southwest whenever possible because of no change fees. I want to repeat that advice.</p>
<p>My son has wanted to change his flights for each of the 3 times that he has/will flown home from college this year. (A scheduled final was replaced by a paper, he needed to be back from break early for an EC, he wanted to go to an EC celebration party) Twice he was on Southwest, and we easily changed the flights. Once he was on Continental, and the change fee would have been astronomical, so he just had to stick with the original flights.</p>
<p>I like to plan ahead and book air tickets early to get the best prices and get the best flight times/connections. But my son’s ever changing schedule has made that difficult.</p>
<p>I usually don’t have much luck with booking for personal travel on United because their fares are too high (usually double).</p>
<p>Twice last year D was stranded, once coming back from an East Coast audition trip and once on her way to Cincinnati. The coming back one her flight in NYC was delayed so she ended up stranded in Houston overnight. She just waited it out in the airport (scary) because she was re-booked on a very early flight and we felt it safer than being out in such a big city. Not much sleep for either of us.</p>
<p>The going to Cincinnati trip was a nightmare. Stranded in Dallas on the way due to a very unusual snowstorm, hundreds of flights cancelled, could not get to her destination, or back home. American Airlines helped her get a hotel room close to the airport, and the hotel van took her there although roads were almost impassable. Her luggage never left our home town. She ended up in the hotel two nights. The worst was she had not packed any toiletries due to strict airline regulations, did not have eye solution for her contacts, the hotel had limited supplies and no gift shop, and she did not have ANY clothes in her carry-on because she had filled it with her laptop and schoolbooks. The phone lines to AA were so jammed, and the online ticket change service was also not working right, so I ended up buying a whole new ticket to finally get her home. They did do the refund without a problem later on. She never made it to Cincinnati and the chance for a full-ride scholarship.</p>
<p>Here’s the main thing, pack as if you will be stranded. If you have medications, essential toiletries such as eye solution, etc. carry them on, just get small sizes if necessary for liquids. Have some clean underwear, and a change of clothes. </p>
<p>And I agree with the poster who said don’t book the last flight of the day. Think about your last connection and if you live in a smaller city, you may need to start very very early in the day to assure some options if there are delays.</p>
<p>I have a question about the early checking in. I usually do that for my kids, at least when they’re traveling from home, but what happens if you check in for a flight that is delayed and you then want to change flights? Does being checked in already to the first flight restrict you in any way?</p>
<p>To come home for spring break, S changed his ticket from Friday to Thursday, and even though the airline charged a fee, the Thursday trip was so much cheaper that he ended up getting money back. Of course it would have been even better if he had just bought the Thurday ticket in the first place.</p>
<p>I’ll add to the many good suggestions other have made to make sure kid flying alone for the first time (even if said kid has been flying all his life) knows that the time on the ticket is not the time that boarding starts. Learned that one the hard way.</p>
<p>Last weekend my 16 year old headed off to visit her sister on her own.Unlike her sister, she hadn’t traveled on her own at this age. My flight to elsewhere was scheduled to leave 30 minutes before hers, and she was coming back a day before me. She had the worst airport luck, flights delayed both ways and I learned she does know how to get flights changed on her own, and keeping her airport ride informed for her return. She isn’t as good at texting me or her sister so we don’t worry.</p>
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<p>Checking in does not prevent you from changing flights or going standby for an earlier flight (check airline policies on changing flights and going standby, as these differ for each airline).</p>
<p>I had to think really hard about this United scenario about their suddenly demanding at the airport to see the credit card used to book the flight(s) – whether for you, for a student/family member -
We are in a situation where it is possible one person may book for another/use a particular card and then the flier shows up alone at the airport. Our students are getting older and more likely to book their own flights now, though.</p>
<p>We have flown United a TON for years, separately and collectively as a family as they go where we want/need to go, and have lots of miles; to and from various schools and other destinations, auditions, etc. </p>
<p>I vaguely recall running into this situation once or twice, perhaps about a year ago or so. Isn’t that weird? Can’t recall how it was resolved --certainly the person who booked the flight and used a card didn’t run to the airport on these occasions; I do recall some stress, though. </p>
<p>Does anyone think they are currently using this policy, even on occasion?</p>
<p>lateparty - yes, it happened to my daughter within the last six months.</p>
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<p>I have a perfect example of this. On Wednesday, Groupon offered a Southwest Airlines voucher of $80 toward any RT ticket in/out of Newark for $40. As it ends up, we already had reservations to fly into/out of Newark next weekend. But H and I both purchased a Groupon (it was limited to one per person/per RT ticket) and last night I was able to go in and cancel our current reservation, get full credit (with the airlines, mind you; not back to my credit card, but we know we’ll use the credit down the road) and rebook at the same rate, using the Groupons we’d purchased on Wednesday. Saved us $80! No cancellation or rebooking fees with Southwest.</p>
<p>This happened to me a lot when I was in college. Flying coast to coast through winter storms is always a risk. If your flight is cancelled the airline will re-book you, usually automatically. I always found it faster just to call the airline rather than go to the desk to find out about my re-booking. Even though I had to be on hold for a while, it sped things up considerably. </p>
<p>My biggest piece of advice, if your kid is going to be doing a lot of travelling especially during the winter to get from college to your house, make sure they have a credit card. If their flight is cancelled, they may not be able to get home until the next day or for the next several days, and airlines will provide no kind of voucher if it is because of weather (act of God clause). Being able to go to a Holiday Inn and spend the night in a bed instead of crouched over their belongings in the airport can make all the difference in the world. </p>
<p>If it’s around Christmas, they may tell you it will be several days before you can get home. You can try to fly standby to get back earlier, or you can pay for another ticket on a different airline (very very expensive) or you can just wait until you get there. Miracles do sometimes happen.</p>
<p>Regarding checking or not checking bags: my son carried on for Thanksgiving and spring break trips home; only checked 1 bag for the longer trip home at winter break. For coming home in the summer, he’s storing most of his things with a service at school, and will only be checking 1 bag. Of course, we’re talking about a boy here, who left 1/2 his clothes at home when he went away! Not so sure how it will work when my daughter does this, since she’s looking at far away schools, too. Somehow I think it won’t be as simple!</p>
<p>If the fly is non-stop then bag checking is not a problem. You go, the bag goes.</p>
<p>Being from Alaska, we’re used to weather delays. Usually, if we need to be somewhere, we’ll fly at least to Seattle mainly because you need to be there the night before to get a connecting flight in the morning. We usually don’t worry about a delay flying back home, as long as it’s not too long.</p>
<p>Recently, S4 traveled to California for spring break. They over-booked the flight by 20 seats, so he talked the other members in his group to take the bump and they all got a $300 credit for a few hours delay. On the flight back, they were stuck by Alaska Airlines’ computer crash. They ended up spending a couple extra days there (Alaska Air vouchers) and missed classes on Monday. My son filled out their complaint form, figuring the cost of the missed classes and he got another $300 credit for future flights. So I think S4 has learned to deal with flight problems. BTW, he now says he hates Alaska Air, but realistically, it’s his only choice to come home.</p>
<p>A bit of advice that hasn’t been posted yet. Most major airports still have Travelers’ Aid stations. In Minneapolis they’re staffed by some truly wonderful volunteers. When our daughter was stranded for two days due to weather, I became concerned about how she was holding up. It was so reassuring to be able to call those angels, explain the situation, and have them step in to assist my daughter. They fetched her from the gate area of her canceled flight, brought her to their office, helped her with hotel arrangements, and made sure that she was coping well with the situation.</p>
<p>Not all of our kids are seasoned travelers and it’s nice to know that this old fashioned notion of traveler assistance is still available.</p>
<p>^Wow! I hadn’t even THOUGHT of that! Nice!</p>
<p>If you buy a ticket on your CC & the person flying is does not have that CC, you can show up at a ticket counter for that airline (for us, it’s at our airport) with your ID & the ticket locator # & tell the airline that yes, you DID purchase the ticket for the person named on it & they will put it in the comments prior to the flight & the passenger should not have any problems. This happened to us when I used MY CC instead of S’s CC to buy the ticket. It worked out OK since I had to go the airport for another flight anyway, but it was somewhat of a hassle. I do believe it was United. If you buy two tickets on the same itinerary & you are one of the flyers, no problem, but it was just if you bought the ticket using a CC for a passenger who did not hold the CC.</p>
<p>We fly United a lot and have never had an issue with credit cards. But, my son does have one, and I may have him use it for flights just to be sure. But - my son has flown on his own a few times and has never had a credit card id problem of this sort…
My husband travels a good bit and always gets FFlyer miles - sometimes just being in the ‘club’ does get you better service.
If you have a tight connection, ask the flight attendant to check on the gate number which might save you a bit of time.
Some airlines will let you buy a pass to the high-end lounge. You can buy one in advance, online, for United, and it’s good for a year. I may get one for son, so that if he gets stuck, at least he can be stuck in a comfy place and with some chance of additonal help.</p>
<p>nemom - my husband is a Premiere Executive member on United, but it offered no protection for D2. Again, this only happens if the flyer tries to check in at the counter and whoever purchased the ticket is not present to show the credit card. In our situation, they allowed her to re-purchase the ticket on her credit card, and credit mine, but then I lost the points (these are not airline-issued credit cards - we only carry and charge on one major credit card through our credit union).</p>