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I bought tickets on Kayak for a flight from Portland to Johannesburg leaving on the 25th of this month. I went to check on my flight a few days later and found out that part of my trip had been canceled. The flight they changed me to is unacceptable, they had me staying in Seattle for 46hrs!!! And I would not get to Joburg on the date I need to.

After emailing them a few times, they offered flights that still were unacceptable. I did some searching and found another flight that would work. I sent them a snapshot of the flight and asked if that was available. Eventually they said the airline would not change my flight(I would have been flying Alaska Air and British Airlines.)

I need to be in Johannesburg on the 27th, what are my options? Do I ask for a refund and hope I get my money back quickly or spend a lot more money on another flight? My original flight was $986 and the flights I’m looking at now are around $1300-$1400.

It’s also weird that when I looked into booking directly through BA the 24-25 were blocked off. Yet my friend who lives in London was able to buy a ticket leaving on the 25th (we were supposed to be traveling on the same plane) and she bought her ticket way after I did. I don’t understand why that would happen.

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  • In general, when they rebook you they try to contact you to inform you of the changes and give you the opportunity to accept those changes, maybe find another solution, or get a refund. In some cases at least some of these options are even automated (links in the email or in the booking management to accept/reject changes). Have you tried to “manage your booking” either on the Kayak site or the the site of either airline? Did you provide correct contact info? Are all flights actually on a single ticket/booking/PNR or are they separate?
    – jcaron
    Commented Dec 6, 2020 at 12:29

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Generally the solution is to call and insist politely. Taking to a live agent allows you to express your concerns and also discuss potential workarounds. I've done this several times and got reasonable outcomes most times.

When they could not accommodate due to availability, I got them to accept ahead of time the cancelation and this made the refund process much faster than usual. When you request the refund, you will be able to say that agent insert name here agreed on insert date here that a refund will be made.

If you go the refund route, then you will be responsible for booking another trip which will often cost more since the travel date is now closer, so it is better to talk to an agent and see if they can resolve your issue but finding a schedule that is suitable.

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