Airlines re-routed our "direct" flight!

[SitUbuSit]

I called Delta today to confirm details on checking Batman in advance of our Jan 8 flight, and the customer service rep tells me that they have re-routed the flight (Orlando to DC, direct), to stop in Atlanta for a layover. So it is no longer a direct flight. And the flight time is now 4.5 hours (assuming that both legs run on time) instead of 2 hours.

Um, excuse me? I was pretty ticked. We (my bf and I) paid over $600 for our tickets, including the $200 fee to check Batman. We did not pay to be routed through Atlanta. How do you sell someone a ticket for a direct flight one day, then change it to layover flight the next week? This is a bait and switch if I ever saw one.

I let the CSR know that this was unacceptable, and asked for a full refund, which he gave. He was very nice and agreed that this was "messed up" to say the least. I feel lucky to have gotten the refund, seeing how stringent the airlines are about these things, I guess it could've been worse.

I looked at other flight options, but at this point, one-way tickets are $300+ each on Continental, and that's not even to the airport closest to me. GAH.

So now we are DRIVING! It's a 13 hour drive. Factoring-in airport transit and wait time, the original flight would have been 6 hours door-to-door. The new flight would be at least 9 hours. So it's not that much more for us to drive. And we'll save a lot of money, which is always great.

It will be good bonding time. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. I hope Batman likes road trips!

Anyway, just wanted to share. If you have flights coming up with your dogs, it may be worth it to check and make sure they haven't been changed completely. The other part that makes me mad is that I had to call and find out myself. When were they planning on telling me? Unbelievable.

[Daisy&Lucky's Mom]

Batman will sleep maybe get a little restless eat and get to know you. Family vacations/roadtrips are bad b/c humans can talk. Batman will never say are we there yet. That is messed up to say the least about your direct flight.

[shaner]

I would be so nervous about my dog being on a plane.

Where in the plane do they keep the dogs? Obviously not with the rest of the luggage. Does anyone check on them, give them water, etc? Are you able to check on your dog at all during the flight?