Flights Flight departure time - 6 hour change

[Marta]

We are flying to London Heathrow in May on Virgin Atlantic. We have a direct from Seattle to London and we booked in January. We received an email from Virgin today informing us of a time change. The flight to London depart has changed by 6 hours. We are leaving at 2pm instead of 8pm. The change does make our arrival a bit more inconvenient. We were going to get in at 1pm which was good for a 3pm checkin at our apartment. Now we are arriving at 7:30am which is always a pain for checkin and jetlag.

Is there any way to find out why there was such a dramatic change and when it happened? I checked flights leaving this week and they are leaving at 2pm so it looks like this may have happened a while ago. I am happy that we were notified because I haven't checked it recently and happy that there is no connection. But it seems like a pretty big change - I'd love to know more about why.

 

[Colo]

Did they add a stop on the East Coast? Most East Coast flight leave early evening and arrive very early in Europe. Maybe they added a leg.

I would not worry too much about the check in time. We have always found most places are willing to get you in early or will prioritize cleaning so it is a very short wait. You may want to shoot them a note and explain your predicament.

 

[SusanSeattle]

I have a similar problem with VA. We were supposed to fly home from London to Seattle at 2pm and our flight was changed to 10am. Of course, that makes for a very early start to a long day of travel. I think they book their flights & then decide later when to run them.

We called them & just got a generic run around about the reason for the change. Eventually they gave us each a $100 dollar credit.

 

[Marta]

No - it is still direct. I was surprised a little when we first booked that there was an afternoon arrival in London. It is also common for the directs from the West coast to arrive in the AM.

I just checked my apartment emails they do have a provision for arriving early. I can set up an appointment anytime after 10am to get the keys and drop off the bags. We may not be able to enter until after 3pm but we can drop the bags. This will work out well. It may end up being better since a 2pm departure is probably better than 8pm (easier traffic in Seattle and not waiting around all day to leave).

The return flight also changed but not as dramatic. We are leaving at 9:30am instead of 11am. It will just a little earlier morning for us.

 

[Colo]

Marta - I agree an early arrival beats a late arrival - at least for me.
I use to have to travel to Europe for work fairly often and I found that I could avoid jetlag by:

- Take a shower if possible (wash the airplane off)
- DO NOT take a nap!
- Get outside lots of Fresh Air
- Take things slow (do things that do not make you think)
- Limit Alcohol - Consume Water
- Eat an early dinner
- Hit the sack between 8 and 9 local time...

I would wake up the next day as if I were a local.
The nap is the killer for me. If I take a nap I walk around like a zombie for 2 to 3 days

Never really have a problem with Jetlag coming back.

 

[Pauline]

Our September return from Zurich on BA was changed from a very nice late morning flight to an early flight. I think they just cancelled a flight and put us on another. They said I can change the flight but at first glance nothing was better.

 

[SMJ]

I got to the airport last year, and was told as I checked in that my flight was cancelled!
I had checked a few hours before that all was still well, so ??
Anay, I was rebooked on a flight ; same airline with a departure time of 10 minutes before the original. go figure. I think the airlines like to "play" a bit when they are bored. Sorry, compter is now playing with me...arrgh.