Airlines have been eliminating flights for months due to ongoing staffing shortages. While the airlines have finally started making schedules for the staff they have instead of what they think they’ll have, there are still cases when a single flight gets dropped. These changes cause huge problems for passengers because a new flight might be at an inconvenient time, and may include a connection or a combination of both.
There might not even be a suitable replacement, which means you can ask for a refund but also means you’ll need to buy a new ticket on a different carrier for possibly a much higher price.
It also could mean that a flight that you regularly take between two cities is no longer there when you go to book a ticket.
Delta has run a red-eye flight between Los Angeles (LAX) and Orlando (MCO) for as long as I can remember. It was our final leg home when returning from Japan in 2014, so it’s been on the schedule for a while.
Well, that was, until August 15th, which, according to FlightAware was the last day DL2954 was on the schedule. For now, the only way to get from LAX to MCO with a Delta red-eye is to make a connection in Atlanta, which adds at least 2 hours or more and means a 6 AM connection at ATL.
There are other options, as American and United still have nightly red-eyes and JetBlue flies the route 4x/week. However, if you have high-level Delta status and might get an upgrade on the overnight flight, it means you’ll need to choose between a connecting flight or using a different carrier.
According to Google Flights, the flight looks like it’s returning in November but the schedule is sporadic.
The number of days the flight operates increases to almost daily through the holidays and in 2023 it settles into 5-6x/week (skipping Saturdays.)
I don’t know when Delta dropped the LAX-MCO redeye from the schedule but Delta is known to make changes on Saturdays. I don’t know if this was a planned suspension to the route or more of a last-minute change. While Delta is selling the flight again this winter, it might be a good idea to have a backup plan in place just in case.
*** Many thanks to Jeremiah G., from Laughing Place, for his heads up about this topic!
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1 comment
People need to chill the F out about airlines adjusting flight schedule. People complain about flights got cancelled because there’s not enough staff to man the flights. And then they complain about airlines take proactive steps to make sure people can get a reliable schedule by cutting flights. You can go bake your own f-ing cake and eat it.