Delta Air Lines is now rolling out fast, free Wi-Fi by T-Mobile on select long-haul international routes, with most transatlantic flights to be in service with free Wi-Fi by the end of the summer.
09.08.2024 - 20:53 / thepointsguy.com
Points and miles are an incredibly useful way to fly more cheaply and comfortably. However, using them also means that you will often have fewer options than if you bought your flight with cash. That's because airlines release limited award availability, especially when it comes to popular dates and routes.
That means that you may have to compromise by flying at less convenient times or on more complicated itineraries.
However, as my real-life example below shows, you can sometimes turn an inconvenience — in the form of a schedule change — into a more comfortable journey. Here's how I recently did it on a flight from Australia to Malaysia.
I am originally from Australia and have plans to head home for my usual Christmas visit at the end of this year. Given that it's such a long way, I try to tack on a trip somewhere else in Australia or the Asia-Pacific region to make it a two-for-one trip.
I've been sitting on a stash of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for a couple of years now, and they have a hard expiration date of 36 months from when they were earned (or transferred from a bank program, in my case). Mine were set to expire in February 2025, and I needed to find a way to redeem them for travel in the next year. So, when I found a business-class seat on a connecting itinerary from Melbourne, Australia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, via Singapore, I jumped on it.
However, the flight I booked doesn't have the most convenient departure time at 7 a.m. Plus, the flight isn't on a typical day; it departs on New Year's Day. Needless to say, I don't think I would've been in the best of spirits after the previous night's festivities. Then came a welcome break that would help expand my options: a schedule change.
It's common for airlines to tweak their schedules before departure to accommodate aircraft, demand and route changes.
In the past month, I've received emails from Singapore Airlines notifying me of two schedule changes.
The first pushed back my arrival time to Kuala Lumpur by a mere five minutes. This seemed reasonable, so I accepted the changes.
The second brought my departure time from Melbourne forward by five minutes to 6:55 a.m. That's when I thought, "I wonder if I should try my luck at asking to switch to a later flight that day. Surely that won't work." Well, I was wrong.
Usually, there needs to be a "significant" schedule adjustment for you to be able to rebook on another flight. It varies by airline, but generally, your departure or arrival time needs to change by at least one hour, or a nonstop flight needs to switch to a connecting itinerary. (United Airlines is one of the most generous carriers, offering rebooking for changes as short as 30 minutes.)
The email I received said I could
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