Last week I wrote about how Delta canceled my flight (but I don’t mind!). In that case, Delta was moving my flight up 2 hours, giving me a little bit more of a layover so I have to worry less about connecting flights on different airlines (in my case Delta Domestic to Aer Lingus international business class).
But NOW…. US Airways is canceling my flight. Well, technically it’s British Airways sending me the email, because I used British Airways Avios to book a flight operated by US Airways
(SEE ALSO: #FT4RL Trip report – why my flight cost 64% fewer miles than it could have)
(SEE ALSO: Why yes, I WOULD like to pay $15 for the seat right next to me)
Another flight cancellation / schedule change
I am actually heading to the Family Travel for Real Life (#FT4RL) conference in October. I am presenting on how to find awesome redemptions in Category 1 and Category 2 hotels. My plan had been to fly in Friday afternoon and then fly back to Cincinnati late Saturday night. However, US Airways canceled both of those flights, and British Airways rebooked me on a flight a few hours earlier on Friday (annoying, but not the end of the world) and changed my Saturday night 10pm flight to a Saturday 5pm flight (not going to work as the conference will still be going on!)
Investigating my options
I could work with the outbound (CVG-DCA) segment on Friday, but the 5pm Saturday flight was the latest one for the day. If I wanted to use Avios, I’d have to stay over Sunday. There was no longer any low-level availability with American / US Airways, but I suspected if I pushed it, I could probably make that happen since it was an involuntary schedule change and no fault of my own.
But then… I thought of a better option!
I remembered a post from Miles to Memories about flying Southwest which actually can have even CHEAPER prices than Avios. Southwest doesn’t fly to Cincinnati (it’s Delta’s fault), so I checked Dayton and then Columbus and… voila!
There’s a nonstop flight from Columbus to Washington DC, it’s at the right time on both legs, AND it’s 50% cheaper! Since British Airways and Southwest both are 1:1 transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards (one of the reasons I think Chase is the best), I think their points have similar value. And now, since I have the Southwest Companion pass, we could potentially turn this weekend into a getaway for no additional points! (The downside would be if I do go slowly, I’m “wasting” points that I could be using for double travel.
I have to say, I’m pretty excited about it! Ever used Southwest for a short-haul flight instead of Avios?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Smart to check ALL options before accepting changes 🙂 That has worked for me in the past too, usually not for lower price but maybe better flight times or connecting airports.
I have never used Southwest for super cheap prices like you found, but that’s mostly because they have such limited service from my airport. Great tip though!
NEVER accept changes! Lots of times you can parlay those into getting the flights that you REALLY want. I have an upcoming itinerary with American that had a schedule change that I’m trying to change to something that is MUCH more convenient for me.