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[anywho]

Weeks and weeks ago I made travel reservations to attend the CAA conference later this month. Reserved a cheap hotel and found a cheap flight.

To get the flight, which is under $300. round trip, I had to return on Friday morning at 9am instead of later in the day or the following day. The conference runs through Friday. If I hadn't taken this return option, the cost of my tickets would have been more than double!

Now I am being contacted to schedule interviews. One school, one I am quite interested in, offered me one time slot - on Friday afternoon. I said yes immediately, thinking I would just change my return flight to Friday night or Saturday.

I called the airline and found that most return flights on Friday night/Saturday/Sunday are full, and the ones that are left will raise my flight costs to A THOUSAND DOLLARS. The tickets I have now are non-refundable.

Maybe I should just suck it up and eat the cost of my current round trip tickets, then buy a whole new set of tickets from another airline. Maybe this would cost less than modifying my existing return flight!

I think I will have to call the school and explain that now I cannot meet at the time they offered - can they fit me in on Thursday instead. I'm dreading having to do this. How can I explain this to the search committee? I don't want to start things off on the wrong foot before they even meet me by being a pain in the arse.

[onestep]

Assuming that you are still willing to consider flight options, I'd suggest saying something like, "I was so delighted by your offer that I had forgotten that my flight was Friday afternoon.  Might it be possible to move the interview earlier?  If not, I will work on changing my flight."  If you send that message ASAP, they might find another slot for you. 

[larryc]

Tell the search committee just what you told us! They are human beings after all and will liekly try to help you out.

Remember what Ben Franklin said. The best way to make someone you ally is not to do them a favor but to ask them a favor. That way they feel invested in you.

[ufo_tofu]

When I've been on search committees, it was understood that scheduling was a huge, gigantor pain in the @ss.  For everyone.  Just tell them what happened.  Odds are, you won't be the only one who has to reschedule.  The suggested phrasing offered by Onstep is good.

[dr_stones]

Weeks and weeks ago I made travel reservations to attend the CAA conference later this month. Reserved a cheap hotel and found a cheap flight.

To get the flight, which is under $300. round trip, I had to return on Friday morning at 9am instead of later in the day or the following day. The conference runs through Friday. If I hadn't taken this return option, the cost of my tickets would have been more than double!

Now I am being contacted to schedule interviews. One school, one I am quite interested in, offered me one time slot - on Friday afternoon. I said yes immediately, thinking I would just change my return flight to Friday night or Saturday.

I called the airline and found that most return flights on Friday night/Saturday/Sunday are full, and the ones that are left will raise my flight costs to A THOUSAND DOLLARS. The tickets I have now are non-refundable.

Maybe I should just suck it up and eat the cost of my current round trip tickets, then buy a whole new set of tickets from another airline. Maybe this would cost less than modifying my existing return flight!

I think I will have to call the school and explain that now I cannot meet at the time they offered - can they fit me in on Thursday instead. I'm dreading having to do this. How can I explain this to the search committee? I don't want to start things off on the wrong foot before they even meet me by being a pain in the arse.

THIS is why you book your flight through your department's agent --- you get a corporate or state rate, which is often nearly as low as your bargain fare.  Then, if you need to change flights, you do not incur a penalty.

Lesson learned.  Either eat the fare change or explain that you cannot meet at the appointed time, but can meet earlier.

[iomhaigh]

Weeks and weeks ago I made travel reservations to attend the CAA conference later this month. Reserved a cheap hotel and found a cheap flight.

To get the flight, which is under $300. round trip, I had to return on Friday morning at 9am instead of later in the day or the following day. The conference runs through Friday. If I hadn't taken this return option, the cost of my tickets would have been more than double!

Now I am being contacted to schedule interviews. One school, one I am quite interested in, offered me one time slot - on Friday afternoon. I said yes immediately, thinking I would just change my return flight to Friday night or Saturday.

I called the airline and found that most return flights on Friday night/Saturday/Sunday are full, and the ones that are left will raise my flight costs to A THOUSAND DOLLARS. The tickets I have now are non-refundable.

Maybe I should just suck it up and eat the cost of my current round trip tickets, then buy a whole new set of tickets from another airline. Maybe this would cost less than modifying my existing return flight!

I think I will have to call the school and explain that now I cannot meet at the time they offered - can they fit me in on Thursday instead. I'm dreading having to do this. How can I explain this to the search committee? I don't want to start things off on the wrong foot before they even meet me by being a pain in the arse.

THIS is why you book your flight through your department's agent --- you get a corporate or state rate, which is often nearly as low as your bargain fare.  Then, if you need to change flights, you do not incur a penalty.

Lesson learned.  Either eat the fare change or explain that you cannot meet at the appointed time, but can meet earlier.

I always knew that Dr. Stones got more perks than the rest of us!

One more option:  can you fly back on Monday instead? 

[anywho]

Dr. Stones, you are one lucky prof. I asked my department if they had funds available to visit CAA, but they are not spending money on that conference this year - even for full-timers.

I contacted the school travel agent, but they couldn't do anything to help.

I tried finding a flight on Monday...but it will still cost hundreds of dollars more, require several more days stay in a hotel, and I really don't want to be stuck alone in Texas for days after the conference has ended and everyone else has gone home, broke and just waiting for my return flight (no offense intended, Texas) when I need to be home prepping for the week's classes.

I finally had to email the SC and ask if they would reschedule.

If they cannot reschedule, my plan B is to buy a bus ticket to Austin and fly out on Jet Blue. That would cost me an additional several hundred dollars, and a lot of hassle, but it is still less than a thousand.

I'm starting to loathe CAA.

[jwormold]

The conference runs through Friday.

Um, the conference runs through Saturday. Afternoon. I am 100% sure about this because I am a speaker for a Saturday panel.

On the bright side, the turnout will probably be low. So if I royally screw up, there won't be anyone there to see.

Oh, any other CAA goers out there without hotel reservations, don't book the 2* Downtown Dallas hotel on Hotwire. Shell out some more money. Really.

[anywho]

jwormold -

I wrote that after a very long day and on four hours of sleep, so I hope you don't interpret my dyslexic forum post as anyone's general impression of the conference schedule.

My point was just that staying until Monday would be several days of waiting, with nothing to do, in a crappy hotel room after the conference ended - and that part was accurate.

Generally I enjoy CAA conferences and if I had more resources, more pleasant accommodations (I may change to a different hotel), and less trouble scheduling flights at the proper times, I would probably be enthusiastically attending many of the talks and panels - yours included.

I had to choose the early Friday flight out because it was much more affordable than any other ticket options that were available to me, even though I bought the tickets a month ago. As in comparing <$300. to $1000. The way that airlines set prices for tickets and the vast difference in the price of fares for the same routes seems arbitrary to me though I guess it is based on supply and demand.

I'm sure there are many people who will be at the conference through Saturday. As I said, I would too if I had had the resources to do it.

[jwormold]

Oh, I understand. There are plenty of places other than Dallas I'd rather be on Saturday!

Hawaii. Why not Hawaii for the conference? Can we be more like dentists? Please?

[mignon]

If they can't change it, consider not using your return trip seat.  Book a return on a low-cost carrier one way, like Southwest.

[kiana]

The other option is to cook something up with Greyhound or Amtrak, which usually aren't that expensive even at the last minute. Admittedly, a bus sucks almost as much as a train sucks, and Amtrak isn't available on all routes, but for that much money ... some suckiness can usually be put up with.

[anywho]

Ah yes, the bus. I actually did look into taking the bus home. Did I mention that it would be over a 2,000 mile bus ride over two+ days? The cost was very good, but to do a trip like that you'd have to be very fond of bus trips. Very fond. I'm not, and can't spare that much time.

For shorter trips, absolutely!

[aandsdean]

AirTran flies from DFW to ATL and from ATL to a lot of places in the country, and they have very rational fare practices.  It might be worth checking their website to see what's possible.

(They do only fly into fairly big airports--not places like Omaha, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Birmingham, etc., but it might work for you.)

The break trips into two so you never have to buy an RT ticket.

Good luck regardless.

[thenewyorker]

So here is my beef with caa. I have a large teaching load this semester (and am, sigh, already behind). I have to cancel classes to spend money to fly to Dallas and pay for a hotel room. I love caa and feel so energized by attending. However, this year I would have probably not gone if I were not on the market. So in order to get good flight and hotel rates one must book early. And pay the conference fees...with no guarantee of getting any interviews. Oh I did get interviews...but phone interviews with schools that are not attending caa. Thus, I am spending a s**t load of money that I currently do not have to attend. The system is frustrating. Just venting because I don't have any solutions (and would of course be powerless to do anything anyway).