FLY EARLY - here's why

[PelicanBill]

We booked our cruise 3 months before departure, and offered combined air for $450 per person to Florida, opted for booking our own flights knowing we could (and did) bookfor $150 per person round trip from Rochester NY to Orlando.

 

We schedule our flights for Thursday evening, for a cruise on the Carnival Glory departing Port Canaveral at 4pm Saturday. That would give us a day and a half to handle any storm or airline problem - or even drive it if we had to. Plenty if time. Right?

 

Nearly Wrong.

 

There were heavy rains across the southeast, causing many delays throughout Delta's system. When we checked in 2 hours ahead our flight was already 2 hours delayed. But - we have a 2 1/2 hour connection so we were told we should be fine. Then a plan skid off the runway in Atlanta,closing half the airport's capacity, and all flights added delays immediately. Now our connection is not valid and we begin working with the gate agent on options. They cannot tell us anything about our connecting flight - status -delayed - anything. I cannot get through to Delta on the phone.

 

Big problem. "We can of course get you to Altanta tonight on your delayed flight," but we can't get you on a flight to Orlando for 3 days.

 

WHAT? 3 days? What are you talking about? They say maybe something will turn up, but they can't help us tonight, they just want us to go to Atlanta and workon it from there. Could we rent a car from Atlanta? Perphaps, but once you don't fly a let of your itinerary, the rest of your itinerary is not valid. You cannot get on your return flight in Orlando or Atlanta. I call other airlines and Expedia. Best I can come up with is $1200 to fly the 3 of us the next day. It is starting to like we will get back in the car and start driving to Florida (at 10 at night. Perfect.)

 

While we are getting seriously stressed and working on all of this, an earlier flight to Atlanta, also long delayed, has been boarding. I hear them call 5 names to come to the gate for boarding and the agent asks my wife for our boarding passes. She quietly takes them, then the jacket back and quietly says get on this flight right now. They rush us on, take our bags as gate checks (cameras, medicines, important stuff).

 

In Atlanta, it is raining buckets, and we are last off the plane, and our gate check bags are not there. I go insane. Standing in the rain for 5 minutes,

they check again and somehow find them. Keep in mind if we went back

inside, they have no tracking of these bags, don't know what flight we are going to next, and would have lost them until we filed a claim and they searched their unclaimed luggage over the next two days. We might have gotten our medicine two days later, but not our cameras I would guess.

 

The connecting flight got delayed - and delayed again, so that it turns out our original delayed flight would have made it. But they could not tell us anything.

 

Also, it was Atlanta on the weekend of a playoff game hosted by the Atlanta Falcons. There were NO hotel rooms, and NO rental cars to be found.

 

We are experienced travelers and I think we planned well. We even had travel insurance, but most of these policies do not cover weather or airline failure, so try to learn from this!

[hdawson]

And you're still sane?

[greatam]

You did absolutely everything right except one thing. Glad everything worked out well for you. I bet there were a few anxious moments.

 

Hope this suggestion helps future travelers.

 

Take a separate bag, not your rollaboard, more like a large purse or messenger bag, something they will not gate check, with medicine, cameras, and important stuff. I found a red and black one, called a post messenger bag, in the kids department at Walmart. $16.00. It is big enough to carry the digital and video cameras, any medications, a clean polo shirt for each of us, important paperwork, personal items, AND the strap is long enought to go across your chest so it shouldn't be pickpocketed or ripped off. And it will fit under the seat in front. Please don't put important stuff in your carryon luggage which may be gate checked if the flight is full.

[setsail]

An expirenced traveler put cameras and medicine in checked luggage? Flying now can be very stressful. Good tip for the op from great or for anybody.

[greatam]

An expirenced traveler put cameras and medicine in checked luggage? Flying now can be very stressful. Good tip for the op from great or for anybody.

 

No, the OP had carryons gate checked, which happens VERY frequently anymore, especially with full flights. My suggestion-take a bag that looks like a VERY large purse, that is NOT gate checkable. In that, put medicine, cameras, etc. That is the only foolproof way I know to make sure your valuables travel in the plane with you. If it looks like luggage, it may be gate checked. And that includes all those duffle bags which everyone is so prone to bringing on the plane.

[jhannah]

Good grief! What a horror story. You planned well ... but Mother Nature can always throw a trump card on the table without warning.

[setsail]

Well an expirenced traveler would have known to use a smaller carryon so as not to worry about it being gate checked. When flying the smaller jets (35 and 50 pax) they often make people gate check because the carryons are too big.

[stephenandrew]

Well an expirenced traveler would have known to use a smaller carryon so as not to worry about it being gate checked. When flying the smaller jets (35 and 50 pax) they often make people gate check because the carryons are too big.

 

Relax and breathe deeply

[jerseygirl3]

If you are out money due to these circumstances, you really should pursue this with your travel insurance. Our cruise ship was late getting in to Tampa because of fog (they closed the port), and we missed our flight, even though it was scheduled with enough time to spare (2 p.m.). Since there were four ships that couldn't get in, you can imagine what it was like having close to 10,000 passengers scrambling to change flights and obtain hotel rooms. We called our insurance company from the ship (Travel Guard) and they told us they could either book a hotel room for us in Tampa and get us a flight for the next day, or we could do it ourselves. We did it ourselves; the hotel cost $200/night, we were charged $100/pp to change the flight to the next day, since we had already missed our previously scheduled flight. With meals and transportation, we were out about $500. I saved all our receipts, as instructed by Travel Guard, and submitted them. I received a full reimbursement for our out-of-pocket expenses within 3 weeks.

[BF_Philly]

I'm booked in Feb 2006 and have to travel Philadelphia to Tampa bay. I thought I'd have a good bit of leeway booking Friday for Sunday cruise? I can't leave earlier than that.