MCO-SJU nonstep JetBlue vs AirTran (day of cruise)

[MandyGirl]

Hello! Having not flown either of these carriers, we are looking for opinions regarding flying MCO-SJU the day of the cruise (March 14). I know, I know... the horror stories... but I am a teacher and my district does not allow us to use our personal days the day prior to a holiday (such as Spring Break). Therefore, I do not have the luxury of flying in the day prior even though I have dozens of days built up over the years. (Now back in my corporate world days, yes, I could take off whenever, but do not get that flexibility in the educational world.) Two passengers total.

 

Gameplan:

DAL-MCO on March 13 via Rapid Rewards on Southwest arriving MCO at 6:40 PM (too risky to try for 8:05PM JetBlue and not so sure about using 10:30PM Spirit). Bribing another teacher to cover my last class so I can leave early.

Found a hotel for $50 through hubby's employee rate

March 14: MCO-SJU for a 11:00PM cruise departure

 

Choices for March 14 AM:

AirTran (currently has $25 off for signing up for emails so flight is $111-25=$86 plus $15 for bag = $101 total; would take the 11:00AM departure - first of the day for them; only one later flight to SJU)

JetBlue (cost more at $141 each but includes one free checked bag; frills are not important to us; would take the 8:00AM departure; has two later flights to SJU --- which is what is drawing me towards JetBlue)

 

Yes, DFW has nonstop flights to SJU on AA, but I have to donate an organ to afford the AA rates, which is why we are using RapidRewards. I've played with various Southwest cities that are gateways to SJU, which is how we came up with MCO.

 

Knowing my constraints of not being able to fly in the day prior, which carrier would you choose to fly in the day of the cruise nonstop from Orlando to San Juan?

 

Many thanks in advance. :)

[MandyGirl]

Also... I've tried looking at this website to see recent on-time history and only noticed one diversion (AirTran that took off again shortly later).

 

http://flightaware.com/live/findflight/KMCO/TJSJ

[megr1125]

i would do jetBlue....(i just like them better).....there is a site where you can see from what citiy a flight originates but i can't remember it...(dang!) meaning.....the jetblue flight probably comes from someplace else...and the airtran most likely comes from ATL. (the jetBlue propbably originates in JFK or IAD) thus you can kind of see what the odds are that your flight from MCO to SJU will be on time. (it MAY actually be flightaware)...i am just nuts that way.

 

blue has 2 later flights, airtran only 1....so you have better odds of getting there if something weird happens.), PLUS its 1st flight is 3 hours before airtran.....

 

Get good trip insurance too! and just to be safe...see what other carriers fly mco to sju later in the day.....not that either jetblue or airtran will endorse your ticket, BUT if you had to BUY a walk up ticket...at least you'll know who can get you to SJ

[MandyGirl]

That's what I am leaning towards as well. With an 8AM departure on JetBlue, I am assuming it is an originator in Orlando having arrived the previous night... whereas AirTran may be inbound from elsewhere, so we would essentially be worried about it's on-time stats. I like having an originator that's already there.

 

What is JetBlue's policy for pricedrops? Did I read somewhere a voucher is given towards future travel if your flight's price drops?

 

Trip insurance is always a definite. Luckily after the ship departs San Juan the first port of call is St Maarten (SXM).

 

This is our first time to try flying in the morning of the cruise --- with arrival twelve hours prior to muster drill. Last time flying to SJU I used AAdvantage miles and flew nonstop from DFW and spent one night pre-cruise which was definitely nice. Of course that was back in my corporate days.

[ab0si]

Both JetBlue and AirTran have better than average records. As you know, it is not going to be a big deal to you if the flight is a bit late .. you will have several ours to play with. I avoid Spirit at all costs. They do not have a good record for much of anything.:)

 

I would take Jet Blue simply because:

a) I like them better

b) it gets me to SJU earlier. If everything goes ok, I could stop worrying sooner.

c) two (aren't there 3?) later planes slightly increase the chance of getting there if evil things happen. It also considerably increases the chance that your luggage gets there before your ship leaves port if it fails to make it unto your plane.

[hdawson]

AirTran is my line of choice. However, in this case it's a toss up.

[MandyGirl]

Okay - just booked via JetBlue roundtrip. We knew we were using them coming back due to flight times and connecting to a different Southwest flight in Orlando to come home... so now it is all just taken care of. Booked the 8:00AM MCO-SJU flight. A little more $$$ than AirTran but that extra three hours (and an extra flight or two that arrives with time to transport us to ship prior to departure) is worth peace of mind (I hope).

 

I just noticed my topo in the title --- EEEEEK!!! NonstOp :)

 

Thanks again for everyone's input!

[wrp96]

If you have to fly in day of, go with the earlier arriving flight.

[steve20832]

Okay - just booked via JetBlue roundtrip. We knew we were using them coming back due to flight times and connecting to a different Southwest flight in Orlando to come home... so now it is all just taken care of. Booked the 8:00AM MCO-SJU flight. A little more $$$ than AirTran but that extra three hours (and an extra flight or two that arrives with time to transport us to ship prior to departure) is worth peace of mind (I hope).

 

I just noticed my topo in the title --- EEEEEK!!! NonstOp :)

 

Thanks again for everyone's input!

 

You should be fine, neither city gets snow or ice and you are getting on the first flight out. The plane will probably be sitting in Orlando from the night before.

[MandyGirl]

You should be fine, neither city gets snow or ice and you are getting on the first flight out. The plane will probably be sitting in Orlando from the night before.

 

That's what I am hoping for... an originator that's been there, all spruced up and ready to go! :) We're excited to try JetBlue... a friend moved to NY to go work for them a couple years ago and raves about it.

 

Purchased my trip insurance this afternoon... but I guess hubby being two years older than me put him in the next age/price bracket and made him about $12 more LOL! I won't tell him that part.... hehehehe

[DanJ]

Haven't flown on either, but in talking with my uncle who has, he thinks Jetblue is more comfortable than Airtran. Unless you can buy the business seats for cheap at the airport with Airtran.

[ab0si]

 

Purchased my trip insurance this afternoon... but I guess hubby being two years older than me put him in the next age/price bracket and made him about $12 more LOL! I won't tell him that part.... hehehehe

 

 

Mandy:

 

I'm sorry but you have lost all credibility with me. You expect me to believe that you are NOT going to bring up the $12 age difference? HA! <grin>

[MandyGirl]

Mandy:

 

I'm sorry but you have lost all credibility with me. You expect me to believe that you are NOT going to bring up the $12 age difference? HA! <grin>

 

hehehehehe.... :) I've been very careful to not go over-budget with this one, and that pushed us over the edge, so I'm keeping it hush-hush. ;) I did tell him a white lie that our insurance was fifty bucks each... guess I could've added the word "averaged" fifty bucks each. :D

[hillslife]

We had flights booked for months nonstop one way with JB from California - FLL - great rate for Jan 13th. Got an email that they cancelled that flight, put us on a flight LGB-Dulles-FLL....we were not happy with that due to weather issues and flying in day of cruise, so they gave us our $$ back and we booked elsewhere.

 

Now the original flight is back online, costing $50 more pp - so I think JB just wanted to bump all us $99 customers off and fill the plane with full fare passengers.

 

That kind of soured me on JB....

 

The moral is, whatever airline, check daily to be sure of any changes.

[SelectSys]

Hello! Having not flown either of these carriers, we are looking for opinions regarding flying MCO-SJU the day of the cruise (March 14). I know, I know... the horror stories... but I am a teacher and my district does not allow us to use our personal days the day prior to a holiday (such as Spring Break). Therefore, I do not have the luxury of flying in the day prior even though I have dozens of days built up over the years. (Now back in my corporate world days, yes, I could take off whenever, but do not get that flexibility in the educational world.) Two passengers total.

 

Gameplan:

DAL-MCO on March 13 via Rapid Rewards on Southwest arriving MCO at 6:40 PM (too risky to try for 8:05PM JetBlue and not so sure about using 10:30PM Spirit). Bribing another teacher to cover my last class so I can leave early.

Found a hotel for $50 through hubby's employee rate

March 14: MCO-SJU for a 11:00PM cruise departure

 

Choices for March 14 AM:

AirTran (currently has $25 off for signing up for emails so flight is $111-25=$86 plus $15 for bag = $101 total; would take the 11:00AM departure - first of the day for them; only one later flight to SJU)

JetBlue (cost more at $141 each but includes one free checked bag; frills are not important to us; would take the 8:00AM departure; has two later flights to SJU --- which is what is drawing me towards JetBlue)

 

Yes, DFW has nonstop flights to SJU on AA, but I have to donate an organ to afford the AA rates, which is why we are using RapidRewards. I've played with various Southwest cities that are gateways to SJU, which is how we came up with MCO.

 

Knowing my constraints of not being able to fly in the day prior, which carrier would you choose to fly in the day of the cruise nonstop from Orlando to San Juan?

 

Many thanks in advance. :)

 

This is quite interesting as it is a setup similar to what I just experienced this Christmas. My kids district is incredibly tough on unexcused absences so I scheduled a red eye on AirTran to get to the port fairly early on the day of departure. AirTran has an extremely small presence at our airport and the plane had a mechanical and our aircraft couldn't be fixed before our local airport curfew kicked in. Needless to say we missed our sailing departure.

 

I actually used logic similar to yours in picking AirTran over American. It turned out to be the most "penny wise and pound foolish" decision I have made in quite some time. In addition to all the extra money I spent, the associated stress and lost vacation time really adds up.

 

If you are really insistent on doing this. I would go with the airline with the most backup flights that could still get me to my ship in time. I think the JetBlue on board experience is much nicer than on AirTran. I would also be suspicious of AirTran's ability to deal with problems. They tend to be really understaffed in the terminal which makes dealing with problems very slow. For example, we waited 30 minutes to speak with a supervisor in FLL yesterday and the airport wasn't even all that busy.

[MandyGirl]

If you are really insistent on doing this. I would go with the airline with the most backup flights that could still get me to my ship in time.

 

Already have... booked with JetBlue. Reasons we did...

~ first flight of the day

~ had an extra flight (vs AirTran) that could get us to SJU prior to departure of cruise which leaves at 11PM

~ JetBlue also flies to SXM if that had to happen (our port the following day if had to catch the ship, albeit routed back through NY)

~ a buddy went to work for JetBlue last year and has raved about it :)

 

Districts are getting tougher about excused/nonexcused absences with the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). A school's attendance rate is tied into that. I teach high school credit courses, and for credit purposes, our state does not distinguish between excused/nonexcused absences, so students have to be very careful about "the 90% rule"... have to be in class 90% of the time for creidt. Otherwise, it would have to go before an attendance committee. (Obviously for extreme situations that were documented with doctors' notes, etc). As a teacher, I can't miss the day before/after a school holiday, which is why we are in this situation. And I'm sure if I were using my principal certification I couldn't really miss either. Not many subs for principals. I seem to save up all my days for family emergencies or childbirth it seems.