Airlines...best and worst in getting you to WDW

WoodyNBuzz

WoodyNBuzz

Active Member
This is the 2nd time that our family will be traveling to WDW via Spirit Airlines. What airlines have you used in the past that you would use again or vow to never use again? If it wasn't for the free tickets we got from Spirit for overbooking our return flight home last August, we likely wouldn't be using them again.
 
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MissingDisney

Well-Known Member
We bought airfare well in advance of our last trip-Delta. I never received any notice of changes and just happened to be checking final stuff the night before departure when I realized they had changed the times of both of our direct flights and separated our family. So much for the seat assignments on our tickets! They had all of us spread out on the plane, including our kids! I called and said it was not acceptable and spent way too long explaining this to a customer service rep who clearly did not know much about customer service. He said since the kids are over 5 years old, they can sit alone. Are you freaking kidding me? He did nothing and refused to let me speak to a supervisor. I took it up with the poor gal at the gate. "You know you could have called customer service in advance about this..." My sympathy disappeared. Delta blows. We did end up together but it took a lot of debating. Not a good way to start a trip.
 
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disneygirl76

disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
WoodyNBuzz said:
This is the 2nd time that our family will be traveling to WDW via Spirit Airlines. What airlines have you used in the past that you would use again or vow to never use again? If it wasn't for the free tickets we got from Spirit for overbooking our return flight home last August, we likely wouldn't be using them again.
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We have only had great successes and wonderful experiences flying Air Tran.
 
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Poofiesdream

Poofiesdream

Well-Known Member
NEVER EVER would I fly Spirit Airlines they nickel and dime you to death! Usually prefer Jet Blue can't beat those TV's and free luggage. I will fly Southwest if the price is a lot cheaper but every time I do my luggage is damaged and my flights are delayed. We were due to fly into West Palm Beach and because it was so late we flew into Ft Lauderdale and they put us in vans 1am and drove us to West Palm after a very long wait outside in the heat with no offer of water or anything! We even had to get our own luggage and bring it. We are talking over 75 people involved that had to be transported! Also at our connection we were delayed due to no flight crew and had to wait for one to arrive on another plane because the one scheduled for us had too many hours and couldn't fly. We were delayed hours!
 
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kfergdisney

kfergdisney

Well-Known Member
The only airline I have used to fly into Orlando is American. I've actually never had trouble with them (that's what I get when there are only two airlines that fly out of our airport). But, having said that, it is expensive. If we want to fly out of our airport, we have to go to DFW first and then fly out to the destination, which, of course, makes it more expensive. This next time, we driving a couple of hours to another airport to fly Southwest into Orlando. Very excited!
 
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Ariel484

Ariel484

Well-Known Member
Plowboy said:
United constantly screws with our itineraries. It's not a normal trip if they don't change flight times (and as a result sometimes the days we fly) at least twice per trip.
We're gradually weaning ourselves off United and going with Southwest.
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I could have written this post. When we first started going to Disney we exclusively flew United because they had direct flights from our airport (CLE) to MCO. I think every time except once our flight time has been changed...and what really gets me is that they can't be bothered to email us about these changes. I just so happened to look the first time and saw the change, so after that I knew to keep looking. Also, we had to cancel my husband's flight with United last year due to illness and they made it so hard. We faxed them a doctor's note (they said they'd waive half of the change fee if we did) and nothing ever came through...$150 down the drain. And if we'd had a Southwest flight we would have had a credit instead, no questions asked. BOO!

So far with Southwest we haven't had any changes (knock on wood). I also discovered that the next closest airport to us (CAK) has direct Southwest flights to MCO, so that's what we'll do from now on. 30-40 minutes of extra driving in exchange for no baggage fees, a direct flight and the ability to cancel and re-book as I please for credit? I'll take it. Plus we just got the credit card and got 50,000 bonus points, so that was pretty awesome. I find they're cheaper than United too...I just snagged a flight coming home from Disney for $109. Cheapest I ever got for United was $150 + baggage fees. Booyah!
LuLaSue said:
WOW! It happened to us once and I called and pitched a royal one. They were cutting our trip an entire day short. We decided to spend an extra night. They waved the change fees (as they should but they make it sound like they are doing you a favor) and we received $100 vouchers per person toward our next flight.

We used to fly jet blue and take the 9:30 pm flight home. The plane never left before midnight on several occassions so we don't fly them anymore unless they beat United significantly in price which rarely happens.
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AN ENTIRE DAY?! :eek: Unacceptable! When they've changed my flights it's been by 1-2 hours...not a whole day!

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Question for anyone in the know about Southwest - if I fly Southwest "operated by Airtran" will I be checking in at an Airtran gate or a Southwest gate? :)
 
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Bob

Bob

B00b
Premium Member
JetBlue is our new favorite for getting us to/from The World. Non-stop flight. Very tasty (and free) snacks. Free DirecTV. First checked bag is free. Can't beat that!
 
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Mrs Potts

Mrs Potts

Member
We've flown JetBlue the last few times we went and they were great. They are one of only 2 airlines that provide non-stop service to MCO from our airport, but we've stuck with them because of the ability to check our bags at the hotel on our departure day. They've always been great to work with and the flight times worked well for us. For our last trip, there was an ice storm coming in the day we were supposed to leave. I called them the day before and asked about them possibly waiving the change fee if we left earlier. She told me to come on down and fly stand-by. They got us on the plane but we were separated. No worries, the flight attendants were great with the kids (they were 14, 12 and 10 at the time) and it was a smooth flight.
 
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jw24

jw24

Well-Known Member
JetBlue and Southwest are my top two. That's the case for me. I mean, free checked bags (One free bag for Jetblue, but two for Southwest as long as all of your checked bags are under 50 lbs.), free snacks and drinks, comfy leather seats on both but no assigned seats on Southwest. I hate those big airlines in the US. I don't understand why so many people have loyalties to those brands! They charge a lot for checked baggage, give you subpar airline food if you're crazy enough to buy it, lose luggage constantly and I don't even want to think about their sub-par safety records! But I hate United (My family flew all the time on Continental before the merger and I still hated their airline back then!), Delta, American and I'll add Spirit as well because I heard of awful reviews of their service even before logging on! I know the airline options vary depending on where you live (Being from NJ, my family typically flys out of Newark, though we've done Philadelphia International a couple of times.) and it's ultimately your decision to choose and you probably based it on money, non-stop flight availability, time and whatnot. But considering how much beef I have airport security, unruly passengers and everything, flying is the last mode of transportation for the time being.
 
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MOXOMUMD

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
I used to fly SW for work all the time in my younger days and loved it. To fly to MCO we take AirTran for the direct flights. Home's a fifteen minute drive from CantonAkron. To fly out of CAK on SW, you actually have to go north to come south again on connecting flights. I'll book through the SW website and use their no luggage/change fees and enjoy my two-hour straight flight on AirTran. Never had a problem with changing times either. Actually the departure time home moved forward ten minutes and I got a a phone call to notify me of the change.

One airlines I will never not never ever fly is United, which is from my bias against Continental. I flew from Cleveland to Seattle for a weekend event. My flight was four hours delayed due to weather. Okay, Mother Nature happens. Got to SeaTac and they couldn't find my luggage. After going round and round for two hours with them they told me once located they would deliver it to my hotel. Mind you all I had was a carry-on overnight bag on me. Many calls through the evening were not helpful. I had to make a hasty trip to the local WalMart to buy clothes for the event, which I went to and returned to my hotel to no luggage. The phone calls kept saying they were working on locating it and I'm running on my second day with no suitcase. The next day I had a late flight home to CLE. That evening I got a knock on the door. Out of a three day trip I had my suitcase for about six hours. It had been locked in some lost luggage office at CLE the whole time. They did not offer me any compensation for my troubles. No voucher for a future flight. No payback for what I had to go buy. Nothing, and I protested. About six weeks after the trip I received aa "Sorry for your recent issues. Fly again with us soon." It was SW/Airtran for everything after that.
 
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