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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Z

Zman-ks

Well-Known Member
We usually fly Southwest. :)
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BrittanyRose428

BrittanyRose428

Well-Known Member
I flew Southwest once from Manchester, NH (when I was younger and therefore didn't pay for it, and this was before Southwest flew out of Boston I think), and really loved it. I liked how you can pick your own seats, and I assume it must have been a good deal since we drove to Manchester when we live right near the airport in Boston.

For the trips I've booked myself I've always found Delta or Jet Blue to have the best deals or flight times. I like to get an early flight on the day we leave and a late flight on the way back so we don't waste whole days travelling. And since Orlando is only about a 3 hour plane ride from Boston, I really try to avoid flights that are not non-stop. This year we're flying Jet Blue, leaving Boston at 6 AM and arriving in Orlando at 9, and then departing from Orlando at 9 PM and arriving in Boston at 12 AM. We ended up spending $350 each round trip (which was more than I was hoping for as when I originally started looking at flights most of the prices started with a 2), but my roommate seemed skeptical about whether or not she was actually going so I think we waited longer than we should have to book the airfare.
 
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ILDisneyFan

ILDisneyFan

Active Member
We used to use AirTran but they left the Bloomington, IL airport so we used Frontier when we went in April and they were very clean, the employees were very friendly and we even got there early! All their flights from Bloomington are nonstop so that makes it nice plus the tickets were CHEAP! I'm hoping we can use them again in October but we always go with the cheapest we can find, I HATE paying a lot for airfare.
 
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LuLaSue

LuLaSue

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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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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P

Plowboy

Well-Known Member
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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For our upcoming trip (October) I've already had to modify our homebound itinerary twice and we still have 4 months to go. Originally were flying home to SMF (Sacramento) via IAH (Houston) and upon checking our itinerary about 6 weeks ago I found our layover in IAH had been cut to 10 minutes. Even I know that won't work. Called United and rebooked via Denver with a 90 minute layover. Was very happy with the change as it got us home about 2 hrs earlier than original. Three weeks later I check our itinerary and what do I find? Now our layover in Denver is cut to 21 minutes. This time I call United and ask for a supervisor in an attempt to get an upgrade to economy plus (5 extra inches of legroom). I don't think that's too much to ask. First person I speak to won't connect me to a supervisor, but rebooks us through IAH (Houston again), but now we have to leave MCO a couple of hours earlier. The next day I call United again and eventually get a supervisor and explain the situation and I'm told I need to address my concerns via the United website link to customer service. Gee, can we make this any less personal??? I compose a lengthy message to United about not only this trip but past trips when we've actually had to change days we flew. Several days later I get a phone call from United, but as we weren't home they didn't leave a message on the answering machine. I call them and explain the situation and the guy I talk to gets us our upgrade, but not until he's gone out of his way to tell me that he's "going out on a limb" by giving us an upgrade. Wow...I'm impressed! I'm relatively sure I'll have to go through this at least one more time before October. The other thing that really chaps my a$$ about all this is that not once did United notify me of the changes. I had to check my itinerary to find that a change had been made. Now that's customer service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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LuLaSue

LuLaSue

Well-Known Member
Plowboy said:
For our upcoming trip (October) I've already had to modify our homebound itinerary twice and we still have 4 months to go. Originally were flying home to SMF (Sacramento) via IAH (Houston) and upon checking our itinerary about 6 weeks ago I found our layover in IAH had been cut to 10 minutes. Even I know that won't work. Called United and rebooked via Denver with a 90 minute layover. Was very happy with the change as it got us home about 2 hrs earlier than original. Three weeks later I check our itinerary and what do I find? Now our layover in Denver is cut to 21 minutes. This time I call United and ask for a supervisor in an attempt to get an upgrade to economy plus (5 extra inches of legroom). I don't think that's too much to ask. First person I speak to won't connect me to a supervisor, but rebooks us through IAH (Houston again), but now we have to leave MCO a couple of hours earlier. The next day I call United again and eventually get a supervisor and explain the situation and I'm told I need to address my concerns via the United website link to customer service. Gee, can we make this any less personal??? I compose a lengthy message to United about not only this trip but past trips when we've actually had to change days we flew. Several days later I get a phone call from United, but as we weren't home they didn't leave a message on the answering machine. I call them and explain the situation and the guy I talk to gets us our upgrade, but not until he's gone out of his way to tell me that he's "going out on a limb" by giving us an upgrade. Wow...I'm impressed! I'm relatively sure I'll have to go through this at least one more time before October. The other thing that really chaps my a$$ about all this is that not once did United notify me of the changes. I had to check my itinerary to find that a change had been made. Now that's customer service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Holy Cow! I am sorry for all your trouble. I have been hearing more and more of this, I guess I have just been lucky.

Tell me? Do you think this is just United or it wide spead throughout most airlines? Just putting it out there.
 
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P

Plowboy

Well-Known Member
LuLaSue said:
Holy Cow! I am sorry for all your trouble. I have been hearing more and more of this, I guess I have just been lucky.

Tell me? Do you think this is just United or it wide spead throughout most airlines? Just putting it out there.
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I think to a certain extent that it is industry wide. A poll came out just last week that listed United as #10 out of 10 for (I think) customer service. I will say that up until about 4 years ago we had no gripes with United. Since then they have become the bane of my travel existence. It's one thing to have a late flight, but it's totally another to constantly be changing the schedule.

That's what I like about Southwest. I have yet to experience a schedule change flying them.
 
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LuLaSue

LuLaSue

Well-Known Member
Plowboy said:
I think to a certain extent that it is industry wide. A poll came out just last week that listed United as #10 out of 10 for (I think) customer service. I will say that up until about 4 years ago we had no gripes with United. Since then they have become the bane of my travel existence. It's one thing to have a late flight, but it's totally another to constantly be changing the schedule.

That's what I like about Southwest. I have yet to experience a schedule change flying them.
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I agree United has been changed since the acquisition of Continental. We were avid fans of Coninental , can't remember having any real issues. Things change.
I don't think Southwest flies direct out of EWR. If I am wrong please correct me. I will add it to my search options.
 
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lunchbox1175

lunchbox1175

Well-Known Member
LuLaSue said:
Here is another question....
Do you think it matters if you fly out of the airlines main hub?
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Yes, if you are flying out of a hub, you don't have to worry about flight availability and such for example there are usually between 6 to 8 different flights available from IAH to MCO on a daily basis on United, also, you don't usually have to deal with any connections if it is a hub. I have had my flight time changed a couple of times by maybe 10 minutes. While I agree that United's customer service is deplorable and their change fees are outrageous, I have never been on a flight that has left late or arrived late on United. Southwest on the other hand I have never been on time and I almost always have a layover somewhere which drives me nuts and I hate not having a seat assigned. I want to know when I get to the airport where I am sitting, not stand in line for 30 minutes waiting to board, I am often one of the last people to board the plane as I don't feel like sitting on it for an extra 25 minutes waiting for everyone to get on before we actually push out.
 
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SteveW

SteveW

Active Member
I hadn't flown for several years, but decided to fly to WDW last year on Delta. There were a couple of changes made by Delta to the itinerary months before the trip, but a call to Delta got me a better flight time down. They were great to deal with, flights ran on time, and no problems. I'm booked on them for my trip down in Dec and like last year, got a great rate and even better times. Years ago I flew a lot on business and United was always the way to go, but now not so sure.
 
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