Booking through Orbitz

MeganMango · Feb 12, 2016

I'm coming to Disney solo March 6 (in less than a month) through March 10. I am booking through Orbitz. I have read a lot that says to book through Disney, but it is so much more expensive. This is my second Disney experience. I plan on staying at Pop Century Value Resort. Has anyone else booked through a separate travel page vs Disney, and had success?

Also, since it's so soon, I don't think I need to worry about cancelling. Though it seems like Orbitz has a decent policy.

Any words of wisdom?

ciera321 · Feb 12, 2016

We've done Orbitz and it worked out great! You do have to have Orbitz make requests through Disney, but that was no big deal. I was able to immediately connect our Orbitz reservation to My Disney Experience. Will you be needing Magical Express? If so, the address they will have for you is the Orbitz address, Chicago I believe. It was no problem to change it. I agree, it was much less expensive through Orbitz, as they gave us the Disney discount, then theirs on top of that.

loves to dive · Feb 12, 2016

I've just booked my second trip through Orbitz, will be there the same time as you. Orbitz will give you a Disney confirmation number in an email. Just use that number on your MDE account and your reservations will show up. Go into your account on MDE and change the address to yours, it will be a Chicago address so your MBs can be sent to the right place (it may be to late to get them sent). You have until March 1 to cancel with no penalty.

MsThumper · Feb 12, 2016

We just returned from a trip where we stayed at the Grand Floridian. I booked it through Orbitz. It saved us about another 15% over what we would have paid going through Disney. We even got a room upgrade. We have another trip booked for the beginning of April, also booked through Orbitz.

I had no problem linking either reservations to MDE. As the previous poster said, you just have to be careful that your profile in MDE has your address on file and not Orbitz's, also if you are having magic bands shipped to you.

MeganMango · Feb 12, 2016

What is MDE? Also, has anyone had a layover as short as 46 minutes? Safe? too short?

loves to dive · Feb 12, 2016

My Disney Experience, it is where you can book your fast passes, link your reservations and tickets to your magic bands, etc. What airport? Atlanta - possibly if it's the same airline, San Francisco if same airline yes, different airline not probably not, Chicago probably not, Dallas probably not.

MeganMango · Feb 12, 2016

Layover would be in Douglas Airport in Charlotte, NC. Same airline. American Airlines.

MeganMango · Feb 12, 2016

loves to dive said:
My Disney Experience, it is where you can book your fast passes, link your reservations and tickets to your magic bands, etc. What airport? Atlanta - possibly if it's the same airline, San Francisco if same airline yes, different airline not probably not, Chicago probably not, Dallas probably not.

Layover would be in Douglas Airport in Charlotte, NC. Same airline. American Airlines. Also, since I'm booking through Orbitz, say my first flight was delayed. I live in Pittsburgh, and weather can be questionable at times though it's projected to be in the 40's by March. However, say my first flight was delayed. Will I have to pay for a new connecting flight? or will they put me on the next available?

bumbershoot · Feb 12, 2016

MeganMango said:
Also, since I'm booking through Orbitz, say my first flight was delayed. ... Will I have to pay for a new connecting flight? or will they put me on the next available?

Don't book flights through Orbitz.

If you're doing a flight+hotel etc deal, please break it down and see what it would be financially booking hotel (any old way) and the flight directly through the airline(s) you're seeing.

Orbitz (any TA, especially an online TA) adds another layer of difficulty when things are delayed. You wouldn't have to pay to be put on another flight, but it might not be as simple as if you booked through the airline itself.

MeganMango · Feb 12, 2016

bumbershoot said:
Don't book flights through Orbitz.

Why not?

MeganMango · Feb 12, 2016

bumbershoot said:
Don't book flights through Orbitz.

If you're doing a flight+hotel etc deal, please break it down and see what it would be financially booking hotel (any old way) and the flight directly through the airline(s) you're seeing.

Orbitz (any TA, especially an online TA) adds another layer of difficulty when things are delayed. You wouldn't have to pay to be put on another flight, but it might not be as simple as if you booked through the airline itself.

Okay, makes sense. How about booking the hotel through Orbitz?

hamilkm · Feb 13, 2016

I have booked hotels through Orbitz multiple times with no issues. It is usually the best deal with Orbitz discount on top of whatever discount Disney is running. I have also had short layovers in Charlotte more times than I can count. I am always flying the same airline but still always have to swap terminals. Charlotte has one terminal that they only fly smaller planes out of to smaller airports, so if you are coming from a smaller airport you will have to swap terminals to get to your larger plane to fly on to Orlando more than likely. Charlotte also does not have any sort of tram connecting their terminals, so you have to walk it all. It is a smaller airport than say Atlanta or Miami, but it is a very long walk. You will never see a place with more people running than the Charlotte airport as every flight I have ever seen there has a very short connecting window. I have done 45 minutes there multiple times before, but it is pushing it. As in, you will have to speed walk/run, probably no rest room break, definitely no food, and hope your plane isn't late. My saving grace is usually that my second flight out of there is always late as well!

writerguyfl · Feb 13, 2016

MeganMango said:
Also, has anyone had a layover as short as 46 minutes? Safe? too short?

Each airline sets a Minimum Connection time for their hubs. That's the minimum time for both passengers and luggage change planes. They will not sell you a ticket that is under that Minimum Connection time.

I glanced at the PIT-MCO flights connecting through Charlotte on March 6, 2016. One of the flight combinations that American is selling has a layover of 38 minutes. Based on that, I'd guess that the Minimum Connection time is probably 35 minutes. So, I wouldn't be concerned with your 46 minute layover.

As bumbershoot notes, if you do happen to miss your second flight, American will put you on the next available flight (without you having to pay anything more). The good news is that, as a solo traveler, you'd only need one empty seat. I'm guessing that you are connecting to the 9:20am flight from CLT to MCO. If that's true and you miss it, there are still 7 nonstop flights later that day.

bumbershoot said:
Don't book flights through Orbitz.

Orbitz (any TA, especially an online TA) adds another layer of difficulty when things are delayed. You wouldn't have to pay to be put on another flight, but it might not be as simple as if you booked through the airline itself.

I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say don't book flights through Orbitz. If the cost is the same, it does make sense to buy directly from the airline. But, I wouldn't tell people to pay more just to avoid having to deal with Orbitz (or another online TA). Sometimes, packages can be hundreds of dollars less than purchasing a la carte.

It is true that if something changes with the flight prior to departure, the airline will notify Orbitz. Orbitz is then supposed to contact the passenger. That can certainly be a major hassle. But, for a simple flight, it's unlikely that scenario will happen...particularly when the trip is coming in under a month.

On the day of travel, if a misconnect occurs at an airline's hub, the passenger will not have to call Orbitz. In most cases, the airline computers will automatically rebook the passenger. If something keeps that from happening, the passenger will simply talk face-to-face with the airline staff.

Eastern · Feb 13, 2016

I have booked two hotels through Orbitz in the past year and it worked out great. Got good prices, and I watched for price drops. When the price dropped (2x for my Universal hotel) I just cancelled and rebooked online. The refund was credited back very quickly.

Cons would be that you have to pay the entire price immediately, and the lead guest on the reservation must check into the hotel room.

C-CMom · Feb 13, 2016

hamilkm said:
...You will never see a place with more people running than the Charlotte airport as every flight I have ever seen there has a very short connecting window...

Completely agree. Only airport I've ever missed a connecting flight.

dancin Disney style · Feb 13, 2016

I've booked my room through Orbitz 3 times now and will continue to do so as long as I get the added discount. I also link through from Ebates to earn some cash back. My last booking earned me $80. You also get Orbucks that can be used on a future booking.

Last year on my March booking I saved approx. $500 by using Ebates and Orbitz with a code. I haven't done the math on my up coming trip but it's about the same.

Pesty823 · Feb 14, 2016

Hi! I just booked thru Orbitz and linked up with my MDE. I haven't bought park tickets yet. If I just buy them separately through the Disney site prior to 60 days of our arrival, will I be able to pick our Fastpass selections? Do I have to call to get it linked up to the room only reservation?

dancin Disney style · Feb 14, 2016

Pesty823 said:
Hi! I just booked thru Orbitz and linked up with my MDE. I haven't bought park tickets yet. If I just buy them separately through the Disney site prior to 60 days of our arrival, will I be able to pick our Fastpass selections? Do I have to call to get it linked up to the room only reservation?

Log in to your MDE account and then buy the tickets. You will see them on your account and can make FP+ selections. You don't have to do anything else, everything will be linked together.

Pesty823 · Feb 14, 2016

dancin Disney style said:
Log in to your MDE account and then buy the tickets. You will see them on your account and can make FP+ selections. You don't have to do anything else, everything will be linked together.

Thanks!

bumbershoot · Feb 15, 2016

I like booking hotels through online TAs. We personally use hotels.com almost all the time, but I'm sure if we had started off with Orbitz that would have been our preferred TA.

writerguyfl said:
The good news is that, as a solo traveler, you'd only need one empty seat.

Agreed.

writerguyfl said:
I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say don't book flights through Orbitz. If the cost is the same, it does make sense to buy directly from the airline. But, I wouldn't tell people to pay more just to avoid having to deal with Orbitz (or another online TA). Sometimes, packages can be hundreds of dollars less than purchasing a la carte.

I had to keep going back and editing my response as I read the OP more.

I wasn't getting at first that the OP was getting a flight/hotel package, and only realized that when I saw it on the Orbitz site.

If the OP *is* actually getting an amazing deal, then go for it. If the OP goes and checks and there is not, actually, an amazing deal happening, then IMO it's not worth it.

We did once buy an amazing flight deal through one of the sites for my MIL. It wasn't available through the airline directly (only time I've ever seen that), and we knew she was going, and there were no tricky connections.

writerguyfl said:
In most cases, the airline computers will automatically rebook the passenger.

Having experienced that during a bad weather few days, and having to call the airline about 18 different times because it kept rebooking DH on a flight days and even a week later...I wouldn't trust that would happen properly *at all*.

Booking through Orbitz

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