Booked DME now renting a car, can we still use luggage tags?

In the Transportation forum there is a sticky thread about this. While DME is not meant to be a luggage transportation service, and officially it isn't allowed, from reading that thread it seems that no one has suffered consequences from just tagging the bags and letting the behind the scenes DME people take them. The bags are taken before they hit the carousels, and there is no set time for a person to get on the bus. A bag might be well on its way while a traveler grabs some lunch and does a bit of shopping after their flight, after all.

The issue would come if the bags didn't show up. Then they would see that you didn't get on the bus and the blame game they play (it's the airline's fault, it's disneys fault) wouldn't be fun. But I don't recall hearing of a single case where the bags never ever appeared.

Read the sticky. Decide where you fall in terms of "risk" taking.


In the way back to the airport, by the way, when it's RAC dealing with bags, you are totally allowed to send the bags on ahead of you. Check them in with the RAC people and get to the airport any way you like. (Assuming your flight falls in the correct timeframe etc)
 
Last year I had full intentions of doing the DME as I had a car reserved at National over at Shades of Green. However due to flight delays, we arrived at MCO late to the point that National would be closed by the time we took DME to the hotel and then a taxi over to National. I talked with the reservation agent at the Shade of Green National and they told me that the Airport should just honor my reservation. So I checked with them and they said sure no problem and go pick a car. Then I walked down to DME and talked to a CM there and explained the situation about how I we were late arriving and the rental car and what do I do about my bags. They of course gave me a "talking to" but said they understood and that my bags would be taken care of.

In the end I got my car, and within 3 hours of arriving my bags were in my hotel room.

I'm not saying my situation is typical but the bags did arrive!
 


Last year I had full intentions of doing the DME as I had a car reserved at National over at Shades of Green. However due to flight delays, we arrived at MCO late to the point that National would be closed by the time we took DME to the hotel and then a taxi over to National. I talked with the reservation agent at the Shade of Green National and they told me that the Airport should just honor my reservation. So I checked with them and they said sure no problem and go pick a car. Then I walked down to DME and talked to a CM there and explained the situation about how I we were late arriving and the rental car and what do I do about my bags. They of course gave me a "talking to" but said they understood and that my bags would be taken care of.

In the end I got my car, and within 3 hours of arriving my bags were in my hotel room.

I'm not saying my situation is typical but the bags did arrive!
Glad it worked out for you but that still wouldn't be plan a for me..
 
I personally think the odds of losing your luggage is much lower if you have the DME tags on them, even if you're changing planes. I have no statistics to back it up .... But I would think that every baggage handler in the United States recognizes those DME tags and knows where those bags are going.
 


I personally think the odds of losing your luggage is much lower if you have the DME tags on them, even if you're changing planes. I have no statistics to back it up .... But I would think that every baggage handler in the United States recognizes those DME tags and knows where those bags are going.

Since the DME tags only mean something at MCO, I doubt baggage handlers at other airports would know what they mean. I mean, they would probably be able to figure out that it has something to do with Disney since they have Mickey heads on them, but unless they've used DME themselves, I can't imagine they would know the significance of them.
 
I would not, we have rented a car and Dh gets the car while DDs and I take ME. Then we can get a small car because we don't have to worry about fitting luggage.
 
We have changed our plans at the airport and rented instead of taking ME upon arrival. Our luggage arrived thru ME without a problem.

If you are a worrier though, I'd suggest not using the tags when you know you are taking rental...not worth the additional worry.
 
Since the DME tags only mean something at MCO, I doubt baggage handlers at other airports would know what they mean. I mean, they would probably be able to figure out that it has something to do with Disney since they have Mickey heads on them, but unless they've used DME themselves, I can't imagine they would know the significance of them.

I've seen non-MCO ticketing agents react to the tags. :)


If I were letting them take my bags after tagging the bags and deciding to use a rental car, I wouldn't bother saying anything to the DME people. It's totally separate people who take the bags; the DME people you interact with have nothing to do with that and can't do a thing about it. If they had a procedure to get bags off the van/truck/trailer that takes the bags then they would have a procedure, but they don't, at this time.

But seriously, there's no reason to hash it all out there. That's what the "sticky" I referenced is for. It's actually called something like "dme, luggage only, don't want to take the bus!"
 
Since the DME tags only mean something at MCO, I doubt baggage handlers at other airports would know what they mean. I mean, they would probably be able to figure out that it has something to do with Disney since they have Mickey heads on them, but unless they've used DME themselves, I can't imagine they would know the significance of them.
I would think that they know that all those bright special mickey tags are bags heading to WDW. It means something at any airport that had a bunch of kids going - day in and day out.
 
It would probably be better for you to use the regular tags and take your bags in your rental car so that way you have them and if your room is ready you can unpack and not have to wait for them to arrive. If not you can always lock them in your trunk or have the resort hold them.
 
I would think that they know that all those bright special mickey tags are bags heading to WDW. It means something at any airport that had a bunch of kids going - day in and day out.

One time I was at PIT watching them load the luggage on the plane to Orlando from the gate. Almost every bag had the yellow tags!
 

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