Fretting over flight time!!!

[kane3]

We are flying in from Toronto the morning of the cruise, leaving TO at 6:30 am and arriving in Orlando at 9:25 am. I never thought about flight delays. It gives us a few hours for delays, but are we crazy for not flying in the day before? I really didn't want to pull my daughter out of school the extra day. We have private transportation booked to take us to the port. Are we crazy??? I have flown many times in January out of Toronto and only had a few minor delays, but I didn't need to catch a boat either!!!:

 

[WDWisTheBest]

We are flying in from Toronto the morning of the cruise, leaving TO at 6:30 am and arriving in Orlando at 9:25 am. I never thought about flight delays. It gives us a few hours for delays, but are we crazy for not flying in the day before? I really didn't want to pull my daughter out of school the extra day. We have private transportation booked to take us to the port. Are we crazy??? I have flown many times in January out of Toronto and only had a few minor delays, but I didn't need to catch a boat either!!!:

You will be fine. The private transportation will help make up for any delays, if any.

 

[mmouse37]

Well...you will probably be fine and many people do come in the day of the cruise but I, personally, will fly in a day or two before to be on the safe side. Unless you are willing to change the flight there is nothing you can do at this point but keep checking the weather and hoping for no mechanical issues with your plane.

As I said you will probably be fine but you will find tons on this board that like to come in at least the day before...especially in winter months.

MJ

 

[AlexandNessa]

Is it a direct flight? I would definitely feel better with a direct flight than a connection (though admittedly, I have never flown in the day of a cruise).

 

[paceyswife]

I'm from Buffalo and we are flying in two days early after a bad January experience two years ago. My son is already going to miss a week of school for the cruise so I figured what is one more day. Of course, he is only in kindergarten so that made the decision a bit easier. Good luck - as long as the weather holds I would imagine you would be okay.

 

[NancyIL]

I wouldn't fly to the departure city the day the ship sails, but many people do. I hope you have trip insurance!

 

[phred52]

Its not what I choose to do ... fly in same day as boarding the ship. You will probably be fine. If you are going to worry yourself into a frenzy then try to change your flights now. Otherwise let it go. I had a friend who worried and fretted and generally spoiled all the fun anticipation of things. I learned from him to either fix the 'issue' or let it go. I wish you an uneventful on time flight!

 

[darwinsrule]

At least you are saying from Toronto (Pearson) and not Buffalo. We have done a couple of trips out of Buffalo in winter and have had weather delays on both. The weather difference between Buffalo and Toronto can be significant but it is still a risk. Agree with PP - they are already missing a week, another day won't matter.

Of course I would love to have that option but DW is a teacher. One thing to pull the kids out of school, completely another thing for her to be 'sick' so we can go to Disney.

 

[safetymom]

If you are flying in the day of the cruise I would go with Disney transportation. It's best to fly in the day before.

 

[dursin]

We are flying in from Toronto the morning of the cruise, leaving TO at 6:30 am and arriving in Orlando at 9:25 am. I never thought about flight delays. It gives us a few hours for delays, but are we crazy for not flying in the day before? I really didn't want to pull my daughter out of school the extra day. We have private transportation booked to take us to the port. Are we crazy??? I have flown many times in January out of Toronto and only had a few minor delays, but I didn't need to catch a boat either!!!:

Extremely risky flying in the day of the cruise...even more so in January where winter weather can disrupt air traffic and cause hours of delays even when the bad weather isn't necessarily in the city you're departing from.

 

[denas]

We are flying in from Toronto the morning of the cruise, leaving TO at 6:30 am and arriving in Orlando at 9:25 am. I never thought about flight delays. It gives us a few hours for delays, but are we crazy for not flying in the day before? I really didn't want to pull my daughter out of school the extra day. We have private transportation booked to take us to the port. Are we crazy??? I have flown many times in January out of Toronto and only had a few minor delays, but I didn't need to catch a boat either!!!:

We are flying in the same day too - flying from DC to Orlando and arriving at 9:30 am for our cruse that leaves on 29 Jan. Like you, I didn't want my son to miss any more school! I am tying this cruise in with a 2-day holiday so he is only missing three days. I know some people say "what's one more day" but even for my son in 3d grade that is probably a minimum of 2 more hours of work to make up on vacation!

We don't usually have super severe weather, but last year we were HAMMERED. My plan is to pay pretty close attention to the weather. At least for us, they start telling us about major snow storms coming 3-4 days in advance. Then I will call and try and get an earlier flight or jump in the car on Thursday and drive down. We are fortunate to have that option - I can be in Florida in 13 hours (with traffic) and am pretty sure if I can make it to North Carolina, it would be smooth sailing from that point. We also are lucky in that there are three airports servicing DC as well as the auto train that stops just a few miles from my house, so we may have more options. Even with flights, there are direct flights leaving every hour (we are on the first one of the day).

No use worrying. I have purchased trip insurance that covers missing the cruise departure because of weather which is about all that I can do! If we have the snow that we had last year, even people leaving 2-3 days ahead would have been snowbound. They just would have been spending three more days trying to get out!

 

[CKCruising]

We are flying in from Toronto the morning of the cruise, leaving TO at 6:30 am and arriving in Orlando at 9:25 am. I never thought about flight delays. It gives us a few hours for delays, but are we crazy for not flying in the day before? I really didn't want to pull my daughter out of school the extra day. We have private transportation booked to take us to the port. Are we crazy??? I have flown many times in January out of Toronto and only had a few minor delays, but I didn't need to catch a boat either!!!:

We use Disney Air and they have us on the 10:15 flight from YYZ. It doesn't get into Orlando until 12:57. That is the second time they put us on this flight. Last time there were at least 5 families on this flight.

Since it's their air, I'm hoping they put a little extra effort to get us to the port on time.

 

[dursin]

We are flying in the same day too - flying from DC to Orlando and arriving at 9:30 am for our cruse that leaves on 29 Jan. Like you, I didn't want my son to miss any more school! I am tying this cruise in with a 2-day holiday so he is only missing three days. I know some people say "what's one more day" but even for my son in 3d grade that is probably a minimum of 2 more hours of work to make up on vacation!

We don't usually have super severe weather, but last year we were HAMMERED. My plan is to pay pretty close attention to the weather. At least for us, they start telling us about major snow storms coming 3-4 days in advance. Then I will call and try and get an earlier flight or jump in the car on Thursday and drive down. We are fortunate to have that option - I can be in Florida in 13 hours (with traffic) and am pretty sure if I can make it to North Carolina, it would be smooth sailing from that point. We also are lucky in that there are three airports servicing DC as well as the auto train that stops just a few miles from my house, so we may have more options. Even with flights, there are direct flights leaving every hour (we are on the first one of the day).

No use worrying. I have purchased trip insurance that covers missing the cruise departure because of weather which is about all that I can do! If we have the snow that we had last year, even people leaving 2-3 days ahead would have been snowbound. They just would have been spending three more days trying to get out!

Just pay attention to weather EVERYWHERE in the US. You might have nice weather in DC, but you have to consider that the plane you will be boarding could very will get tied up on the ground due to bad weather in Chicago. Airlines just don't have extra planes lying around so if your flight doesn't make it from it's previous destination, you're flight will likely be delayed or cancelled.

 

[Cooksonmom]

We are flying in on sail away day also. I'm trying not to worry, but have decided that, on our next cruise, we will fly in the day before!

 

[denas]

Just pay attention to weather EVERYWHERE in the US. You might have nice weather in DC, but you have to consider that the plane you will be boarding could very will get tied up on the ground due to bad weather in Chicago. Airlines just don't have extra planes lying around so if your flight doesn't make it from it's previous destination, you're flight will likely be delayed or cancelled.

We are on the first flight of the day, so our plane is actually scheduled to arrive the night before - I always check this too!! Good point though...

 

[carmie3377]

Extremely risky flying in the day of the cruise...even more so in January where winter weather can disrupt air traffic and cause hours of delays even when the bad weather isn't necessarily in the city you're departing from.

Even though we live where snow doesn't affect us (well, maybe once in every five years or so) I would never fly in the day of unless I absolutely have to. We have thunderstorms delay flights often. For example, DH had to fly from Houston to Chicago on Friday. His flight was delayed for over 2 hours because his plane was coming from San Antonio where there was a storm. Once, when he was flying home to Houston from Dallas his plane never made it to Dallas due to a dust storm out West. He fortunately was able to get on another flight to get home. So, not just snow, there are many reasons to get delayed and I would not risk the day of.

 

[inkkognito]

I wish I could be more cheerful but I have to agree with the majority; I would never fly in the day of the cruise unless absolutely necessary, especially in the winter. We live in FL now but used to come in from Chicago. We'd get a hotel on Priceline and come in late the day prior. The odds are with you though; we took a lot of cruises in those days and I think there was only one or two instances when the weather would have hurt us with a same-day flight. Of course, there can be mechanical delays too but weather was always our biggest worry.

 

[cph706]

Last year (our first cruise) we flew in on the sail away day without any difficulty at all from the DC area (in March). This year we are coming in the day before for another reason.....in order to make our 7AM flight we had to leave the house at 5, up by 4:30. By the time our late dinner seating arrived we were too tired to enjoy it fully. So this year we plan to be more rested.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Sounds as if you already have your flight tickets; so I would suggest to take a breath and let it go for now. I am sure there is a fee to transfer the tickets. I do understand not wanting to pull your kiddo out of school any extra days. This is the very reason we get take the last flight out the day before. You know there are more chances it will be fine than not; so just think positive and next time do it a bit different. Keep it and just make it to the airport in enough time that if something comes up, maybe the airline can do some changes for you and the family. Do not start your vacation by stressing over this. Just relax and enjoy. Think Pixie Dust!

 

[concept5123]

i have to say after watching the tv show airline i always want to travel the day ahead you never know what will hapen to the flight the crew or any little thing to hold you up.