If NWA strikes, do you have backup plan?

[jengelbrecht]

I'm sure many of us who have booked with NWA are concerned whether or not we'll be able to fly as planned if the flight attendants strike.
If they do...do you have a backup plan? I'd be interested to hear what it is. Ours is to drive down to Orlando (from just south of Detroit). This doesn't sound too appealing to me , just wondering if anyone has any other options I may not have thought of. I've heard they will try to place you on other flights, but that it may not be until the next day.
Any thoughts?

 

[jsp2000]

I'm sure many of us who have booked with NWA are concerned whether or not we'll be able to fly as planned if the flight attendants strike.
If they do...do you have a backup plan? I'd be interested to hear what it is. Ours is to drive down to Orlando (from just south of Detroit). This doesn't sound too appealing to me , just wondering if anyone has any other options I may not have thought of. I've heard they will try to place you on other flights, but that it may not be until the next day.
Any thoughts?

Drive.

It will cost us more (we got killer airfare on NWA) and we will lose a day of our trip, but I guess it's our only choice.

The nightmare scenario (for us) is having our connecting flight cancelled. We have one layover on our way to MCO. Nothing would be worse than if that 2nd flight was cancelled.

I'm not worried about getting back. I'd stay at WDW forever if I could!!!

 

[jacksonsmom]

I have been thinking about this. We leave Sept 30th, hopefully things will be OK by then, but I am not counting on it.

I guess our only backup plan is to drive. Not something we really want to do but that would probably be our only choice at the time.
We have a non stop flight so if it takes off we are OK and I don't have to worry about the connecting flight departing, I feel bad for those that have to worry about that!

We are coming from Minnesota and we have never drove to Florida. It should be interesting if it shall come to that.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm saving some extra money in case I need to buy tickets on a different airline. I am flying down by myself, so there is no way I can drive all the way from Michigan. Even if I have to extend my vacation in order to get tickets, that is what I will do.

 

[jengelbrecht]

Maxiesmom, that sounds like a good plan.
I truly hope it works out for all of us. I need a stress-free vacation!

 

[hercamore]

No, I do not.

I'm flying NW on Monday out of SE MN, and flying out of MCO on 9/2.

I'm flying by myself and meeting DD in Fl who is a Fl resident now.

so, I'll be scrambling to get on Air Tran to MSP or ssomething.

Oy,

herc..

 

[ReneeA]

Blah!

My DH keeps telling me over and over not to worry about it. I am obviously the worrier in the family. This kept me up last night. He keeps saying...there has been a labor dispute with flight attendants on one airline or another (or a few!) every year and there has NOT been a strike by any flight attendants since 1993 - 13 years.

He's got a good point - the agreement wasn't voted down by much...a fairly small margin. If it comes right down to it, by most "experts" analysis, NW will probably have to go under at that point. Will most flight attendants push the envelope so far that they have NO job? I guess I'm just waiting to see what happens.

My back up plan is I guess to drive down if it happens. It won't be fun with a 3 & 4 year old to keep entertained.

 

[disneymom3]

I have no back up plan. We are only going for 5 days so driving is not going to work. My backup plan is to keep my fingers crossed really hard!

 

[cjnix29]

OP...we will be on the same highway! Our back up plan is to drive from Toledo. I am hoping and praying we don't have to, but we will do what we have to in order to get to the World!!! It happened to us last year when our airline (Transmeridian) closed up shop two days before we were supposed to leave. We did it then, and we will do it again if necessary. But I agree with the others, they will work something out.

 

[msinformation]

We've sort of been ignoring the issue and hoping they would settle...but maybe they won't! We leave on Friday, so I have no idea what we would do if they go under. We can't drive, and airfare this close to the travel day would be astronomical. Let's hope they work things out.

 

[jengelbrecht]

Sounds like a good number of us may be driving.
Car pool, anyone?

 

[jengelbrecht]

cjnix29, may I ask you a question? When Transmeridian closed up, did you get a full refund? I'm guessing probably not, but I'd like to hear first-hand how it was handled.
I think we all need to keep our fingers crossed really hard that NWA and their FAs work it out. That's a LONG drive down to FL...

 

[Bete]

I don't want to drive as a back-up. Unless, airfares change and sky rocket I would try to book another airline with or without credit from NWA. You would have to leave earlier if you drive or lose part of your time there, etc. The same is true for your return trip. You may have trouble getting more time off work, etc. to drive back and forth. Depending where you're from you may have an overnight cost to stay somewhere getting there.

I'm not sure about all the rules guiding this kind of problem, but hopefully you would have pre-time to book another airline with NWA credit if they don't go belly up.

Also, my understanding is that the pilots and mechanics had similar disputes with NWA and those issues were resolved. I would think any concessions made with flight attendants would be small potatoes compared to the high priced personnel.

I'm hopeful this will work out for all. There may be some delays around the August 25th date and a little beyond that date, but after that time it should be pretty clear what you will need to do to make other arrangements, etc. if it indeed becomes a serious, long strike.

 

[disneymom3]

Sadly, the mechanics were not resolved as they have been permanently replaced by those who stepped in during the strike. Technically the mechanics union is still on strike.

I realized a good thing--I hope--today. BEcause we were travelling during hurricane season, I bought travel ins to cover our airfare. I have to recheck that policy to make sure it would cover striking employees or a bankrupt airline.

 

[Bete]

I went through AAA at the time of my booking. It was very specifically explained that travel insurance would not cover my air portion; because, NWA was in Chapter 13 or 11 or whatever. I would think they would know the ropes about this part, but this may have been only the places they deal with for travel insurance like Disney's plan. Actually, I declined insurance; because, the air exclusion for a shorter trip for us was not worth it overall without air coverage. Please share (disneymom3) your insurance company if you have air coverage. I may still have time to get it. I went to NWA's site and it appears they offer insurance for flight cancellation through a company. Supposedly, you can buy it up to 24 hours before your flight. Of course, I didn't see any terms and/or conditions on this site about NWA being under Ch 13 and what that would mean, nor did it state anything about strikes.

Even if the original mechanics are not at NWA, the airlines continued to operate. For me, it was the only airflight I could get non-stop and that's why I chanced it.

Hopefully, we will hear more from the others who may have to scramble, etc. to secure other flights, etc. It's a few days away, now. On our morning news it was mentioned some affected passengers are receiving e-mails about what to do. Also, these strikes are suppose to be random by the flight attendants if they occur. I hope it will work out and no one will be forced to take other options. I haven't received an e-mail yet myself, but for those who do will you please share the info. I'll be looking at the web-site for info, too.

 

[CarolA]

The emails passengers are receiveing are being sent by the FA union. There is a place to sign up for them but I would probably NOT do it. From what I read on www.flyertalk.com it's not exactly a secure site and your email address could then be out there for SPAM by the TONS.....

Normally I suggest you read the NW forum on www.flyertalk.com but for some reason the mods there have pretty much made it useless by limiting the postings to one giant thread from you know where... I don't have 8 hours to spend weeding thru the garbage to get to the actual news. Flyertalk did not do this during the DL mess earlier this year and I have no idea why they have chosen to make the NW board so hard to work with, but if you have patience you might find something there.

 

[Docsknotinn]

No back up plan here and we depart on 8-29. Just four days after they plan to begin CHAOS as it is described by the FA's. Basicly if they walk they will be replaced very quickly and I think they know that. I see them settling at the last minute but either way I'm just gonna go with the flow and not worry. I did upgrade from coach to FC so I guess that was my semi-contigency plan.

 

[Brian Noble]

I bought travel ins to cover our airfare. I have to recheck that policy to make sure it would cover striking employees or a bankrupt airline.

You probably are not covered. As soon as NW declared bankruptcy, any policy purchased after that time is very likely to not cover NW or NWVacations.

CarolA: for some reason, the NW moderators are broken on flyertalk, and always have been. For example, there was a period where there were two boards---NW news and NW discussion, and threads were constantly being closed/moved between them for no good reason at all. It took months of members complaints before it was undone.

 

[cjnix29]

cjnix29, may I ask you a question? When Transmeridian closed up, did you get a full refund? I'm guessing probably not, but I'd like to hear first-hand how it was handled.
I think we all need to keep our fingers crossed really hard that NWA and their FAs work it out. That's a LONG drive down to FL...

I did! Thank goodness I paid with a credit card. I was up with the news at 6:30 am the morning after they closed up. My first call was to the people at Disney Visa. I had a full refund credited within a week. It was my understanding that they operated as a charter service of sorts, and by law they couldn't use any of the money given to them until the flights actually took off. So fortunately, I got it back. I am not sure if those that didn't use a credit card may not have been so lucky. I think the note they left on the counter actually told passengers to call their credit card companies!

 

[matt&jakesmom]

As for a backup plan, what choice do we have but to drive. We are to fly out on the 28th. I have been praying that there will be no problems and things get settled. This would cause so much disruption to alot of people that I hope it doesn't happened. And yes I am the one also who is the worrier of the family. Talk about stress. I need to get to WDW to unwind.