11am Airttran fight do-able?

[afoss]

I know this question has been asked before, but would we make an 11am flight on AirTran coming home? Or has anyone had a flight around this time that they DID NOT make?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Jrsy Boy]

We were at the airport by 9:30, so I'd say it is do-able. Just plan on getting off the ship as soon as you are allowed to - no sleeping in!

 

[jel0511]

IF the ship isn't delayed getting into Port Canaveran, IF the ship isn't delayed by customs and IF the ship isn't delayed by non-US citizens presenting themself to immigration, and IF you disembark as soon as the ship is cleared (usually 7:30 - 8AM) you shouldn't have a problem. There are many ways the ship can be delayed in letting passengers off, with the biggest being non-US citizens not presenting themselves to immigration. You constantly hear DCL paging these individuals and if they don't come, DCL can't let passengers off. Personally 11AM is a little too close for comfort for me, and I'd book a later flight. Remember Air Tran isn't a participating airline at Port Canaveral so you have to check-in at MCO. The line there could be long and waste precious mintues when trying to get to a flight.

 

[starwood]

Please don't fly Air Tran. They are horrible. They stranded us in Atlanta (because of bad weather we were late arriving and missed our connection). We arrived on Sat. night and they said they couldn't get us to Newark until Tuesday evening. That's 3 days!!!! We asked about JFK, LaGuardia, Philly and the closes they could get us was Sunday morning into Baltimore. We then had to rent a car and drive home. They have also refused to reimburse any of our additional expenses (about $200 worth) because they couldn't get us to our destination in a timely manner.

 

[BethC1952]

We also flew AirTran, and had a wonderful experience. We were delayed by bad weather also, and, while we missed our connecting flight, they were able to put us on the next one. The only seats available were in business class...it was great! We were VERY delayed on that flight, got caught in a snowstorm over Baltimore, circled for a while and then landed to refuel. We finally arrived at Newark, safe sound and tired (and very late). They upgraded us to business class on our next flight for all of our trouble. We used them again last month, and are planning to use them again in December.

Beth

 

[LK03]

Security breaches - we could have made an 11 o'clock flight if they wouldn't have closed the B terminal! You couldn't go through security so there was this HUGE line when we approached at 9:30, we got through security right around 11 am. It was unreal, and obviously it doesn't happen everyday, but it can happen and there were lots of fellow DCL cruisers waiting in the same line as us.

 

[Typhoon Guy]

Not to turn this into an Airtran post but I gotta say I live in Orlando and my family lives near Akron Ohio. Airtran is our preferred carrier. They are cheap and they offer direct flights from Akron, Ohio to Orlando at the times of the day that are most convient to us. In the last 6 years I can't recall a single trip where we were delayed or cancled. My only concern at first traveling with them was thinking that this was the airline that was previously known as Value-Jet and did not do so good flying over the Florida Everglades.

Bless them all, just my thoughts

 

[DrCavin]

Not to turn this into an Airtran post but I gotta say I live in Orlando and my family lives near Akron Ohio. Airtran is our preferred carrier. They are cheap and they offer direct flights from Akron, Ohio to Orlando at the times of the day that are most convient to us. In the last 6 years I can't recall a single trip where we were delayed or cancled. My only concern at first traveling with them was thinking that this was the airline that was previously known as Value-Jet and did not do so good flying over the Florida Everglades.

Bless them all, just my thoughts

Have flown AirTran a few times, no problems with them. Was delayed due to weather into Atlanta, but can't blame AirTran for that.

Value-Jet was found not responsible for that accident...

 

[disneybride96]

I know this question has been asked before, but would we make an 11am flight on AirTran coming home? Or has anyone had a flight around this time that they DID NOT make?
Thanks in advance!

We're doing an 11am Airtran flight in November. I would have liked to have an extra hour, but the next flight was a 7pm. Which is worse, a chance on an 11 am flight or knowing you have to spend 7 hours in the Airport with two four year olds and their little brother?

 

[starwood]

I don't blame Air Tran for bad weather in Atlanta or that the connecting flight left. I do blame them for telling us they couldn't get us on another flight for 3 days! Then not reimbursing us for any of our additional costs because we had to fly to Baltimore instead of Newark and drive home the rest of the way.

We could have driven home from Atlanta in 3 days!

 

[kreedham]

Air Tran was certainly good to us. We cruised back in January. Based on weather forecasts we decided to leave Friday night instead of Saturday a.m. We boarded the plane about 10:45 and to make a long story short didn't leave until about 7:30 the next morning. The plane in Atlanta had to be deiced several times. While it wasn't fun sitting on a plane for over 8 hrs they finally got us there just before the ATL airport shut down. Imagine our surprise when we got home and got a letter from Air Tran informing us of a credit on our card for the flight with the news that we would be getting a free round trip on top of that!

To answer the original question you should make that flight as long as you stay moving.

 

[tvguy]

Disney recommends nothing before 12:30 pm.
Others have made earlier flights, but I suspect Disney says 12:30 pm because that is a time that experience shows them allows passengers to deal with the most common delays.
We had a 12:35 pm flight and barely made it. We were off the ship by 9:15 am (after waiting in line for 45 minutes to get off the ship, which is why I think Disney should abandon the chaos it's exit system, or lack of system creates) and at the airport by 10 am.
However, the problem we had was a 90 minute wait to clear security at the airport.
We literally walked right onto our plane because it was already boarding when we got to the gate.
Sort of like not stopping at a stop sign, most of the time it isn't a problem, but once in a while you'll get caught.
I'd say, take a later flight.

 

[crisi]

Security lines at MCO can get quite long.

We wouldn't have made an 11:00 flight (our flight was at 3:00). Lost luggage coming off the ship created a delay, then we would have had an hour + security line.

 

[afoss]

Thanks for all the advice. I've been on AirTran before (didn't know they were once Vaule Jet) and have had OK service. When flying out of Indy, you don't have much choice in airlines with decent flight times.

Sounds like 11am may be too close but I wonder if the lines at the port and airport would be as long since the cruise would be late Oct?

I keep hoping flight rates will drop and I can get a different flight but no luck yet. Maybe when Southwest opens up....