4 Hour Pickup Window

[johnnyr]

Just wondering how the 4 hour DME pickup time is going. Are people sitting around the airport in the terminals waiting too long for the flight? I kept looking at the security wait times over the past couple weeks and they didn't look all that bad to justify a 4 hour pickup time. What was your experience?

 

[cruisin5]

Our pickup time was 5:30 am for a 9:15 am JetBlue flight. We were the first stop at OKW then on to POFQ and CBR? With pre-check we were at the gate for the boarding of the 7:15 am flight. We would have hopped on but JB wanted $75 each as a change flight fee.

Considered taking an uber but decided it was just a safer bet to take the bus.

 

[Firepath]

We had a 3:10am pickup for our 7:05am flight earlier this month. We stopped at two other resorts after ours and were to the airport before 4:30am. No traffic or construction delays on an early Saturday morning. We had to check bags and then breezed right through the TSA pre-check line around 5 am. The regular line wasn't much worse. We were pleasantly surprised that most every vendor in our terminal was already open or in the process of opening so we weren't just sitting there hoping for something to eat and a cup of coffee. For us though, the 4 hour pick up was overkill and we would rather have had the extra hour of sleep. Later in the day may be a different story.

 

[anonymousegirl]

I ditched my planned DME ride to the airport. I'll Uber before I do a 4 hour wait. I have TSA-Pre and CLEAR. My waits at security, even during busy times, is 5 minutes.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I have been twice since then and both times I gave DME a flight that leaves an hour later than my actual flight. It is noted that if you do this, and you miss your actual flight, DME won't be held responsible.

Both times I had over an hour to wait at the gate. Had I taken the 4 hour prior pickup, that would have been more than 2 hours at the gate.

 

[Shanti]

I have been twice since then and both times I gave DME a flight that leaves an hour later than my actual flight.

This is what I plan to do for our next WDW vacation, except I'll probably give them a time that's 1 and 1/2 hours later. I love DME, but I do not love sitting around the airport all day. When your bags are already checked in via RAC & you have TSA pre-check, that 4-hour rule is just a colossal waste of time.

 

[Moliphino]

We had a 5:15 pickup for a 9pm flight on Sunday. Our bus didn't stop at any other resorts, so we were at the airport just before 6. TSA lines were short, maybe 10 minutes. So yeah, we had a lot of time just sitting around the airport.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I notice that everyone here has had flights very early in the morning. I wonder about people who flew at the more common times, in the afternoon for instance, when lines are generally longer.

 

[DebbieB]

2 weeks ago we had a 3:15pm flight, got picked up at 11:00am at Boardwalk. Got to the airport around 11:35. We sat out in the common area for a few minutes while rearranging items in carryon. Used TSA pre-check, through in about 5 minutes. Regular lines were not long. At the gate by 12:15. Flight delayed to 4:15, didn't leave until about 5:00. We talked about doing Uber but we were able to move up our Cape May reservation from 9:50 to 9:00, that's all we had planned. We were back at BW in time to catch the bus.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Neither of my flights was morning. One was at 2:30 pm and the other at 7 pm. I have precheck though and did not wait longer than 10 minutes for security.

 

[johnnyr]

Almost I forgot I posted this question. It sounds like everyone is getting through security rather quickly only to sit and wait. I'm sure next week will be extremely busy with the holiday travelers. I can MAYBE understand their reasoning behind a 4 hour pickup time during peak times, but even that is extreme. I have been through many airports during various peak travel seasons and never had more than an hour wait in a security line. The MCO security line last year on January 1st was insane but we got through it in about 40 minutes. Could it be they are allotting the extra time for traffic and construction in the area? Just trying to wrap my head around why you would possibly need to arrive at an airport 4 hours before your flight.

 

[FCDub]

Almost I forgot I posted this question. It sounds like everyone is getting through security rather quickly only to sit and wait. I'm sure next week will be extremely busy with the holiday travelers. I can MAYBE understand their reasoning behind a 4 hour pickup time during peak times, but even that is extreme. I have been through many airports during various peak travel seasons and never had more than an hour wait in a security line. The MCO security line last year on January 1st was insane but we got through it in about 40 minutes. Could it be they are allotting the extra time for traffic and construction in the area? Just trying to wrap my head around why you would possibly need to arrive at an airport 4 hours before your flight.

The buses aren't really scheduled to arrive at the airport four hours before the flight. There is built-in time to stop at other resorts, too.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You don't arrive at the airport four hours before your flight. You are picked up at your resort by the bus four hours before your flight. You can spend up to an hour on the bus while it stops at other resorts and then drives to the airport, or it could go right straight to the airport, it depends. You would probably arrive at the airport anywhere between three and two and a half hours before your flight if all goes as planned. The Orlando airport authority recommends arriving three hours before your flight time (recently revised upward from two hours.)

 

[sam_gordon]

Almost I forgot I posted this question. It sounds like everyone is getting through security rather quickly only to sit and wait. I'm sure next week will be extremely busy with the holiday travelers. I can MAYBE understand their reasoning behind a 4 hour pickup time during peak times, but even that is extreme. I have been through many airports during various peak travel seasons and never had more than an hour wait in a security line. The MCO security line last year on January 1st was insane but we got through it in about 40 minutes. Could it be they are allotting the extra time for traffic and construction in the area? Just trying to wrap my head around why you would possibly need to arrive at an airport 4 hours before your flight.

As far as "why"... MCO is now recommending arriving at the airport 3 hours before your flight. Disney pushed back the pickup to 4 hours before the flight to accommodate that.