Air travel during lightening season

[charmed59]

The middle of the summer it is very common for lightening storms but here in Central Florida. My nephew was stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours earlier this month because without the people out on the tarmac they couldn’t get the luggage off the planes so there were no free gates.

I flew in on Tuesday just as a lightening storm rolled in. The gate was free so the plane could unload passengers at the jetway. They could not unload the luggage, and when we got to baggage claim it was clear they hadn’t been unloading any planes for about an hour. However, when we asked if we could just leave it to pick up Wednesday they were more than happy to tell us sure. The luggage was in a guarded gated area and they retrieved it quickly when we gave them the claim numbers on Wednesday.

So if you can’t travel with all carryons you might consider putting enough stuff for overnight in your carry on and pick up your luggage the next day.

 

[sam_gordon]

The middle of the summer it is very common for lightening storms but here in Central Florida. My nephew was stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours earlier this month because without the people out on the tarmac they couldn’t get the luggage off the planes so there were no free gates.

I flew in on Tuesday just as a lightening storm rolled in. The gate was free so the plane could unload passengers at the jetway. They could not unload the luggage, and when we got to baggage claim it was clear they hadn’t been unloading any planes for about an hour. However, when we asked if we could just leave it to pick up Wednesday they were more than happy to tell us sure. The luggage was in a guarded gated area and they retrieved it quickly when we gave them the claim numbers on Wednesday.

So if you can’t travel with all carryons you might consider putting enough stuff for overnight in your carry on and pick up your luggage the next day.

I'm surprised they let you leave it, but I guess it makes some sense because they'll end up with bags that didn't fly with their owners.

But ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, have enough necessities for the first 24 hours in your carryons. This includes, but is not limited to, all medications, electronics, and whatever clothing you feel is necessary.

 

[charmed59]

I'm surprised they let you leave it, but I guess it makes some sense because they'll end up with bags that didn't fly with their owners.

The reason I asked was I wasn’t sure they would let you leave it either. Their joyful response made me realize they would much prefer that than having people complain about lack of luggage for 3 hours.

When I picked it up the next day the grouping of unclaimed luggage looked to be about 60 suitcases.

 

[NotUrsula]

The middle of the summer it is very common for lightening storms but here in Central Florida. My nephew was stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours earlier this month because without the people out on the tarmac they couldn’t get the luggage off the planes so there were no free gates.

I flew in on Tuesday just as a lightening storm rolled in. The gate was free so the plane could unload passengers at the jetway. They could not unload the luggage, and when we got to baggage claim it was clear they hadn’t been unloading any planes for about an hour. However, when we asked if we could just leave it to pick up Wednesday they were more than happy to tell us sure. The luggage was in a guarded gated area and they retrieved it quickly when we gave them the claim numbers on Wednesday.

So if you can’t travel with all carryons you might consider putting enough stuff for overnight in your carry on and pick up your luggage the next day.

I'll bet they were more than happy you offered to pick it up; you saved them the normal delivery fee. They are supposed to deliver bags to you at no charge when they are "substantially delayed."

 

[Cheburashka]

This is one reason we prefer morning flights: very few thunderstorms at that time of day. We flew out of Paris in the late afternoon a few years ago. Our flight was delayed due to heavy rain. Upon landing at our destination, we learned that our bags had gotten soaked, absolutely soaked, from the rain, as if the suitcases had just been left outside in the downpour for quite a while. Had never experienced that before, but whoa, that one taught me. Now I only check in hard-sided luggage.

 

[JimMIA]

Well, you know the old saying in air travel: "Weather happens."

I guess we pay more attention to weather during the summer, but it actually happens 24/7/365. In the summer, you have thunderstorm delays, which can really cause a mess, especially because many of the main hubs for the major airlines are located in thunderstorm-prone cities like Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, etc. But the same is true in the winter, just different cities.

The problem is that disruptions anywhere in the system can create havoc everywhere. It's not just delays where you are, but if your connecting flight gets delayed, you can still get really messed up.

Back when I used to do a lot of traveling, I only actually got stuck overnight once -- and that was in Madison, WI which is not a bad place to get stuck. But I had a couple of situations where we really cut it close because the crews were timing out. I had one trip from Philly to Miami where we literally made it by less than 5 minutes, and my colleague who was en route Philly-Austin, TX on Delta spent the night in the Atlanta airport. I also had several situations where American saved me a lot of inconvenience by re-routing me because of my frequent flyer status.

As @sam_gordon said above, on all outbound trips you should always have whatever you need for 24 hours in carry-on.

 

[NotUrsula]

BTW, some years back, the Chicago Tribune won a Pulitzer for a 5-part story on air travel weather delays; it was one of those stories where they followed certain people for a period of time, both passengers and airline/airport staff. It's still a good read, because amazingly, not much has changed in terms of airline operations.

The story is called The Longest Day, and I should note that it starts out mentioning September 11th -- but the September 11th they are referencing is September 11, 2000. The day that they chose to follow people around O'Hare was one year to the day before the Al Qaeda attacks. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staff-49

 

[mikehn]

Like Jim said, there are weather events all year long. Sometimes your plane cant even land at the right airport and gets diverted to some other nearby airport to wait out the storm. That has happened to me more times than I'd like.

 

[holden]

It took us 6 hours from the time we boarded at MCO to landing at PHL in June. The flight is about 2.25hrs. We sat on the plane for the other 3.75hrs waiting for a storm to pass. It was horrible.