AirTran Question RE: BC Upgrade and RAC

[kristenrice]

Refresh my memory...

If you are using DME and RAC for your return trip, can you still use RAC if you upgrade to BC at 24-hours? I thought that if you "check in" (online, for example) before going to RAC, you won't be able to do it. Also, IIRC you get your boarding passes on your door the night before you leave...what happens if you do the upgrade? Will you need to get new boarding passes? I've done this whole procedure before and when my friend asked me to walk her through it today, I totally drew a blank.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have no idea....but I do know that in all my flights home, from WDW, using DME, I have yet to have anything left on my door, or under it, other than my DME pickup time. I keep seeing people speak about boarding passes left for them but I've never gotten any.
It drives me nutty to hear of bp's being left. When I asked about it before, I was told that no, they weren't 'dummy' bp's, but the real thing. So..my question is....what happens if the guest the bp's are for, aren't the same people in that room?? Or what if someone grabs them off the door..hahaha, very funny kids. We are asked for ID when getting bp's...what happens to that???
I'm just really curious as to how it works.

 

[ancestry]

I have no idea....but I do know that in all my flights home, from WDW, using DME, I have yet to have anything left on my door, or under it, other than my DME pickup time. I keep seeing people speak about boarding passes left for them but I've never gotten any.
It drives me nutty to hear of bp's being left. When I asked about it before, I was told that no, they weren't 'dummy' bp's, but the real thing. So..my question is....what happens if the guest the bp's are for, aren't the same people in that room?? Or what if someone grabs them off the door..hahaha, very funny kids. We are asked for ID when getting bp's...what happens to that???
I'm just really curious as to how it works.

We've always gotten a packet that included our DME pickup times along with our boarding passes. The only time we didn't get our boarding passes is when we checked-in on our own at the 24 hour mark. For example last time we had a 7:00 AM flight. Knowing we couldn't use RAC because it would be too early in the morning we had the front desk check us in and print out our boarding passes for us at our 24 hour point. In this case we didn't receive the boarding passes again, only the DME pickup information.

But anytime we didn't check-in on our own (because we were going to use RAC) we always have received our full boarding passes on the door.

 

[goofy4tink]

We've always gotten a packet that included our DME pickup times along with our boarding passes. The only time we didn't get our boarding passes is when we checked-in on our own at the 24 hour mark. For example last time we had a 7:00 AM flight. Knowing we couldn't use RAC because it would be too early in the morning we had the front desk check us in and print out our boarding passes for us at our 24 hour point. In this case we didn't receive the boarding passes again, only the DME pickup information.

But anytime we didn't check-in on our own (because we were going to use RAC) we always have received our full boarding passes on the door.

I seldom check in prior to heading to RAC. If flying SW, I usually have done EBCI. When flying any other airline, I don't ever checkin while at WDW...just wait to do it at the RAC counter. They must just not like me!!!

 

[kristenrice]

I wondered about the BP's too. The first time we used DME, I sent DH down to the RAC in the morning to check our luggage and get our BP's. He came back up and told me that I had to go back down and show them my ID so they could print mine up for me. This was at AK. The next trip, I was at Pop Century with my friend. We had a 10:30am flight so I was up at 6 to get the luggage down to the RAC. Lo and behold, I opened my door and there were our BP's hanging on the knob! That was in 2009 and the last time that we flew to WDW. I was just quite surprised to see that they'd printed our BP's without ID.

My friend wants to do the upgrade to BC for her return trip so she will need to checkin at the 24-hour mark. She'll do it online from her own computer. I'm just wondering what happens at the RAC desk if you are already checked in for your flight. Hmmm...come to think of it, maybe that is why our BP's were printed for us in advance on that trip....we'd already checked in at the 24-hour mark because I'd upgraded myself. Could that be it? Are the people who are getting their BP's on their doors ones who have already checked in with the airline? I would think that if the RAC can print your BP's, that would mean that you are already checked in, right? I don't see how they could do it if you hadn't checked in for your flight. I think in all of my ramblings, I may have answered my own question.

 

[goofy4tink]

I wondered about the BP's too. The first time we used DME, I sent DH down to the RAC in the morning to check our luggage and get our BP's. He came back up and told me that I had to go back down and show them my ID so they could print mine up for me. This was at AK. The next trip, I was at Pop Century with my friend. We had a 10:30am flight so I was up at 6 to get the luggage down to the RAC. Lo and behold, I opened my door and there were our BP's hanging on the knob! That was in 2009 and the last time that we flew to WDW. I was just quite surprised to see that they'd printed our BP's without ID.

My friend wants to do the upgrade to BC for her return trip so she will need to checkin at the 24-hour mark. She'll do it online from her own computer. I'm just wondering what happens at the RAC desk if you are already checked in for your flight. Hmmm...come to think of it, maybe that is why our BP's were printed for us in advance on that trip....we'd already checked in at the 24-hour mark because I'd upgraded myself. Could that be it? Are the people who are getting their BP's on their doors ones who have already checked in with the airline? I would think that if the RAC can print your BP's, that would mean that you are already checked in, right? I don't see how they could do it if you hadn't checked in for your flight. I think in all of my ramblings, I may have answered my own question.

Your 'ramblings' actually made sense to me. They did change the ID policy in the past few years. They say that only one adult per party had to be there in person to checkin. But, if you've already checked in, then that may explain the stuff being left on your door.

 

[ancestry]

Are the people who are getting their BP's on their doors ones who have already checked in with the airline? I would think that if the RAC can print your BP's, that would mean that you are already checked in, right? I don't see how they could do it if you hadn't checked in for your flight. I think in all of my ramblings, I may have answered my own question.

Nope. As long we we have a flight whose time allows us to be able to use RAC we never check ourselves in. We always let them do it for us. Our boarding passes always come with our DME pick up information. The only time they didn't arrive with our DME slip was the one time we did already check ourselves in.

In fact this past January (due to cancellations and bad weather) we actually received someone else's boarding pass. Due to an impending snow storm Jet Blue allowed people to change flights for free. Guessing that our regular flight was going to be cancelled I switched ours to a day later. Even though I called DME they still delivered the DME packet for the wrong departure date and had included someone else's boarding passes. They were confused because we were no longer on that flight and gave us someone elses! Our flight ended up being cancelled and the next evening we got another DME booklet and this time it had our correct boarding passes in it.

We usually fly Jet Blue. I wonder if the airline that you are flying has anything to do with it.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Can someone tell me what RAC stands for?

We will be flying for the first time since 1997 and they didn't have online check in or ME back then (to my knowledge anyway, we rented a car)...

This is a very informative thread

 

[goofy4tink]

You know something??? I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to it. I'm going to check into it when I'm down there in Oct. I can't use DME or RAC since we're flying into Sanford. But, I would still like to know what the explanation is.

 

[ancestry]

You know something??? I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to it.

Absolutely agree. If you find out anything please share. It would be good to know what the "official" policy and practice is even if they don't always follow it.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Can someone tell me what RAC stands for?

We will be flying for the first time since 1997 and they didn't have online check in or ME back then (to my knowledge anyway, we rented a car)...

This is a very informative thread

Resort Airline Check in

It actually has NOTHING to do with DME. It is like a sky cap at the hotel. You can check your bags and get your boarding passes rather than doing it at the airport. You do not need to use DME to use it.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Thanks Cinderumbrella!

I didn't know you could even do that

We actually have a late flight out (8:50 PM) so knowing that we can check in our luggage and get our boarding passes at the resort is great news!

 

[dudspizza]

Thanks Cinderumbrella!

I didn't know you could even do that

We actually have a late flight out (8:50 PM) so knowing that we can check in our luggage and get our boarding passes at the resort is great news!

Check out this thread for info on ME and RAC
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=944813

 

[crashbb]

Thanks Cinderumbrella!

I didn't know you could even do that

We actually have a late flight out (8:50 PM) so knowing that we can check in our luggage and get our boarding passes at the resort is great news!

You can't. Or rather, you might not be able to.

Are you flying to Toronto? Even if you are connecting in an American city, you cannot use RAC if your destination is outside of the US.

If you are flying into Buffalo and driving from there, you can use RAC, otherwise, no such luck.

Oh, and your pick up is FOUR hours (rather than THREE) before flight time.

 

[bdoyledimou]

We are flying out of Buffalo ($120 round trip each! vs $760 round trip to Toronto).

Just got my ME package today -- it has the info and it made me laugh !

 

[kristenrice]

Also, be aware that the RAC desk closes at 1pm. You will have to check your bags before they close which, for an 8:50pm flight (meaning a DME pickup at about 5pm), you will be without your bags for about 4 hours. Just pack your carryons accordingly and you'll be fine.

 

[crashbb]

We are flying out of Buffalo ($120 round trip each! vs $760 round trip to Toronto).

Just got my ME package today -- it has the info and it made me laugh !

Ah, then all is well.

I had just noticed your location, so wanted to point out the potential issues.

 

[honeymo78]

To the OP, I'm almost positive we have upgraded to BC on Airtran at the 24hour mark - either on the computer or calling to use credits and used RAC successfully. When we went down to RAC, they could see we were BC and printed out boarding passes (not sure if they were replacements or the first ones we got). Since they saw we were in the BC rows, they knew we didn't have luggage fees and we checked our luggage with no problems. However, the last time we did this would have been May 2010 at the earliest as we now have been driving down.