Anyone fly into Sanford late before?

[Kimba1818]

Hi we leave for Disney in 27 days and fly into Sanford on a Friday night. Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 9:25 p.m. I am worried our flight will get delayed and that we wont be able to get a rental car. Anyone have a similar experience with flight time and how did it go? We are driving to the Nickhotel and I am thinking from what I have seen with the directions the hotel is off of the Toll road 417 anyone agree? Thanks for your input.

 

[MulanMom]

Below is a copy of a post I made in another thread titled Sanford/Orlando Airport ?!?! It's a recent thread, so you should be able to locate it.

If you are interested in another car rental place, call them directly on the phone...number can be obtained either on the rental car company website or the Sanford Airport website. They will usually stay open.

We had a situation a few years back where we were scheduled to land at night about 15 minutes prior to the desk's closing time. I spoke with them directly to be sure they would be open when our plane landed. We encountered a problem. The pilot refused to land at Sanford supposedly because some construction caused the improper landing of another plane and knocked out a few of the ground guiding lights. We landed at MCO and sat for a few hours. We were unable to leave the plane because the airline had no priviledges at MCO. Very frustrating. During this time I called the rental car desk to be sure they would be open, which they assured me they would be there. And they were even though we arrived at Sanford a good two to three hours after our scheduled arrival.

So don't limit yourself to just one rental car company. Try contacting a few directly to determine your options.

Hope this helps!

 

[Kimba1818]

Thanks Mulanmom that is reassuring. I kind have been try to stick with Alamo because they assured me they will be there for an hour after the last flight lands. What rental car company did you have reserved out of curiosity?

 

[maine_jennifer]

That's the company my brother used in Oct 04 when he flew into Sanford and his flight was to arrive around that same time. He had no problems at all. I would recommend getting the name of the person you speak with that says they're going to be open. That way, if you have any problems, you have a name that use to say "Hey, so and so said you'd be open"!

Good Luck!

 

[Kimba1818]

Thanks for your input maine Jennifer. It is reassuring to know other people have been successful. I just keep thinking we will have a major blizzard here in Michigan and our flight will get delayed but I guess we will have to see how it goes.

 

[MulanMom]

Thanks Mulanmom that is reassuring. I kind have been try to stick with Alamo because they assured me they will be there for an hour after the last flight lands. What rental car company did you have reserved out of curiosity?

I believe it was National/Alamo. It was right around the time National and Alamo merged. The rental desk was in the same location...a little building literally steps from the main terminal.

If there was any night they would bag on their promise, it's the night I detailed in my previous message. And what scared me is it was during an earlier phone call that the mgr. promised he would remain there. As I called later and later, no one answered the phone. I figured maybe he went on break or even home until someone notified him that our flight was finally coming in. He was there when we arrived, as were a few additional rental agents assisting others from our flight.

I'd trust what they say. It's a given that you should be writing down the date and time of your call and who you spoke with. I'd also make sure they had my flight info so they can monitor the situation on their end. I try to verify the reservation 24 hrs. beforehand. And I would call and give a heads up if there are any delays.

Hope it all goes smoothly for you. Have a great vacation!

 

[leanne11]

they are contracted to stay until the last flight, we got so worried when our 8:00 pm flight was delayed until about 11:45, i called the poly and told them and called the 1800- number for dollar some moron told me they will close at 9m, so i said i wanted to talk to the person at the dollar counter at sanford they called and they said he will stay, he had 3 other ressies, when we got there i felt bad so dh got luggage and i ran over to dollar and he said are you guys finally here..he gave us a upgraded minivan and let us go.. i think they see it often