August Flights to FL

[Sebastian6027]

Not sure if we should drive or fly. What do the airlines do in case of a hurricane? I'm trying to convince my DH to fly. Need the info for him. Help.

 

[OKW Lover]

The airlines will not fly into conditions that would be unsafe. You will be re-booked once they resume flights to the affected area.

 

[goofy4tink]

We flew into MCO on the same day that Hurricane Charley arrived. We arrived at MCO about noonish. H. Charley hit 8 hrs. later. I believe they stopped allowing flights in by about 1 or 2. So, the bottom line is if you can get into MCO you're all set. Same thing with going home. We've traveled to WDW in Aug. three times now, with the fourth coming this year..only one time was it an issue.

 

[PatMcDuck]

How weird! We ALSO arrived at MCO on Charley day. We took a 7am flight out of AC in NJ. We sure did not expect Charley to hit Orlando head on! We were at Universals Royal Pacific. My teen sons went for a "walk" that evening and now confess they stood outside during some of those high winds.

 

[bavaria]

What to do if your flight is cancelled....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1363416

Summer weather delays are common; I fly through ORD all the time and its usual to have weather delays due to thunderstorms. Same with flights to/from the southeast.

If there is a threat of bad weather (hurricanes or snowstorms) usually airlines implement a revised travel policy. See the above thread for information

 

[goofy4tink]

How weird! We ALSO arrived at MCO on Charley day. We took a 7am flight out of AC in NJ. We sure did not expect Charley to hit Orlando head on! We were at Universals Royal Pacific. My teen sons went for a "walk" that evening and now confess they stood outside during some of those high winds.

And it looks like we'll be there together again this year!!! Here's hoping we have no 'windy' company!!!!!

 

[dsnymomof4]

When we were there in 2004, they had just had a hurricane and were expecting one at the end of the week. They decided ahead of time they would close MCO on Friday at noon. Of course, our flight was scheduled for later that day. I spent the last evening of our trip on the phone with Airtran - we tried to get an earlier flight, but all were booked. The weren't opening the airport back up until Monday, so I rescheduled the flight for Monday. Then after I thought about it, school was starting on Tuesday, so we decided we would drive home (to NJ). We left Friday morning in the most beautiful weather (no sign of hurricane - they probably didn't need to close the airport that early!). Anyway, Airtran was nice enough to let us cancel our flights without penalty and gave us a credit that we used the following year. So, my advice would be to watch the news while you're down there and have a plan in case your flights do get cancelled. Good luck!

 

[bg4]

Generally hurricanes are not something to worry about months ahead of time and no way to prepare for. I have been to Orlando in August many times and 2004 was first time that we experienced a hurricane. Even with that said it did not affect us as we arrived before it hit and departed after it hit.

Driving from Florida to the Northeast may not be advisable as hurricanes have a habit of staying close to the coast, hurricanes travel from south to north and may affect I-95 from FL to NY. The only way to avoid this would be to wait until the storm passes but by then airplanes would be flying so nothing is saved.