Bad weather question

[DizneyLizzy]

Good morning transportation experts!

I am spending the weekend in WDW, planning to fly home on the last flight from MCO-BWI on Sunday evening (I think it leaves at 8:10 PM and arrives sometime between 10 and 10:30)

Apparently there is some sort of winter weather involving ice coming in on Sunday that will impact many flights throughout the day and evening on Sunday.

Do they ever cancel flights earlier than 3 hours ahead of time? (My ME pickup) I don't mind getting "stuck" in Disney one extra night, but it would obviously be ideal if they cancelled it ahead of time.

Does this EVER happen??

Thanks in advance!

 

[DVC California]

*Snip*

Do they ever cancel flights earlier than 3 hours ahead of time? (My ME pickup) I don't mind getting "stuck" in Disney one extra night, but it would obviously be ideal if they cancelled it ahead of time.

Does this EVER happen??

Thanks in advance!

For weather related delays, it depends upon the severity of the event. Neither the airlines nor the passengers really want flights cancelled. If there is any possibility the plane can get off the ground safely (or land at another airport), the airline will keep the flight scheduled.

I understand your situation and would probably want to know myself. I'd rather stay in a nice safe room at WDW, than waiting it out at MCO.

That being said, keep checking the airlines website and if you have access to apps such as Flightboard, you might be able to predict whether your respective flight will be delayed/cancelled by seeing how other flights doing.


HTH, Steve

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Thanks! That's what I thought. Thanks for the insight

 

[Cmbar]

Who are you flying? If you are flying direct it must be Southwest/AirTran. I know we have been "stuck" at Disney before due to a massive storm in Baltimore. The problem wasn't so much getting the flight rearranged as getting a room at Disney. That was a nightmare! Good luck. We leave BWI on Saturday morning to head to Disney so I hope the weather hold off until Sunday.

If you are flying Southwest check their website or heck just call them. They are very helpful. They will have travel advisories also on their website if the storm is big enough to cancel flights. You probably will have more of delays though unless they just outright close BWI. Good luck!

 

[Cmbar]

Oh and keep in mind that those ME buses are filled to capacity based on the reservations of the flights. So you can't just "hop" the next bus. If say your flight is delayed by hours be sure to talk to the concierge if you want to take a later ME bus. Have a great trip!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Oh and keep in mind that those ME buses are filled to capacity based on the reservations of the flights. So you can't just "hop" the next bus. If say your flight is delayed by hours be sure to talk to the concierge if you want to take a later ME bus. Have a great trip!

Thanks so much for your insight and experience!! I am flying Airtran, booked through the Southwest website, so I guess I should just check their website a few hours prior to our scheduled ME pickup and go from there. Unless the flight is flat out canceled, we'll still hop our regularly scheduled ME bus. It's a Sunday night, so I'm hoping getting a room at Disney (if it comes to that) wouldn't be too difficult.

You should be fine flying down on Saturday. Have a great trip!

 

[TDC Nala]

Weather Channel or a weather app for a phone are helpful if bad weather is anticipated. So is the ability to check your airline to see if they issue a travel advisory, which usually means they offer to let people switch flights at no charge due to a weather event. I learned over the years that it is much better if the passenger is proactive with these things and does not wait to check on the weather or airline.

But sometimes it DOES happen that they do not cancel until you are already at the airport.

If that happened I would call WDW and work to get a room somewhere, they'll get you back on Magical Express.

DME is very very strict about taking later buses. I wouldn't do it unless I called them first.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Weather Channel or a weather app for a phone are helpful if bad weather is anticipated. So is the ability to check your airline to see if they issue a travel advisory, which usually means they offer to let people switch flights at no charge due to a weather event. I learned over the years that it is much better if the passenger is proactive with these things and does not wait to check on the weather or airline.

But sometimes it DOES happen that they do not cancel until you are already at the airport.

If that happened I would call WDW and work to get a room somewhere, they'll get you back on Magical Express.

DME is very very strict about taking later buses. I wouldn't do it unless I called them first.

My husband is a meteorologist and will be keeping me updated on the weather situation from home, so I think my biggest question now is...if I am on an Airtran flight booked through Southwest, which site should I be checking? Airtran doesn't have a smartphone app as far as I know. Maybe I'll just have my hubby checking the websites from home and updating me. Should he check the Southwest site or the Airtran site?

I definitely don't want to take a later ME bus unless my flight is actually cancelled - one morning in Disney I started getting text updates from Southwest saying that my flight was delayed 3 hours. By the time evening came, my flight was on time! Probably won't happen in this situation, but we'll see.

Thanks again everyone

 

[ibob52]

Depending on the weather predictions and if you can swing it.

Maybe ... check to see if you can add an extra day to your trip = now.

 

[Cmbar]

My husband is a meteorologist and will be keeping me updated on the weather situation from home, so I think my biggest question now is...if I am on an Airtran flight booked through Southwest, which site should I be checking? Airtran doesn't have a smartphone app as far as I know. Maybe I'll just have my hubby checking the websites from home and updating me. Should he check the Southwest site or the Airtran site?

I definitely don't want to take a later ME bus unless my flight is actually cancelled - one morning in Disney I started getting text updates from Southwest saying that my flight was delayed 3 hours. By the time evening came, my flight was on time! Probably won't happen in this situation, but we'll see.

Thanks again everyone

Don't know if you noticed but Southwest has a travel advisory out on their website now due to this storm. It is only for the cities affected today and tomorrow so keep looking as the storm moves towards Baltimore. We are hearing here that the ice storm will be more on Sunday mid day. Also on the advisory they state that if you booked on Southwest.com you can rearrange your travel online. (that would be if Baltimore is affected). So I would just have your husband checking the website over the weekend. If you booked through SWA you probably can change online for that Airtran flight.
Looks like nice weather down in Florida so have a great trip!