Cancellations During Hurricane Weather?

aubriee

<font color=brown><marquee>Chocolate always makes
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
I went to WDW in January and just got back again, May 22nd. Due to the time of the year I wasn't worried about the weather. However now it's time to plan my next trip. I'm taking my son and D-I-L and she wants to go Sept 17th-Sept 24th. Yeah I know, hurricane season :earseek: . She has never flown and is terrified of flying, so we were going to have to drive (22hours :earseek: ). I thought no big deal as 'room only' reservations allow a five day cancellation policy and we would know within five days if a hurricane was developing. Right? Anyway she now decides she wants to 'try to fly'. Flying out of Dallas, we don't have alot of choices for direct flights (American or Air Tran) and American is lousy when it comes to changing/cancelling a flight (very expensive and you better have a good reason). For people who have traveled to WDW in the middle of hurricane season, does anyone know what the policy is (for both airlines and hotels) if a hurricane is developing and you want to change your dates or cancel. Sorry, but I'm from east Texas and we don't have hurricanes here and I have no desire to meet one up close.

Also I'm a little concerned (make that alot concerned) that we'll get to DFW airport and won't be able to get my D-I-L on the flight. She has what she calls 'swimmers' ear' and gets VERY car sick and is afraid of being sick on the plane (in addition to being terrified of flying). Any suggestions?
 
Last year, several days before the hurricane hit, the Orlando airport closed. Flights did not take off. The airline had to cancel or reschedule you.

You should take out trip insurance if you are truly woried about it.
 
The airlines and WDW were very good at changing your flights or your reservation last year.
 
I always fly American ...and have gone during hurricane season. they have always been great! one year there was a pending storm, around the day I wa to depart, I called and they let me move my trip up...no fee. they seem to be extremely flexable
 


Maybe DIL can see a doctor before the trip. Isn't there a patch or something that can help? My mom gets the same thing (I'm assuming swimmer's ear is a middle ear problem kind of like vertigo). I don't want to be discouraging, but if it were me I'd want to know, my Mom has been ill for a couple of days following a few of her trips. This is more true if there is a lot of turbulance or if she has to take a smaller commuter jet. You, I assume, will not have to use any sort of commuter jet from DFW. Does the med. anitvert help her? Maybe doc could give her Rx for a few doses. Good luck.
 
Our orginal departure day (Sun) was the day the 4th hurrican hit last Sept. We were staying in the CR, 14th floor. We had flown down on Spirit.

We saw the storm brewing and were keeping an eye on it. Thurs, it looked like it might be coming Orlando's way. We called Spirit to see if we could change our flights. They would only change them for $50 per ticket as they saw "no problem" with the storm. The Concierge's knew nothing either. Fri, again we call, and to everyones's eyes, the hurricane would cause "no problems". At this time, the weather forcasters were predicting a direct hit on central Florida. Around 9pm Fri night, it was very obvious Orlando was going to take another direct hit.

Get on the phone to Spirit again. Oh yes, they do see a possible problem on Sun. Sorry, no more flight, everything was booked up! We kept calling every airline looking for a flight ANYWHERE out of Orlando. After many airlines completly booked, we found AirTran with a flight to NYC, connecting in SCarolina. It was "only" $950 for 3 1 way tickets. We booked it. It was for around 2pm Sat. We got up very early and headed to the airport around 7am as we knew it would be a mess. (It was.) Since it was less that 24 hrs before flight time, we only had a confirmed reservation, we actually had to buy the tickets at the airport.

Purchased the tickets with no problem (after a long wait in line.) Since we actually purchased the tickets at the airport, we were "marked" as terrorist suspects (even my then 5yo) and were all VERY WELL SEARCHED.

Sitting at the gate, we could see the hurricane moving in. We knew they were closing the airport around 4pm. We were so afraid they'd close it earlier. We made it out. Ours was one of the last planes to leave Orlando for about 4 days.

Our orginal plan was to leave Sunday. We had a room already paid for at the airport Hyatt for Sat night. We debated on leaving, staying at WDW (which we weren't crazy about since our room was $530 per night), or going to the Hyatt and taking a chance that we'd get out on Sun before the storm hit.

Even thought it cost quite a bit more, I'm so glad we left. The airport was closed for about 4 days and who knows how long it would have taken us to get out. Thought we had a room at the Hyatt, it was just for 1 night. We were afraid we'd have to leave and hang out in the airport waiting.

Will I go again in Hurricane season? If they are predicting a busy season, I don't think so. It was very stressful and ended up costing us an extra $500 (Spirit refunded 1/2 of our tickets and the Hyatt refunded our non-refundable room money.)
 
:( I'm not sure her taking a plane would be the smart thing for her to do with a bad ear(s). Even perfectly healthy folk on occasion have trouble with the pressure causing severe pain that can last well after a flight. Is there a possiblity of traveling by train from where you are? I know Amtrak has runs into Orlando and Kissimee.

A Bus is another option. They're much nicer now than years back.
 


We lost out on our trip last year because of Frances. MCO was closed down so Song rescheduled our flights to a trip this past February at no charge. We cancelled our room reservation last minute and had no trouble getting a refund on my credit card. We are trying again for the same weekend this year.
 
I had to postpone my birthday weekend trip due to hurricane Jeanne. Disney was wonderful as was Happy Limo. I was able to reschedule both with no penalty. USAirways was another story. Since I could not reschedule within 7 days, I had to pay a $100 per ticket penalty! I finally got them to give me a credit for half of the amount which I am using for my upcoming Disney trip. I concur with the earlier advice to take out travel insurance especially during hurricane season.
 
Those of you that had to cancel trips last year, did you cancel your WDW room ressie at the last minute? Traditionally, I know that room only ressies have to be canceled 5 days out, but 5 days is an eternity in the hurricane world, so how far out did you all cancel?
 
aubriee said:
Also I'm a little concerned (make that alot concerned) that we'll get to DFW airport and won't be able to get my D-I-L on the flight. She has what she calls 'swimmers' ear' and gets VERY car sick and is afraid of being sick on the plane (in addition to being terrified of flying). Any suggestions?

I get awful, sharp pains in one or sometimes both ears when I fly. It doesn't go away when we land either. For a few days afterwards I have an earache and hearing loss. Thank goodness we live in FL now and we rarely fly. I would have your DIL talk to her doctor about her ear and motion sickness concerns. I've heard that taking a decongestant an hour before flying could help with the ears. Dramamine might be an option for the motion sickness. It makes most people drowsy, but that might be a good thing. I don't think it would be a good idea to take the two medications together though.
 

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