Chicago Layover in Two Weeks

[JayhawkFans]

Starting to get a little anxious about our decision to use Southwest with a one hour layover in Chicago/Midway. Our flight leaves Orlando about 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, 1/16 with a final destination of Branson, MO. That is the only afternoon flight available on Thursday.

With the recent snow / ice / travel delays it has me more than a little anxious. I checked today and we can get decent airfare on Allegiant with a non-stop flight to an airport 30 miles from home but would require an extra night hotel, extra day on rental car, extra day missed from work .. UGH!!!

Don't know if I should be pro-active and book the Allegiant (just in case) or wait and take my chances .. it would be an extra $400 for the airfare (total for 3 people) ...

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

YOu will have more trouble with Alligent if there are weather issues. See Alligent only has a handful of planes in their entire fleet. That is why there is only one flight a day from each airport. If for some reason your Alligent plane can't make it to Chicago you could be stuck for days. Whereas with SWA they have numberous planes and flights they could book you on.


If there is a weather delay it does not matter what airline you are on you will be effected

 

[JayhawkFans]

Sorry .. should have been more clear in my initial post ..

Allegiant is Non-Stop from Orlando to our "home" airport. I would be very surprised if we get enough snow/ice in two weeks to cause delays here locally.

Southwest is who we currently have with a one hour layover in Chicago .. our little airport gets just two flights a day from Southwest and we won't be off the ship in time to catch the early morning flight so our only option is the one we are booked on.

I guess worst case scenario is we get stuck in Florida or Chicago for an extra day waiting on Southwest's flights to get re-routed? Never had to deal with weather delays as we typically go in September.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We had a storm cancel on flight from MCO to CLE and got stuck at BNA. It wasn't bad. They got us out the next morning at 6 a.m. The flight they canceled was a 11:00 p.m flight so we just hung out at the airport that night since we had to be back at the airport at 4:30 the next morning. SWA gave us free snack and soda through out the night.


One bit of advise if they cancel your flight get in line quickly to rebook and while in line also call SWA to rebook. Some times calling is faster but I would also stand inline encase the phone lines are busy.

A few minutes after we rebooked they were telling people the next available flight was 3 days later! So act fast if the cancel your flight


One other thing, I would try and sit infront of the plane that is going to Chicago that way you do eat up a lot of time waiting to get off the plane. ANd I have flown on SWA a lot and they tend to run 15 - 20 minutes early on arrival times!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I agree with "Shelly F - Ohio" that I would much rather rely on Southwest Airlines than on Allegiant Air during a time when there might be weather delays and weather cancellations.

Southwest has a huge network of frequent flights throughout the United States. If a connection isn't going to work, Southwest can put passengers on other connections. And if a connection is missed, Southwest has so many operations at its major hubs, including Chicago-Midway, that passengers usually can be re-accommodated somehow.

Allegiant appears to have a big route map, based on how many airports it serves. But many routes only operate twice a week. Weather in one part of the country can mess up flights in another part of the country. Allegiant only offers nonstop flights. That sounds great on the surface, but if a flight is canceled or substantially delayed, Allegiant gate agents can't do much to help.

 

[JayhawkFans]

Thanks for your replies .. I will sit tight with what we have and hope for the best. I checked the extended weather forecast with accuweather and it's showing a warming trend for around the time we will be flying so fingers crossed .. that's accurate!!!

 

[csarenz]

I agree to stick with SW. I have always found their customer service in regards to cancellations, I had a flight from Newark to Dallas that got delayed so that I would miss my connection in St. Louis. They rebooked me to Dallas through Houston so I arrived before my luggage that was on the original flight.

So if there are issues they will make sure you get to Orlando.

 

[jsilvers]

I agree to stick with SW. I have always found their customer service in regards to cancellations

FYI, Southwest yesterday had a massive customer service meltdown at Midway, which is likely to result in major fines. See http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local/chicago_news&id=9380415. In the past, your confidence in Southwest might have been warranted, but it's not the airline that it used to be.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

FYI, Southwest yesterday had a massive customer service meltdown at Midway, which is likely to result in major fines. See http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local/chicago_news&id=9380415. In the past, your confidence in Southwest might have been warranted, but it's not the airline that it used to be.

I think you're being a bit unfair (and I am no Southwest fan). The weather conditions were extreme.

While I feel sorry for those passengers, it's not as if this storm was any surprise. If they had paid attention to the weather and been proactive about rescheduling their flights before going to the airport, they could have avoided the long lines and chaos at the airport.

 

[nilseks]

Yes, SW had a meltdown at Midway this week. But that's definitely not the norm. I'm a big SW fan, we fly regularly out of Midway and Milwaukee and I will say without a doubt their flights have a FAR better on-time record than United or American. I do think SW is getting a bit too big for their britches lately; my husband flies them all the time for work and the past month was the first time (believe it or not!) he ever had a major delay on a SW flight. And then...another one on the way back. I don't know if it's growing pains but they still have my benefit of the doubt.

People and airlines are pretty used to snow here in the Chicago area. You should be okay.