We got in late last night from what was supposed to be our Dec 6th-16th Orlando trip. We had a wonderful time once we finally made it down there, but the travel was a nightmare.
We were supposed to fly out of DFW Friday (6th) at 6:00am and land in Orlando at 9:30am. (However, we didn't get to our resort until Sunday morning at 2:00am.) On Thursday, watching the local weather, we saw we might have trouble driving the little over an hour to the airport, so decided to drive in Thursday night and stay at a park & stay hotel. It was a good decision. About 2:00pm Thursday afternoon we got a voice mail telling us our flight had been canceled, but they had rebooked us on a flight from DFW to Miami, then to MCO. I called and they got us back on a direct/nonstop flight to MCO leaving at 7:30am Friday. We drove to our park & stay hotel through a light icy rain. We then got a call at 0200am with a message telling us that flight had been canceled too and we had been moved to a 10:00AM flight going DFW to Miami, to MCO. Looking out the window we saw that light rain had turned to snow, sleet, and ice. We decided we'd better catch the earliest shuttle in case the weather got worse, so went downstairs at 2:00am to get on the list. Another good decision. The hotel said they were not sure if the shuttle was even going to be able to run at all. We caught the first shuttle and going just a few miles an hour we finally made it to the airport about 7:00am, just to find our flight had again been canceled. They then tried to put us on a flight from DFW to Denver with a long layover, then to Miami with another long layover, then not getting into MCO until Sunday morning (yeah three days of flying
). We told them no way! They then put us on a 1:30pm flight to Tampa, where they said we would have to rent a car and then drive to Orlando. That was the way the next two days went. They would put us on a flight, just to cancel it an hour or so later.
Actually we almost got out late Friday night. They had us on a 9:00pm CT flight to Tampa where we would arrive after midnight and rent a car to get to Orlando. Our pilot arrived and came out to tell us that they had not heard from the rest of the crew, but as soon as the minimum arrived, we'd take off. Two flight attendants finally showed up and got a cheering standing ovation. Another man we assumed was the copilot finally showed up and also got a standing ovation, until someone noticed he had a bag of food and a cup of coffee, at which time he was booed for being so late, just to stop to get food. They then called for preboards (wheelchairs) to line up. We no sooner stood up then it came across the monitor that the flight had been canceled. There was total outrage after the GA explained that the co pilot had not shown up (not sure who the other guy was--navigator maybe--he had wings on his uniform
). We had waited all day and finally got a plane that was going to be able to get out, just have the crew not show up.
At that point they told us no one was getting out until Saturday morning.
They then got us on a flight to Tampa leaving at 2:00pm Saturday afternoon (which of course was later canceled). We called our park & stay hotel, but was told they had no vacancies and besides no way was the shuttle able to get to the airport. We called several other hotels close to the airport, just to be told the same thing. The airport did pass out some cots and a few blankets, but did not have near enough for everybody. We were lucky to get one for each of us. Then for some ungodly reason the airport decided to cut the temperature down. I am normally very hot natured, but almost froze Friday night trying to sleep on that cot. Everyone was complaining how freezing it was in there. My husband gave his cot to a poor woman who had been stuck in the airport since Thursday morning (and was trying to get home to Florida to go on a cruise Sunday--she did not make it by the way). We got up Saturday (Dec 7th) to find that our flight had once again been cancelled. That was the way the day went. Almost as soon as they'd get us on a flight, they'd cancel it and book us on another. In all we were booked on like thirteen flights. As Saturday went on it looked more and more like we were going to be stuck sleeping in the airport again. People who had been lucky enough to get a cot the night before were renting luggage carts and keeping their cots with them. We had found a third cot for my husband and also picked up a few extra blankets we saw laying around, just in case we got stuck again. We guarded those things with our lives.
Thankfully we didn't need them. They finally got us on a 9:00pm CT flight to Tampa. Thankfully I had my laptop with me. On Saturday, every time they'd put us on a new flight, I'd go to the Costco travel site and was able to book a rental car for a fairly decent price. We got into Tampa around midnight, just to find they'd lost our single checked bag. Since they'd had it since early Friday morning and with almost every single flight out of DFW being canceled Friday and Saturday, we were not surprised. As of now twelve days later they still have not found it. Thank goodness we packed alot of our stuff in our carry ons and had a car to go buy the rest of the stuff we needed down there, (including another check bag). When we finally got to Tampa, they were out of full size cars (and just about any cars for that matter) so told us to take anything we wanted. We got a very nice black Impala. One word of caution: when you get a rental car, no matter how late it is, be sure to check the inside as well as the outside for damage. We drove to Orlando and finally arrived at Wyndham Bonnet Creek about 2:00am Sunday morning. The next morning we got up early to go over to Gayord Palms to see if they would honor the tickets we had for ICE that we had missed the day before (which they did). On the way over though, my mom, who was sitting in the back seat noticed a big 2"-2 1/2" cut in the leather in the middle of the back seat. We had not put anything in the back seat the night before (other than my mom) so knew we had not damaged it. When we turned it in at MCO last night, they didn't say anything about it, but if they had noticed it, it would have been only our word that it was there before we got the car.
Considering the hard time we had getting down there and the fact that they lost our checked bag, you'd think nothing could go wrong on the flight home, right? Nope! When I unpacked this morning, I found a note saying TSA had checked our bag. We had gone to Showcase of Citrus one day, where I had bought jars of pumpkin butter and mango marmalade. I had padded both with clothing to protect them. While unpacking this morning, I found TSA had left the mango marmalade, but took the pumpkin butter. They also took my brand new Ugg boots. I'm furious about them stealing my new Uggs, but why the heck would they take a jar of pumpkin butter, but allow the mango marmalade? They were in the exact same type glass jars.
We were supposed to fly out of DFW Friday (6th) at 6:00am and land in Orlando at 9:30am. (However, we didn't get to our resort until Sunday morning at 2:00am.) On Thursday, watching the local weather, we saw we might have trouble driving the little over an hour to the airport, so decided to drive in Thursday night and stay at a park & stay hotel. It was a good decision. About 2:00pm Thursday afternoon we got a voice mail telling us our flight had been canceled, but they had rebooked us on a flight from DFW to Miami, then to MCO. I called and they got us back on a direct/nonstop flight to MCO leaving at 7:30am Friday. We drove to our park & stay hotel through a light icy rain. We then got a call at 0200am with a message telling us that flight had been canceled too and we had been moved to a 10:00AM flight going DFW to Miami, to MCO. Looking out the window we saw that light rain had turned to snow, sleet, and ice. We decided we'd better catch the earliest shuttle in case the weather got worse, so went downstairs at 2:00am to get on the list. Another good decision. The hotel said they were not sure if the shuttle was even going to be able to run at all. We caught the first shuttle and going just a few miles an hour we finally made it to the airport about 7:00am, just to find our flight had again been canceled. They then tried to put us on a flight from DFW to Denver with a long layover, then to Miami with another long layover, then not getting into MCO until Sunday morning (yeah three days of flying). We told them no way! They then put us on a 1:30pm flight to Tampa, where they said we would have to rent a car and then drive to Orlando. That was the way the next two days went. They would put us on a flight, just to cancel it an hour or so later. Actually we almost got out late Friday night. They had us on a 9:00pm CT flight to Tampa where we would arrive after midnight and rent a car to get to Orlando. Our pilot arrived and came out to tell us that they had not heard from the rest of the crew, but as soon as the minimum arrived, we'd take off. Two flight attendants finally showed up and got a cheering standing ovation. Another man we assumed was the copilot finally showed up and also got a standing ovation, until someone noticed he had a bag of food and a cup of coffee, at which time he was booed for being so late, just to stop to get food.
They then called for preboards (wheelchairs) to line up. We no sooner stood up then it came across the monitor that the flight had been canceled. There was total outrage after the GA explained that the co pilot had not shown up (not sure who the other guy was--navigator maybe--he had wings on his uniform). We had waited all day and finally got a plane that was going to be able to get out, just have the crew not show up. At that point they told us no one was getting out until Saturday morning. They then got us on a flight to Tampa leaving at 2:00pm Saturday afternoon (which of course was later canceled). We called our park & stay hotel, but was told they had no vacancies and besides no way was the shuttle able to get to the airport. We called several other hotels close to the airport, just to be told the same thing. The airport did pass out some cots and a few blankets, but did not have near enough for everybody. We were lucky to get one for each of us. Then for some ungodly reason the airport decided to cut the temperature down. I am normally very hot natured, but almost froze Friday night trying to sleep on that cot. Everyone was complaining how freezing it was in there. My husband gave his cot to a poor woman who had been stuck in the airport since Thursday morning (and was trying to get home to Florida to go on a cruise Sunday--she did not make it by the way). We got up Saturday (Dec 7th) to find that our flight had once again been cancelled. That was the way the day went. Almost as soon as they'd get us on a flight, they'd cancel it and book us on another. In all we were booked on like thirteen flights. As Saturday went on it looked more and more like we were going to be stuck sleeping in the airport again. People who had been lucky enough to get a cot the night before were renting luggage carts and keeping their cots with them.
We had found a third cot for my husband and also picked up a few extra blankets we saw laying around, just in case we got stuck again. We guarded those things with our lives. Thankfully we didn't need them. They finally got us on a 9:00pm CT flight to Tampa. Thankfully I had my laptop with me. On Saturday, every time they'd put us on a new flight, I'd go to the Costco travel site and was able to book a rental car for a fairly decent price. We got into Tampa around midnight, just to find they'd lost our single checked bag. Since they'd had it since early Friday morning and with almost every single flight out of DFW being canceled Friday and Saturday, we were not surprised.
As of now twelve days later they still have not found it. Thank goodness we packed alot of our stuff in our carry ons and had a car to go buy the rest of the stuff we needed down there, (including another check bag). When we finally got to Tampa, they were out of full size cars (and just about any cars for that matter) so told us to take anything we wanted. We got a very nice black Impala. One word of caution: when you get a rental car, no matter how late it is, be sure to check the inside as well as the outside for damage. We drove to Orlando and finally arrived at Wyndham Bonnet Creek about 2:00am Sunday morning. The next morning we got up early to go over to Gayord Palms to see if they would honor the tickets we had for ICE that we had missed the day before (which they did). On the way over though, my mom, who was sitting in the back seat noticed a big 2"-2 1/2" cut in the leather in the middle of the back seat. We had not put anything in the back seat the night before (other than my mom) so knew we had not damaged it. When we turned it in at MCO last night, they didn't say anything about it, but if they had noticed it, it would have been only our word that it was there before we got the car.Considering the hard time we had getting down there and the fact that they lost our checked bag, you'd think nothing could go wrong on the flight home, right? Nope! When I unpacked this morning, I found a note saying TSA had checked our bag. We had gone to Showcase of Citrus one day, where I had bought jars of pumpkin butter and mango marmalade. I had padded both with clothing to protect them. While unpacking this morning, I found TSA had left the mango marmalade, but took the pumpkin butter.
They also took my brand new Ugg boots. I'm furious about them stealing my new Uggs, but why the heck would they take a jar of pumpkin butter, but allow the mango marmalade? They were in the exact same type glass jars.
. I cannot imagine how glad you must have been to finally walk off that plane an into the Florida sunshine!!!
.
