DME and early morning leave.

[ThisIsJason]

(If this isn't the right place, sorry.)

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 10:10 in the morning (ugh...but only direct flight time home).

1) I would assume that DME will be picking us up sometime between 6:30am-7:15am? Correct?

2) I take it we will have to take our checked bags with us to the airport and not be able to check them in at the resort? Or would we be able to check them in the day before (flying Southwest if that matters at all)?

Thanks!

 

[sam_gordon]

(If this isn't the right place, sorry.)

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 10:10 in the morning (ugh...but only direct flight time home).

1) I would assume that DME will be picking us up sometime between 6:30am-7:15am? Correct?

2) I take it we will have to take our checked bags with us to the airport and not be able to check them in at the resort? Or would we be able to check them in the day before (flying Southwest if that matters at all)?

Thanks!

1) Your assigned pickup time will be between 6:55 & 7:25am. You'll need to be at the stop 15 minutes before that assigned time.

2) RAC (baggage check) opens at 5am. You need to have your bags checked (as in walking away from the counter) at least three hours before your flight. So as long as your bags are checked before 7:10, you should be fine. Since you'll need to be at the DME pickup spot well before that, yes, you can check your bags.

ETA: If you're on an international flight, back up your pickup time by an hour. I'm not sure if RAC is a three hour or four hour limit for international, but you should still be fine (you might need to get in line at 5am, but it's doable).

 

[magicaldisney]

We are in the exact same position as you. This is a first for us (lowest air fare we could find), because we have always left late afternoon. We would check out at 11:00 and take the luggage to RAC and have hours before we would leave. We will be flying out at 10:30 a.m. so I was originally going to take our luggage with us. However, we then decided it would be easier to get up, pack the luggage and take it down to RAC before we go to ME.

 

[ThisIsJason]

1) Your assigned pickup time will be between 6:55 & 7:25am. You'll need to be at the stop 15 minutes before that assigned time.

2) RAC (baggage check) opens at 5am. You need to have your bags checked (as in walking away from the counter) at least three hours before your flight. So as long as your bags are checked before 7:10, you should be fine. Since you'll need to be at the DME pickup spot well before that, yes, you can check your bags.

ETA: If you're on an international flight, back up your pickup time by an hour. I'm not sure if RAC is a three hour or four hour limit for international, but you should still be fine (you might need to get in line at 5am, but it's doable).

Thanks! I was pretty sure baggage check opened up at 5am, but for some reason I thought that bags needed to be checked 4 or 5 hours before the flight for domestic flights. Good to know it is only 3 hours, we will probably check the bag by 6:30am then.

We are in the exact same position as you. This is a first for us (lowest air fare we could find), because we have always left late afternoon. We would check out at 11:00 and take the luggage to RAC and have hours before we would leave. We will be flying out at 10:30 a.m. so I was originally going to take our luggage with us. However, we then decided it would be easier to get up, pack the luggage and take it down to RAC before we go to ME.

Same here. Flights have always been late morning/early afternoon. Would take the bag down around 9:30-10:00 when we would check out. Good to know I can still take advantage of the baggage check with the early flight also.

 

[kristenrice]

We had the option to take a non-stop from MCO to GRR, but it leaves at 10:10am. I told DH that he was welcome to get up at 5:30am in order to go home...I won't do it. I did it in 2009 when I went with a friend and we had a 10am flight. I was at the RAC desk at Pop Century at 6:30am to get the bags checked. I never want to have to get up that early to go home ever again. We opted to take the 2:00 non-stop into FNT (saving $100 on the airfare) and pay the $45 for a one-way rental car to take us home. This way, we can sleep in a little more and enjoy a nice breakfast at Boma before leaving.

Now, coming TO Florida, then I can get up before the chickens. In fact, we are flying into TPA from GRR on a 6:30am flight. Since we are only taking carryons and we only live 10 minutes from the airport, I figure we can arrive between 5:15 and 5:30 and have plenty of time to clear security before boarding. GRR is such a nice, small airport...security is a breeze.

 

[ThisIsJason]

We had the option to take a non-stop from MCO to GRR, but it leaves at 10:10am. I told DH that he was welcome to get up at 5:30am in order to go home...I won't do it. I did it in 2009 when I went with a friend and we had a 10am flight. I was at the RAC desk at Pop Century at 6:30am to get the bags checked. I never want to have to get up that early to go home ever again. We opted to take the 2:00 non-stop into FNT (saving $100 on the airfare) and pay the $45 for a one-way rental car to take us home. This way, we can sleep in a little more and enjoy a nice breakfast at Boma before leaving.

Now, coming TO Florida, then I can get up before the chickens. In fact, we are flying into TPA from GRR on a 6:30am flight. Since we are only taking carryons and we only live 10 minutes from the airport, I figure we can arrive between 5:15 and 5:30 and have plenty of time to clear security before boarding. GRR is such a nice, small airport...security is a breeze.

That's the flight I am talking about. We thought about driving to FNT but said forget it and decided to move from AKV over to CSR for one night and just enjoy the pool and resort for the day, get up the next morning and leave.

This will be our first time flying out of GRR. Wife and I went to GVSU and lived near the downtown campus. Now we live just outside Kalamazoo (closer to Schoolcraft actually) and normally fly out of the huge 2 airline, 5 gate AZO.