DTD check-in?

[yummymummywales]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to check, does anyone know what time the Virgin desk opens for check-in on DTD? What does everyone think of the service - is it worth doing?

Many thanks,

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

I'm sure when we were there in July our paperwork said 8.15am but the staff were very slow in getting started and weren't very pleasant when they finally did, but the service is worth doing. You have off loaded your luggage, got your boarding cards and know which seats you've got. We had to hang around a while for them to get organised so if we did it again I would maybe think about turning up a little later.

 

[hunty]

Last week the hours were 8:30 to 1pm

they will tell you on the flight as you come in to land I think these are standard hours

also last week the computers were down and had been the day before, so they were having to hand write all the boarding cards


Still only took about 10 minutes and that was at 11am

enjoy your trip

 

[wayneg]

I know many like to do this but I have never been and found it worth doing, tried just after opening and took about 1 hour, tried late morning and took about 45 mins, complete waste of time for me.
We do online checkin(takes 5 mins max) and then bag drop at airport, never had to wait more than a few mins, more often than not no wait.
We always return at end of school hols so probably busiest days of the year, if we went offpeak then I might try again but not end of school hols.
I don't mind leaving luggage in car while we goto a park on last day, others want to get rid of luggage.

 

[yummymummywales]

Thanks guys - nice to hear everyone's experiences

 

[zippy99]

We were there when Check-in was down.....WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

We arrived at 9.45ish and were not done until 12.30 - it is outdoors, there was not enough shade, my daughter actually passed out from the heat of just standing there. I had to ask one of the security staff to find her some water.

There was no obvious or easy place to get refreshments (without losing your place in line) and worse still - you are stuck there! If you don't want to queue where do you go will all your bags??

If I am honest, it ruined our last day as both the children felt so ill after having to stand in a queue in the heat for such a long time they were not up for enjoying our last trip to the magic kingdom.

As I wrote in my complaint letter to Virgin Holidays - we had a wonderful Disney Holiday - except for the parts that involved Virgin! Our first day (20hr delay) and our last day were ruined due to Virgin Atlantic problems.

I am fair and realise these things happen, however at least when our flight was cancelled the staff did everything to help - at the DTD check-in, it was just a nightmare they were equally hot and bothered and let it show - not good service at all.

I think it was such a bad experience I would not do it again.

 

[Chilly]

0815 is the opening time stated on Virgin's website.

I've done it twice in September with no problems.

 

[fairytale]

IMO it depends which class you fly.

We always travel PE and therefore the line at DTD check in is next to nothing whatever time you arrive, however, the queue for the economy last October was further than the eye could see, seriously.

I rememeber commenting to my DH that if I was in ecomony there is no way in this world I would wait in that line.

When we arrived at the airport to depart there was about 4 in the check in queue which seemed to defeat the object of waiting what i bet was a good 2 hours at DTD on your last day.

This year we are even considering bypassing DTD ourselves. Even though in the past the PE line has been next to nothing, when the the queues at the airport are non-existant and you've already reserved your seats, whats the real benefit of queuing all your last morning

 

[Twilight Terror]

fairytale is right - it all depends on your class. We have flown twice PE and four times Economy, using DTD check-in for all of them. The queues in economy have ranged from 15mins to just over an hour and every where in between. We do try to get there before 9am though.

The trouble for economy passengers is that PE, Upper Class and Gold FC have priority boarding over economy. So if the economy line is 7 families deep, and a PE customer arrives, they get seen to first, have bags weighed then sent straight to the desk, bypassing all those 7 families in the Economy queue.

We do DTD check-in these days because 1) we fly PE so it's quick anyway, and 2) because we usually have to speak to someone about the seating arrangements, because no matter how many times I call Special Assistance and no matter how many notes we have on file, the return flight never seem to be able to handle the requests as well as going out. Guess there are just more restrictions or whatever, but being there at 8:15am gives us a bit of an advantage over those checking in later at DTD or even at the airport.

Plus, we can fill out all the wheelchair/special assistance forms there and then, which just removes one more thing we would have to do at the airport otherwise.

 

[Lizzybear]

Like Wayne I much prefer online check-in then bag drop at the airport. We did DTD check-in last trip and didn't feel it saved us any time/was worth it to us so we wouldn't bother again. I know many find it beneficial though

 

[jen_uk]

Have used it 7 times, the first 6 times we got there late morning and it was pretty busy, usually took about 30-40 mins. This year we got there early just after opening and only waited about 15 mins, I think its worth doing as I don't like to leave all our luggage in the car.

 

[Minnie009]

When we checked in at DTD it opened at 8:15am. The queue was long and it took nearly 1 hour. By the time we'd checked in, the queue had got even longer.

Other people in the queue said they'd tried to check in online but couldn't get the website to work, so they went to DTD instead. So if online check in had been working, I think the queue would have been shorter. People were saying they didn't want to check in at the airport in case they couldn't get seats together.

Even though the queue was long, we liked this service and would use it again. We didn't have to worry about our suitcases on the last day, and it saved time at the airport.

However I can also see why people might not bother. I think it could depend on whether you have a hire car and/or what time your flight is. Also the end of the queue was out in the open, so if the weather had been particularly hot or wet it could have been uncomfortable.

This service was free for Virgin Holiday customers, and $10 per person for Virgin Atlantic customers.

 

[pacman9a]

We used the DTD check in in August, we got there at about 12 noon, only 2 groups in the queue ahead of us, we were all done including a seat upgrade within 30 mins, so I would definitely do it again.

 

[Ann B]

we have done it a few times. Usually wait is one hour plus but the last time we did it we were nearly 2 hours in the boiling heat of july. Awful. Last year we checked in online the night before and left the cases in the car and did bag drop at the airport. Much better than getting up early and getting hot and bothered outside in the heat!!