Flight cancellation turns out to be a Bonus

[winterman]

Wanted to share our story.Yesterday DH checked on our Sept. Delta flights. We certainly expected to see some changes but these changes made our flights impossible. Southbound to Orlando the flight times actually overlapped by 20 minutes. On the return we had 3 minutes between planes. Obviously, that was not going to work. So we checked what flights were available and found 2 in each direction that would work for us.

We called Delta and talked to a lovely woman in Montreal. I explained the situation and gave her the flights that we had found. She made the process easy and pleasant. And best of all we ended up with better flights than we had started with. We are now arriving at MCO at 11:30 AM instead of 7:48 PM and we get an extra hour the morning of our return. (Our original flights weren't the greatest times because I am flying out of Bangor using just 25,000 miles. That greatly limits our choices.) Now, I just pray there are no more changes.

 

[cel_disney]

I know that Delta was getting a bad rap in some threads this week for making flight changes, but whenever this has happened to us, customer service has been really accomodating!

Last year - they cancelled the flight we were on, moved us to an earlier flight. We wanted a later one - so they moved us to that, then we decided that half our party was going to stay an extra day rather than fly in really late with a 2 year old, so they split up our reservations so half could fly the original day, and the rest the next day.

Better yet - the new flights that we were all booked on, cost less than the original flights we had picked - so I asked for a refund (very politely!). They gave us delta credits for 51$ each for each of the 5 of us! They had to be booked within 1 year of issue. I used them towards our tickets for this years trip!

Hopefully nothing else will change for you!! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Macduffy]

What a small world! We had the exact same flight change flying out of Bangor for Sept 17th! We now leave at 6 AM but I'm so happy we'll be arriving in Orlando early! We are staying overnight at the Sheraton at the airport as we are driving in from Canada and while it's costing us $150 for the change in departure time but it's still worth it. Funny changes can be SO good or SO horrible!

 

[winterman]

Macduffy, as you can see we're heading to Orlando on Sept. 14. We are returning on the flight that arrives in Bangor at 6:44 pm on Sept 24. How about you? Have a great trip!

 

[Shih-Tzu]

Same for us - flying out of Bangor on 2 Sep - (and the change actually gives us a little more time to change at JFK both coming and going). I assume that with the 6:00am flight now that we have to be at the airport at 4:00am
Someone told me that I have to worry about fog cancelling/delaying flights arriving and taking off from JFK - is that usually a common problem? I was more worried about a hurricane/tropical storm causing problems in MCO....
hope all fellow NB'ers and Maine neighbours have a great trip....

 

[Macduffy]

Shih-Tzu, I'm in Fredericton - too funny! I'm leaving on the 17th and returning the 24th!!! I was worried about connecting at JFK with two little ones but was told that since we are staying in Terminal 3 (all delta flights depart/arrive there) AND that it was an early flight that this should go off without a hitch. Here's hoping

 

[winterman]

I assume that with the 6:00am flight now that we have to be at the airport at 4:00am
Someone told me that I have to worry about fog cancelling/delaying flights arriving and taking off from JFK - is that usually a common problem?

Have you flown out of Bangor before? You do not need to arrive 2 hours before the flight. We'll probably aim for 4:30 or 4:45 for the 6:00 flight.

We have never flown thru Kennedy before but hopefully by 8:40 any fog would have burned off.

Mcduff, thanks for the info in the terminal in NY. That's good news.

 

[Shih-Tzu]

No, I have never flown out Bangor before...I was just sort of going from experience in other airports (like Halifax where there was a 3 hr check in for an AirTransat flight and Paris that had the same thing for Corsair - but maybe because they're charters??). I know here in YFC there's nothing going on at the airport that early....even if it's 2 hrs before flights...and going by the Bangor airport web-site the Delta counter opens at 4:00am so I assumed it was opening for the 6:00am flight - but an extra 45 minutes of sleep sure works for me Thanks for the tip. I was a little worried about the connection times at JFK although everything is in the same terminal...but not as worried now....
So where are you all staying....we're staying at the CBR (about the only abbreviation I know so far ). I haven't been to Disney in AGES (Splash Mountain was a mountain of structural steel in Oct '91....)

 

[Macduffy]

I'm hoping that staying AT the airport will allow us to sleep in a little more than if we stayed offsite. 3 hr check in are suggested for international flights and 2 hr for domestic but seriously ... Bangor has 3 gates (like YFC) and it's 6 AM so I'm not showing up there at 4:00 AM with two cranky kids. I was thinking we'd check in at 5 AM but I'll call the airport directly to see if that would be a problem. We're staying at ASSp (all star sports). We are getting two rooms so value was the way to go for us!

 

[Shih-Tzu]

I probably would have gone that route (i.e. hotel) too, but because of the free dining plan, the money we've saved is being "re-invested" into the upgrade. We're also taking my mother with us, so if she's not up to doing theme parks everyday at least she can pretend she's down south...(and at my age I'm not so sure I have the stamina to do it everyday either .

I now have to try to decide which hotel to use in Bangor - apparently some have the park-n-fly program. I'm trying to remember the name of the one that's connected right to the terminal....

One disadvantage with the flight changes - we were due to arr BGR at 5:??pm and now it isn't until close to 7:00pm - after travelling all day and the fact it will a three hour drive (most of it in the dark with moose and customs to slow us down...) I'm trying to decide whether or not to overnite on the way back as well.

 

[winterman]

I now have to try to decide which hotel to use in Bangor - apparently some have the park-n-fly program. I'm trying to remember the name of the one that's connected right to the terminal.

The hotel at the airport is the Sheraton Four Points. Within a mile are several others - Ramada, Holiday Inn, EconoLodge, Days Inn, and Howard Johnson's. As far as I know they are all decent.

BTW, we are staying at All Star Music with free dining for the first 5 nights, then moving to Port Orleans French Quarter for the last 5 nights. We have a 40% pin for the latter.

 

[Macduffy]

That will be nice to break up the trip with two resorts! I'm hoping that we'll get some sort of PIN or bounce back to justify another trip! ASMusic seems nice and it was recently redone Winterman how far are you from the airport? Hope it's not a long drive!
I'll make DH drive back home that night. It should still be "light" out in September - at least until we are close to home.
We are paying $149 (tax included) to stay at Four Points but that gives us 1 week of free parking at the airport. So that's a savings of about $40 I suppose. A $100 for a hotel seems about right in Bangor.

 

[winterman]

Hi. We are 12 miles from the airport. Usually we get a ride to and take a cab back but this trip we'll be leaving our car at the airport. It will cost twice as much as the cab but I don't want anybody else to have to get up to get us there before 5:00 am. And it will be very convenient. Macduffy, if your DH is anything like mine, he'll sleep the entire time on the plane. So he should be fine to drive.

 

[Shih-Tzu]

I was thinking that by the time we arrive at BGR on the return, rescue baggage, get the car and get on the road, it would be probably close to 7:30 - and then we'd have to eat before too long (although maybe if there's time grabbing a bite at JFK would be an option)....I think it get's dark around 8:30pm or so here in September (so that would be 7:30pm over there?). Guess I better get going on getting the hotel reservations done - the day we fly out is going to be a long one (we're going to the Spirit of Aloha our first night there to get into the "Magic" mood so it will be a late night)