Gamble or pull the plug?

[liamthompson]

I have a flight booked to Disneyland this summer on Breeze airways. I've flown frontier a few times so I thought I understood the risk involved with low cost carriers but the lure of a direct flight and comfortable flight times won out.

Now Breeze is starting to cancel crosscountry flights similar to my route due to rising fuel costs. This will be my kid's first flight and I'm getting more concerned about long delays and getting stuck.

My husband is urging me to rebook us for WDW since we have multiple flight options to Orlando and it is also a driveable distance for us.

In my shoes, would you rebook? Advice please! Originally, I thought I would wait it out but now I'm thinking if I do decide to rebook, I should do it ASAP before flight prices jump further.

 

[fla4fun]

I have a flight booked to Disneyland this summer on Breeze airways. I've flown frontier a few times so I thought I understood the risk involved with low cost carriers but the lure of a direct flight and comfortable flight times won out.

Now Breeze is starting to cancel crosscountry flights similar to my route due to rising fuel costs. This will be my kid's first flight and I'm getting more concerned about long delays and getting stuck.

My husband is urging me to rebook us for WDW since we have multiple flight options to Orlando and it is also a driveable distance for us.

In my shoes, would you rebook? Advice please! Originally, I thought I would wait it out but now I'm thinking if I do decide to rebook, I should do it ASAP before flight prices jump further.

Have you priced other airlines heading to Disneyland? That would be my first choice if you have the hotel and tickets booked already.

I had not heard about Breeze having issues, although I did hear Spirit is struggling. I’m surprised more airlines haven’t added a fuel supplement to their tickets. The low cost airlines in particular are going to have a lot of financial pressure unless/untill fuel costs go down.

If canceling the Breeze tickets means no Disneyland at all, then I would probably switch to WDW now, especially since you say it is driveable if necessary. At least that way you know you can get there, regardless of what your airline does. The longer you wait, the fewer discounts may be available. I am sorry you’re having to deal with the uncertainty.

 

[liamthompson]

Have you priced other airlines heading to Disneyland? That would be my first choice if you have the hotel and tickets booked already.

Our current itinerary has us flying into SNA (john wayne)...most of our other options are flying into LAX. Our travel dates are during the world cup and with DHS funding still in limbo, this is another gamble. I do have hotel and tickets booked already although hotel is fully refundable and I bought the tickets through UT so my understanding is that I can still apply the value towards new WDW tickets.

The longer you wait, the fewer discounts may be available.

I just checked the disney+ hotel offer and there is a lot less availability than I thought!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

If you can cancel and schedule WDW instead, that's what I'd do.

We had a trip booked on Frontier Airlines (similar to Breeze - limited schedule) in June of 2024. Our departing flight was delayed just as we were about to leave for the airport, and then it proceeded to be delayed the rest of the afternoon. It finally took off at about 10 pm (was supposed to leave at 11 am) but we'd requested a refund by then. We kicked ourselves all week for not just going on the trip and arriving later (after all, our teenage son was routinely awake on his computer at 12 am), but when we checked the return flight back home to Chicago it was completely GONE. We would have been stranded in Tampa and scrambling to find a way home. We lost out on our timeshare costs because they were pre-paid and non-refundable but Priceline refunded our car rental (even though they didn't have to). We will never fly Frontier again after that.

 

[liamthompson]

IWe kicked ourselves all week for not just going on the trip and arriving later (after all, our teenage son was routinely awake on his computer at 12 am), but when we checked the return flight back home to Chicago it was completely GONE. We would have been stranded in Tampa and scrambling to find a way home.

Your scenario for the flight home is exactly what I'm afraid of. I've been reading about folks that said their breeze flights were canceled without notice...no email, no notification. They didn't know until they logged into their account and saw that their flight was no longer appearing. If it were just me and my husband, it would be stressful but doable to try to find another flight out of LAX or long beach, get a hotel room for the night, etc...but with our 4yo in tow, it's added complications.

When everything is operating smoothly, frontier is just fine. It's when everything doesn't operate smoothly that the problems become a headache to fix, especially since there's not really a customer service team like the legacy carriers. I've been reading that outside the airline counter, breeze's customer service is AI chatbot which is not great.

 

[brockash]

I have a flight booked to Disneyland this summer on Breeze airways. I've flown frontier a few times so I thought I understood the risk involved with low cost carriers but the lure of a direct flight and comfortable flight times won out.

Now Breeze is starting to cancel crosscountry flights similar to my route due to rising fuel costs. This will be my kid's first flight and I'm getting more concerned about long delays and getting stuck.

My husband is urging me to rebook us for WDW since we have multiple flight options to Orlando and it is also a driveable distance for us.

In my shoes, would you rebook? Advice please! Originally, I thought I would wait it out but now I'm thinking if I do decide to rebook, I should do it ASAP before flight prices jump further.

Disney is driveable? If so, then I def. wouldn't rebook. I'd wait it out and if worse came to worse; you could always drive.

Honestly, unless the prices for the other flights were dirt cheap (like Covid prices lol) I don't think I'd rebook unless/until I knew for sure. Not to mention; that world is insane right now, so who knows how prices will fluctuate. I was looking at flights 2 weeks ago and then again yesterday and they were a good $50+ cheaper per person yesterday than 2 weeks ago for flights in July, so I'd hold off if I were you.

 

[liamthompson]

Disney is driveable? If so, then I def. wouldn't rebook. I'd wait it out and if worse came to worse; you could always drive.

Honestly, unless the prices for the other flights were dirt cheap (like Covid prices lol) I don't think I'd rebook unless/until I knew for sure. Not to mention; that world is insane right now, so who knows how prices will fluctuate. I was looking at flights 2 weeks ago and then again yesterday and they were a good $50+ cheaper per person yesterday than 2 weeks ago for flights in July, so I'd hold off if I were you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. WDW is driveable but DLR is not...are you saying you would keep the DLR flight and if it starts looking untenable, then shift to driving to WDW rather than trying to fly to WDW?

 

[brockash]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. WDW is driveable but DLR is not...are you saying you would keep the DLR flight and if it starts looking untenable, then shift to driving to WDW rather than trying to fly to WDW?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. WDW is driveable but DLR is not...are you saying you would keep the DLR flight and if it starts looking untenable, then shift to driving to WDW rather than trying to fly to WDW?

Yeah...unless like I said a 2nd set of tix were insanely cheap, but I dont see that happening.

 

[liamthompson]

Yeah...unless like I said a 2nd set of tix were insanely cheap, but I dont see that happening.

I do currently have airline credit with another airline...your post gave me another idea of booking a ticket to Orlando with that airline credit as a backup. Thanks!

 

[DCLMP]

The TSA funding is probably going to start being a problem again...that along with the chance of Breeze cancelling your flight and your not wanting to pay for a better airline I'd probably just drive to WDW.

 

[OlliePop27]

The TSA funding is probably going to start being a problem again...that along with the chance of Breeze cancelling your flight and your not wanting to pay for a better airline I'd probably just drive to WDW.

The TSA funding debacle might finally be coming to an end. There is a pathway for the House to pass the TSA portion of the funding TODAY (Thursday, 4/30) and have it signed by the White House. We shall see if it actually happens.

IF the TSA funding passes, this would eliminate any FAA or TSA issues until September 30th. I find it unlikely there will be a shutdown before the midterms in November, so we will most likely be okay until 2027.

This is not intended as a political statement - simply identifying where the situation stands with funding for aviation related departments.

 

[OlliePop27]

The TSA funding debacle might finally be coming to an end. There is a pathway for the House to pass the TSA portion of the funding TODAY (Thursday, 4/30) and have it signed by the White House. We shall see if it actually happens.

IF the TSA funding passes, this would eliminate any FAA or TSA issues until September 30th. I find it unlikely there will be a shutdown before the midterms in November, so we will most likely be okay until 2027.

This is not intended as a political statement - simply identifying where the situation stands with funding for aviation related departments.

UPDATE - The House has passed the funding for TSA, so the issue is finally resolved.

 

[DebbieB]

The small low cost airlines are risky as far as schedules. I always fly Southwest, if something were to happen, they have 5 other nonstops that day or multiple times connections.

 

[DCLMP]

UPDATE - The House has passed the funding for TSA, so the issue is finally resolved.

That's good. Resolved for now. I'm sure it will come up again next year.

 

[DCLMP]

The small low cost airlines are risky as far as schedules. I always fly Southwest, if something were to happen, they have 5 other nonstops that day or multiple times connections.

Like most things you get what you pay for. Throw in fuel issues on top all that other issues that come with flying and willingly choose a subpar airline. I wouldn't do it.

 

[OlliePop27]

Like most things you get what you pay for. Throw in fuel issues on top all that other issues that come with flying and willingly choose a subpar airline. I wouldn't do it.

I agree. I've never been a fan of budget airlines or SW in my area. The biggest factor is the nonstop frequencies and backup options. I can fly to many major cities on a dozen or more nonstop flights per day via legacy carriers. Even if the worst happened, I could look into connecting through another hub.

In comparison, the budget carriers offer a couple of nonstops per day or a few flights per week. You roll the dice much more so with the non-legacy carriers. For some people, the lower cost is worth it. For me, it's not (and frankly the budget carriers aren't cheaper most of the time from my market).

 

[liamthompson]

UPDATE - The House has passed the funding for TSA, so the issue is finally resolved.

I am shocked and just saw the headline a few minutes ago.

I booked my WDW hotel last night and used my delta flight credit to book airfare to orlando this morning. I still haven't canceled my DLR hotel or my breeze airfare to SNA. I'm going to sleep on it for a bit although I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up canceling DLR. Maybe we will make it out there next year.

Now I also have to figure out what to do with this breeze credit...ironically, the safest thing to do is also book orlando. My home airport is not large (hence why we are served by breeze) and ironically, orlando is one of the few cities where we have more than one airline option.