Government shutdown - flights?

[DCLMP]

How exactly do you see the bolded working? You really never know "for sure" if you're flying until you take off. The chances are extremely high when you push back from the gate, but not 100%. They're slightly lower when boarding starts. Any time before that and a flight can get cancelled. So, how do you not drop bags until you know "for sure"?

Yep nothing worse than heading back to the gate. It happens.

 

[DCLMP]

Waivers coming soon. DL noted theirs will even include basic economy. Link

If people that don't absolutely need to fly start cancelling that will help. Corporations should also think about cancelling business travel if they can.

 

[gottalovepluto]

If people that don't absolutely need to fly start cancelling that will help. Corporations should also think about cancelling business travel if they can.

Its not like they are overly generous waivers. DL is only doing 7-9 now. UA is more generous at 6-13 but still. And both only cover select airports.

 

[Disturbia]

How exactly do you see the bolded working? You really never know "for sure" if you're flying until you take off. The chances are extremely high when you push back from the gate, but not 100%. They're slightly lower when boarding starts. Any time before that and a flight can get cancelled. So, how do you not drop bags until you know "for sure"?

Check their website to see if the flight before took off. April 2022 people who dropped their bags off between 9-1 pm didn’t get them for several hours per a lady in-front of me in the Starbucks who was waiting for 5 hours. They could have held back bag drop offs once they knew there was an issue but didn’t. Flights hadn’t taken off since early morning, so lack of communication was an issue. We went to the airport and had printed our passes around 2:30pm? and tagged our bags and got in the bag drop line.

If possible switch to carry on bags?

 

[sam_gordon]

Check their website to see if the flight before took off. April 2022 people who dropped their bags off between 9-1 pm didn’t get them for several hours per a lady in-front of me in the Starbucks who was waiting for 5 hours. They could have held back bag drop offs once they knew there was an issue but didn’t. Flights hadn’t taken off since early morning, so lack of communication was an issue. We went to the airport and had printed our passes around 2:30pm? and tagged our bags and got in the bag drop line.

If possible switch to carry on.

But the flight before actually leaving doesn't tell you anything. Yes, definitely check flight status before you leave for the airport. Not going to hurt to check when you get to the airport. But, presumably, one is arriving at the airport (especially if you need to check bags) at least two hours before departure. So, you get there two hours before, check your bags, get through security, then your flight is cancelled.

My point is "don't check bags until you know for sure you're flying" is really not good advice.

 

[Disturbia]

But the flight before actually leaving doesn't tell you anything. Yes, definitely check flight status before you leave for the airport. Not going to hurt to check when you get to the airport. But, presumably, one is arriving at the airport (especially if you need to check bags) at least two hours before departure. So, you get there two hours before, check your bags, get through security, then your flight is cancelled.

My point is "don't check bags until you know for sure you're flying" is really not good advice.

You can always keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best. Just kidding.

It was a mess in 2022. I sure hope they won’t be doing that again but the core of the issue was communication and short staffing. The front desk people weren’t communicating with the baggage handlers efficiently.

This person had dropped her bags off at Delta. Spirit told us not to drop off bags but that was at 3:30 pm (there were people before who had dropped off bags).

Someone 10 people before us screamed that flights were cancelled and then we thought of checking our accounts/phones. We had just printed boarding passes. We were in the bag drop off line for over an hour when we could have darted to the AViS line (5 hours deep).

 

[sam_gordon]

You can always keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best. Just kidding.

It was a mess in 2022. I sure hope they won’t be doing that again but the core of the issue was communication and short staffing. The front desk people weren’t communicating with the baggage handlers efficiently.

This person had dropped her bags off at Delta. Spirit told us not to drop off bags but that was at 3:30 pm (there were people before who had dropped off bags).

Someone 10 people before us screamed that flights were cancelled and then we thought of checking our accounts/phones. We had just printed boarding passes. We were in the bag drop off line for over an hour when we could have darted to the AViS line (5 hours deep).

I think switching to carry on bags (if possible) is the best way to go. Or, at least don't check anything you'll need for 2-3 days.

If rental car lines are long, another option is to cab/ride share to a different location (best bet is to call ahead to confirm they have vehicles) to get a rental. That's assuming you must go to the counter.

 

[DCLMP]

You can always keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best. Just kidding.

It was a mess in 2022. I sure hope they won’t be doing that again but the core of the issue was communication and short staffing. The front desk people weren’t communicating with the baggage handlers efficiently.

This person had dropped her bags off at Delta. Spirit told us not to drop off bags but that was at 3:30 pm (there were people before who had dropped off bags).

Someone 10 people before us screamed that flights were cancelled and then we thought of checking our accounts/phones. We had just printed boarding passes. We were in the bag drop off line for over an hour when we could have darted to the AViS line (5 hours deep).

We flew to LHR in 2022 during the whole baggage debacle. We managed to do a two week cruise with just 1 carryon and a back back each. It can be done. I suggest a good travel back pack as your personal under seat item. You can stuff a lot in those.
I would not be checking bags right now especially if you have a connection.

 

[pens4821]

We are going to Lauderdale Sunday for a cruise. Our flight says unavailable to book. Hoping it’s actually just sold out and not on the chopping block. We can make the 18 hour drive, but I’d rather not. And I hope we know tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning. Would really hate to get to the airport Sunday morning, then cancel, and drive 18 hours straight.

 

[gottalovepluto]

We are going to Lauderdale Sunday for a cruise. Our flight says unavailable to book. Hoping it’s actually just sold out and not on the chopping block. We can make the 18 hour drive, but I’d rather not. And I hope we know tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning. Would really hate to get to the airport Sunday morning, then cancel, and drive 18 hours straight.

You can see by flightaware cancellations are starting to roll out for tomorrow and sat. I think it's still too early to know about Sun. The airline is not going to want people showing up when they know they're cancelling the flight so I hope you know before sunday morning- but at the same time they don't want to take an axe to their schedules only to have common sense break out in DC the next day.

 

[japanese maple]

Hopefully in the clear...from United.

 

[Choirmom]

Very stressed about our upcoming vacation. We are supposed to fly out of SeaTac on Alaska Airlines on November 15, home on the 23. After the year we have had, this would really suck if we had to cancel. This is a reschedule of a vacation that was supposed to happen the first week of May. My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma in late April and we postponed the vacation until November. Bought MMVCP tickets to ease the pain a bit for the new trip, and I know Disney does not refund party tickets. Already lost money on the May trip. We are not flexible with our time (had to coordinate 3 work vacation schedules) and driving from the Seattle area is not an option.

 

[lanejudy]

Do we know how Disney is going to handle this if someone's flights are cancelled? We already paid for rooms, tickets, and lightning lanes.

WDW is usually pretty lenient about changes. With a package you can change the date (pushing it out) and probably not incur a fee if the new dates cost more. You can adjust later.

There’s a thread on the Resorts Forum discussing this.

 

[jennypenny]

We cancelled. Our flights tomorrow look like they're a go but there is no way to know if tuesday's flights (connecting through ATL) would be ok, and we need to be home for something on wednesday.

The DVC person I spoke with when cancelling was almost snippy with me. It's the first time I've ever skipped the post-call survey.

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

News is reporting 10% of flights to be canceled over the next week.

Southwest Airlines is determining the scheduling adjustments needed to meet the required FAA flight reductions. While the vast majority of our Customers’ flights will not be disrupted, all Southwest Customers, with travel booked through Wednesday, November 12, may adjust their travel plans at no cost, or receive a refund if they choose not to travel, regardless of whether their flight is affected. We will communicate directly with affected Customers as soon as possible. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.

https://support.southwest.com/helpc..._RESTRICTIONS_251105_HC_FAA_Flight_Reductions

Note: I called and spoke with an SWA agent. She said if you booked your flight prior to May 28th, not requiring bag fees, and they cancel you and you have to rebook, you will be required to pay bag fees.

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

It's the first time I've ever skipped the post-call survey.

I think I would have done it and expressed dissatisfaction. Their DVC people are not dinged or docked pay if you cancel; there is no reason for attitude on their part.

 

[elvispursley]

Trying to stay calm and hope that this all blows over soon. Just found out that both Honolulu and Seattle are on this list and my son is flying home from college on Nov. 20. And heaven help me if this goes into Dec. as I'm supposed to fly to HNL to move him home to SEA on 12/10! Happy thoughts for all of you with imminent flights this weekend!

 

[leebee]

I was able to check us in for tomorrow's flight, BGR-LGA-MCO, on Delta. I paid for seats on the LGA-MCO leg, so that's good except DD doesn't have a boarding pass for that leg. Not sure what's up with that; I might go to the airport this afternoon and see what is going on. Bangor is a very small airport- and I don't want any 5am surprises tomorrow morning. I will say... check in with Delta was a pain in the butt; I didn't feel it was at all user-friendly, but I'm accustomed to using SWA, so it could just be my inexperience with Delta's site.

Fingers still crossed for our return flights, DD on 11/11 and mine on 11/14.

 

[Little E]

We are scheduled to fly out early Sunday morning from our small, local airport. We have a layover at a big midwest airport that is on the 40 airports list, and then we arrive at MCO at 1pm. Our small, local airport sometimes cancels flights even when the weather is great and there is no shutdown. As of right now, our flights are all list as "on time".

Our flight to WDW is a one way, so we have another one way flight home on 11/16. So, in theory, we could cancel our flight down, rent a car and drive the 19 hours to Orlando, have a magical week at Disney, and then fly home (assuming those flights don't get delayed/cancelled). Or, we can sweat it out and hope our flights are not delayed/cancelled on Sunday. If they are, I'm not sure what our next steps would be, but we'd probably not arrive on Sunday to check in and we might miss the Boardwalk part of our trip all together. We are supposed to check in to Boardwalk from 11/9-11/11 and then transfer to GF for the remainders of our trip. We have Boardwalk booked on cash, and our GF portion was booked on DVC points.

If we drive, we would need to leave early Saturday morning, so we can arrive at Boardwalk on Sunday for check in. What would you all do? We need to make a call today and I am a nervous wreck. I have no idea if I'm packing for a road trip or a carry on only flight; I'm an uber planner, so the agony of the unknown is killing me.

Disfriends, what would you do if you were in this scenario?

 

[Keladry84]

We are scheduled to fly out early Sunday morning from our small, local airport. We have a layover at a big midwest airport that is on the 40 airports list, and then we arrive at MCO at 1pm. Our small, local airport sometimes cancels flights even when the weather is great and there is no shutdown. As of right now, our flights are all list as "on time".

Our flight to WDW is a one way, so we have another one way flight home on 11/16. So, in theory, we could cancel our flight down, rent a car and drive the 19 hours to Orlando, have a magical week at Disney, and then fly home (assuming those flights don't get delayed/cancelled). Or, we can sweat it out and hope our flights are not delayed/cancelled on Sunday. If they are, I'm not sure what our next steps would be, but we'd probably not arrive on Sunday to check in and we might miss the Boardwalk part of our trip all together. We are supposed to check in to Boardwalk from 11/9-11/11 and then transfer to GF for the remainders of our trip. We have Boardwalk booked on cash, and our GF portion was booked on DVC points.

If we drive, we would need to leave early Saturday morning, so we can arrive at Boardwalk on Sunday for check in. What would you all do? We need to make a call today and I am a nervous wreck. I have no idea if I'm packing for a road trip or a carry on only flight; I'm an uber planner, so the agony of the unknown is killing me.

Disfriends, what would you do if you were in this scenario?

If the unknown is causing more anxiety than the thought of the long drive, then make the call right now and drive - you can eliminate that stress completely. But don’t look back at whether or not the flights went through on Sunday!

If the thought of the long drive is more daunting for you (as it would be in my case) then wait it out but know what/how you will react if delayed or cancelled.

You can’t control what’s going to happen with the flights, but you can control your decisions around it.