hooters air beware,,got a phone call today

[leanne11]

they are no longer landing in Mco only Sanford, so there goes my ME, plus i need to rent a car plus they added an extra hour no more non stop- layover in baltimore...great...

 

[Bill From PA]

I called Hooter's in a panic this morning, 1/25, as my daughter, SIL and grandkids are booked on Hooters for a March 5 flight to MCO with a return on March 12. The agent said that MCO was still the destination and when I told her of this report she said, 'Oh no, we don't fly to Sanford, only MCO'. In addition, in their site the booking window shows flights from AVP to MCO, just what they booked. I certainly don't question leanne11 getting the call, I'm just confused as to when this change might take place. Any other poop on this story?

Bill From PA

 

[leanne11]

but it's not official, believe me i have been on the phone all day and info is hard to pull from these people,first they said it was an hour layover then a 30 min. layover then it's not hooters we're flying but something called vacation express that day, also 1 of them said all Sat. flights will not land in mco anymore, then they said i can still have the same airplane sets (bulkhead) so i plan on calling them every week until april 29, (we leave)
they did offer to refund the full ticket..

 

[Bill From PA]

leanne11,

VacationExpress is a charter company that used to fly out of AVP (Wilkes-Barre) but pulled out of here some months ago. Like Hooters, they serviced Myrtle Beach, Orlando and a few other places. They used Sanford. Hooters dropped some flights to Myrtle a few weeks ago but still go to MCO and MYB out of AVP, at least according to their web site and the agent I talked to today. I don't know what to make of this. I'm on a Golf Forum for Myrtle Beach golfers and Hooters has a hub there. I'll ask around there about the Hooters situation. Where are you flying from?

Bill From PA

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Judging by the two travel dates listed here is that Hooter Air will continue to fly out of MCO through March, and then in April transition over to Sanford, probably due to lower landing fees.

Of course, that's just my best guess.

 

[Bill From PA]

FWTW, here's my speculation after some more research. I checked Hootersair.com and flights from AVP to MCO are still offered to the end of May at least. Some weeks ago Hooters announced the following:

The airline has announced it has cancelled flights between the Grand Strand and six destinations -- Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; Gary, Ind.; Pittsburgh; Nassau; and Las Vegas.

leanne11, if you were flying out of any of those it's possible Hooters is pulling out of your airport. At the least, I'd guess that they contracted with VacationExpress to fulfill your flight to Florida and that you're going to Sanford as that's where VacationExpress has a gate. All this is a guess, I'll be watching this carefully and checking for alternate flights for my SIL, daughter and grandkids.

Tyler, have you gotten off the bus?

Bill From PA

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Tyler, have you gotten off the bus?

I still drive, on occasion

 

[leanne11]

i don't mind sanford though now i have to rent a car, they told me my ressie would just be transferred and i wouldn't have to do anything more,,so we'll see,
i called them yesterday and they had no idea what i was talking about so i still have no confidence in them,,

 

[luv2nascar]

my friend got the call this week too. Hooters 3rd wk in June now switched to
sanford & one hour layover in MD. Flight is one hour early leaving and one hour later coming home. No ME for them need to pay transfer now for 8. Yuck. Good luck to everyone. This by the way is from lehigh valley, PA.

 

[Cherylzw]

Bill

I certainly hope Hooters does not pull out. They just started here in Avoca.
The only problem is you have to travel on certain days.

Sure wish we had better rates from AVP. Maybe with the new terminal other airlines will start to notice us.

 

[Bill From PA]

luv2nascar & leanne11,

Are you flying out of ABE? I'm thinking that Hooters can do this to you only because VacationExpress flys out of there, they pulled out of AVP some months ago so handing my daughter's flight off to VE is not an option.

Cherylzw, I agree, I was hoping Hooters would solve our need for non-stops to MCO. I see that my daughter's return flight on 3/12 is sold out. Perhaps the AVP flights will work out for Hooters financially. If I were in the Allentown area I'd much rather drive to AVP, park for $5 - $6 per day than to do the same to PHL and pay $12 -$18 parking for a direct flight. USAir used to have a 6:30 am flight out of ABE that was great for us but they dropped it. It was nearly full the last time we used it.

Bill From PA

 

[DonnaL]

Bill,

I know you don't like the drive to PHL.....we used to feel the same way, but, believe me it's a piece of cake and as far as parking goes, we don't bother....we just rent a car from Budget at AVP the evening before and take the 11:00 a.m. (it's around 11:00 give or take 20 minutes) SW direct flight of PHL. We do a one way rental down to PHL and a one way back. Cost is between $70 and $75 for both. No worries about leaving our car in PHL......and we're at MCO before 1:30 p.m. When it's just DH and myself we try to do just carryons, so, we don't waste time going to baggage claim. We have Emerald Aisle so we also don't waste any time at car rental. Last trip we were at SSR within one hour of landing. Not to mention, SW has the best prices going......on our last trip we flew for $116.90 pp rd trip. We've got a $240.00 credit for next trip because every time the price dropped I went online and made the change and got the credit. The last price change showed up about three weeks before our trip in December. Now, this doesn't happen all the time, but, we tend to travel during off weeks so chances are good flights will be discounted to fill them. I got really frustrated a few years back with the situation at AVP and problems keeping airlines, prices of tickets out of there, etc. It used to annoy me since AVP is practically in my backyard, but, we get better service from SW than we ever did from any other airline.

 

[Bill From PA]

Hi, Donna,

Actually my wife and I are driving to PHL next month, it's our daughter, SIL and grandkids doing the Hooters thing. I was concerned about rising airfare due to fuel costs so for the first time I booked our flight 330 days out with USAir at PHL. I was feeling pretty good about our rate and the direct flight until Hooters came on the scene. By our next trip we'll know more about their long term viability at AVP. For now, my daughter's flights are still offered on Hooters' site as going to MCO so I haven't even told them about the trouble the others here are having. It appears to not be an AVP issue.

Bill From PA

 

[RUDisney]

Just hijacking this thread to say, "hi, Bill, haven't "talked" to you in a while!"

Gosh, I hope that Hooters doesn't leave town so quickly. We tried to use Hooters Air for our trip in March, but I wanted to travel on specific dates, so we're driving to LGA to fly for free on AA with our miles.

We're not heading to WDW this time. We're going to try USO for a change.

Bill, do you happen to know what time grocery stores stop selling beer and wine in FL? We'll be arriving at 9:30 and taking a town car service w/ grocery stop. We're usually too early in the morning to buy wine and beer. I'm hoping that they don't stop selling it until at least 11:00.

Glad to see that there are so many locals on the DISboards!

Signing off from Dunmore.

 

[Bill From PA]

Hey, RU, good to hear from you. I've got high hopes for Hooters (the airline!) also. We can adjust our flight days to take advantage of a direct to MCO if we have to, we usually do more than 7 days anyway. We're doing a grocery stop on 3/2 so I'll find out about beer and wine thing. I wouldn't have thought that to be an issue except for possibly on Sunday. We land at 10:36 am so we'll probably be at some store about 11. What are your dates?

Bill From PA

 

[Cherylzw]

Hi RU

Yes it is nice to see locals on the DIS boards. I probably don't live too far from you. I live in Green Ridge by the State School for the Deaf.

 

[DonnaL]

Hi Cherylzw,

Yes, it is nice to see some locals on the boards......we're in Moosic. I've got a
friend who lives on Green Ridge St. (in Dunmore, couple blocks over the Scranton line) Also, my SIL and her family live right off Green Ridge in North Scranton. My friend in Dunmore probably lives close to RU.

 

[RUDisney]

We leave on 3/8. We're pulling our kids out of school early to surprise them with this trip. We'll be there until 3/13. Buying alcohol could be an issue even at night. They won't sell it before 9:00 a.m. I don't know what time they stop selling it. Stupid rule, if you ask me.

I live closer to Dunmore Corners, so definitely not very far from you Cheryl and Donna's SIL. My sister and BIL live in Greenwood Estates in Moosic and my BIL is a volunteer fireman at the Greenwood Hose Company.

I love that the world is so small and yet still has so many fun places to visit.

 

[Bill From PA]

RUDisney,

FWIW, we've packed half-gallons of Niagara wine in our checked bags and we took a case of bottled water in a cloth suitcase once. Could just as well have been some other liquid. Weight limits might work against that, but it's a thought.

Bill From PA

 

[RUDisney]

Gosh, I love how you think, Bill. Actually, that's how we packed when we went to Russia... not the wine, but with a case of water. We figured we could drink vodka and that it would be plentiful, but we didn't know how the water situation would be. Turned out that bottled water was as plentiful as vodka... even sparkling water.

If I know I can't get a bottle of wine from the grocery store, I'll definitely pack one for the room. I hate paying resort prices for something I can get cheaper at home... if I don't have to.

How long will you be gone?