We had a nightmare experience flying America West from LA to Orlando in April. It was a redeye flight. Our first plane broke down after 45+ minutes of sitting on the runway. They made everyone get off the plane, get back in line. We waited one hour in line at the ticket counter, but they had no flights to Orlando until the next afternoon, and all other airlines were booked. They had an opening going to Ft. Lauderdale, so we took that, and they said we could catch a short flight to Orlando from there.
We got on the plane, and flew to Vegas. They told us we wouldn't have to change planes. My little sister went to sleep. (By this time, it was 1am.) Then, as we landed, the flight attendant came on and said that there had been a unscheduled plane change. So we had to get up, wake my sister up, and walk across the Vegas airport to the new gate. We got there, and they told us we were fine. We waited, and then got to board. We boarded, but someone was in our seats! We looked at our tickets, and sure enough, they double booked the seats. We asked them about it, and they said to wait right there, not get off the plane, they would go check the flight roster. You know how airplanes are - cramped and crowded. We had nowhere to stand, and people kept coming on the plane, only to find out THEIR seats had people in them too. Finally, the attendant came back, and said that we were not supposed to be on this flight. (Their computers did not book us onto it, even though in LAX they gave us tickets to the flight.) My mom, at this point, got a little angry. Imagine this is now 2am and we have had no sleep. She talked (sorta yelled lol) saying that she better get us on this flight because we have tickets. So the lady did, we were moved to the back of the plane, seperated. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale.
We landed, and checked in there to see about our short flight to Orlando. They told us Delta's pilots were on strike, so no flights were going to Orlando. (Delta was the only airline available at this point - 9:30am local time.) They said we could wait until 2:00 for the next flight, but that was already full and we would have to fly standby. At this point, my mom asked if they could pay for a rental car so we could drive to Ft. Lauderdale, as that would be quicker then waiting for the flight. The agent said yes. We only got a $200 voucher, though for another flight.
We went down to get our bags, only to find them misssing. We talked to the people at baggage claim, and they said that they "probably" had been sent to Orlando. They told us to go on and drive to Orlando, and then call once we checked in at our hotel. They said they would deliver the bags to our hotel once found. So we set off to Orlando. Once checked in at the Swan, we tried the number they gave us, only to find it had been disconnected! We looked in the phone book, and tried several different numbers. Finally we found the correct one. First they told us we were supposed to file a claim in Ft. Lauderdale, and if our bags had been sent there, we would have to drive back there to pick them up! My mom said that was unacceptable. They told us to call back every hour to see if they had been found yet. So we decided to go to the MK, and we would try again from there. Once there, my mom kept calling every hour. After 5 attempts (each time being put on hold, waiting for 15+ minutes) a lady came on and said she would look for the bags, she thought they had just come in. She said she got off at 9PM, so to call back around 8:45. (By this time it was 8:15.) We went on Pooh, and called back. Sure enough, our bags had been found. We asked to have them sent to our hotel, but the lady said that wouldn't be possible, even though the other agent had said we could have that done! She said we would have to drive back to MCO to pick them up. My mom said fine, tired of fighting. She went in the morning and picked them up, 36 hours after we had last seen them.
On the way back home, more bad things happened again! In Vegas, almost every flight was being cancelled, lots of people were put on standby, and the workers were RUDE as they had been in LAX and Ft. Lauderdale. Our tickets got messed up again, one agent said they were fine, no problem, only until we tried to board when she said all we had was a confirmation and we needed actual tickets! Finally, we got home. Our $200 voucher is worthless in our opinion, after such a horrible experience.
Wow - sorry for such a LONG post. So many things happened with them, I felt I should let you know. Our first trip to WDW was short already, with only part of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday morning. (We went on the Wonder.) We completely lost Monday due to everything that went on. However, my best friend's family flew to Virginia from LAX last month, and nothing at all happened to them. Perhaps we just had the worst of luck. But it seemed everyone else flying with them in the airport was having their flights cancelled, etc, as well. Still - the difference in price is great - I almost wish my parents would consider going back with them because of the January airfare! (We are looking at going back then, because we missed so much in April!!)
