ME and return flight times?

[MNT568]

We are considering using ME for a trip this fall. I know that you get picked up at your resort 3 hours before your flight. How far ahead of your pick time do you need to check-in for your return trip to the airport? Does this make sense? If we booked a 10:30am return flight, our ME would leave at 7:30am, what time would we need to check-in with our bags? Or would we be better off with a 2:30pn return flight?

 

[Bob P]

You just check in as soon as you get to the airport.

Or if you are using one of the eligible carriers you can check in at your resort before you leave.

 

[goofy4tink]

I think you're asking about the remote checkin at the resort. If so, you can check in at the desk as early as 5 a.m. It can't be less than 3 hrs. before your flight, or more than 12 hours before (if I remember correctly). The desk is closed at around 2ish in the afternoon. If you keep the 10:30 flight, DMEswould pick you up around 7:30-7:45. I would get up early, head to the checkin desk and check the bags and get boarding passes...but everyone has to be there since it's just the same as checking in at the airport. They'll ask for ID from everyone. Then, once you have your boarding passes in hand, and your luggage has gone off, you can go grab some breakfast before you have to be at the bus stop. This is the reason I prefer the mid-afternoon flights. I can have a leisurely morning, checkout, and then checkin with the airline people. Have a big breakfast and relax. But, my dh disagrees with me...he likes to get up and going to the airport. He prefers a noon flight. Hope this helps answer your question.

 

[OKW Lover]

If by check in you mean catching the bus at your resort, you only need to be there when the bus comes. If you are planning on checking your bags at the resort (only available if your airline is a participating airline) then you should be there at least 15 minutes before your bus is scheduled.

As far as your taking a later flight, I'd chose the 2:30 as long as it didn't get you home very late. You can check your bags and at the hotel's ME desk and then head off to a park for the morning. Just be sure to be back in time for your bus, which will probably be about 11:30 am for a 2:30 flight.

 

[MNT568]

Another dumb question - if we get boaring passes and check our bags at the resort, we don't see our bags again until we get off the plane at home? or do we take our bags on the bus with us?

 

[goofy4tink]

Another dumb question - if we get boaring passes and check our bags at the resort, we don't see our bags again until we get off the plane at home? or do we take our bags on the bus with us?

I'm assuming that you are flying one of the 'participating' airlines, right? So, if you are, then once you hand those bags on over to the guys at the resort checkin area, you won't see them until you get back to good ole Mass. They go on a different truck. These desks are actually not affiliated with DME at all. They are remote airline checkin desks. Each airline has to agree to certain stipulations, and then most likely pay a fee, for their passengers to have the ability to use this perk. You don't have to use DME in order to participate in it...the only stipulation they have is that you be flying home on a 'participating' airline...Delta, JetBlue, United, and there are others, that are listed in the sticky above.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I know that you get picked up at your resort 3 hours before your flight. How far ahead of your pick time do you need to check-in for your return trip to the airport?

Your DME motorcoach pickup will be scheduled for approximately three hours before your scheduled departure. An airport-bound DME motorcoach will normally call on your resort twice each hour. On the day prior to your check-out, you will be given a specific pickup time.

You should arrive at the pickup location about 15 minutes early. The motorcoaches don't wait, and there have been reports of DME sometimes running early.

You do not check in at the resort for the DME ride itself. As you board the motorcoach, the driver will collect the transportation vouchers that were in your DME packet.

If you're flying on an airline that participates in Resort Airline Check-in Desk, you can obtain your boarding passes and check your luggage at your resort. You can check in up to 12 hours prior (but no less than 3 hours prior) to your scheduled flight departure time. The Resort Airline Check-in Desk is open from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., so guests with early morning departures cannot use Resort Airline Check-in.

Keep in mind that there may be a line for Resort Airline Check-in, so allow enough time to check in before your DME motorcoach pickup.

 

[CleveRocks]

To reiterate something Horace just wrote ...

There is no place to "check in" for the DME bus ride back to the airport. You just get yourself to the right place by the right time.

 

[MNT568]

Thanks guys! This info really helped.

We are flying Jetblue, so we can do resort check-in. Say we get to the resort check-in and the line is too long, we can just put our bags on the ME and check-in at the airport, right?

We usually use Tiffany, but I am looking into a mom & son only trip and I want to keep the cost down. Plus my DS saw the ME buses at the airport last time and he thought they looked cool.

Thanks again for all the info!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yes BUT! The lines at the airport will quite likely be much longer that the one at your resort! Flying a participating airline, you don't have to check in RIGHT before your bus departs.
Say you book the 2:30 flight home (and IMO there's no such thing as staying too late at Disney World ).
Your scheduled DME pickup is 11:30 - 11:45.
You can check in for your flight at the Remote/Resort Airline Checkin counter any time between 5:30 and 11:15 that morning... okay, by 10:45 just to be safe, in case there IS a line. You check your bags through to your home airport at the same time.
Now you've got some time for a relaxing breakfast, some last-minute shopping, maybe a couple of hours in the pool - remembering, of course, to keep a change of clothes AND a couple of heavy-duty ziploc bags in your carry on luggage.