Now I'm worried

[LOLA2]

Last time we Went to Disney and cruised we spent the week at Disney the week before. We booked airtran. We booked very early in the day so we would have the whole day when we get down there plus who wants to pay $400.00 for a hotel room when they get in late at night. Well 2 months before we left airtan changed our flight so we would not be getting in until 7:30 as opposed to 11:00 arrival originally. I was very upset and called airtan and they said they could put us on a different flight that woulg have a layover in Kansas City. My husband said no way - he did not want to go though take off and landing 2 times (first flight in long time -chicken) plus didn't want to go through a layover. So very reluctantly I kept the new time they gave us. We got in around 7:45 waited for luggage, lost 1 piece, had to go to baggage lost counter fill out forms, had to find shuttle to rental cars, took shuttle to rental car, waited at rental car, went to wallgreens for all the bathroom stuff lost in our luggage. We got to our hotel at 10:30- still had to eat dinner. Ordered out fiinally in bed at 12:00 phone rings they have our luggage waiting at front desk (Thank Goodness we did not have to go get it.) I know we usually have to do most of that stuff anyways car rental and such but I want to do it early especially since if there are problems we are not dealing with it at night when everyone just "wants to get threre already!!" Well I thought I am not going to book airtran next time (no problem with the plane and expensive) just don't want my times changed that dramatically again. I want to be in Florida before noon.

Now fast forward time again to make arrangements for next trip for October. I asked many people who they flew with that they booked out for in advance and didn't get there times changed. Many said Midwest or Southwest. Well Southwest does not fly out of airport so midwest it was. I just booked a flight yesterday to leave at 7:30 and arrive at 11:20. Perfect.

Turn on the t.v. this morning and Midwest is being bought out by Airtan!! What??? O.K. not laughing to much seems like cruel joke, if I only waited one more day and saw that commercial.

Please tell me what this means??? Am I screwed? Do they change things to how Airtran ran things, and I get to look forward to my times being changed again? Or is it one of those silent take overs where Midwest keeps their name and policies and such? AND THOSE DANG GOOD CHOCHOLATE CHIP COOKIES????? What should I expect?

 

[christinou]

Is your flight the day of the cruise or do you have a buffer?
If it is the day of the cruise I would really think about changing it....

 

[LOLA2]

No it's the week before we go to Disney 1st night staying at Contemporary. But why stay at a $400.00 per room hotel if I don't get in until late? Might as well switch to pop for 1 night. I don't think I would ever come down day of the cruise, I can't even imagine what would happen then if got in later, Yikes

 

[PearlElpis]

IMO, changing to stay a night at pop, then transfer to stay the rest of your nights on land at Contemporary maybe a good idea. If you let the front desk or the luggage svc know ahead of time, the transition between the hotels can be effortless.

 

[eva]

To be honest with you I haven't heard of an airline that hasn't rescheduled or canceled flights. I think that they are all just as bad about it too. I have flown AirTran many times and have never had a flight canceled or changed. As a matter of fact, I can only remember 2 times having a flight delayed with AirTran and they were all weather related. Does that mean that they are the best airline. I'm sure not. I've probably just been lucky so far. I travel a lot for business, and far as I am concerned airlines are pretty much the same. If schedules are all equal, the only reason I would choose an airline over the other is which airport I may have to have a layover in. While I think that airlines are airlines, I do not think that way about airports. Everytime I have to fly through O'Hare airport I get out the asprin before we even land.

 

[smoof]

It isn't just Airtran. EVERY airline does this.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I have never had a flight canceled on Southwest. FWIW.

 

[skibum]

Over the holidays, we flew on AirTran. flights were changed on us twice - to our favor. Ended up with a non-stop early in the morning.
For our spring break cruise, we are flying Midwest. This flight was also changed, not to our benefit, so we called Midwest and switched flight to early morning non-stop - only negative is kids are taking all of Friday off.
Good news all the way around.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I have never had a flight canceled on Southwest. FWIW.

Neither have I. Never even had a time change except due to weather. I've been told the reason they don't offer schedules far in advance is to keep costs down. They rarely have to juggle last minute schedule changes.