Omagosh, Leave In 30 Hours..carryon And Ticket Question!

[nurseypoo5]

Ok, i leave at 5am Sat...eeeeeeeeeeek. I have a large, expensive camera and a laptop, will this be 2 seperate carry ons? I had planned on everyone taking a duffle bag, but didnt think about the camera bag and backpack for lap top.

Next question...i have reg tickets for my airtran flight..you know the old fashion kind. I booked thru disney. Well naturally airtran changed the flights and i had to change flights. Disney and airtran said they couldnt send new tickets, so i have my old ones. I do have a paper confirmation and my confirmation number, but i guess this means no precheckin huh? Going thru disney they said i couldnt check in online like other people..ugh.

What should I do, can anyone give me advise WE NEVER FLY...ever. Infact i havent been on a plane since 1993. egads. Will 2 hours be enough time to get thru security? 3 adults and a child.

thanks so much!

 

[disneyldwjr]

Ok, i leave at 5am Sat...eeeeeeeeeeek. I have a large, expensive camera and a laptop, will this be 2 seperate carry ons? I had planned on everyone taking a duffle bag, but didnt think about the camera bag and backpack for lap top.

Next question...i have reg tickets for my airtran flight..you know the old fashion kind. I booked thru disney. Well naturally airtran changed the flights and i had to change flights. Disney and airtran said they couldnt send new tickets, so i have my old ones. I do have a paper confirmation and my confirmation number, but i guess this means no precheckin huh? Going thru disney they said i couldnt check in online like other people..ugh.

What should I do, can anyone give me advise WE NEVER FLY...ever. Infact i havent been on a plane since 1993. egads. Will 2 hours be enough time to get thru security? 3 adults and a child.

thanks so much!

You are allowed one carry on and one smaller personal carry on. If the camera and laptop are in separate bags, then they will count as two carry ons. If they are in the same bag, they will be counted as one. Either way, they will count against your carry on limit.

I would expect 1hour would be more than enough lead time to get to the airport. Security does not take that long. Be sure to remove your laptop from the carry case BEFORE you get to the scanners.

I have NO idea how to advise you re: your tickets. I don't fly Airtran and I NEVER use a Travel agent for anything. Good luck, hopefully, someone will have an answer to the Airtran question.

 

[CleveRocks]

Going thru disney they said i couldnt check in online like other people..ugh.

I have the same pre-historic paper tickets from AirTran and WDTC.

I can't imagine that just because we bought our tickets through a travel agent (WDTC) means we can't check-in online 24 hours in advance to get seat assignments. I guess it's possible, but it just doesn't make any sense. What makes more sense to me is that whoever you talked to simply didn't have their facts straight -- we all have experiences with CMs who provided less-than-correct information over the phone.

Go ahead and try the online check-in anyway. And if you wouldn't mind, please post back here with your experiences (good or bad) before you leave, so the rest of us (LIKE ME!!! ) can know what the real scoop is.

THANKS! HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!

 

[DebbieB]

You may already have seat assignments, when i've used AirTran through my corporate travel agent, the seats were already assigned when I did online check-in. Maybe call AirTran to find out.

 

[CleveRocks]

You may already have seat assignments, when i've used AirTran through my corporate travel agent, the seats were already assigned when I did online check-in. Maybe call AirTran to find out.

AirTran has 2 tiers of tickets. The cheaper ones have no pre-assigned seating, but you can get seat assignment by checking-in online up to 24 hours in advance. For a higher price, you can buy the same ticket but with an advance seat assignment. Perhaps your corporate travel office just bought you the more expensive ticket to save you the time and trouble of the necessity of online check-in.

 

[BrerMama]

We had a similiar situation last year when we flew Air Tran. We were supposed to fly out of airport X, they had overbooked for an entire week, so we took a bump and flew out of airport Y. So not only did we have paper tickets, we had tickets from another airport. We weren't able to do online check in, but we had assigned seats, so that wasn't necessary. When we arrived, it was no problem to exchange our tickets for the correct ones, just a little more time in line.

 

[WillCAD]

Ok, i leave at 5am Sat...eeeeeeeeeeek. I have a large, expensive camera and a laptop, will this be 2 seperate carry ons? I had planned on everyone taking a duffle bag, but didnt think about the camera bag and backpack for lap top.

I go through this every year. I usually fly Southwest, but I did fly AirTran once in 2002 and didn't have a problem with my laptop and camera bag. However, my camera bag was not terribly large, more like the size of a woman's purse, so it counted as my personal item and nobody even blinked. In fact, my laptop and camera bags together fit nicely under the seat in front of me.

I don't like putting either my laptop or camera in the overhead bins, because too many neanderthals come aboard after me and toss their bags, strollers, rocks, and sticks into the bin. No matter how padded your laptop or camera bag may be, that sort of behavior still puts them at risk, so I prefer to have them safely under the seat in front of me.

If they are both big enough to count as carry-ons, consolidate some stuff from the various "duffels" you mentioned and re-distribute the total load among your entire family so that you each have one carry-on and one small personal bag.

What should I do, can anyone give me advise WE NEVER FLY...ever. Infact i havent been on a plane since 1993. egads. Will 2 hours be enough time to get thru security? 3 adults and a child.

Two hours will be plenty. Here are a few hints to make it go smoother:
1) Keep everybody's travel documents in an outside pocket of your laptop bag where they can be reached easily. You will need the boarding passes to get through security, and you will need your car/towncar/DME papers and hotel ressie after you land.

2) Go through your carry-ons thoroughly before you leave home to remove anything that's on the no-fly list, like knives, forks, liquids, etc.

3) When you pack the laptop bag, be sure that you can easily get the laptop out while it's hanging from your shoulder without spilling the contents all over the airport. You WILL have to take the laptop out of the bag when it goes through the x-ray machine.

4) Before getting into the security line, have everybody empty their pockets into their carry-ons (don't forget your cell phone!) This way, you will all get rid of any metal that might set off the detector, but your pocket-size stuff won't be strewn all over the x-ray machine's belt in little containers - less chance of loss or spillage.

5) Wear clean socks with no holes - you will have to take off your shoes.

5A) Gel-filled shoe inserts like Dr. Scholls are still banned, so take them out and pack them in checked bags, not carry-ons.

6) You didn't mention if your camera is film or digital. If you are flying with film, read over my page on the subject so you don't ruin it:
http://willcad.org/image_film_tips.html

 

[nurseypoo5]

I have the same pre-historic paper tickets from AirTran and WDTC.

I can't imagine that just because we bought our tickets through a travel agent (WDTC) means we can't check-in online 24 hours in advance to get seat assignments. I guess it's possible, but it just doesn't make any sense. What makes more sense to me is that whoever you talked to simply didn't have their facts straight -- we all have experiences with CMs who provided less-than-correct information over the phone.

Go ahead and try the online check-in anyway. And if you wouldn't mind, please post back here with your experiences (good or bad) before you leave, so the rest of us (LIKE ME!!! ) can know what the real scoop is.

THANKS! HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!

well i tried, but i couldnt find the confirmation number given out by airtran, makes me mad because i didnt save money going thru disney, it was just convienence, this is NOT convienent.

this is what airtran has to say about paper tickets..straight from the website.


Can I use online flight check-in if I bought my ticket through a travel agency?
Passengers who purchased tickets through their travel agent may use the online flight check-in program only if their travel agent issued them an electronic ticket. If their agent issued them a paper ticket, those passengers will be required to check in at the airport.

 

[CarolA]

I would expect 1hour would be more than enough lead time to get to the airport. Security does not take that long. Be sure to remove your laptop from the carry case BEFORE you get to the scanners.

I have NO idea how to advise you re: your tickets. I don't fly Airtran and I NEVER use a Travel agent for anything. Good luck, hopefully, someone will have an answer to the Airtran question.

Not sure WHERE youi are flying from but based on my AirTran experience in Atlanta a few weeks ago, give yourself at LEAST two hours. They seem to have problems checking luggage!

 

[DebbieB]

AirTran has 2 tiers of tickets. The cheaper ones have no pre-assigned seating, but you can get seat assignment by checking-in online up to 24 hours in advance. For a higher price, you can buy the same ticket but with an advance seat assignment. Perhaps your corporate travel office just bought you the more expensive ticket to save you the time and trouble of the necessity of online check-in.

No, they were cheaper ones. They were not on my reservation when I booked it but when I did online check-in 24 hours before, they were already there. Others have reported this (safetymom?).

 

[CleveRocks]

this is what airtran has to say about paper tickets..straight from the website.

Can I use online flight check-in if I bought my ticket through a travel agency?
Passengers who purchased tickets through their travel agent may use the online flight check-in program only if their travel agent issued them an electronic ticket. If their agent issued them a paper ticket, those passengers will be required to check in at the airport.

Thank you VERY MUCH for that information.

I'm happy to have the info, I'm just not happy with the info.