Our Flight Is Overbooked!

[bouncy54]

Ok...I'm not a frequent flyer so I don't know if I should change the time for Super Shuttle to pick us up at home or not.

Our flight leaves Sea-Tac at 6:38 AM. Our "exclusive" shuttle is picking us up at 4:30 AM.

It takes about 30 minutes to get to the airport, then we have to check in our luggage (there are 8 of us, so I figure it will take about 30 minutes if there is a line in front of us), then we have to go through security, then make the trek to the Alaska Airlines desk, which will probably take another 30 minutes.

That gets us to our gate at about 6:00 AM. I think that's cutting it pretty close.

We do have assigned seats and I will be printing our boarding passes 24 hours ahead of time, but the reservation clerk kept saying we need to be at the gate an hour before our departure.

So what do ya'll think? Should I have Super Shuttle pick us up at 4:00 AM instead of 4:30?

 

[KimAshton]

Yes. You do not want to be late cause they might give your seat away.

 

[lisah0711]

Another yes vote. You may breeze through security and everything at that hour, but you may not, and you don't want to chance losing your seats. Sometimes when I fly through Seattle I am amazed at how busy it seems even when it is early and no one should be around! Better to be safe than sorry -- maybe you can nap on the plane . . . Have a great time.

 

[NannyPooh]

Ooohhh - I would go a little earlier...
If you have an exclusive shuttle, it shouldn't be too hard to change the pick-up time. I would give yourself an extra half hour. Traffic down in that area hasn't been so good lately!
Are you on Alaska? They are pretty good about asking for volunteers to give up their seats first, but you never know! That would be a bummer way to start the trip!
You might try to call the airline, letting them know that you are a party of 8. Then they will have it in the record that you are a group, and they are typically less likely to bump one or two people from a group from the flight!
Good luck, and have a great trip!

 

[katieandallycat]

I would definately move it earlier. Especially since you have a big group. You don't want to risk 1 or 2 people from the group getting bumped.
We have a flight in Jan. Planning on getting to security 2 hours ahead. It's an early morning flight, but still, hubby has flown SW and almost missed a 7am flight, because of an hour and a half security line.
Just think of it as part of the adventure.

 

[Hofmanns4]

I have to agree with everyone else. Better safe than sorry =)

About the time you are getting on the shuttle, we should be pulling out of our driveway headed to DL.

It should take us about 6.5 hours....so I guess we will race you to see who gets there first.

 

[LOVEDISNEYLAND]

I would leave at 4:00am if I were you ! It's better safe than sorry. Look at it this way, if you get there early you can have breakfast or go and get coffee at the food court and sit and chat about how much fun you'll have in Disneyland!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Butttt, isn't checking in at the main desks (when you check in your luggage) considered checking in? Maybe my time with Southwest exclusively has changed my brain, but if you're checked in at the main area (which is before security), you're checked in (unless you NEVER show up at the gate, LOL). Why would you need to line up at the gate desk again?

 

[bouncy54]

Butttt, isn't checking in at the main desks (when you check in your luggage) considered checking in? Maybe my time with Southwest exclusively has changed my brain, but if you're checked in at the main area (which is before security), you're checked in (unless you NEVER show up at the gate, LOL). Why would you need to line up at the gate desk again?

Hmmm...they use your ticket (boarding pass) to check in your luggage, so I think you may be right. Plus...I thought that when you check in on-line, then print out your boarding pass, that this is when you actually check in.

When we flew to WDW a couple of years ago, I know that we didn't go to the desk at the gate to let them know we were there...we just got on the plane when they called our row.

I'm so confused!

 

[COmomof2]

Once you've checked in at the main desk and checked in your luggage, you don't have to "recheck" in at the desk at the gate. As a former corporate travel agent, my experience is those who do not, or cannot get assigned seats ahead of time are the ones in danger of being bumped. Once the airline had assigned a seat, they can't (or shouldn't!) give that same seat number to someone else.

An airline will tell you to be at the gate an hour early to get a firm count of people there and accounted for. Most flights on most major carriers are overbooked on purpose to factor in no-shows and passengers who change their flights voluntarily. They also hold back a certain number of seat assignments so the desk agents have some wiggle room for each departure.

Back to the original question, I think I'd rather leave at 4:00am. Think of the time alone it will take to just load all 8 of you and your luggage into the shuttle. Better to be safe than sorry.

I wouldn't worry about the chance of being bumped. You have seat assignments, and you'll have your boarding passes printed ahead of time showing your seat numbers.

Have a great trip!

 

[bumbershoot]

Since you'll have boarding passes, does SeaTac have skycap luggage, erm, taking? I never EVER check in my luggage outside, I just don't trust it, so I don't know if they have it...do they have it? If they have it and you trust it, that might cut some time off of things?

The shuttle company probably came up with the time to pick you up, yes? If so, they probably know quite well how long you need to get to the gate, and the traffic patterns etc etc...I personally would probably trust them (I don't trust skycaps but I trust shuttle companies...hmm) and go with the time they told me.

Also, being picked up THAT early, and considering you'll probably hardly have to be on I-5 at all...I think you'll be there quickly. Not much traffic THAT early yet!


But if you want to get there early, there's never anything wrong with that! Have you been to SeaTac since the remodel a couple years ago? Once you get through security it is BEAUTIFUL, and the cost of food is supposed to be street-costs, so you don't pay extra for your Starbucks while looking out the incredible window (which will probably just show you dark sky that early, LOL) and all the art...I wish I could afford little trips to Portland every month, just so I could go through security and spend time in there.

 

[bouncy54]

Thanks to all who responded.

We've never traveled over a holiday before so this is all new.

When we flew to WDW, we took the Red Eye and going through security was quick and easy.

The last time we flew to DL was before 9-11...things were much simpler then.
Plus my daughter is a Diabetic and she's going to need to declare her insulin and needles at the security checkpoint. (She has a note from her Dr.)

Super Shuttle did pick the time for us to arrive at Sea-Tac, and no...there's virtually no traffic on I-5 that early in the morning. Checking in our luggage and going through security is the unknown time factor.

I don't believe I've been to Sea-Tac since the remodeling has been done. My daughter tells me there is some kind of shuttle that will take us close to the Alaska Airline gate...I'll have to check into that.

Only 27 days left! (Bummer about Indy, though)

 

[KimAshton]

I have flown out of my airport and people were in line to check their baggage in they already had their boarding pass and they missed their flights cause they didn't allow enough time. They were in line complaining to the continental people. <shakes head>

 

[bouncy54]

Thanks to all for your advise.

I went ahead and changed our pick up time to 4:00 AM. That should get us to Sea-Tac about 2 hours before departure.

We lose a 1/2 hour of sleep but should give us time to get a cup of while we're waiting for our flight.

It will be so very early in the morning, but I'm going to try to encourage everyone to get a bite to eat since we won't have anything else until we go to the park around noon.

The flight is only 2 1/2 hours so there is no breakfast served but even if there were, our family has never liked "plane" food anyway.

DD and her family are going to sleep in our motorhome the night before so I can see DGS's face when he wakes up and we tell him that the day is finally here. I made him a countdown calendar and he is downrigt militant in fulfilling his duty to place a "Cars" sticker on it every night.

Only 25 days to wait!

 

[LOVEDISNEYLAND]

the food court is VERY nice and you can sit and watch the planes take off while you wait for your flight because of the HUGE glass window (from the floor to ceiling) not sure if they will actually be serving breakfast that early in the morning, but I know for sure that they have coffee, starbucks has pastries and a tully's (I think)

 

[bouncy54]

the food court is VERY nice and you can sit and watch the planes take off while you wait for your flight because of the HUGE glass window (from the floor to ceiling) not sure if they will actually be serving breakfast that early in the morning, but I know for sure that they have coffee, starbucks has pastries and a tully's (I think)

I think the Food Court is at the southern end of the airport so we probably won't be able to eat there. Alaska Airlines is at Concourse C...the Northern end, but there's a Burger King, a Deli, Seattle's Best, Starbucks and a Bagel Bakery that serves breakfast at that hour....I think there's even a Pizza place.

Our trip is getting so close now...only 19 more work days! I've been working Saturdays for the past few weeks for some extra spending money, but I think I'll give it a rest this coming weekend. I'm tired.

I don't want to be dragging my behind by the time we leave.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh there's food everywhere.

This is a map of the central terminal, the big area you end up in after security (looks like there are three security entrances, but really you owe it to yourself to go through the main, middle, one so you can see the huge windows and artwork, and then just cut over to the right for your concourse...you'd either cut to the right before that area or after...but one way has art and the other, well, the other might too, but I don't know.

Anyway, http://www.portseattle.org/about/maps/cte.shtml

Here's concourse C. http://www.portseattle.org/about/maps/concoursec.shtml Another Starbucks, just in case the first one next to the massive windows didn't help you. ha ha. And a place that does manicures! Probably not open that early.

From the maps, it's concourse D that has those places ya listed for C. http://www.portseattle.org/about/maps/concoursed.shtml

Looks like D is over to the right too...


Love that port of seattle has all that info online!


By the way, how do you know your flight is overbooked, already?

 

[bouncy54]

I've been checking our flight every few weeks since we purchased the tickets last March...you know...to make the vacation seem real.

Usually Alaska Airlines would let me look at our seat assignments, but this last time it said that seats would be assigned at the airport. So I called Alaska and asked if that meant the flight was over-booked. She hemmed & hawwed, then said..."Well...not necessarily," then proceeded to tell me 3 times to be at the gate an hour early.

As for the airport...hasn't there always been observation windows in that area?