RAC...How important in selecting an Airline?

[REL1203]

How important is RAC to you guys? I can get the cheapest flights from the Wash DC area to MCO via US Air or SW, but neither of them use RAC. How important is it to get your bags checked at the resort before boarding ME? This seems to be the biggest thing for me and holding me back from booking my airfare... Let me know your toughts... Is it worth $25/person for something liek Ted?

 

[kaytieeldr]

How important is RAC to you guys? I can get the cheapest flights from the Wash DC area to MCO via US Air or SW, but neither of them use RAC. How important is it to get your bags checked at the resort before boarding ME? This seems to be the biggest thing for me and holding me back from booking my airfare... Let me know your toughts... Is it worth $25/person for something liek Ted?

Honestly, since it's your money it's something you need to determine. For me? Nope. I wouldn't pay extra to fly a participating airline. I would, have, and will pay extra to fly on an airline I prefer, but that's an entirely different issue

 

[Lewisc]

How important is RAC to you guys? I can get the cheapest flights from the Wash DC area to MCO via US Air or SW, but neither of them use RAC. How important is it to get your bags checked at the resort before boarding ME? This seems to be the biggest thing for me and holding me back from booking my airfare... Let me know your toughts... Is it worth $25/person for something liek Ted?

All resorts will store your luggage. Most cases the luggage storage room is next to the DME bus stop. Disney won't let you take a DME bus from an alternate resort. Under the present rules I'd put the value near zero. I guess you'd save a couple dollars/bag in tips so maybe $5 per passenger. I'd base my decision on fares, flight times and other factors (elite status or TV--Jet Blue).

 

[REL1203]

With all flights, they offer times that are perfect... Arrival at like 11am, and departure around 4pm... Is just hard for me to decide how much of a hassle putting bags on ME, then taking them off, then checking them at the airport is worth.. Is it that nice to just check your bags at your resort and not have to worry about them till you get off the plane?

 

[CleveRocks]

With all flights, they offer times that are perfect... Arrival at like 11am, and departure around 4pm... Is just hard for me to decide how much of a hassle putting bags on ME, then taking them off, then checking them at the airport is worth.. Is it that nice to just check your bags at your resort and not have to worry about them till you get off the plane?

I really think you're over-thinking it. Every time you go on vacation, when you go back home you get your own bags back to the airport, right? So NOT using RAC is no different.

If you have your bags stored by Bell Services, when they retrieve them for you they'll bring them to where you are waiting for the bus. You can usually just sit right there with your luggage. When the bus arrives, either the driver will take them right from that spot, or maybe you'll have to bring them another 20 or 30 feet to get them to the driver. The driver loads the bags under the bus, then unloads them at the airport when you get dropped off. From there, you take your bags inside, you can take an elevator up to the 3rd floor, then find your airline counter to check in for your flight.

RAC seems like a nice opportunity, but personally, I wouldn't bother paying an extra dime for it. I love the FREE convenience of the automatic DME luggage delivery when you arrive in Orlando, but if there were a charge for it I don't think I'd pay for that, either.

 

[REL1203]

You make a good point Cleve... I was just trying to take advantage of everything disney offers since its included in the price... If the RAC cost more I wouldnt do it, but I do really like the idea of not having to pick up your bags when you get off the flight.. I would pay a little extra for that (I am sure I am already in their prices)...

 

[goofy4tink]

I like being able to use RAC, but it isn't the defining thing when I book my flights. I love JB, and will fly them whenever possible. It's good that they participate in RAC. But, I have flown SW and had no problems with storing my bags with Bell Services until it's time to hop on the bus, then lug my bags myself. You can always use curbside checkin if you don't want to drag the bags through the airport.
But, RAC is nice if you can use it.

 

[n2mm]

WE love RAC and will willingly pay extra to fly a participating airline. We choose TED out of Dulles for several reasons. One, assigned seating, 2. we have a ton of FF miles, 3. nonstop, and 4. RAC. We have used RAC while flying TED the last 5 trips since 2006 and absolutly love it. We drop our bags off and check them with the RAC desk and get our boarding passes. Then off we go for the rest of the day and never see our bags again until we get to DUlles. When it's time to go to the airport, we hop in our rental car, drive to the airport and drop off the car and go straight to security checkin. No going to the counter at the airport, no hauling our bags through the airport and gargage. It saves us time and our time is worth the money. So far, our flights on Ted have been the same price as other carriers. Only recently has SW started flying out of Dulles, but their fares have been higher than TED everytime I booked. I just booked my August trip and my October trip on TED for $169 rt, which is my perfect price for my perfect times (the 8:30AM flight down and the 6:30PM flight home--non stop). Starting May 1 Jetblue will be flying out of Dulles. They are RAC participants, so I'll have to wait and see about them, but I'm pretty set for the rest of the year for my next three flights. If my price was $25 higher than SW, yes I would still choose TED just for the RAC and baggage handling. We always have at least 4 bags to check when it's just the two of us. In October we had the daughter and family and had 9 bags to check, plus car seats to carry. It was great dropping off all 9 bags and never having to see them again until Dulles. My daughter agreed, this is a wonderful service and well worth the extra, should that ever be an issue. Hope you enjoy my different point of view. So no hauling suitcases for us, let some else do the work. We love the RAC service.

 

[Lewisc]

RAC ALLOWS YOU TO CHECK YOUR BAGS AT YOUR RESORT FOR YOUR RETURN FLIGHTpassengers on any airline, flying into MCO and staying at a WDW run resort, can use the yellow DME tags.

You make a good point Cleve... I was just trying to take advantage of everything disney offers since its included in the price... If the RAC cost more I wouldnt do it, but I do really like the idea of not having to pick up your bags when you get off the flight.. I would pay a little extra for that (I am sure I am already in their prices)...

 

[REL1203]

WE love RAC and will willingly pay extra to fly a participating airline. We choose TED out of Dulles for several reasons. One, assigned seating, 2. we have a ton of FF miles, 3. nonstop, and 4. RAC. We have used RAC while flying TED the last 5 trips since 2006 and absolutly love it. We drop our bags off and check them with the RAC desk and get our boarding passes. Then off we go for the rest of the day and never see our bags again until we get to DUlles. When it's time to go to the airport, we hop in our rental car, drive to the airport and drop off the car and go straight to security checkin. No going to the counter at the airport, no hauling our bags through the airport and gargage. It saves us time and our time is worth the money. So far, our flights on Ted have been the same price as other carriers. Only recently has SW started flying out of Dulles, but their fares have been higher than TED everytime I booked. I just booked my August trip and my October trip on TED for $169 rt, which is my perfect price for my perfect times (the 8:30AM flight down and the 6:30PM flight home--non stop). Starting May 1 Jetblue will be flying out of Dulles. They are RAC participants, so I'll have to wait and see about them, but I'm pretty set for the rest of the year for my next three flights. If my price was $25 higher than SW, yes I would still choose TED just for the RAC and baggage handling. We always have at least 4 bags to check when it's just the two of us. In October we had the daughter and family and had 9 bags to check, plus car seats to carry. It was great dropping off all 9 bags and never having to see them again until Dulles. My daughter agreed, this is a wonderful service and well worth the extra, should that ever be an issue. Hope you enjoy my different point of view. So no hauling suitcases for us, let some else do the work. We love the RAC service.

How on earth are you getting that price... I would love that price and am not seeing it. You have the exact 2 timed trips I want to book as well. If I could get it for those times, at less than $200 rt I would so book it now and be done with it... Any ideas?

 

[clkelley]

RAC is useless for us. We try to take an 8:30pm or later flight home. We also like to get out of the room by 6:30 - 6:45 am. To us RAC would mean we would have to hang around the resort on our departure day till 8:30 am or later.

We stay at values, so they will pick up luggage without the guest being in the room, so we just stack our luggage by the door, leave a few dollars on top, and have called the night before to have our luggage picked up any time after 7am.

When we get back to the resort by 5pm, we just go to luggage service, get our stuff and board the bus.

When we get upstairs, we check out the lines inside and at curbside, if they both look long, we each take a line, and whoever gets close to the front first calls the other one. Then whoever is in the longer line bails and joins the shorter line.

 

[n2mm]

How on earth are you getting that price... I would love that price and am not seeing it. You have the exact 2 timed trips I want to book as well. If I could get it for those times, at less than $200 rt I would so book it now and be done with it... Any ideas?

Last month United was having great sales throughout the end of the year. I think it was when they announced that JetBlue was coming. I decided then to book--which is something I don't usually do that early. Right now I think the same flight times are only $178 rt. These are out of DUlles/Wash to MCO. I think now that there is more competition out of Dulles with both SW and JB, we may see some lower fares. But I'm happy with my April/August/October fares right now. To me it's not just the price, it's the times too. I don't want to give up my last day to come home early.

 

[n2mm]

RAC is useless for us. We try to take an 8:30pm or later flight home. We also like to get out of the room by 6:30 - 6:45 am. To us RAC would mean we would have to hang around the resort on our departure day till 8:30 am or later.

We stay at values, so they will pick up luggage without the guest being in the room, so we just stack our luggage by the door, leave a few dollars on top, and have called the night before to have our luggage picked up any time after 7am.

When we get back to the resort by 5pm, we just go to luggage service, get our stuff and board the bus.

When we get upstairs, we check out the lines inside and at curbside, if they both look long, we each take a line, and whoever gets close to the front first calls the other one. Then whoever is in the longer line bails and joins the shorter line.

We are similar in our traveling style. We too take the late flight home, which is 6:30PM. You know RAC opens at 5:00AM at most resorts? We are early risers too, so get up early, have breakfast when the restraurant opens (we are usually at a DVC resort) then after breakfast get our luggage and take it to RAC, check it and get our boarding passes, then off to the parks. Since we don't have to check our luggage at the airport, nor get in the line for our boarding passes, we allow at least 1 hour, vs the 90 minutes if checking bags. So we leave the resort/parks around 4:30, gas up and drive to the airport arriving between 5:00-5:30 for our 6:30 flight. I love not having to haul the luggage and our carryons through the airport. Lots of times when we are there for a 2 week trip, we often have a bag of collectibles and other breakables to carry, so not having the luggage is a big plus for us.

 

[goofy4tink]

We are similar in our traveling style. We too take the late flight home, which is 6:30PM. You know RAC opens at 5:00AM at most resorts? We are early risers too, so get up early, have breakfast when the restraurant opens (we are usually at a DVC resort) then after breakfast get our luggage and take it to RAC, check it and get our boarding passes, then off to the parks. Since we don't have to check our luggage at the airport, nor get in the line for our boarding passes, we allow at least 1 hour, vs the 90 minutes if checking bags. So we leave the resort/parks around 4:30, gas up and drive to the airport arriving between 5:00-5:30 for our 6:30 flight. I love not having to haul the luggage and our carryons through the airport. Lots of times when we are there for a 2 week trip, we often have a bag of collectibles and other breakables to carry, so not having the luggage is a big plus for us.

I think that what clkelly was saying was that since they fly at 8:30 pm, they would have to check in with RAC at 8:30 am or after since you can't check in more than 12 hrs. in advance. They like to be gone from the resort before that time. That's one reason I don't take a last, late flight home. Besides there being too much room for error with the flight....weather, equipment issues. I like to leave late afernoon. that way, if there's an issue, I can take a later flight, and I can still use RAC if I want to.

 

[REL1203]

Last month United was having great sales throughout the end of the year. I think it was when they announced that JetBlue was coming. I decided then to book--which is something I don't usually do that early. Right now I think the same flight times are only $178 rt. These are out of DUlles/Wash to MCO. I think now that there is more competition out of Dulles with both SW and JB, we may see some lower fares. But I'm happy with my April/August/October fares right now. To me it's not just the price, it's the times too. I don't want to give up my last day to come home early.

I dont know where your seeing that price... I am getting those same flights for $250 rt... Any special link... I am just going to either United.com or flyted.com

Any place else I should be going for cheaper united fares?

 

[n2mm]

I dont know where your seeing that price... I am getting those same flights for $250 rt... Any special link... I am just going to either United.com or flyted.com

Any place else I should be going for cheaper united fares?

I bought my tickets a few weeks ago. Actually for my August trip (Aug. 15-24) the tickets dropped all the way to $158 rt, but I got them at the $169 rate, but was still OK with it. And my trip for October. 14-26 was only $169 rt. These are out of Dulles (IAD) to Orlando (MCO). I just checked the rate again from my August dates and they are now $178 rt (early flight home, but for $184 you can take the 3:30PM flight home) Still a good deal. My rate for October is still running around $178, so they have gone up over the last couple of weeks. I think they may drop again as soon as Jet Blue starts flying out of Dulles on May 1. Just remember, when JetBlue has a sale, United will usually try to match the price, but the times may not always be great. (I book on UAL.com or flyted.com, as I get the same price for both.)