Resort Check in/Delta WARNING

[ktlm]

Just left WDW/GF yesterday I wanted to give everyone a heads up on problems they are having with Delta. This was the first time we had used resort check in and Magical express with a Delta flight. We usually fly American or Southwest. We went to resort check in our bags yesterday at the GF ( a big deal for us and a primary reason to use Magical Express) and found out that Delta had "locked us out" and we had to cart our bags to the airport ourselves and go through the line to check them there. According to the staff at the GF this happens with Delta all the time.

We were told because we pre-paid for our bags through Delta and the GF concierge checked us in and printed boarding passes the day before our flight, we could not resort check in our bags. They said it was only a problem with Delta and it happens all the time. They said the concierge should have warned us when they checked us into the flight and printed our boarding passes that it would prevent us from using the resort check in (they didn't). Apparently Delta is the only airline they have issues with. They told us the only way to resort check your bags with Delta is if you do not check in on your flight or print boarding passes until you drop off your bags at their counter. According to 3 people at the GF resort check in desk, and then also to a different CM about 6 hours later at bell services when we picked up our bags (at which time DH was complaining about it again), with Delta you must check in and have your boarding passes printed at the resort check in counter the day of your flight or else you can not resort check your bags.

Last year we flew American and for some reason they locked me out, but not DH or DD; however at the Poly the resort Check in staff was able to fix it and take my bag. This year, the GF staff told us they could do nothing about it, and that we were on our own in getting the bags there. They told us (both the morning resort check in people and the later bell services guy) that they recommend to their guests wanting to use resort check in that they don't fly Delta because that is the airline they have the most problems with (Gee really helpful that they give you that recommendation at the end of your trip on your way back to the airport isn't it? )


Just hoping to help someone else avoid the inconvenience we had to deal with.

 

[ancestry]

We were told because we pre-paid for our bags through Delta and the GF concierge checked us in and printed boarding passes the day before our flight, we could not resort check in our bags.

I thought from reading the board here that this is standard procedure. That when you use the BAGS check-in (what you are calling DME) you are not supposed to check yourself in or pay for the bags directly yourself (you have to pay for them by calling the number on the letter left for you the night before).

By the way this service is offered by a third party. It isn't DME and it isn't Disney. It is offered by BAGS, Inc.

 

[Harlemgirl720]

That is good to know. I am flying delta on the 22nd. Thank goodness its a late flight so I have to take my bags on the bus anyway. Now the problem is coming back. Coming from Dream cruise and using ME from Ship to airport. I read I could pay for check in on the ship prior to disembarking. I wonder if I should just take my bags.

 

[ls3015]

I don't understand what your saying, can you explain better, on what you did, before trying to bag check in at the resort, I have always flown with delta, pre-pay for my bags, always had my boarding pass printed out at the resort and have not had any trouble haveing ME take my bags for me to MCO, how and why did you get your boarding pass ahead of time?

 

[ancestry]

I just double checked the Resort Airline Check-In Instructions available on the Internet (google it). The OP did not follow the instructions. To use the Resort Airline Check-In Service the baggage fees are to be paid directly to BAGS. This fee is charged by the airline but collected by Bags. If you pay directly to the airline like the OP did then you will have to drag your own luggage to the airport just like the OP did.

 

[ls3015]

I just double checked the Resort Airline Check-In Instructions available on the Internet (google it). The OP did not follow the instructions. To use the Resort Airline Check-In Service the baggage fees are to be paid directly to BAGS. This fee is charged by the airline but collected by Bags. If you pay directly to the airline like the OP did then you will have to drag your own luggage to the airport just like the OP did.

What if you have a delta american express card where luggage is free, there is no charge? How is this handled?

 

[DebbieB]

What if you have a delta american express card where luggage is free, there is no charge? How is this handled?

That is already in the computer when they pull up your reservation. Just like if you do online check-in, it will show 1 bag free for each person (up to 9).

I've done it twice at BW with no problem. I had a rental car, so I didn't have a DME reservation. We just took the bags to the RAC desk and they checked them free of charge (they do have a tip jar). I did not do online check-in, they printed our boarding passes.

 

[owtrbnks]

The OP did not follow the instructions. QUOTE]

Have used resort check in many times when flying Delta without a problem. You get your boarding passes when you check your bags.

 

[francie57]

Agree with several pp. We have never had a problem with using the RAC desk and flying Delta. We pay for our bags through BAGS and then go the morning of our flight, check-in at the RAC desk, they print our boarding passes and away to the parks we go. Not sure why you would need to have your boarding passes printed by the front desk/guest services when that is one of the things the RAC desk does. We had no problem with our last trip in Aug.

 

[ktlm]

Have used resort check in many times when flying Delta without a problem. You get your boarding passes when you check your bags.

That is what they told us was wrong- the concierge checked us in and printed boarding passes the day before which is what we have always done in the past with American and Southwest and we also have always used resort check in for our bags the next day and never have not been able to check the bags. Delta does 24 hour advance check in like the other airlines. You should be able to get your boarding passes the previous day and still resort check your bags like you do with all the other airlines, but Delta is giving them fits about it. If the concierge checks you in with Delta the day before and prints your boarding passes, or you do it yourself, then Delta is locking out the baggage check in. The way you do it, not checking in or getting your boarding passes until you drop your luggage off, is apparently the only way you can be sure you won't have a glitch with Delta.


We go to WDW quite a bit (in terms of people who live half the US away) and have used the resort check in service many times. In the past at WDW with American and Southwest we had always gotten our boarding passes the day before. We have never had any issues checking our bags at the resort. We have also paid American bag fees directly to American before the flight and still used resort check in. (Southwest bags are still free.) As far as why we checked in the day before, Southwest you have to check in early if you want any type of boarding priority, and American you can risk getting bumped if you don't check in early. It is my understanding that Delta is the same way. The later you check in after the 24 hour window opens, the more likely you will get bumped from the flight if it is overbooked. Last checked in are generally the first that are involuntarily bumped if they do not have enough volunteers. (As it was our seat assignments were changed from what we had booked going out and coming back, and they split us up on the last flight coming home, but then reshuffled to put us back together (traveling with a 5 year old) and moved us to the next to the last row of the plane.)


ancestry, I googled it and saw the card, faqs and instructions, and unless you are looking at something different than the websites that I pulled up, or the card we got in the room, I do not see anything listed about not paying the airlines directly. The instructions we got was that IF there were fees outstandingthat had not been paid, then we needed to call BAGS and pay the fees before we could resort check our bags. We were not instructed anywhere that if we had pre-paid fees to the airline directly we could not use resort check in, and we have definitely done it that way in the past with no issues. This time,according to the staff the resort check in the computer was showing that all baggage fees were paid in full, but according to the staff Delta had for some reason blocked them (locked us out) from taking the bags.

The CMs were VERY clear that this was a Delta specific issue. We asked them if the same thing was happening with the other airlines so we would know to do things differently on future trips, and they told us no. They told us the other airlines you could print your boarding passes and pay for bags through the airlines ahead of time with no issues. (Like I said before, the recommendation we got from both the resort check in staff and later from bell services is not to fly Delta if you want to avoid potential resort check in issues).



We basically did things exactly the same way we do every trip, and we have never once had them not check in our bags at the resort. The only thing we did different was that it was Delta.

 

[magicaldisney]

( a big deal for us and a primary reason to use Magical Express)

You are confusing Resort Airline Check In and Disney's Magical Express. They two are not the same and do not have anything to do with each other. One can use RAC without using DME. This is just a simple problem of not following the proper procedures.

 

[Lewisc]

I just double checked the Resort Airline Check-In Instructions available on the Internet (google it). The OP did not follow the instructions. To use the Resort Airline Check-In Service the baggage fees are to be paid directly to BAGS. This fee is charged by the airline but collected by Bags. If you pay directly to the airline like the OP did then you will have to drag your own luggage to the airport just like the OP did.

Not everyone takes the time to carefully read the instructions. I'm sure this thread will have value to at least some of those people.

 

[goofy4tink]

The issue is that you are already checked in, prior to arriving at the RAC counter. They are there to print out boarding passes and check in your checked bags. I have flown Delta, and used RAC, many, many times. I call the BAGs number the day before departure to pay my checked bag fees. Then, I head to the RAC counter the next morning to check the bags and get my boarding passes.
If you use concierge, you are basically bypassing RAC. If you pay the airline directly for baggage fees, RAC won't be able to check you in...at least that is my understanding. You have to pay through them.

The thing I would have an issue with would be GF concierge customer service. If so many people there know this to be an issue, why the heck didn't they tell you this before??? I would think it would be easy to just say...'Oh, I'm sorry, but if you're flying with Delta, you will be better off calling this number and paying for your bags the day before you depart, and then go directly to the RAC counter to get boarding passes issued and bags checked. Otherwise, you will have to get your bags to MCO on your own. Sorry.' That would make sense to me.

 

[ktlm]

The issue is that you are already checked in, prior to arriving at the RAC counter. They are there to print out boarding passes and check in your checked bags. I have flown Delta, and used RAC, many, many times. I call the BAGs number the day before departure to pay my checked bag fees. Then, I head to the RAC counter the next morning to check the bags and get my boarding passes.
If you use concierge, you are basically bypassing RAC. If you pay the airline directly for baggage fees, RAC won't be able to check you in...at least that is my understanding. You have to pay through them.

The thing I would have an issue with would be GF concierge customer service. If so many people there know this to be an issue, why the heck didn't they tell you this before??? I would think it would be easy to just say...'Oh, I'm sorry, but if you're flying with Delta, you will be better off calling this number and paying for your bags the day before you depart, and then go directly to the RAC counter to get boarding passes issued and bags checked. Otherwise, you will have to get your bags to MCO on your own. Sorry.' That would make sense to me.

Exactly! We were just doing what we had always done and they had always resort checked our bags before. When we went to the concierge counter had they told us "Oh you don't want to do this if you are flying Delta because Delta does things differently than American or Southwest and if you print your boarding passes now you will not be able to resort check your bags", we probably would have waited until the next morning to check in and get boarding passes. (Although I did have some concern about getting bumped as Delta also moved our flight times and we were getting in really late and DD needed to be back in school the next morning. I knew if we got bumped off our connecting flight, we weren't getting home that night). It was extremely clear when they couldn't take our bags at resort check in, and later when we picked up the bags at bell services that all the staff knew this was a Delta issue and that it happens to people "all the time"...so why didn't the concierge know to tell us that the day before?

The good thing about Delta was all our flights to and from WDW were on time. The bad things were they 1. changed our flight times coming home so that we got in significantly later; 2. switched our seats around from the seat assignments we booked both on our flights going out and coming back. In fact, going to WDW they changed them after we printed our boarding passes, so that we had to go back to the counter and get new boarding passes with different seats; and 3. they are apparently very quirky and different from the other airlines for Disneyworld resort check in.



As far as not "following the rules" as some on the board have said. I went back and looked and here is the instruction we got:

"Guests who plan on using the Check In desk at the resorts will need a confirmation number from the airline that shows the appropriate baggage fee has been paid, if you paid such fees directly to the airline and not to BAGS, Inc."

We had our confirmation E-mail and number from the airline that our bags were fully paid and resort check in advised that they were also showing on their computer that the baggage fees had been paid. So, we did follow the instructions we were given.

 

[dzorn]

What if you have a delta american express card where luggage is free, there is no charge? How is this handled?

We just had to show the card when we check in at the RAC counter.

Denise in MI