Saturday Flight Expectations

[Disneyhappy]

Is it realistic that our Saturday am flight from PHL will actuallly make it to MCO? Arrival is supposed to be 12:30 pm. I do not mind a long delay. I am concerned about our options if the flight is cancelled. This is going to be a very bad hurricane and we are a party of 11 traveling.

 

[monorailsilver]

it might make it but delayed a bit.

I was looking at flightaware yesterday and saw a jet blue and southwest flight for Thursday to Orlando were already cancelled. I told my dh expect an over booked flight on Sunday to Orlando, that's if he still has to go...work trip.

 

[PlutoPony]

We were one of the first couple flights into Orlando after Hurricane Charley. It is going to heavily depend on when the airport is able to reopen to flights and if your flight is one they let come in. MCO did not reopen at full capacity. They had damaged / unusable jetways and significant water damage in parts of the airport. As soon as we came off the jetway, the smell of mustiness + water hit us. If the airport comes out w minimal damage, your chances are much better. Also depends on where your plane is coming from as many will be out of position.


If your flight is canceled, I think the chances getting a party of 11 on a subsequent flight is slim. Be prepared to split up into smaller groups + think about how many days you are willing to wait to get into MCO i.e. Wwhen you would pull the plug on your trip

 

[richmo]

Unless there's damage at MCO, I would think the airport will be open by noon on Saturday. You should probably expect delays and also keep in mind that many jets are going to be parked in the wrong places for a couple days so there will still be plenty of cancellations until the airlines get their jets back to where they're supposed to be. I would keep a close eye on your airlines flight statuses...

 

[murmer]

We are in the same boat...flight suppose to leave at 8 am from Manchester for Orlando. Hopefully it may take off otherwise thinking about plan b and c.

 

[GoBlue96]

We are in a similar situation...scheduled to leave PIT at 1:30 PM Saturday on Southwest. Watching the situation closely and hoping for the best!

 

[Disneyhappy]

Thinking of booking flights from PHL into ATL Saturday morning and driving the 7 hours to Orlando from there in a rental.

 

[jimandami]

DM and DD7 were supposed to leave at 7:45 Saturday morning and I just changed them to a Monday-Monday reservation....just seemed safer!

 

[richmo]

Thinking of booking flights from PHL into ATL Saturday morning and driving the 7 hours to Orlando from there in a rental.

That's not a bad idea at all. Another thing you could consider is a PHL to TPA, perhaps on Southwest. Then you'd only have a 1.5 hour drive to WDW. And if you do it on SW, you could always cancel and save the credit for another time.

DM and DD7 were supposed to leave at 7:45 Saturday morning and I just changed them to a Monday-Monday reservation....just seemed safer!

And that's also a good idea. I think airlines are going to be much more flexible than usual for flights in and around this weekend as they'll have lots of folks that they need to reschedule.

 

[jimandami]

Now if only I could find a room for them for next Sat/Sun! On property pretty booked!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

My sister's friend is going on Saturday from Buffalo NY and she asked me to do some research.
From looking at NHC predictions and watching WESH 2 News it would appear that the storm will be off the coast of SC by Saturday morning.
So I'd say its possible that your light will be ok as long as they can fly around it.

My sister and I flew out of Buffalo the day Hermine made landfall and we did have to fly low and in the clouds for much of the flight but made it just fine. (I'm wondering if they needed to stay low due to winds up high? not sure)

 

[Disneyhappy]

My biggest concern is that it will take time to clear the debris and open up runways for Saturday arrivals. It seems that the storm keeps slowing down ever so slightly...

 

[GoBlue96]

my Saturday flight from PIT to MCO was just cancelled. Trying to get through to Southwest to figure out alternatives... not sure what to do at this point.

 

[gmboy95]

If i remember from charlie...things like the airport and Disney where up and running fairly quickly the next day....the infrastructure of stop lights and such were a mess for at least 24-48 hours after.....the real issue will be the backlog of flights coming in and out

 

[jimandami]

Now if only I could find a room for them for next Sat/Sun! On property pretty booked!

I kept checking and some lucked into a room at All Star Music, so hopefully, they will be all good!

 

[murmer]

My flight was also cancelled. Trying to decide if we should drive down (2 day drive so leave tomorrow arrive late sat) or just cancel and try again next year. But we already bought our mnsshp tickets and really don't want to eat the money for them so hard choice.

 

[Disneyhappy]

Our flight was cancelled. We are flying into ATL and driving to MCO because there were no flights for all of us until Tuesday. I would have cancelled but there is a mother of 2 year old twins that is very determined to get there.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

MCO said they will resume operations IF they have enough employees who are able to make it in. With the projected magnitude of this storm I am not expected too much. So don't bank on the fact that the storm has subsided it all depends on staffing. Plus remember you may be going into an area that does not have power for days. If it were me I would not go now.
Also factor in there may not be a plane at the airport for your or a flight crew there as well. The flight crew could be stuck somewhere waiting to get out

SWA has canceled all of their flight to MCO till Monday

 

[GoBlue96]

Our flight was cancelled. We are flying into ATL and driving to MCO because there were no flights for all of us until Tuesday. I would have cancelled but there is a mother of 2 year old twins that is very determined to get there.

We are contemplating doing the same thing as you. Any speculations On what the roads might be like on Saturday driving into Orlando?

 

[murmer]

We have no officially cancelled our trip decided we don't need to bring our family into their possible disaster. We will try again next year.