Southwest and DME

[Mama Odie]

I was reading through the DME description on the DIS trasnportation webpage (sorry, I'm still a DIS newbie so I can't include the URL!) and I noticed that Southwest airlines and DME only work for "limited resorts". Which resorts are they? I'd like to find out before I shell out for plane tix!

Thanks!

Julie

 

[Alesia]

You can use DME regardless of what airline you're flying. Heck, you don't even have to be flying at all.

The only thing that the airline you're using has any effect on is RAC.

 

[vacationclub]

I was reading through the DME description on the DIS trasnportation webpage (sorry, I'm still a DIS newbie so I can't include the URL!) and I noticed that Southwest airlines and DME only work for "limited resorts". Which resorts are they? I'd like to find out before I shell out for plane tix!

Thanks!

Julie

You may have misunderstood. DME doesn't care about what airline you arrive or depart on...it's simply a ride to and from the airport. (as Alesia said, you don't even need to have a plane ticket) BUT, there is a separate service that lets you check luggage for SOME airlines at the resort before getting on the DME bus when going home. I don't believe it matters what resort you are at, the participating airlines should be the same no matter where you stay.

 

[mb187143]

You may have misunderstood. DME doesn't care about what airline you arrive or depart on...it's simply a ride to and from the airport. (as Alesia said, you don't even need to have a plane ticket) BUT, there is a separate service that lets you check luggage for SOME airlines at the resort before getting on the DME bus when going home. I don't believe it matters what resort you are at, the participating airlines should be the same no matter where you stay.

i know when we stayed at AKL in September 2010, Southwest was only available for RAC at certain resorts, I remember being glad we were at one of them. When we returned in February 2011, Southwest was officially participating in RAC at all resorts. I don't know if there was some sort of issue and they wanted a trial period, but as of now, they participate in RAC at all resorts.

 

[goofy4tink]

You may have misunderstood. DME doesn't care about what airline you arrive or depart on...it's simply a ride to and from the airport. (as Alesia said, you don't even need to have a plane ticket) BUT, there is a separate service that lets you check luggage for SOME airlines at the resort before getting on the DME bus when going home. I don't believe it matters what resort you are at, the participating airlines should be the same no matter where you stay.

Weeelllll, the DIS transportation site, much to my personal chagrin, does, in fact, say that DME's service is at limited resorts..unless you read it very carefully anyway. The site barely differentiates between RAC and DME..so it's easy to see how someone could be confused.
And even then, if you do discern that it's talking about RAC, it still says that SW is available at 'limited resorts', which is wrong.

So...long story short...
Anyone arriving at MCO, on any airline, or by car, or by yak, and that has a standing DME reservation (made in advance) is entitled to ride the DME bus to their resort from the airport. If you have tagged your checked bags, you can expect those bags to show up, in your resort room, up to 3 hrs after resort checkin. Unless....you arrived at the airport between 10pm and 5am. Baggage handling is suspended after 10pm..so you will need to get your own bags and take them on the bus with you. I would not tag the bags in this case.

For your return to the airport??? Again, every guest with a standing reservation with DME is entitled to ride it back to the MCO from their resort. you are allowed to bring all your luggage, checked and carryon, with you, on the bus.
If you are flying on one of the participating airlines, and your flight is after 8:15am, you can check your bags right at the resort and get your boarding passes issued. You do NOT need to have a prior reservation on DME for this...you can even check your bags with RAC and then take a car service back to the airport, or a rental car. You just have to be flying out on a 'participating airline'.

 

[Mama Odie]

I was getting my terminology all befuddled and you're right, I meant to say RAC, not DME. I did say I was a newbie, right?! So it looks like we'll be good to go with Southwest.

Thanks!

Julie

 

[goofy4tink]

I was getting my terminology all befuddled and you're right, I meant to say RAC, not DME. I did say I was a newbie, right?! So it looks like we'll be good to go with Southwest.

Thanks!

Julie

No problem!!! Even Disney lumps RAC in with DME!! Really confuses a lot of people!!

 

[seashoreCM]

Historically, Resort Airline Check-in for baggage going home via Southwest was started with just a few resorts, I think Pop Century was one of them. I would guess that the first trials were to make sure the mechanism (software) was working correctly and could handle the volume of guests.

Additional resorts were added a few at a time. The last few, I think they were Caribbean Beach and Old Key West, took awhile to come on line because of the need to expand the holding space for the bags.

 

[sarmat1]

If you are flying on one of the participating airlines, and your flight is after 8:15am, you can check your bags right at the resort and get your boarding passes issued. You do NOT need to have a prior reservation on DME for this...you can even check your bags with RAC and then take a car service back to the airport, or a rental car. You just have to be flying out on a 'participating airline'.

Can somebody explain RAC further? I've never heard of it before. We have a rental car, so I haven't bothered paying much attention to DME. Am I right to understand that we can check our bags at the hotel (we're at POFQ) on the day we're leaving and Disney will take them to the airport and get them on the plane for us? And we don't have to be using DME? Hmmm . . . can't imagine I'm this clueless. I've been on this board over a year and have never read anything about this.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Can somebody explain RAC further? I've never heard of it before. We have a rental car, so I haven't bothered paying much attention to DME. Am I right to understand that we can check our bags at the hotel (we're at POFQ) on the day we're leaving and Disney will take them to the airport and get them on the plane for us? And we don't have to be using DME? Hmmm . . . can't imagine I'm this clueless. I've been on this board over a year and have never read anything about this.

As long as you're on a participating airline, you can use RAC. It's a separate service from DME.

I can see why people get confused though as Disney doesn't always do a good job of explaining that these are two different entities.

 

[seashoreCM]

Resort Airline Check-in works something like the skycap at the airport curbside.

There is an agent at a desk and he has a computer terminal and a stack of blank white standard airline baggage tags. Exception: you must make advance arrangements to pay baggage fees since the agent does not take money.

In the case of Disney's resorts you need to complete RAC at least 3 hours before your flight which may prevent you from using RAC if the RAC desk is not open (like before 5 AM) for a pre-8 AM flight. In addition, waiting in the RAC line does not count as being punctual for your DME bus.

Within the RAC desk hours (typically 5 AM to 1 PM) you can check the bags long before your flight if that is more convenient, but not the previous day.

(Yellow Magical Express baggage tags are not used going home and can confuse the airport personnel. Take them off your bags before going home.)

 

[SaraJayne]

Weeelllll, the DIS transportation site, much to my personal chagrin, does, in fact, say that DME's service is at limited resorts..unless you read it very carefully anyway. The site barely differentiates between RAC and DME..so it's easy to see how someone could be confused.
And even then, if you do discern that it's talking about RAC, it still says that SW is available at 'limited resorts', which is wrong.

So...long story short...
Anyone arriving at MCO, on any airline, or by car, or by yak, and that has a standing DME reservation (made in advance) is entitled to ride the DME bus to their resort from the airport. If you have tagged your checked bags, you can expect those bags to show up, in your resort room, up to 3 hrs after resort checkin. Unless....you arrived at the airport between 10pm and 5am. Baggage handling is suspended after 10pm..so you will need to get your own bags and take them on the bus with you. I would not tag the bags in this case.

For your return to the airport??? Again, every guest with a standing reservation with DME is entitled to ride it back to the MCO from their resort. you are allowed to bring all your luggage, checked and carryon, with you, on the bus.
If you are flying on one of the participating airlines, and your flight is after 8:15am, you can check your bags right at the resort and get your boarding passes issued. You do NOT need to have a prior reservation on DME for this...you can even check your bags with RAC and then take a car service back to the airport, or a rental car. You just have to be flying out on a 'participating airline'.

Ooo, I want to rent a yak the next time I come into MCO. Where would I find that rental station?

 

[MinnieLee]

Ooo, I want to rent a yak the next time I come into MCO. Where would I find that rental station?

At the "Yeti" station! I know, that one was bad but couldn't resist!

 

[vacationclub]

There is an agent at a desk and he has a computer terminal and a stack of blank white standard airline baggage tags. Exception: you must make advance arrangements to pay baggage fees since the agent does not take money.

Huh? We've always paid for bags with a credit card at the RAC desk.... as recently as February. Is this new?

In fact, they told us not to check in online (and thus pay for luggage at that time) since it makes it hard for them to get into our reservation, check us in and take our luggage. Although they did figure it out the one time we did that.

 

[SaraJayne]

Huh? We've always paid for bags with a credit card at the RAC desk.... as recently as February. Is this new?

In fact, they told us not to check in online (and thus pay for luggage at that time) since it makes it hard for them to get into our reservation, check us in and take our luggage. Although they did figure it out the one time we did that.

Last time we used RAC and had to pay baggage fees, there was a letter left in our room with an 800 number to call to pay for baggage fees using a credit card, prior to checking our bags in at RAC. I've never paid for bags at the RAC desk.

That was a couple years ago though and the process may have changed since then. We usually fly SW, so don't need to pay baggage fees.

 

[SaraJayne]

At the "Yeti" station! I know, that one was bad but couldn't resist!

 

[Lewisc]

People are nitpicking. Disney uses the term DME to refer to 3 separate services: bus transportation for guests to/from MCO, inbound luggage delivery and outbound luggage checkin/BP issuance (RAC).

Some posters think DME only applies to the first two services, Disney (in at least some place) uses it as an "umbrella" term to cover all three.

 

[KrazeeK120]

People are nitpicking. Disney uses the term DME to refer to 3 separate services: bus transportation for guests to/from MCO, inbound luggage delivery and outbound luggage checkin/BP issuance (RAC).

Some posters think DME only applies to the first two services, Disney (in at least some place) uses it as an "umbrella" term to cover all three.

I don't think anyone is nitpicking. It seems, at least to me, that people are truly trying to help the OP.

Where does Disney use DME as an "umbrella" term? As far as I have always understood, RAC isn't even operated by Disney, while DME is. Therefore, they cannot be the same thing. And you can use one without the other, so I think we were all just trying to clarify what the OP was doing in order to try to provide the best advice possible.

 

[Lewisc]

I don't think anyone is nitpicking. It seems, at least to me, that people are truly trying to help the OP.

Where does Disney use DME as an "umbrella" term? As far as I have always understood, RAC isn't even operated by Disney, while DME is. Therefore, they cannot be the same thing. And you can use one without the other, so I think we were all just trying to clarify what the OP was doing in order to try to provide the best advice possible.

Bus transportation is done by Mears, inbound luggage delivery is outsourced to another company (not sure of the name) and RAC is outsourced to BAGS. None of them are "the same thing". Passengers aren't transported in the luggage trucks.

Go to Disney's website. Several of the places which describe DME talk about three distinct services. For some reason members of DIS seem to think two of the three services are part of DME.

Helping the OP? Telling the OP RAC isn't part of DME does nothing to help him. The accuracy of that statement is questionable. You can help the OP by stating the information he is reading is old and Southwest passengers can now use the RAC portion of DME at every resort.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/pl...tory2_All_DisneysMagicalExpressTransportation

RAC is listed under the Complimentary Airport Service--DME topic. We can "nitpick" and debate the issue. The OP didn't ask if RAC is part of DME. The question is if Southwest passengers can check their luggage.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Bus transportation is done by Mears, inbound luggage delivery is outsourced to another company (not sure of the name) and RAC is outsourced to BAGS. None of them are "the same thing". Passengers aren't transported in the luggage trucks.

Go to Disney's website. Several of the places which describe DME talk about three distinct services. For some reason members of DIS seem to think two of the three services are part of DME.

Helping the OP? Telling the OP RAC isn't part of DME does nothing to help him. The accuracy of that statement is questionable. You can help the OP by stating the information he is reading is old and Southwest passengers can now use the RAC portion of DME at every resort.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/pl...tory2_All_DisneysMagicalExpressTransportation

RAC is listed under the Complimentary Airport Service--DME topic. We can "nitpick" and debate the issue. The OP didn't ask if RAC is part of DME. The question is if Southwest passengers can check their luggage.

The OP's question asked about DME, not RAC. After discussing a bit, it came out that the real question was about RAC. The people that responded to the original question didn't know that the OP was asking about RAC.

I am not in any way trying to blame the OP...I see where it gets confusing. But no one was trying to nitpick - we were trying to answer the question that was asked, even though we found out later that that's not really what the OP was trying to ask.