Fly in same day?!

[4774Papa]

:eek:

 

I know most people will think we're crazy but...my sister and I have a flight credit (free flight!) so we are trying to do a super cheap weekend getaway the first weekend in October. We are looking at at 6AM flight out of the northeast to Miami - layover in Atlanta - arrive Miami at 11:53. Cruise is at 5PM out of Miami. The flight has a 97% on time record. My sister's husband is totally disabled and has to have a caregiver stay with him so that cost is being considered... 3 nights away would be so much better for her than 4 nights (mentally & financially). Guess I'm looking for someone out there to say - sure! Go for it! Normally I would never fly in the same day but I am trying to save her money and one less day of worrying about her husband. Thoughts?!

I would never fly in the same day, but I would never take a 3 day cruise.

 

Given your circumstances and the potential loss only being a 3 day cruise, go for it.

[conandrob240]

I would only do this if I were on the first non-stop if the day and there were at least 2 other flights after it that would get me there with time to spare.

 

Check FLL airport and see if you can get in night before

[Sarahellen]

Lots of people do it and lots of people don't. I think more people fly in the day of than before but not here on CC.

 

 

 

At least in October you shouldn't have snow storms or summer thunderstorms to worry about...shouldn't not won't. Storms always happen

 

 

 

Personally my travel days don't feel like a vacation day. I want to enjoy my cruise as long as I can.

 

 

 

Have you asked your sister what she wants? maybe a extra day is what she needs to unwind and relax from her stressful life. Maybe everyday she is gone the more stress she will be under. I have a friend with a disabled son (MD)and when we took a trip to Florida she drove down with another friend and said that time allowed her to leave it behind and stop worrying so by the time we all met in Florida she was ready to enjoy herself.

 

 

You kid about there being no chance of snow in October in the northeast but I have horrible vivid memories of a freak snow storm that hit us here in NY (about an hour north of the city) at the very end of October a few years back. Seeing as this only happened once in my 35 years of being alive I'd say the chances of it happening again are probably around .00027% but it is still higher than zero lol

 

It was crazy because it was something like 50 degrees the day before then 60 degrees the day after the storm. We ended up with about 3 feet of snow that day and about 99% of it was melted by sundown the next day. We can usually handle any amount of snow up here without any major travel issues but this storm caught everyone off guard so they didn't even have enough plows ready to keep up with the snow and the towns hadn't stockpiled salt for the winter either so almost every major road was shut down.

 

My poor cousin got married that day at what was supposed to be a beautiful B&B in the woods to take advantage of the fall foliage but she ended up having to settle for a winter wonderland that lost electricity halfway through the ceremony.

 

Ok this was way too long of a story just to say that it can snow in October hahaha

[mjkacmom]

You kid about there being no chance of snow in October in the northeast but I have horrible vivid memories of a freak snow storm that hit us here in NY (about an hour north of the city) at the very end of October a few years back. Seeing as this only happened once in my 35 years of being alive I'd say the chances of it happening again are probably around .00027% but it is still higher than zero lol

 

It was crazy because it was something like 50 degrees the day before then 60 degrees the day after the storm. We ended up with about 3 feet of snow that day and about 99% of it was melted by sundown the next day. We can usually handle any amount of snow up here without any major travel issues but this storm caught everyone off guard so they didn't even have enough plows ready to keep up with the snow and the towns hadn't stockpiled salt for the winter either so almost every major road was shut down.

 

My poor cousin got married that day at what was supposed to be a beautiful B&B in the woods to take advantage of the fall foliage but she ended up having to settle for a winter wonderland that lost electricity halfway through the ceremony.

 

Ok this was way too long of a story just to say that it can snow in October hahaha

We lost power for at least two day with all of the lines down due to trees coming down. Full leaves and snow equal disaster! Halloween was cancelled (not even delayed) that year.

[Sarahellen]

We lost power for at least two day with all of the lines down due to trees coming down. Full leaves and snow equal disaster! Halloween was cancelled (not even delayed) that year.

 

 

Yup!! I think we lost power for about the same amount of time. My husband was at work while it was getting really bad he made it most of the way home but the roads were impassable once he got about 2 miles from our house so he had to spend almost 6 hours stuck in his car before they cleared enough of the snow and downed trees for hi to make it home. As if that weren't enough, my parents were supposed to be flying home from Columbia that day and wound up stuck in Mexico City for 2 days until flights were back on schedule. No matter how I explained it they couldn't figure out how bad a snow storm in October could possibly have been haha.

 

If I remember correctly there were 3 Halloweens cancelled back to back to back because of a snow storm one year, (I think the local news named it the Halloweenicane) hurricane Irene another year then superstorm Sandy the year after that. I felt so bad for the kids that must have forgotten how to trick or treat lol

[Lancer1568]

:eek:

 

I know most people will think we're crazy but...my sister and I have a flight credit (free flight!) so we are trying to do a super cheap weekend getaway the first weekend in October. We are looking at at 6AM flight out of the northeast to Miami - layover in Atlanta - arrive Miami at 11:53. Cruise is at 5PM out of Miami. The flight has a 97% on time record. My sister's husband is totally disabled and has to have a caregiver stay with him so that cost is being considered... 3 nights away would be so much better for her than 4 nights (mentally & financially). Guess I'm looking for someone out there to say - sure! Go for it! Normally I would never fly in the same day but I am trying to save her money and one less day of worrying about her husband. Thoughts?!

Go For It. 18 cruises and counting. Drove to the ship on 3 of those so they really don't count but we have flown in same day 10 times out of the 15 times that we have flown. And that includes 3 same day flights into Rome. We were the very last ones to board once in New York but that was due to lost luggage that we waited for at the airport before transferring to the ship.

 

Have a great time.

[Gershep]

Just yesterday my cousin was going from NY to Atlanta with a stop over in Baltimore (known for delays). Her flight out of NY was 3 hours delayed because of storms in the south, weather in NY was perfect. She missed her connecting flight and had to wait 3 more hours for the next flight which then was 30 minutes late. What should have been a 4 hour or so trip turned into an 11 hour nightmare. She has done this trip many times but yesterday was one of those days. Way too much stress to fly in the same day.

[BamaVol]

Just yesterday my cousin was going from NY to Atlanta with a stop over in Baltimore (known for delays). Her flight out of NY was 3 hours delayed because of storms in the south, weather in NY was perfect. She missed her connecting flight and had to wait 3 more hours for the next flight which then was 30 minutes late. What should have been a 4 hour or so trip turned into an 11 hour nightmare. She has done this trip many times but yesterday was one of those days. Way too much stress to fly in the same day.

 

Storms in the south are much less common in Fall than Summer. They do happen, but your anecdotal evidence is from a different season. I used to fly out of ATL weekly and in 5 years only arrived at my destination a day late once.

[soccersharon]

I have done both. We just arrived back from a great week in Cozumel. Direct flight home, and we had 2 delays: bad weather in Montreal caused the flight to be late (1 hour) into CZM. Upon arriving back home, we sat another hour on the plane waiting for a gate to open up.

 

We have also been delay due to lack of ground crew, and the pilot being late.

 

All this to say - anything can happen :). I hope all goes well for you. Enjoy your cruise!

[santacap]

that inbound connecting flight into Atlanta could be delayed for any of the above reasons... not just the outbound airports need to be considered.

 

One other is Hartsfield is a massive airport, your gates could be a ways apart, no matter if its same airline or not

[nolatravelgirl]

This may not be practical but have you thought about flying out of JFK on the nonstop to MIA. I know it would be a super early morning but it would at least eliminate the connection risk.

 

Could you save your credit for another time and just buy a ticket for this cruise?

 

I also just looked at where does Delta fly nonstop from BDL. I see that they have a nonstop Cancun, Mexico. That could be a fun easy 3 day beach trip and would have a lot less stress for missed ships.

Edited July 24, 2015 by nolatravelgirl

[WMQueenie]

Thank you to everyone for your opinions...I really do appreciate you taking time to respond and enjoy reading all the differences of opinion! Well, we decided to go for the same day...for a few reasons, one of them being my sister does not want to be away from her husband for more than 3 nights (thus the 3 day cruise). The cruise itself was very cheap and if we miss the boat, then we're stuck in Miami for 3 nights! Could be worse....:rolleyes:

[mking8288]

Best of luck - on a nice & sunny Friday morning, perfect summer weather - DL (that's Delta) at LGA cancelled a total of 81 flights this morning due to a power outage - normal operations had resumed shortly after 10 AM but the damages done. It was actually due to cutted power line that only affected DL's at T3 (Terminal 3) by contractors doing work overnight ... UA's operations were hit recently while they're upgrading/replacing one of their network/server's router.

 

The rippled effect spreading across the systems with planes (equipment) and crew (FA's & pilots) now not positions for assignments, and, some will be timing out (max'd out their duty hours as allowed per FAA regs) Read a few tweets earlier about business travelers on their first flight out (supposingly) now scrambling try to get thru their elite help desk to get home or whatever today - keep in mind that planes are flying at or above 90% capacity these days if not fully booked with standbys - do carry-ons only even if they need to be gate-checked at the jetbridge if flying on regional (small) jets.

 

As others said, ATL is huge and if you see folks running between gates - realize that even among DL connecting flights, it can really be a mile apart and even those moving walkways do not help.

[Gershep]

Storms in the south are much less common in Fall than Summer. They do happen, but your anecdotal evidence is from a different season. I used to fly out of ATL weekly and in 5 years only arrived at my destination a day late once.

 

I wasn't trying to say that she was traveling in a stormy season, I am not a weatherman. However I was trying to show how air travel can be effected for any reason. Not getting down on travel to or from Atlanta again just saying how a flight that has been taken many times without delays can be delayed. Not worth the stress of counting on a flight to make a cruise.

[BamaVol]

I wasn't trying to say that she was traveling in a stormy season, I am not a weatherman. However I was trying to show how air travel can be effected for any reason. Not getting down on travel to or from Atlanta again just saying how a flight that has been taken many times without delays can be delayed. Not worth the stress of counting on a flight to make a cruise.

 

That came out more offensive than I intended. I was just pointing out that the odds of success improve in the fall when the OP is traveling. Done correctly; carry on bags, early flight - chances if success are good. We all have different tolerance for risk. There are no slam dunk guarantees, but I like her odds.

[WMQueenie]

That came out more offensive than I intended. I was just pointing out that the odds of success improve in the fall when the OP is traveling. Done correctly; carry on bags, early flight - chances if success are good. We all have different tolerance for risk. There are no slam dunk guarantees, but I like her odds.

 

Thanks, BamaVol! I like our odds too but you never know...I would never do this on a 7+day cruise and there are all sorts of reasons for our doing this. Wish us luck! I'll be sure to come back to this post on October 6th and let everyone know how it all turned out....

[DebJ14]

Storms in the south are much less common in Fall than Summer. They do happen, but your anecdotal evidence is from a different season. I used to fly out of ATL weekly and in 5 years only arrived at my destination a day late once.

 

We can get horrible storms in the Spring and Fall in Texas when the cooler air from the north drops down and hits the warm air - kaboom.

 

I flew back from Orlando last October and our plane was delayed 4 hours. Weather in Orlando was beautiful, but there was a ground stop in Houston because of severe thunderstorms.

[ja2nowak]

I did this last time. They cancelled my flight and I ended up shelling out a lot of money to make sure I arrived in time to get on the boat. This time I decided not to risk it and we are getting a room in Miami the night before we leave. I learned my lesson.

[WMQueenie]

Thanks, BamaVol! I like our odds too but you never know...I would never do this on a 7+day cruise and there are all sorts of reasons for our doing this. Wish us luck! I'll be sure to come back to this post on October 6th and let everyone know how it all turned out....

 

It's October 6th and I promised I would come back and report on how we did...

We did fantastic! Everything went smooth as silk...flights were on time and uneventful...itinerary was changed due to Hurricane Joaquin but we had perfect weather the entire weekend!

[edawn]

We lost power for at least two day with all of the lines down due to trees coming down. Full leaves and snow equal disaster! Halloween was cancelled (not even delayed) that year.

 

 

I worked for National Grid during that storm. It was ugly! Some people were without power for weeks.

[2ManyCruises]

So glad things went well for you.

[calex]

Glad to hear all went well.

Edited October 6, 2015 by calex

[kerryincork]

Thanks for letting us know how you got on.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I'm glad that everything went smoothly. Thanks for telling us.