Putting different carrier flights together

[nicschick]

Here's my scenario (I hope it's not terribly confusing), we're taking a Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan :) and I am trying to get the best rate on airfare (of course).

 

I'm lookin at booking Spirit direct to San Juan out of Orlando. They have a flight that leaves at 7:25pm the night before we depart for our cruise. They have an earlier flight but my goal is to avoid coming to Orlando the day before and staying in a hotel (to me defeats the purpose of trying to save on the airfare, just goes to the hotel instead) and would rather spend the money in staying in San Juan.

 

So my questions comes...now I have to get to Orlando and would like to fly in the same day but on Southwest, they so far have the best rates. I know this is possible with the right amount of time, but what is that amount of time?

 

Say my flight from TUL to MCO arrives at 4:10pm, that gives me 3 hours 15 minutes (of course assuming everything is on schedule). Do this, is it correct that I will have enough time to claim my baggage, then re-check them with Southwest (could do online checkin)?

 

I would do a similar thing on the return trip, but would have closer to 4 hours and 35 minutes, I'll have to reclaim my luggage anyway when we go through customs and then check-in with Southwest.

 

Doing it this way will save $300-400, which would pay for 2 nights stay in San Juan.

 

Who thinks this is very possible, any other concerns or comments are appreciated.

[ab0si]

That is enough time IF and ONLY IF nothing goes wrong. Like a delayed flight. Like delayed luggage (stanading in line to fill out lost luggage report, etc.)

[CruisinMatt]

You probably can make it no problem, but what is your back-up plan when things go wrong? Is there another flight out to San Juan if you miss the one you booked? They would not be obligated in any way to make sure you'd get to San Juan, so even if they do let you take a later flight it might not be until the next day if you are accomdated....

[nicschick]

Thanks for the replies. If I were to miss the flight from Orlando to San Juan, I do have backup options including 2 flights for the next morning with the same carrier (I'm sure with fees) that would have us landing at SJU at either 1:25 or 2:25pm and since we'd have to be on the ship by 8pm for the muster drill I assume that would be early enough... in the event. I think it's worth the small risk. To reep rewards sometimes there will be risks.

[wrp96]

You won't have to go through customs flying back from San Juan. San Juan is part of the US.

[JJPNYC]

I did this once while passing through Las Vegas. While there I need to do an unexpected side trip to LA. With that, it was chepaer to squeeze my LA trip within the window I was in Vegas rather than changing my original ticket, with doing the entire return leg on the same night.

 

It went with no problems, although I did have 5 hours in between my incoming flight and outgoing flight. The only thing is that I had to claim my luggage and then check back in since I was doing this on different airlines, but it was fine.

 

Just take a look at the layout of MCO before hand so you know where to go already in case time gets tight.

[jerseygirl3]

I think you'll be fine. Just be forewarned. We fly Spirit all the time, and while they are a great airline, if you miss a flight, not only do you have to pay a $50 fee to change to another flight, but you have to pay the difference in the fare. If you had to book less than 24 hours before the flight (which would be the case if you were to miss the flight in Orlando), you could be paying through the nose. That's why we never take the 11 a.m. flight out of FLL back to Atlantic City on Spirit. It's just cutting it too close if the ship is delayed debarking and I don't want to pay all that extra money when they have a flight later in the day. It's tempting, but when the people at Spirit told me how much it would cost if I missed the flight, we decided against it.

 

Having said that, I think if I were you I'd take the chance. The worst that could happen would be that you may wind up paying for a different flight.