Airlines Have 3 Weeks to Meet Truth In Advertising Regulation

Airlines have until January 24, 2012, to advertise airfares that include all government fees and taxes.  Some airlines are already adhering to this regulation, which was part of a dozen passenger protections that the Transportation Department proposed in 2010 and adopted last spring.  Currently, airlines can advertise a low price with an asterisk or footnote with fine print indicating additional fees and taxes.

Is this why consumers are seeing and feeling an increase in airfare?  When all airlines come on board by January 24 what effect will it have on airfare prices?

Our favorite airline, AirTran, has been adhering to this regulation for some time.  I can’t tell you exactly when, but when I find an on-line price and multiply it by three, that is the cost of our airfare.  No surprises when I hit the “next” button or “submit” or “There is only one seat left at this price” messages—this one I see when checking fares for Allegiant.

Because consumers will be able to compare equally—fare to fare—with this new regulation, airfare may actually decline. . . at least for a bit.  Airlines, who already compete viciously for passengers, may feel the need to lower published fares, at least initially so that consumers don’t get sticker shock.

Fees and taxes can add on to the price of airfare.  Passengers taking flights with stops pay fees each time they land or take off at an airport.  Taking a trip outside the country?  Your return flight may cost you more due to taxes and fees for returning to the United States.  Even certain countries have special fees when you leave them via air—The Bahamas is an example of this type of fee.  Now we know why we see specials for money off flights or free companion airfare or complimentary days of stay with a certain length of package.  Flying into Nassau—not bad.  Flying out—expensive!

I’m sensing that my Kayak and Southwest Airlines apps on the iPad will require updating come January 24, as all airlines adjust to the new regulation—that they have had almost 9 months to get ready for.  They are down to 3 weeks!

Good-bye, Moline. Hello, Bloomington!

When travelers decide to go to Walt Disney World, or on a Disney Cruise, or an Adventures by Disney tour, they have to consider how they are going to get to their destination.  This was a bit of a dilemma for our family for our upcoming Walt Disney World trip for a while.  We usually fly.  No, we have always flown.  And, air fares were such that we were considering making the drive in March.

Where we live, there are a variety of airports within a short driving distance for us to choose from in selecting flights.  I had set alerts at Kayak.com to keep me informed about prices from the surrounding airports.  Luckily, and thankfully, a reasonably priced, direct flight, on our favorite airline, AirTran, turned up at the Bloomington/Normal, Illinois airport.  We had never been to that airport before, but we were willing to give it a try.

You see, as of January 7, 2012, our favorite airline, AirTran, would stop making its direct flight from Moline, Illinois.  This is a flight we had grown to count on for our vacation needs.  The flight flew 4 days weekly.  Each time we had been on those flights, they were full.  Personally, I had a bit of mourning to do with the loss of this service.  I was even at a social function in August and was approached by another family that depended on the AirTran Moline/Orlando route for their vacation needs.  At that time, I suggested Frontier, which offers a direct flight out of Des Moines to Orlando, as a replacement.  I had done some checking on prices.  For our March flights, Frontier’s prices out of Des Moines were more than double what we found with AirTran out of Bloomington/Normal.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and contacted the airport in Moline through their web-site.  I explained that I was disappointed that AirTran was no longer providing flights from Moline to Orlando, that we were no longer going to be going to Moline due to this issue, and that we were taking the money we would spend at a hotel, restaurants, other services, including gas and parking and taking it somewhere else due to the discontinuation of the service.

I got a reply from Tracy A. Kotecki, Executive Assistant, Metropolitan Airport Authority of Rock Island.

Here’s Tracy’s reply: 

Thank you for your message. I am very sorry to hear of your plans. However, we will be offering flights to Orlando commencing February 17, 2012. Allegiant Airlines will be the carrier and offers some very competitive pricing. Please visit their web page for booking (www.allegiantair.com ) – some flights as low as $63.00 one way. We hope you will monitor the pricing available through Allegiant and return as a passenger to our airport. We continue to provide friendly economical air transportation.

Here was my reply back to Tracy:

I appreciate your prompt reply. Yes, we had checked out Allegiant Airlines. However, Allegiant only provides that route twice weekly, making it inconvenient for us, as we need to travel on the week-ends. (Allegiant flies on Mondays and Fridays—in March)

Also, Allegiant serves Orlando/Sanford Airport, not Orlando International. Guests, like us, traveling to Disney, would have an extra fee for shuttle, car service, or rental car if flying into Orlando/Sanford. Disney offers its free Magical Express service only at Orlando International.

The reduced air fare of Allegiant is quickly overcome by inconvenient travel dates--more time off work and school, and the extra fees for transportation to the end destination.

We were hopeful that since Southwest acquired AirTran, that Southwest might begin to serve Moline.

Again, thank you for your quick reply.

Tracy hasn’t e-mailed me back, and I doubt she will.

What I don’t understand is why travelers looking to fly to Orlando think that flying into Orlando/Sanford is the same as flying into Orlando International? And, why people, like Tracy, who are supposed to be promoting services, don’t understand the difference?

Can you imagine an unsuspecting guest thinking they were arriving in Orlando and being whisked away by Disney’s Magical Express Service to their Disney Resort who ended up landing in Orlando/Sanford?  Tsk, Tsk, for even considering the flights are comparable!

There was however, a brief interlude when Allegiant did fly into Orlando International.  That is no longer the case and I am unsure of whether that will happen again in the future.  Allegiant may also be saturating a market in the area with service out of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and now, Moline.

In my quest to at least communicate my concern over the loss of this service, I also e-mailed all the members of the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce.  I have yet to receive a reply.

This whole issue got me thinking about how we prioritize what we are looking for in flights and how we then decide the time is right to make a purchase.  The number one issue is price.  If the price is too high, we aren’t buying or flying.  The second consideration is whether or not a direct flight or non-stop flight is available.  We have a significant preference for direct flights.  Direct flights also help with price, as there aren’t added airport fees for multiple stops.  The third filter would be times of flights.

For example, we found a Delta flight for $301 per person out of St. Louis.  OK—reasonably priced.  It was not a direct flight, but most importantly, it had us leaving on a Saturday at 4:30 pm or so and arriving in Orlando at 11:00 pm.  Nope.  The return flight was also on a Saturday and had us arriving in St. Louis at 10:00 pm, which would have made it too late for us to drive home, so we would have had to pay for a hotel for a night—an added expense.  Nope, again.  Back to the drawing board.

That’s when I started to think backwards.  I went to the AirTran site, clicked on the route map, and set my origination location as Orlando.  I then had it show only non-stop flights.  The nearest non-stop flight was Bloomington/Normal, Illinois—still within driving distance.

I then checked out the airport—on-line.  CIRA, or Central Illinois Regional Airport.  Amenities included Free Airport Parking!  They even had a “frequent visitor to the airport” registration to earn perks for how often you use the airport.  I registered!

I then checked out AirTran.  There it was.  Flights for $337 per person, round trip, Saturday to Saturday (there was no return flight on Sunday).  Leaving at 9:33 am and arriving in Orlando shortly before 1:00 pm.  Our return flight would leave Orlando at 7:30 am and have us back in Bloomington at 9:00 am, with plenty of daylight to make the drive home.

Now all we need is a hotel the night before and we found a Super 8 with a reasonable rate (less than $50) and a free breakfast!

Good-bye, Moline.  Hello, Bloomington!

 Click Here to Read About our Last Visit

To Moline and Quad Cities Airport

Had we taken Tracy’s advice, here’s what the cost would be if flying during the same “week”—I use that term loosely as it would mean Friday to Friday, if you had the extra day/time off:

Flights:  $908 Total

Town Car Service Round Trip from Orlando/Sanford to Disney Resort:  $220 plus tip (Quicksilver)

Airport Parking in Moline for one week:  $35

Motel 6 for night before stay: $62  (no breakfast, but they do have Park ‘n Fly, so it could save you the $35 for parking mentioned above.)

Breakfast:  $20 approximately

Here’s what we are getting instead:

Flights:  $1012 Total

Transportation to our Disney Resort:  FREE

Airport Parking at CIRA:  FREE

Super 8 for night before stay:  $50

Breakfast:  FREE

Magical Disney Vacation:  Priceless!

As far as when to buy air. . . Kayak.com gives you a graph of the price fluctuations for your selected dates and routes.  You can use that data to determine if it is time to buy.  I prefer to shop for air on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as that is when airlines seem to recalculate their flights and prices.  Airlines also tend to adjust airfares at incremental stages, such as 9 months, 6 months, and 3 months before a flight.

After I do the research, and better yet, let Kayak do the research for me, I then use my gut.  I didn’t have as much as we paid for the flights budgeted, as we had flown round trip for less than $800 for all 3 of us previously, but we can make up the difference in our budget in other ways.  I knew air prices weren’t coming down very much, so when I found a flight that met our criteria mentioned above, I grabbed it.  Good thing, too.  We bought on a Wednesday and two days later, Friday, the flights went up to $410 per person—an increase in $73 per ticket.  That’s over $200 more total!

I’m so grateful we got our flights!  Now, we savor the anticipation of an upcoming trip!

Our Summer Plans. . . They Are A Changin'

AirTran changed the flight times for our awesome summer trip—Walt Disney World/Disney Cruise Line/Walt Disney World. Instead of arriving at Orlando around 1:30 pm, we are now arriving at 8:30 pm. While we are used to some changes in our flights. . . a few minutes here or there, the changes usually haven’t been more than 30 minutes in either direction. Hmm. . . What to do, what to do?




We could take an earlier flight with no charge, but alas, there is no earlier flight. Here are some of our options:

1. Keep all our reservations—a night at the French Quarter, dinner reservation at T-Rex at Downtown Disney, and a breakfast ADR for ‘OHANA’s in the morning before we head to the port to embark on the Disney Dream—and hope AirTran changes the flight times again before our trip and in our favor!



2. We could make a reservation at the Hyatt Regency at Orlando International (click here to read more about staying at the Hyatt) and stay there the night that we fly into Orlando. Just grab our bags at baggage claim and go up the stairs (OK, elevator) and check in for the night. We could then have breakfast at Hemisphere’s, at the Hyatt, or the food court, in the airport, and go downstairs and grab a bus to the port.



This plan, of course, would remove us from the immersion into Disney until we got on the bus to go to the port and reached the ship. It would also keep us from having a character breakfast.



The upsides to number 2, would be that our luggage would still be taken care of and whisked away to the ship and we can catch an early bus to head to the port. We just tell the folks at the Hyatt when checking in that we are cruising on Disney. They tell us to tag our bags and leave them just inside our hotel room when we leave. Voila. The next time we see our luggage is outside our stateroom on the ship.

Here is what we are doing:

• We have left all of our reservations in tact for Downtown Disney and breakfast at ‘OHANA’s, just in case AirTran changes the flight times again.

• We still have our room at the French Quarter for the night before we embark on the ship. In fact, it is paid in full. (We can cancel up to 3 days prior for a full refund.)

• We have reserved a room at the Hyatt for the same night; the night before we embark on the Dream. It is also paid in full with an option to cancel and get a full refund. The reason it is paid in full is that our travel agent could get a price for the room that was $45 dollars cheaper than the other rates, but we had to pay in advance.



Now, we wait. While many of our reservations can be cancelled up to 3 days in advance, the planner in me (as made obvious by the information above) doesn’t want to wait until the last minute, so my goal is be firm 3 weeks out from the start date of our trip.

I told the husband that we would be about $400 richer, but that there’s that much money tied up in two hotel rooms for the same night. We are reframing this as a sort of non-interest bearing savings account, as when we cancel one reservation; we can then use the refunded money towards other things while on our trip. The reframing is sort of helping. Knowing we are headed on a Disney Cruise and a week at Walt Disney World is really helping!

Orlando Hyatt Regency or How We Spent Christmas Day 2009

As the mid-west braces itself for another winter storm, I was reminded about how we were keeping an eye on the weather this time last year.



We were set to take our 3rd Disney Cruise on aboard the Disney Magic from December 26 through January 2, 2010. We had planned to fly from Kansas City to Orlando on December 25, and stay one night at the Hyatt Regency at Orlando International Airport. Then the winter storm warnings started to appear in the forecast for Kansas City—not just snow, but ice.



AirTran Airways, our favorite airlines, e-mailed us early on December 23, stating that they were aware of the impending winter storm and would change our flight without a fee. We phoned our travel agent and within minutes, we were booked on a flight for December 24, just before the storm was to hit Kansas City. We drove to K.C. on December 23 and stayed at the Embassy Suites near the airport, as they would keep our car and shuttle us to the airport. (We had originally planned to stay there on Dec. 24.) Our travel agent had changed our reservation at the Hyatt for our arrival on Dec. 24, and with a quick call to Santa asking him to come to our house on the eve of Dec. 22, we were set. We only experienced thick fog on the drive to K.C. and the ice was on its way shortly after our flight left around 11:00 am. We were on our way to Orlando and would be in time to make the cruise.



 Here we are in front the huge Christmas Tree on Christmas Day, 2009,

 in the atrium of

Orlando International Airport.

 This is the view from our floor at the Hyatt into

the atrium below. 

Now, many airports have hotels, either nearby or attached to them via shuttle, etc.  But Orlando International offers the Hyatt Regency right inside the airport.  Yep, you step out of the security area on the east side of the airport and look up in the atrium to see the 6 floors of rooms with balconies spanning the perimeter of the atrium.  That’s the Hyatt and guests take the elevator up one floor to check-in. 

 The outside of the Hyatt from the pool deck.

All rooms either have an inside atrium balcony or

an outside balcony.

This is in one of the "green spaces" inside the Hyatt.



We had stayed at the Hyatt one other time, just before our first cruise. One of the amenities we like is the ease of transition between a Hyatt stay and a Disney Cruise. Tell them at check-in you are a Disney Cruise passenger, tag your luggage with the Disney Cruise bag tags, leave your bags inside your hotel room door at check-out and your luggage will appear in your stateroom on board the ship. Magic!




Since the first night of our Hyatt stay was December 24, the staff knocked on our door that evening and presented us with a small holiday gift and wished us Merry Christmas. How thoughtful!

 

 Another "green space" inside the Hyatt--there were

birds in the bird cage.

On Dec. 25, we started the day with breakfast at the Hemisphere Restaurant located on the top two floors of the Hyatt offering breathtaking views of the airport runways and a lovely breakfast buffet.  We were not the only ones in the restaurant and took our time eating and watching the planes.  Towards the end of the meal, our server told us that the staff had picked our family to wish a Merry Christmas and that breakfast was on them.  What a great surprise!

 The pool at the Hyatt.

 The boy on Christmas Day ready to explore the airport and the hotel.

 A photo op outside one of the two Disney stores located in the airport.

 We found the boy's favorite character.

Yes, that's a shopping bag in his hand.

He used his Christmas money.

 By another Disney shop inside the airport.  There are also

Universal, Seaworld, and NASA shops located inside the airport.

We spent the rest of the morning browsing the various shops and displays located throughout the airport and the hotel.  Orlando International has some great shops, a huge food court, other restaurants, moving sidewalks, elevators, escalators, and incredible people watching.  There was plenty to do!

 Taking a swim on Christmas Day!

We phoned our family from the pool deck to wish them

a Merry Christmas!

 The husband took time to read and enjoy the warm weather.

By afternoon, it had warmed up enough for us to take a dip in the swimming pool, located on the rooftop of the 6^th floor of Hyatt and overlooking the runways.  Nothing like taking a swim on Christmas Day!

The wind made coming out of the water a bit chilly.



By evening, we snuggled down with visions of our cruise coming the next day.  We were very excited!

Waiting on the lower level of the airport for the Disney bus to take

us to Port Canaveral for our Disney Cruise! 

Click here to read about the first day on board.

On December 26, we checked out of the Hyatt, leaving our cruise luggage behind in our room.  We even left a suit case (dirty clothes and things we didn’t need on the cruise) with luggage services at the Hyatt for a small fee, as we would be returning there on January 2.  You see, the Hyatt offers “day room” rates and we had a room booked for January 2 since our return flight did not leave until late in the day.  We were able to use all of the hotel amenities prior to flying and even had a bell person help get our luggage to the airline check-in.  It beat lugging our bags around and waiting in the airport for 8 hours.  We had space, quiet, a TV, swimming pool, a place to keep our stuff, etc.