The Air France Cancelled Flights Pre-Trip-August 2012

[tonymc]

This will be our sixth visit to Florida, having had a change last year and travelled to New York, Maine and Boston, but the lure of Disney was never far away for myself, DW Joanne, and now fully fledged teenager Alex.

Fatally, the announcement of the free DDP for 2012 combined with the 42% discount at OKW was too much to ignore, so as soon as it was announced, we took the plunge and booked two weeks, planning to arrive at Disney on 4th August.

Then came the usual hunt for reasonable priced August flights - cue the Delta "glitch" that appeared last September. We were hoping to fly out around the 2nd August and have a couple of nights outside of Disney (and to visit Seaworld), returning on 18th. However, we found that the return flight on the 18th would have involved a 5 hour wait at JFK (joanne and Alex not impressed at this! ) and would have cost us £100 more each. So we ended up flying out 31st July, returning 16th August via Paris with Air France.

Disney were called, reservation dates amended to check-in at OKW on 2nd August, departing 16th - no problems. We also took advantage of the Starwood Points we had been given as a result of problems we experienced when in Boston last year to book a couple of nights at the Sheraton Safari in LBV for our first two nights.

However, as many fellow dibbers have found, the Delta "glitch" prices came with various flight cancellations, reroutings and date changes. Thanks to the postings on the dibb, I was made aware of these over New Year, and found that our planned return flight on 16th August had been cancelled.

Cue some e-mails and phone calls to flights2florida, who unfortunately were enjoying the New Year Bank Holiday weekend. However, I also contacted Delta directly who first advised I needed to make any changes with the travel agent, but a second e-mail later I was advised to call a UK number which turned out to be the Air France UK team. They were more than happy to help out, and within a few minutes had us rebooked on the following day's AF flight via Paris giving us an extra day - thanks Marcus

So then back to Disney to try and amend our stay yet again so that we would leave OKW on the 17th. However, it appeared that as the discounted OKW rate was no longer available, they could not move our dates to coincide with our revised departure date, so it was looking as if we may end up having to book an additional night in OKW at full rate (£220 - ), or pack all our stuff and move to another hotel for one night.

I did manage to find an offer for The Swan at £130 which I was very tempted to book. However, working on the basis that if you speak to enough CMs you will eventually get someone who can help you, we made another few calls to Disney, and on our fourth attempt were assisted by Jennifer who went out of her way to get our dates moved - after 20 minutes, she came back and had managed to persuade Disney UK to change the dates at no extra cost . A big thanks to Jennifer, and I did contact Disney to ask them to thank her through their formal channels.

We then found ourselves with an extra night to find accommodation for. As we had some Starwood points left, one of their staff suggested that we purchase the additional points to top up our account, so we got a third night at the Sheraton Safari for $35.

So after all that, and hopefully with no more flight changes to deal with, we are now awaiting the release of park hours for August so that we can look at using EMH mornings and work out the least busy days to visit the parks. We have a list of Disney restaurants we want to eat in at the ready, so it should be a case of making reservations around appropriate park dates... unless Air France strike again! Watch this space.

[shirley]

what a heck of a time you have had, hopefully that will be the end of them. Look forward to hearing the rest of your plans

[tinks333]

Fingers crossed the flights are now finalised! We don't seem to have had quite so much trouble with our Delta flights, just time changes and 'you may miss this flight' messages but it all seems ok... for now .

[Milner]

Glad you have things sorted out. Our flights were also changed from Thurs 26 July to the Fri but we decided to cancel and fly with BA instead as our villa was not available at the end of our holiday and did not want to move to a hotel for just one night.

[tonymc]

TBH, the flight changes did us a favour in getting us an extra day - it was negotiating the accommodation changes at OKW that was worse! However, as I noted, we are (hopefully! ) sorted and are awaiting the release of the August Park Hours so we can start looking at planning our park days and ADRs

[KarenG]

I always enjoy your reports Tony

I'm on the glitch too, but with Delta rather than AF. Also staying at OKW for eight nights of eating!

[tonymc]

(Edited 09/06 with Aquatica visits now that SW have included admission on our tickets)

Well - since the last post, no further AF changes, so our plans (at the moment at least! ) are as follows:

Tu 31/07 - Flights MAN-CDG-MCO. Sheraton Safari for three nights.
We 01/08 - Planning to have a stroll around Celebration having never visited before, and break ourselves in gently! Alternative option to visit Aquatica now that our SW ticket includes Aquatica admission.
Th 02/08 - Seaworld
Fr 03/08 - Transfer to OKW. Options to either visit Celebration or Aquatica depending on what we do on Wednesday. Dibb meet late afternoon, dinner at T-Rex.
Sa 04/08 - Hollywood Studios to take advantage of morning EMH. Dinner at Captain's Grille.
Su 05/08 - Animal Kingdom. Dinner at Hoop de Doo.
Mo 06/08 - Morning BB or TL, afternoon/evening shopping
Tu 07 08 - Magic Kingdom. Lunch at Crystal Palace.
We 08/08 - Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Afternoon/evening at Seaworld.
Th 09/08 - Typhoon Lagoon. Dinner at Narcoossees's
Fr 10/08 - EPCOT (morning EMH) then across to Hollywood Studios. Dinner at Mama Melrose, Fantasmic Package
Sa 11/08 - HS (morning EMH) then across to EPCOT late afternoon. Dinner at Teppan Edo.
Su 12/08 - Tampa - Big Cat Rescue, hopefully Dolphin Cruise from Clearwater Beach, dinner at Cheesecake Factory, International Plaza, Tampa.
Mo 13/08 - TL or BB. Dinner at Cape May Cafe.
Tu 14/08 - Animal kingdom. Dinner at Boma.
We 15/08 - Magic Kingdom then over to EPCOT for Dinner at Rose & Crown and Illuminations.
Th 16/08 - Magic Kingdom (morning EMH). Dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant followed by final Wishes.
Fr 17/08 - check out of OKW. TL or BB for morning and afternoon. Flight at 20:45 MCO-CDG-MAN.

[WileyCoyote]

Whew - what a complicated start with the flights - well done for your perseverance in getting OKW sorted
We may see you around there ! We are at OKW from 9th August and at Cape May on the same evening as you . Its a Small World as they say - now where have I heard that before, just cant seem to place it ...
Nearly in double digits - look forward to reading along.

[tonymc]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Its a Small World as they say - now where have I heard that before, just cant seem to place it ...

See more...

Noooooooooo - can't get the tune out of my head now

[Milner]

Plan looks great.