Well - a week from tonight we're scheduled to fly out of Orlando to London on Norwegian Air. Hurricane Irma may quite well change that.
Needless to say, I am totally stressed. What happens if the flight can't leave because of the storm? There is only one flight a day, so they can't put everyone on the next flight. Anyone know how this works?
Thank you
The short answer is that either you'll have to voluntarily reschedule your flight or the computer will automatically do it for you (that's the default option). In either case, all the passengers with tickets for next week (like you) will be queued for a future flight.
Check the airport (https://www.orlandoairports.net) and flight status with your airline periodically and prepare yourself mentally to reschedule the flight to a later date if need be. Flights are not going to commence until it's safe to do so if there is a major weather disruption. The airline will allow rescheduling (with no change fees) once they know that cancellations are coming (they prefer that folks are able to do this proactively), so do that as soon as you can so that you can get a seat on a future flight. In the meantime, just try to stay cool and have a Plan B in case you cannot travel during the dates you envisioned.
Here is an extreme solution that depends on three things: how badly you need to get to London on the planned date (what have you paid for that is not reimbursable or insured), what is your budget in dollars and an additional day or two, what will Norwegian allow. If it looks like Florida will be hit, you could fly cheaply to Oakland, CA (Spirit Air) a day or two before your scheduled departure. Norwegian has direct flights from Oakland. Will they allow you to change? Likely. Will they pay to get you to Oakland? Doubtful. But you'll probably need to pull the trigger on this plan before you really know if Orlando will be affected.
Yup. Would be nice if you could leave a day early or change yr departure city.....don't know if you could get a hold of a live customer service rep now to discuss options... we had to do this for a flight from dsm to Denver when dsm was closed due to a massive blizzard.... took 3 hours on hold until we got to a live person who admitted they had moved all of the planes empty out of dsm to avoid damage..... and booked us out the next day.
A couple of yrs ago friends who were trying to fly from iowa to Florida were grounded because of a forecast hurricane, their airline cancelled their middle of the day flight and told them they were penciled in for the 7am flight the next day, if the airline was flying, which it was.
Since the airline itself hasn't even formulated its plan of action, I would hold tight and wait. Making decisions under stress is not a good way to make decisions. Once you have more information and a clearer picture of whether this storm will in fact affect your airport and flight, then you can move forward. It doesn't hurt now to think about an alternative, but the airline isn't going to help you if they haven't even cancelled the flights yet (or know that they would be doing so). Just like you, the airline has to make decisions in the face of uncertainty and hedge their bets....so see what they do first.
Flying all the way to Oakland just to backtrack again sounds like a crazy plan (I'm sorry)....if you're allowed to fly a few days early, then why not fly all the way to London (a few days early) instead of Oakland? Use the KISS principle...it works most of the time.
Yes, you are right, going to London early probably the best option. But, I was thinking only about getting out of the path of the hurricane. Once in Oakland flying to London is only about two hours or so longer than from Orlando, the Internet tells me. (And you could spend a day or two in SF) If I were the OP I'd be getting in touch with the airline tomorrow. Beat the scrum while you can still get through (maybe).
Some airlines have already started offering no-penalty flight changes (see article here). Norwegian is not yet on the list, but I'd wait a few days to see how the storm track goes.
Thanks all. Going to wait until morning and see what the projected path is.
Call tomorrow morning and ask to speak with a manager. You'll probably get a supervisor so ask him/her to change your flight to an earlier day. Others on your flight will be doing the exact same thing you are so the sooner you speak with the airline, the better your chances of getting a seat on an earlier flight this week.
Once in Oakland flying to London is only about an hour or so longer than from Orlando, the Internet tells me.
Of course, from Florida, it might be better to go from JFK.
Only an hour difference between Orlando and Oakland doesn't include crossing three time zones (add one hour per time zone - arrival times are shown in local time).
First, take a deep breath and relax. You have options.
As I'm writing this, it looks like Florida will get hit by Irma but no one is sure where. Airlines are starting to allow changes without penalty. Norwegian doesn't mention anything on their website, yet, but I'm sure they are following this closely as they fly from numerous airports in the Sunshine state.
Are your dates flexible? If you can't leave early you might in trouble. Check with Norwegian. Even if they can't put you on a plane from Orlando, they also fly out of NY, Boston and Providence, RI. Worse comes to worse, they put you on a flight from there and you will have to take a connecting flight to one of those cities. (No need to fly all the way to the West Coast to avoid the hurricane.)
As stated, you want to be proactive. If you wait, and your flight is canceled, you will be put on the next available flight. That might be the next day. It might not be for a week.
Call the airline and see what they have to say. If you wait until the last minute, everyone else will be calling and you could be on hold forever. 1-800-357-4159
Potential flight delays and cancellations are factors I consider when booking flights.
Called Norwegian this morning. Fees for changes made in Orlando have not been waived YET. Our schedule is flexible, but all earlier flights are sold out.
Latest storm tracking shows a possible shift to the east. Keeping fingers and toes crossed. In the meantime, I have packed and re packed our suitcases 3 times. Helps relieve stress! Good thing is, I keep taking a few things out.
No Zoe, it's only about 2 hours actual flight time. Look it up. West coast flights take a polar route.
It still makes no sense to fly from Florida to Oakland, and there are no direct flights from anywhere in Florida to Oakland, and if there were, it would be a 6 hour flight. Lots of flights to JFK, and its a 3 hour flight.
I agree Oakland is s stretch but to avoid missing your trip get out of the storm path now. Problem with the east coast is it too may be hit. So, you could find you can get to NY only to find out you can't leave from there. And, there are non-stops from MCO to SFO. Yes, Oakland is probably over reach but if I had a trip fully booked, taken time off from work, all the other associated stuff, I'd consider it as an option. With this storm threatening the entire east coast you may find earlier flights from anywhere are full. Start looking now.
The storm is not threatening the entire east coast as of right now...what is the source of this info? There are too many variables up in the air to start freaking out or flying in the opposite direction. Norwegian also flies out of Boston, not only NY.
The most imminent challenge seems to be an evacuation order (if extended north of Miami Dade County).
Not sure where you are seeing November on the United rebooking. Harvey has disappeared from their notices and only Irma shows now with rescheduling out for only a couple weeks. And the reschedule is only allowed between the same cities the original ticket was for. If your flights get cancelled you do of course have the option of getting a full refund for the entire ticket.
But this is just United and of course does not include what Norwegian will offer. So yeah, talking to a supervisor/manager might be a good thing if you need to change your departure airport proactively before the storm gets there this weekend.
Fly up the coast to NY or Boston or someplace. The airlines are usually lenient around weather--you're making things easier for them by voluntarily taking yourself off the list of people who will need to be accommodated around the storm.
Why would someone fly from Florida to California to go to London?
Checked Boston to Gatwick. Booked until Wednesday, September 13. Will keep that option open.
Our Norwegian flight isn't scheduled until 10:00 pm Tuesday night. Guess one positive is that it's not scheduled for early morning
We'll, if that happens, then I guess we'll be stuck.
There is availability from NY it appears. But you'd need to get there before the weather prevents that.
Worst case scenario and the storm goes up the east coast. Norwegian also flies out of Chicago.
Wait and see what happens. At this stage no one is sure it will reach north central Florida or veer off in a different direction. As it gets closer, Norwegian will make a decision.
I would be very surprised if the airport is closed for 5-7 days. South Florida airports have been dealing with hurricanes for years. If one airport is closed due to damage, there are two other international airports within 60 miles, so rerouting is more likely. Getting a seat might take a few days.
Zoe - you're right about that.
Latest forecast has storm pulling away from Central Florida by Monday morning.
A little late for advice now.
Update. Hurricane Irma hit us hard. Lost power Sunday night at 8:30. When we left the condo to come to airport, we still didn't have power.
Late yesterday Orlando Airport announced they would open this morning with limited service. Shortly after that we got a text from Norwegian Air letting us know our flight would depart as scheduled. We are at the airport now waiting to board.
I feel very lucky. For the last few days I had been checking all other options and it wasn't looking good. Very hard to do without power, worrying about using up cell phone battery.
Thanks to all for your input. I now have a hurricane must have list: Yeti cooler, a good battery operated radio and a couple of battery lanterns.
Wow! Enjoy your trip, you deserve a vacation!
Have a wonderful trip!
Not sure how well they work but there are hand crank chargers for your cell phone.
I'm really happy that it's all working out for you!
Those of you in the path of the hurricane definitely deserve any break that you can get.
Happy trails!
For your hurricane kit: shelf-stable foods and many gallons of water per person. And a deck of cards.
Sue, how lucky for you! I hope when you return home that power has been restored to you and everyone in your area.
