[Nala]

So here is chapter two of the pre-trip novel! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

In between all the lodging dilemmas I faced, I also had to deal with the dilemma of flight verses drive. In the past on this board, I have not been quiet about my fear of flying. The thought of getting on a plane will send me into a physical and mental frenzy. And on both occasions before our flights for the last two trips I have dropped to my knees and thought I was going to give praise the porcelain goddess. Flying is really not on my top ten list of things to do for a good time. But, arriving at WDW in 2-½ hours as opposed to driving for 20 hours spoke volumes to me. Plus I had to consider what the drive did to Grumpy. While I don’t mind riding in a vehicle and I don’t mind driving one, I do have stipulations as to when and where I will drive. Those are, but are not limited to, driving in heavy rain, fog, sleet, freezing rain, or snow. I also hate to drive at night. And large cities (those over 100,000) are out of the question. Mountains are out too. Rock and mud slides don’t you know. And yes, driving to WDW in the past, we have seen one of these!

So with those stipulations in place that pretty much takes out much of the drive except most of IL and southern GA. Between that we have mountains, where the weather can change at the drop of a dime and several large cities like Chattanooga and Atlanta. And if we leave after work, most of IL is in the dark. That puts most of the driving responsibility on poor Grumpy. So I bit the bullet and decided to fly rather than drive this trip. The torture I knew I would put my mind through the morning of the flight would be far better than the long drive I would put Grumpy, Kiara and myself through. Plus, with the prices of gas and the fact that we drive a gas hog that gets twelve gallons to the mile, and not having to pay for hotels on the way down and back, it would be the most cost effective. And the fastest! Oh, how I am a fan of almost instant gratification. It is the only thing that keeps me from totally freaking out on the plane. I just keep telling myself “I’m almost to my happy place, I’m almost to my happy place……". And the barf bag I find myself clutching the entire trip gives me something to do with my over nervous hands.

So which airline to fly? While we had a great experience our first trip back in May with a direct flight from our home town of Peoria to Sanford on Allegiant, I was still very upset that they had changed our flight time by an entire day the next time we booked them. And because of that “time” change (what airline calls 24 hours a “TIME” change?) we were forced to look for other options. We booked a flight out of Bloomington on AirTran. That airline allowed us to arrive in WDW mid morning and leave WDW late in the afternoon and extending our stay at our happy place. But, we had to make a connecting flight in Atlanta. Something both Grumpy and I were not found of. For an extended stay with checked luggage, this was not a good option. That would also require me to deal with an additional take off and landing each way. Not good. Plus, our departure day would put us at MCO on what we thought would be a busy travel day. The appeal of a direct flight and flying in and out of a smaller airport won us over. So I crawled back to Allegiant. I booked our direct flight and crossed my fingers and toes that this airline would not let us down once again.

But I soon found out that toes and fingers crossed were not enough as. Allegiant did let us down once again. And while I understand the reason for what happened, the way it happened and the lack of notification to a customer whose money they had in the bank for several months, was nothing short of shady. About six weeks after I booked and paid for our flight, I found myself drawn to check out Allegiant’s website. I wanted to check to see if fares had dropped and was surprised to find when I typed in our dates that “no flights were available”. Hmmm, that’s odd. But perhaps it was a sign that the service was going over well and they were booked. But a nagging voice in the back of my head told me different. I sat on this discovery for several weeks. I decided to take the ostrich approach, stick my head in the sand, hope for the best and banked on being contacted by Allegiant if there was a change or problem. I assumed the head in the sand position for several more weeks.

By then, my neck was sore from having my head in the sand and I decided to ask a coworker, who had taken a flight to Vegas from Peoria on Allegiant over Thanksgiving weekend, if he saw or heard anything when at the airport about flights no longer going to Sanford . He had not seen or heard anything about Orlando flights being grounded when he was at the airport, but remembered hearing that Allegiant had grounded all flights to Orlando as of December 1st on a local radio station! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] What???? Why had I heard nothing about this from Allegiant? My flight was in January. So I did the only thing I could do. I called Grumpy and told him to call the airline.

He called me back at work and informed me that our reservations read that we were flying out of Rockford, IL. One hundred and fifty miles north! And the CSR was totally confused and had no idea that the flights out of Peoria had been grounded. She had to put Grumpy on hold and ask a manager to confirm this. Through her conversation with the higher ups, it became clear that our departure city had been changed unbeknownst to us and to this CSR. Or any other CSR’s for that matter. Seems the change in departure city was a big secret to everyone. But Allegiant was kind enough to give us the same rate we were paying out of Peoria. Like they could do anything else? Once again, I was distraught by the lack of service and the little consideration given to me as a customer by Allegiant. And I also found myself wondering just when they would have advised me of the departure city change had I not had Grumpy call and inquire. The CSR asked her manager that same questions and came back with no answer.

So we had to make a decision. Stick with Allegiant, drive one hundred and fifty miles to the airport or look for another carrier. A quick look at flights out of Midway, O’Hare and even St Louis provide us with no better options. The flights were either more money or were not direct, or both. And all flew in and out of MCO. So we decided to stick with Allegiant. And until we are on the plane, I will cross every body part possible that they do not make another city departure change or a time change.

And I must say, while 20 hours driving down the road does not sound like fun, I will give it serious consideration for our next long trip.

And this is the story behind why I refer to Allegiant as “The dreaded airline know as Allegiant”. And I will add one more thing. For anyone who books a flight with Allegiant…..Flyer beware! I can only hope they do a better job keeping up with their maintenance contracts than they do with customer service! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img]

Up next, the ADR’s and the rest of the plan. Which I must say was much easier than the lodging and the flight! And no, for anyone who is wondering, we are not going to Biergarten. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]