Using Miles & Points to Make a Long Layover Bearable
Last May we took my kids to Walt Disney World for the first time. It was going to be a short weekend trip and my parents were going to meet us down there. We were scheduled to fly out Friday morning and return Monday morning. My parents were flying down Friday morning and home Sunday morning.
Things fell apart pretty quickly on this trip but the blow was lessened some because of miles and points. I am writing about it now because it is the one year anniversary of the trip and I didn’t work for Miles to Memories back then :).
Details on the Booking
My parents live in Atlanta so I had worked it out that we would fly from Detroit to Atlanta and pick them up along the way on Southwest. The layover window was tight, at 45 minutes. I thought that routing through Atlanta would be a cool setup for the kids on their first trip to Disney, and my daughter’s first time flying.
It was an early morning flight and Southwest usually runs on time so I didn’t think it would be an issue.
The Delay
I know you all see where I am going here. There was a 30 minute delay which got bumped back to a 45 minute delay. Southwest informed me that they would not hold the flight in Atlanta for us. Somehow there were only 8 people on the Detroit to Atlanta flight going on to Orlando. I was really surprised it wasn’t more. I called my parents and informed them of the issue and told them to continue on with their flight and we would figure it out.
Southwest was telling me that the only flight they could get me on was an 8:30PM flight out of Atlanta. That was 8 hours later than we were supposed to be leaving. They also said there were no later flights out of Detroit with room and that they would be looking at delays the rest of the day most likely anyways.
Going into Fixer Mode
I had about an hour and a half to figure out if I could do better, I mean this is why we do what we do right? I frantically checked every airline I could think of that could get us there but the problem was that we needed 4 tickets. Needless to say no one had any availability. We decided to get on the flight to Atlanta and figure it out once we got there.
I checked flights from Atlanta as well but there was no availability to Orlando for 4 people that didn’t cost a huge amount of miles. We decided to try our luck with standby on some of the earlier Southwest flights. They said they were totally booked and they would have been able to may fly 1 or 2 people but not 4.
Accepting Defeat – Sort Of
If you have been to Atlanta’s airport then you know it is chaos. It is the busiest airport IN THE WORLD and it is one of my least favorite places to be. Before we left I had decided to book a room at a Hyatt Place near the airport for 5,000 Hyatt points. I figured the kids could swim etc. to pass the time. Well the pool was an outdoor pool and it was only 50 degrees in “hotLanta” in May. This trip was doomed from the start – how is it only 50 degrees in Atlanta in May?
We went to the room and watched tv, relaxed, and grabbed something to eat. It made an 8 hour layover bearable since we weren’t stuck in the terminal or a lounge the entire time. The kids could unwind some and we could charge up our phones and tablets etc. It really was a lifesaver and something I probably wouldn’t have done or thought to do if I wasn’t in this “hobby”.
The later flight was also delayed an hour so we ended getting to the hotel right around Midnight. We had started the day at the airport at around 9AM…a long day with two toddlers!
Compensation
I think it is important to ask for compensation whenever something goes wrong. It is something a lot of people don’t do out of fear. Even if you don’t think you will get something just send the email since you never know what will happen.
I sent an email to Southwest saying that it was my kids first trip to Disney and we spent $250 for a hotel we barely got to enjoy etc. We were staying the Hyatt Grand Cypress on points so it was kind of true. I also explained that I was upset they weren’t able to get us out of Atlanta any sooner.
They responded a few days later and gave us a $150 voucher per person. That was a pretty great response and I gladly accepted. I would have rather had the on time flights but at least they acknowledged the issue and acted quickly. We used those vouchers to pay for the majority of our flight cost for a later trip to Atlanta.
Conclusion
While I wasn’t entirely able to “save the day” by booking another flight I was able to make the 9 hour delay bearable with 5,000 Hyatt points. It is important to think outside the box when things go wrong.
Burning a half day at a hotel is a lot better than being in the terminal. Another option if you didn’t want to use points is to ask for a day rate or layover rate. Many airport hotels will give you one and we have done that at the Hyatt Harborside in Boston before our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin.
Equally important is to ask for compensation when things go awry. I bet the other 4 passengers that were delayed didn’t get the $600 in vouchers like we did.
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Big pet peeve of mine…don’t do this or that or take you kids here or there because THEY won’t remember it. Good grief! How about I’LL remember those precious memories and the looks on their faces.
Where do we draw the line with that logic? Don’t take them to a playground, they won’t remember it. Why throw a birthday party? They won’t remember it.
I find the suggestion that we should only do things for our kids once they remember it very callous and I could not disagree more!
Lindy,
I second that! And Mark, I will remember that great suggestion of finding a quick 5000 point Hyatt Place if you’re stranded for more than a few hours. In fact, I will be transferring some UR points over to Hyatt today to keep in reserve.
Since they transfer instantly you could always wait to do it unless you know you will use them anyway – which is probably the case 🙂
With kids that small, they will not remember Disney World. Sure they will talk about it for a few years, but when they are 25, they will not remember. Having raised a couple of kids and now have grandkids, it is amazing what they remember, but my daughter cannot remember Disney at age 4, or hardly NYC at age 8. Make those lifelong memories a little later in life and let Papa and Nana take care of the kids in Atlanta while the two of you have a couple of nice nights in Atlanta. This comes from Papa.
That is probably true. By the time they can remember it they won’t wanna go to Disney though lol.