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View Full Version : Southwest Airlines - Help! [Can DME be used?]



DoodleMushyBoo
08-25-2008, 04:22 AM
HI all!

I've NEVER flown southwest before, but with the great rates and NO baggage fees (or other ones we can tell of - can i get a WOHOO for that?) . . .

BUT

It would appear Disney isn't Southwest friendly, is this the case? Can we not take the Magical Express? Or do we have to rush to find our bags and then rush to a bus and then leave them at the resort?

Some insight from fellow southwest travelers would be lovely.

PS - anyone ever flown out of Manchester before? Parking situations? good? bad? ugly?

thanks :)

Drince88
08-25-2008, 04:29 AM
You can use DME. You cannot do resort check-in for your return flight home.

What that means: Put your yellow tags on your bags when you check them, and go directly to the DME check in/bus when you arrive at MCO, check in, go have fun, return to room, bags in the room.

24 hours before your flight home - check in at Southwest to get a better seating group/boarding order (there is a thread (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=111437) about that)*.

When it's time to catch the DME bus, take your bags to the bus, the driver will put them under the bus and when you arrive at MCO, you need to take your bags from the driver and take them to the Southwest baggage check/counter.

*One thing from that thread, a poster said that Manchester would check them in for their return flight right then - I'd never heard of that, but it can't hurt to ask!

mickeymom5
08-25-2008, 04:41 AM
We are flying in on Southwest on Saturday. The whole process as described above is how my travel agent said it would work. I will let you know how it goes for us when we get back.

Only 5 more days...please no hurricanes!

DoodleMushyBoo
08-25-2008, 04:47 AM
We are flying in on Southwest on Saturday. The whole process as described above is how my travel agent said it would work. I will let you know how it goes for us when we get back.

Only 5 more days...please no hurricanes!

OH very exciting. . . :) Thank you , i appreciate the help :)

I am doing a "no hurricane" dance for you ;)

Drince88
08-25-2008, 04:59 AM
Only 5 more days...please no hurricanes!
Or tropical storms! And let's just keep them out of the Gulf all together!

mom22gls
08-25-2008, 05:26 AM
I flew through Manchester (NH) last summer, to visit my brother. It's a nice little airport. He dropped us off, so I don't know about parking there. I would look into off-site airport parking, which is usually cheaper than lots or garages at the airport. As everyone said, Southwest doesn't participate in the luggage check-in, but that only affects you on your return to the airport, and, even then, it's no big deal. You just put your luggage on the ME bus, and check it into Southwest at the airport. Southwest does not assign seats. You can check-in online, 24 hours prior to your flight (to the minute), and when you check in you are assigned a letter A, B, or C. Your letter and number establishes your order to board. Most of the "A's" are automatically given to Business Select Class ticketholders. If you have small kids or special needs, you can preboard. The check-in can be an issue at the end of your trip. If you are at your hotel, 24 hours prior to your flight,just go to the front desk, and they will check you in and print your boarding passes for you. If you have your own internet access, you can log in yourself, and check-in, and you can print your passes later-either at the hotel, or even at the airport. If you are in a park, with no internet access, and won't be back at your hotel for hours, you can even call someone at home, and have them check-in for you (bring your confirmation number with you!), and you can print the boarding passes later. If you wait to check-in at the airport, right before the flight, you will, certainly, be among the last to board.

turkeymama
08-25-2008, 05:38 AM
Southwest no longer allows pre-boarding for parents with children. Their new policy states parents with children under the age of 4 can either board in the order based on their boarding pass, OR they can board after the A group has boarded. So if you have an A boarding pass, obviously you will want to board with the A group. But if you got stuck with a C boarding pass, you would still be able to board immediately after the A group if you have a child under the age 4 with you.

As far as checking in at the end of your trip, if you are in a park or Downtown Disney, go to guest services and they will check you in and print your boarding passes for you. It is extremely convenient.

Magical Express actually got our bags for us. Just like someone else said, you can't do resort check-in for your return flight for Southwest. But ME still helps you with your bags. We have used it twice since December and love flying Southwest. The flight attendants we had sang silly songs upon arriving to MCO.

Greg in TN
08-25-2008, 06:16 AM
Southwest is the only airline we've flown to Orlando on. Used DME ever since it became available and it has worked like a charm !!! Flying INTO Orlando, Southwest works like any other airline if you use your yellow DME luggage tags.

Flying HOME on Southwest is where there's a little difference. Like Drince said above, you cannot check your bags @ your hotel, but will load them under the DME bus and check them yourself @ the airport. Not that big of a deal, really--considering DME is a free service (that is, Disney's not going to charge you any more or less whether you use DME or not) and if you DON'T use DME, you'll still have to check your bags @ the airport yourself anyway.

I highly recommed DME & Southwest based on our experiences :D .

Drince88
08-25-2008, 06:25 AM
The no seat assignments really threw me - and I resisted quite strongly flying them for quite a while - until there wasn't any availability on the flights I needed to Houston on Continental, and Hobby Airport (where SW flies) was actually more convinent to where I was going.

I am soooo glad I got over that 'issue' because now Southwest is the only one with direct flights from New Orleans to Orlando. Delta used to have a few that were workable, then 3 years ago (after Katrina) they cut back to just one/day at yechy times, and as of last week, they have none.

mom22gls
08-25-2008, 07:21 AM
As far as checking in at the end of your trip, if you are in a park or Downtown Disney, go to guest services and they will check you in and print your boarding passes for you. It is extremely convenient.

This appears to be a hit or miss thing. We were at a water park in June, and Guest Services would not check us in. Many hotels won't check in anyone who is not staying there. My husband ended up calling a friend at home who checked us in (even then, we were in the B group, only half an hour or so after our check-in window opened up), and he had the passes printed at the hotel.

tjrj
08-30-2008, 08:16 AM
re the checking in at the 24 hour mark: as of May 2007-guest services can still assist you with a computer but you'll do the check in yourself.

We were at Epcot. Went to guest services where they gave me access to a computer and I was able to check all 3 of us in. Loaded our bags at Pop the next morning and had a porter help us at the airport. The porter also by-passed the line at the SW counter and had a SW person print our boarding passes and put luggage tags on. Well worth the dollar or two per bag. I was nervous too about not having access to DME for our return but it is pretty simple.

mickeymom5
09-06-2008, 01:12 PM
We just got back from our trip! We traveled Southwest. We had three check on bags. We tagged them with the DME tags. When we got off the plane we went straight to the DME desk. They told us which line to get in and within a few minutes we were on the bus. We watched a cute movie that got us excited about our upcoming stay. My husband happened to be in the room when they tried to deliver our luggage, but they had brought the wrong ones. I wonder if he hadn't been there, if we would have gotten back and not had the right bags. The night before we were to leave they left a DME letter on our door saying when to show up for the bus in the morning. If you fly Southwest you don't have to do anything but show up for the bus because you have to check your own baggage at the airport. The driver helped put our bags on the bus and told us we would be exiting the bus at Terminal A. They drop you off on the first floor and you have to check in with Southwest on the third floor.

Rockchalker
09-19-2008, 03:06 PM
They also have a lot of porters around the drop off area at the airport to help get the bags upstairs. It was just my daughter and I and we had all 6 bags (we shipped 2 of the carry ons) + the large stroller and the porter was tip money well spent!!! He also knew exactly where to go!!!

The only problem we had is at the Wilderness itself where the valet forgot to bring the bags to the bus and I noticed it as the bus was about to pull away. (They mark the luggage at the valet according to the bus time you are scheduled for.)