Disney Trip "Completely Ruined" By Airline

Julie's Haircut

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
A series of flight irregularities on British Airways "completely ruined" their Disney World vacation, a family whined. They were "shattered."

https://www.news.com.au/travel/trav...s/news-story/362d4c022389574561edbdcac8ae8a39

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/this-flight-was-delayed-for-3-days

While understandably an irritating experience, this family is WAY over exaggerating their hardships. They were one of the lucky ones to receive a hotel room the second night. First World problems indeed.

And it looks like common core math was used in the stories. "Stranded for 90 hours" and "nearly three days after the flight was due to land" are mentioned in the first link. "70 hour delay" is mentioned in the second.

The flight was supposed to take off Thursday at 725 pm from Orlando and arrive in London about 7:45 am on Friday. It eventually arrived between 6 and 7 am (various sources) on Sunday, about 46+ hours behind schedule.


In other airline news, a Delta passenger says he had a choice of either sitting in a feces stained seat or missing his flight.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/tran...off-despite-his-pleas/?utm_term=.e8a472118d99
 
It appears the major problem was poor communication by BA to the passengers. A series of unfortunate events compounded by the lack of available hotel rooms in NYC.

I don't know if there were feasible alternatives operation-wise. It appears that some passengers (probably no more than two dozen) were put on the morning flights on Saturday from JFK to LHR on BA and Virgin. But all other flights, via all airlines, to London and all alternative points in Europe, don't depart JFK until the evening, which was when the relief plane departed.
 


It would take me more than a couple of days to get enough distance from that awful travel experience before I would be able to fully appreciate the Disney/fun part of the vacation. I'd get there but I would need some time to shake off the aggravation all those delays.
 
These things happen. While no one enjoys them, I don't see as how it "ruined" a vacation that was over before it happened. It would be much more of an issue had it happened on the way TO the vacation and they lost days of their holiday. But, geez....exactly what was the airline supposed to do that they didn't do?
 
Seems more to me like it ruined a birthday party rather than the vacation. Welcome to airline travel. Where the meal vouchers can't even pay for an appetizer at the one place they are good at and they treat you like you're dirt. And if you complain, you'll get a free pair of headphones for whatever B or C movie they're showing saving you a whole $3. That's if you're lucky. You don't want to know what you get if you're not.
 


Not positive but pretty sure most airports have places to eat. Not the airlines fault you went hungry
 
A series of flight irregularities on British Airways "completely ruined" their Disney World vacation, a family whined. They were "shattered."
The flight from Great Brittan to the US is pretty long and grueling already, but --yes -- they're whining. The child doesn't know her second birthday was "ruined", and what idiots plan a 40-person party with a mobile petting zoo the day after they return from an international vacation?

Not positive but pretty sure most airports have places to eat. Not the airlines fault you went hungry
More than that, if the airline cancels your flight, they give you a free hotel room and meal vouchers. No, it's not what anyone wants, but you're not going to go hungry
 
After an awful experience with an airline this summer, I have a lot of empathy for this family. Being strapped into a seat for 4 hours with no idea of what is going on and then being told to deplane at midnight, especially with an infant, is a lot worse than some on this thread seem to think. They had likely been up since 6 am and had got the toddler tired out so that they would sleep on the plane. Once they were told to get off the plane, they would have had to stand in line to find out where to go and if they could get their luggage back, then told where to go to get to the hotel, stand in line for transportation and at the hotel, all while dealing with a hungry tired toddler whose diaper you can't change because you ran out. I can't even imagine the stress of being on a plane that had to make an emergency landing.

A vacation is supposed to be relaxing. You're supposed to get back home refreshed and energized. This family wasn't. They were exhausted and stressed. Their experience with British Airways negated any fun they had had at WDW.
 
Travel Insurance with WDW? I know ours included delayed and/or cancelled flights.

Delta's biohazard situation has so many wrongs.
 
Not sure why it is BA fault they were traveling with a toddler, which is always a challenge, and had troubles with that toddler.
People always need to be prepared for travel issues, especially international.:flower1:
 
I’m wondering how they ran out of diapers over this whole thing. They were going on a 6 hour flight then had to deal with customs, luggage and travel time to their home so they should have had enough diapers for all that yet they ran out of diapers because of a 4 hour delay..... @@
 
The flight from Great Brittan to the US is pretty long and grueling already, but --yes -- they're whining. The child doesn't know her second birthday was "ruined", and what idiots plan a 40-person party with a mobile petting zoo the day after they return from an international vacation?

More than that, if the airline cancels your flight, they give you a free hotel room and meal vouchers. No, it's not what anyone wants, but you're not going to go hungry

My understanding from reading about the situation elsewhere is that very few families got a hotel room. They were at JFK and it was NY marathon weekend - not many hotel rooms to be had.

I’m wondering how they ran out of diapers over this whole thing. They were going on a 6 hour flight then had to deal with customs, luggage and travel time to their home so they should have had enough diapers for all that yet they ran out of diapers because of a 4 hour delay..... @@

Unless you're talking about a different situation, it was much more than a four-hour delay - more like 44 hours.
 
After an awful experience with an airline this summer, I have a lot of empathy for this family. Being strapped into a seat for 4 hours with no idea of what is going on and then being told to deplane at midnight, especially with an infant, is a lot worse than some on this thread seem to think. They had likely been up since 6 am and had got the toddler tired out so that they would sleep on the plane. Once they were told to get off the plane, they would have had to stand in line to find out where to go and if they could get their luggage back, then told where to go to get to the hotel, stand in line for transportation and at the hotel, all while dealing with a hungry tired toddler whose diaper you can't change because you ran out. I can't even imagine the stress of being on a plane that had to make an emergency landing.

A vacation is supposed to be relaxing. You're supposed to get back home refreshed and energized. This family wasn't. They were exhausted and stressed. Their experience with British Airways negated any fun they had had at WDW.

Boo-hoo for them, they are the ones making the airline incident negate any of the fun they had at WDW.
There are zero guarantees in life, yes a vacation is supposed to be many things but sometimes it isn't. You deal with it and move on, that is life.
 
You NEVER plan something for right when u get back! You are exhausted from travel, early hours, etc...

My thought is that if nothing had happened, and they were home on time, would Disney have ruined the party on the other end due to the being exhausted??
 
After an awful experience with an airline this summer, I have a lot of empathy for this family. Being strapped into a seat for 4 hours with no idea of what is going on and then being told to deplane at midnight, especially with an infant, is a lot worse than some on this thread seem to think. They had likely been up since 6 am and had got the toddler tired out so that they would sleep on the plane. Once they were told to get off the plane, they would have had to stand in line to find out where to go and if they could get their luggage back, then told where to go to get to the hotel, stand in line for transportation and at the hotel, all while dealing with a hungry tired toddler whose diaper you can't change because you ran out. I can't even imagine the stress of being on a plane that had to make an emergency landing.

A vacation is supposed to be relaxing. You're supposed to get back home refreshed and energized. This family wasn't. They were exhausted and stressed. Their experience with British Airways negated any fun they had had at WDW.
I agree. Not that this family has a choice, but that’s why we chose to drive this time. We had flights booked & cancelled at the last minute b/c we are traveling with an infant this time. I don’t want to deal with any of these airline horror stories.
 
You know, I'm going to sound very cranky, but people really need to put things into perspective. The past few weeks I've been dealing with two family members with serious health issues (including my dad going into cardiac arrest and an uncle going into hospice care), and having to put down a beloved pet. With all my trips to and from the hospital, I've watched a homeless camp near a freeway off-ramp that has been steadily growing. I get that flight delays are frustrating, but it's such a first-world problem. Obviously these people have the means to take a trip to WDW, rent a petting zoo, etc. But many people are just trying to survive.

We are thankful that my dad is stable and being released from the hospital today. It's looking like my DH, two boys and I will be able to take our long-planned trip to WDW for Thanksgiving. Last week, we were uncertain if we would even be going. We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to take a vacation together. If we have a bad flight, if a ride is closed, if we don't make an ADR on time, whatever. I'll still be thankful to be there.
 

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