Resort Airline checkin for bags

[Allie B]

We used this option and worked well for us. We were nervous as well but our luggage arrived at our home airport right on time with us

 

[ScubaCat]

UNmagical express

It's the Tragic Depress!

Thanks. Wow call a number and pay with credit card. Damn, feels like the 90s.

I'd prefer they take a card imprint with actual carbon paper between the copies. Those were the days.

Nevertheless, I'd just do online checkin and pay on the airline web site, but you have the option to pay over the phone. They just don't handle payments at all at BAGS checkin.

 

[Farro]

Hi. How many hours before flight do you need to have your bags there? Our flight home is at 10:30 am and I'd much rather do check in at the hotel than at MCO!

 

[Dug720]

There are specific reasons as to why it works for Pre-checked secured baggage items but your airport checked baggage is indeed validated against actual boarded passengers.

I won't be discussing the specific reasons here but it is safe. However, individual airline's have the option to not load any bag or package at their discretion.

Dave

Thanks! I always wondered just generally how bags checked like at RAC might be on a different plane when everything else says no passenger no bag.

 

[focusondisney]

I have never used RAC before, but almost did last month. We decided to take our bags with us in the town car as usual. Lucky we did. We were to fly out on SW at 10:30 pm. Around 1:30, our flight got cancelled. SW could not get us on another flight til the next evening, so we ended up changing to a JetBlue flight. Got me thinking about what would have happened if we had used the RAC. Anyone know what happens if you check your bags at the resort & then have to change flights or airlines??

 

[Dug720]

Only your checked bags are sent to the airport, like when you do curbside check in at the airport. Your carry-ons /personal items that you don't want to take to the parks stay at the resort, held till you return. This way when you come back from parks, you can throw your park bag and any last minute souvineers in, and get out any clothes you might want to change into for flight, etc. All your personal items, electronics, etc. will be with you for trip to airport.

As a note to this, it's not a bad idea to throw another outfit in that carry-on you leave with Bell Services. The last time I was at WDW, I'd stored my stuff (I was all carry-on that time) with Bell Services while I went to play in a park before taking the Tragical Express.

While I was at DAK, it started RAINING. Even with a poncho, I was pretty wet by the time I got to the bus. And I was really glad I had that bag with clothes so I could change and not have to fly home wet. There was another family who had gotten caught somewhere in the rain - without ponchos - and had done RAC and had no other clothes in the things they had checked with Bell Services. They ended up getting stuff - whatever pjs/loungewear they could find in the gift shop - to wear home and be dry.

 

[Dug720]

I have never used RAC before, but almost did last month. We decided to take our bags with us in the town car as usual. Lucky we did. We were to fly out on SW at 10:30 pm. Around 1:30, our flight got cancelled. SW could not get us on another flight til the next evening, so we ended up changing to a JetBlue flight. Got me thinking about what would have happened if we had used the RAC. Anyone know what happens if you check your bags at the resort & then have to change flights or airlines??

I do know that when I was there over Christmas when the northeast got totally shut down by a blizzard they would not let me check my bag when I checked in even though my flight was saying it was going. The reasoning there was "If it's checked, it goes into the system and if the flight gets cancelled they might or might not get it back to you before you are able to get home." So if there is something going on that seems to be resulting in a lot of cancellations, they may proactively not accept the bags.

As for if the flight is cancelled or rescheduled, I would assume it would work like it would if a flight was cancelled or changed after you'd checked it in at the airport. And that I don't know as I've only had carry-on when Southwest did that mess to me TWICE. (Fool me once... Never again will I fly them unless there is no other option. And even then I'll really consider if it's worth the risk of not getting there.) And I have zero clue if they put you on another airline what would happen.

 

[ScubaCat]

Hi. How many hours before flight do you need to have your bags there? Our flight home is at 10:30 am and I'd much rather do check in at the hotel than at MCO!

3 hours prior to departure

 

[Elizakapeka]

thank you everyone for your input. I love the Dis Boards! I'm 5 months away yet and I still find stuff to worry about. By the time I leave I will be calm cool and collected thanks to you guys.

 

[AngiTN]

Yes and it's not a problem. I will mention that sometimes your bags end up on an earlier flight than you. One of the times we used resort check in, we took the last flight of the night, and when we were at baggage claim, our bags never came on the carousel, and I got worried. But when I went to the luggage office, they had my bags. They told me that my bags had been put on an earlier flight and had arrived ahead of me.

Same exact thing happened to us. And it was also on Southwest. I wonder if they are more prone to this practice?
We have flown many times on AA and Delta since that flight and not one time did they load our bags early

 

[AngiTN]

It's so weird to me that luggage is put on an earlier flight since they make such a big deal that luggage and the passenger list must match.

It's a common thought that airlines won't do that. Same as so many thing that booking 1 way trips increases your scrutiny with security. Neither are hard and fast facts.

 

[Dug720]

It's a common thought that airlines won't do that. Same as so many thing that booking 1 way trips increases your scrutiny with security. Neither are hard and fast facts.

Well, the reason I thought that about the bags is the number of times I have been in airports where they are paging someone for a flight and stating "If you do not present yourself to the gate in two minutes, you will lose your seat and your luggage will be removed from the plane." That is all the airlines saying that.

 

[AngiTN]

Well, the reason I thought that about the bags is the number of times I have been in airports where they are paging someone for a flight and stating "If you do not present yourself to the gate in two minutes, you will lose your seat and your luggage will be removed from the plane." That is all the airlines saying that.

There's a huge difference between the airlines picking to put your bag on a flight you don't even know about than you intentionally putting your bag on a flight you don't intend to fly on

 

[Mark Kestenbaum]

We used this service today. We checked in our bags and received our boarding passes, innocently thinking our bags would be at la Guardia airport when we arrived. Delta had no record of the bags having been loaded onto the plane. Calling the resort was no help. Apparently the guys who provide the service aren't associated closely with Disney and Disney wasn't able to provide information on the location of our bags. Very frustrating and disappointing especially since I relied on Disney's reputation for service.

 

[Cloudless Nights]

We have never had a problem with our bags - they have always been there at my home airport following 15+ trips of using this service.

 

[tjmw2727]

We used this service today. We checked in our bags and received our boarding passes, innocently thinking our bags would be at la Guardia airport when we arrived. Delta had no record of the bags having been loaded onto the plane. Calling the resort was no help. Apparently the guys who provide the service aren't associated closely with Disney and Disney wasn't able to provide information on the location of our bags. Very frustrating and disappointing especially since I relied on Disney's reputation for service.

That's because they work for the airlines not Disney, think of it as airport curbside just at the resort.

Did you keep the bag claim checks you received when you checked your bags?- those are what you need to track your bags via the airline.

Good Luck I hope they are found & delivered quickly.

 

[AngiTN]

We used this service today. We checked in our bags and received our boarding passes, innocently thinking our bags would be at la Guardia airport when we arrived. Delta had no record of the bags having been loaded onto the plane. Calling the resort was no help. Apparently the guys who provide the service aren't associated closely with Disney and Disney wasn't able to provide information on the location of our bags. Very frustrating and disappointing especially since I relied on Disney's reputation for service.

As mentioned above, this is not Disney's service. You may not have read their badges but they are not Disney, they are Bags, Inc. This service is just like using curbside at the airport, other than it's not AT the airport. The odds of something going wrong are as high (or low) as it is using that service. Neither, even checking straight with the airlines, is ever 100%. Unfortunately. It would be nice if no bag was ever lost. But then, the huge facility a few miles down the road from me would shut down.
But at any rate, who you need to start calling is Bags, Inc. Plus, check your claim checks. See if they have any info