Magic Express Question/Complaint

[MrPeetrie]

I'm not sure where to post this so I'll try here.

We took advantage of the Magical Express this year. (Absolutely worked perfectly. We love this.) Dispite having only three paid seats (19-month-old sat on my wife's lap), we checked four pieces of luggage with Airtran. No extra charge. One bag was one pound over, but she allowed us to remove one thing and add it to another piece of luggage. When we arrived at the gate, the flight attendant told us there was no overhead room for one of our pieces of luggage and it would have to be checked there. We explained about using Disney's Magical Express and they said, "No Problem." They wrote Disney on the tag and told us to make Disney aware. Which we did. We gave them the luggage claim ticket. So now we have checked FIVE pieces of luggage without incurring any additional charges.

All day we worried that the last piece of luggage would not make it back to our room but it made it perfectly. The program worked about as well as could be expected.

Not the same for trip home. Disney provides boarding passes for certain airlines right at the lobby. We had a bell services take our luggage (and us) to the custom house at the Caribbean Beach. ($16 tip, but that was money well spent.) Then, the Magical Express charged us an additional $123 for the two extra bags. Then another Magical Express employee told me he was "personally going to make sure that all my luggage was going to be placed on my plane home. He paused then repeated: "Do you understand? I am going to personally make sure your five pieces of luggage make it from the hotel back to Pittsburgh. They are going to be under my personal care." Great customer service? Or tip request? I asked if he had change for $10 for a $20. "Absolutely." You decide. Then, we had reservations for the 5:30 p.m. ride to the airport, but a CM said we could ask the captain permission to board the 5:00 p.m. bus. "Sure"
Another $5 tip.
In all, my trip back cost me an additional $154 for a free transportation and luggage service.

Please, don't misunderstand me. I'm not complaining about tipping bell services or the bus driver. That's part of the experience. They were helping me and deserved to be compensated. But I was upset at Magical Express services a bit. I felt overcharged for my luggage, especially when there was an Airtran rep at the gate checking bags people originally planned to take on board FOR FREE. We could have brought the two smaller pieces with us and checked them there, saving us $123.

And I also felt like the other Magical Express employee "lobbied" for his tip. That's the one that really upset me. Obviously, because I'm writing about that and not about the amazing trip I had. I'll do that later.

Plenty of kudos to CMs forthcoming!!!!! Watch for trip report.

[PopPhan]

You have every right to be upset with the way the DME driver "hounded" you for the tip. That is NOT good service.

On the other hand, the luggage handlers through the resort have to charge based on the airlines baggage rules - if you are allowed one bag per person, they will, and have to, charge you for the extra bags. They are not employees of any airline and have only the 'written' rules to go by. If you were hoping to get the extra bags on the plane for free, you should have taken them and checked them in yourself at the airport and lobbied for the waiver of the charges there.

[Aurora]

It sounds like you got a break from AirTran on the first leg of your trip. AirTran has a whole list of checked and excess baggage charges that it sounds like they didn't charge you on the way there.

I probably would have taken a cab to the airport at that point and talked to an AirTran agent there. It would have cost you for the cab but probably far less than the baggage costs. Then again, they could have charged you at the gate, too; you never know.

I might complain about the subtle shakedown by the Magical Express guy, but because he didn't actually say anything about tipping him, I don't know whether they could do anything about it. Sounds like he was pretty slick.

[WDW-Geek]

I had a similar experience with the baggage handler overtly hounding me for a tip. It was so odd, so out of character, it actually caught me off guard. I've never seen someone basically demand a tip. Hey, you weren't at the Contemporary, were you? :mickey:

Anyway, I feel similarly to you--I don't mind tipping at all (and do tip), but the lobbying I saw was uncomfortable to say the least.

[MrPeetrie]

I think it was more a case of ignorance on my part. We haven't flown since 2007 and everything has changed quite a bit.

We wanted the certainty of assigned seats, so we opted for Airtran over Southwest. But getting assigned seats both ways cost an additional $36. I was shocked by that. Apparently, there are added fees for everything right now I guess.

Truth be told: even if I was told it would cost another $123 to check bags and get boarding passes at hotel versus free at airport, but I had to get the luggage there myself. I'd probably pay the extra $123 for the convenience.

I think I was most upset at feeling "worked" for another tip. Frightened, is a better word. I immediately thought of a Seinfeld episode.

[darthmacho]

Sad day when an airline gives you better customer service than WDW. :(
I might be overreacting, but after reading your story, it almost sounded like a bribe or threat more than a tip request. It at least bordered on it.
Sorry for your troubles, but the trip report sounds like it will be replete with stories redeeming the WDW CMs. I look forward to it. :mickey:

[MrPeetrie]

Darthmacho, CMs were amazing!

[KylesMom]

I think it's important to note that the staff who man the "Resort Airline Check-In" counters at the resorts are a subcontracted company. BAGS Inc. checks your luggage in, issues your boarding passes and ensures that your luggage makes it to your home airport. These are not Disney's Magical Express employees. I think of it as skycap service, and have tipped them for the past several trips. However, we did note this past trip that it was inferred, similar to you, that a tip should be forthcoming versus on our previous trips where it wasn't evident what you were supposed to do.

[wildernesslady]

We had a similar situation when we used Airline Resort Check-In at OKW. We flew SW so there were no added bag fees. The guy handling our bags kept on saying he was doing all the work of getting our bags to the airport. That the guys at the airport were not the ones handling our bags. He was doing it all. I was fully intending on tipping him, but now I felt pressured. At the same time, my daughters were checking our carry ons with bell services. I was trying to get tips together for both of them, but he was really pressuring me. We tipped him $10 for our 3 suitcases and $5 to bell services for our carry ons. Of course, the only rain of our whole trip was right after that. It poured while we were at the MK and while we were waiting for ME at OKW. There was no other rain in Orlando or Philly where we landed. Our three suitcases were soaked when we got them. So much for the personal service we were supposed to receive. It makes me think they were left our on purpose. Luckily the only thing damaged were some brochures and all our clean clothes now needed to be washed.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I had a similar experience with the baggage handler overtly hounding me for a tip. It was so odd, so out of character, it actually caught me off guard. I've never seen someone basically demand a tip. Hey, you weren't at the Contemporary, were you? :mickey:

Anyway, I feel similarly to you--I don't mind tipping at all (and do tip), but the lobbying I saw was uncomfortable to say the least.

I've worked in retail for way too many years and unfortunately, or fortunately, I do not get rattled by "bad" manners by retail employees.

My reaction would have been to laugh at him and say "really digging for that tip, huh?". . . . and promptly NOT leave him one! No guilt!! :D

[garthbarth1]

Airtran did not charge you for your bags?? We just flew to WDW via Airtran and they charged us $20.00 per bag! Then they said my suitcase was over the size-not weight limit-size limit and they tried to charge me $49.99!!! They said my bag was 62 inches and the bag i had was 62. Another Airtran employee came over and measured and said it was 61 and fine. I have had this bag 12 years and never ONE TIME did an airline tell me my size was too big-weight yes, but not size. I asked them if this was just Airtran policy or FAA and they said it was FAA policy. I have never heard of this before! That makes me so mad!!
Sorry about your ME service :( They should never hound you for a tip!

[MrPeetrie]

garthbarth1, our AirTran employee at the Pittsburgh airport was very helpful. One piece of luggage was a pound over weight and she told us to remove something and place it in another piece. Our large suitcase was .25" too big. She said, she'd let it go this time, but upon return for us to not utilize the outside pouches and it should be fine. She said, our suitcase was older and they no longer recommend that size. FAA prefers the next size down. But she didn't charge us any additional fees.

[DizneyRox]

+ 1 on the resort airline check-in. They are not Magical Express. they are in effect Skycapsand should be tipped as such. They are the same people you see curb side at your local airport that enable you to bypass the usually long check-in lines at the counter.

They were making sure you understood that without actually putting their hand in your pocket.

Not a lot of people fly and understand how airports work. i too think sometimes how they approach what they do is a little forward, but now that I know what they do, I understand.

Sometimes I use their services, sometimes not. All depends on how I feel at the time.

Don't be upset with ME though over this.

[MrPeetrie]

...Not a lot of people fly and understand how airports work. i too think sometimes how they approach what they do is a little forward, but now that I know what they do, I understand.


DizneyRox, we hadn't flown since 2007. We also had never used the Magical Express resort check-in either. A lot has changed since 2007. We need to catch up.

Regarding not being upset with Magical Express because the employee was clearly pressing me for a tip: he was wearing a Magical Express uniform so ultimately Magical Express is still responsible for his behavior. (Note: now that I know the system and what's expected, I will be prepared to tip him, as well. I won't have to ask him for change for a $20.)

[DizneyRox]

Yeah, Disney needs to do a better job of distinguishing Disne employees from non. I'm not sure if it ever went forward or not, but I recall an effort a while back to replace much of the hotel personelle with a third party company. This I thought included front desk employees as well as bell services and valet. I might be wrong.

Skycabs have been around forever, just not at the actual resorts. In general, just about everything associated with travel is usually a tipped position. From drivers (bus, taxi and limo), anyone helping you with luggage, room service, maid service, etc. Disney is the exception, and are now complicating things.

Bell services has always been tipped, but now with ME, there's no tip when they "magically" drop it off, but if you check bags in yourself, they won't drop it off unless you are in the room (and can provide a tip). Mousekeeping is not a tipped position at Disney, but elsewhere in Orlando it is. ME is billed as free, but there are signs everywhere that tips are appreciated. RAC, is new, usually located near the normal bell services, but isn't part of bell services. So, call bell services to dhelp with your lugage, they come, bring you to RAC, hand out for a tip, and then someone else prints out a boarding pass and gets another tip.

Didn't I just tip that guy to do this? (points to the guy standing right next to the RAC desk)

Very confusing...

[Stu29573]

Ok, I'm probably going to get flamed, but here goes:

I'm not really worried about keeping up with it all. I tip when I see that I need to (and if the service is good) and I tip pretty well, but when the day comes that I have to keep a list of who to tip and how much, I guess I'm done using those services. Its just not worth the hassle. Just my :twocents: (which I will gladly give you a tip on if you earned it) :D

[MrPeetrie]

Airtran did not charge you for your bags?? We just flew to WDW via Airtran and they charged us $20.00 per bag.

Garthbarth1, I just checked my statement. Airtran DID charge me. They must have had my credit card on file. Sneaky.

[LudwigVonDrake]

To the OP, what that cast member did was wrong and I would have reported him to Disney.

[Polynesian Dweller]

To the OP, what that cast member did was wrong and I would have reported him to Disney.

But Magical Express is not Disney it's Mears and they aren't CMs in that sense. Report it to Mears. All a Disney manager will do is pass it along to Meard since it is up to Mears management to deal with their staff. Might as well do it directly.

[Main Street Jim]

Mears = Disney

"*M*(ouse)*Ears*"

[MissMaryPoppins]

My mom and I did Magical Express one year and the only problem we had was finding where we had to line up for the bus but that was only because we misunderstood the directions my father gave us before we left. It went so well I was actually worried that something was wrong, like our bags were lost or something. I can't believe that Magical Express employee pressured you like that for a tip..rude!! I had something very similar happen to me once in Disney. I really needed a haircut and since I had been working so much before our trip I decided I was going to wait and get it done at a resort. Icalled the day we arrived and booked an appointment for the next afternoon at the Ivy Trellis at the Grand Floridian. The stylist did a beautiful job and I got tons of compliments all well and once I got home but the whole time she kept bringing up all the compliments customers had given to management about her work. She must have said it 6 times in the hour and a half I was there. I thought about doing it but her bragging and nagging made me not want to. In my opinion you need to earn that sort of thing and nagging doesn't help.

[texas211]

Fortunately being elite on American gets you free luggage, and I've started renting a car. Keep as few folks from handling my luggage as possible, which requires fewer rules to be interpreted.

[Dsnygirl]

Do you happen to have Jet Blue in your airport?? No baggage fees unless you check more than one bag per person, no "assigned seat" fees, luggage can weigh up to 50 lbs, which can be a BIT tight with the largest of all suitcases, but hard to hit, otherwise. Great service, great snacks, very much on time, always give a refund if your airfare goes down before you fly, and great staff. We haven't flown anyone but them since they entered Syracuse! :thumbsup:

If not, or if they're too pricey (not sure how their fares change regionally...) then I hope you have better luck w/ AirTran next time... I have friends who love them, as well, although their charging of your bags w/o mentioning it seems a bit, as you put it, "sneaky".

And as far as the tipping -- I agree, I will tip for good service -- but to be reminded and "worked on" for one .... that would have irked me, as well!