Southwest & DME

[Rosemickey68]

This may have been asked before but here goes....We will be flying in late on Southwest which is not a participating airline in using DME...I assume we pick up our own bags and take them to the DME check in at the airport and then hop on the bus. How does this work on the return flight?
Also, does anyone know what stop Pop Century normally is when using DME???

Thanks!:mickey:

[CleveRocks]

Forget all of your assumptions ....:)

On the flight INTO Orlando, there's no such thing as a participating airline or a non-participating airline. EVERYONE on EVERY FLIGHT gets the full DME treatment, which means the bus ride AND the automatic luggage delivery.

The only way airline matters is for the trip back home, and even then the only way it matters is whether or not you can use the check-in (boarding pass) and luggage service for the trip back home.

As for the order of resorts, there's no pre-set order and there's not even a pre-set grouping of resorts. Sure, resorts in the same zone (geographical area) are USUALLY grouped together, but not always ... it's all based on how many people are going to which resorts at any given time.

Often times, Pop is the first dropped off no matter what resorts it's grouped with, simply because it's the closest Disney resort to the airport. But the order of drop-off is solely at the discretion of the individual DME driver.

[BigRedDad]

Everything above is accurate. If you are arriving late, you may not want to wait for your bags. You can pick them up yourself from baggage claim. Using DME to pick up your luggage is an option.

[Tink's Mom]

When we flew southwest on the time before our last trip, we had to pick up our luggage from the Southwest luggage claim area and transport it to the DME area on the lower level of the airport (we paid a porter). Southwest does not participate with DME. When we arrived at the resort, they did deliver the luggage to our room. When we flew with Airtran on our last trip, they did pick up our luggage from Airtran and delivered it to our room. Have a fun trip!

[sassafras]

We fly Southwest regularly. We use the ME tags sent to us, go to the ME counter on the lower level of the airport, do the check-in thing, and hop the ME. Our bags are delivered to the resort within just a few hours. Coming back, we have the resort concierge go online 24hours before we leave and get our boarding passes. We have to get our luggage to the ME and take it to the airline checkin on the return trip, which takes just a few minutes. No big hassle!

[sainter]

It does not matter which airline you fly, you CAN put your ME tags on your luggage at home and the bags will show up in your resort room magically! You just head to the ME bus with your carry-ons.

HOWEVER, you may choose to pick your luggage up at the carousel in Orlando and take it with you to the ME bus. (In this case do NOT put the ME tags on the luggage at all).

Whether or not your airline is a participating airline only matters on the way home. If it is not, you will have to take the luggage with you (it will be put under the bus) on the way back to the airport. Not a big deal.

[Piglet822]

When we flew southwest on the time before our last trip, we had to pick up our luggage from the Southwest luggage claim area and transport it to the DME area on the lower level of the airport (we paid a porter). Southwest does not participate with DME. When we arrived at the resort, they did deliver the luggage to our room. When we flew with Airtran on our last trip, they did pick up our luggage from Airtran and delivered it to our room. Have a fun trip!


As CleveRocks mentioned above, all airlines can utilize DME and the inbound luggage delivery service. It is only on the way back to the airport that the airline you're flying will matter.
Not all airlines offer the resort check in service, which by the way is completely independent of DME and anyone can use it providing they are flying one of the airlines that participate.
These airlines include Delta, Northwest, United/Ted, US Air was in a testing phase when I was doing DME a few months ago, Air Tran, Jet Blue, American, Continental, and Alaska. If I missed one someone please jump in and post it for me, please.

[Goofster]

Any news on when Southwest will become a 'participating airline''? I heard last summer they were anticipating early-2008.

[Rosemickey68]

Thanks everyone for the info! I really appreciate it! So I'll put the tags on our bags for our trip to WDW and wait for my bags to arrive! One more question....is there somewhere at Pop Century that you can print up the boarding pass for the return trip??
Thanks!:mickey:

[mouse-logic]

It does not matter which airline you fly, you CAN put your ME tags on your luggage at home and the bags will show up in your resort room magically! .....

Wow!!!! You mean I don't even need to load them in my car and take them to the airport with me? That's cool :funny:

[Beast_fanatic]

Thanks everyone for the info! I really appreciate it! So I'll put the tags on our bags for our trip to WDW and wait for my bags to arrive! One more question....is there somewhere at Pop Century that you can print up the boarding pass for the return trip??
Thanks!:mickey:

They can check you in at the Guest Concierge (and sometimes front desk) at the resorts or at Guest Relations at the parks. Sometimes they'll print the boarding pass for you too. You can also check in with a cell phone if you have Internet access on it.

If they don't print the boarding pass for you, but you do get checked in, you can print your boarding pass at the airport. The important part at 24 hours is the check-in as that is when your boarding group is assigned.

[Tink's Mom]

When we flew Southwest, we had put the ME tags on our luggage, and at check-in we were told that our luggage would not be not picked up when we arrived in Orlando. I had been told by Magical Express that Southwest was not a participating airline, and not knowing exactly what that meant, I guess that I assumed that because we were given that information, that that was the proper procedure when flying with southwest. So, we went and picked it up ourselves (and the yellow tags were on our luggage when we picked them up). I did not mean to give the incorrect info to Rosemickey68, I was solely just going on our experience. I was only trying to be helpful.

Piglet822, I think that it would have been nice of you to maybe ask what our particular situation was, other than quoting me to just to show everyone that my information was incorrect.

[CleveRocks]

Piglet822, I think that it would have been nice of you to maybe ask what our particular situation was, other than quoting me to just to show everyone that my information was incorrect.But the information you presented, as quoted by Piglet822, seemed quite complete. To someone familiar with DME procedures, the facts you supplied seemed unambiguous.

While there does exist a certain type of animal on message boards who is obnoxious and revels in telling people how wrong they are, Piglet822 is not one of those. For those of us who truly enjoy helping others, it is necessary to point out incorrect information to help other people who are planning their trips, to help them prevent making errors due to incorrect information.

If that ruffles your feathers, that is unfortunate (I'm being serious, not sarcastic :)), but it serves the greater purpose of educating others so that they can have things easier and more convenient than you had them.

[CleveRocks]

When we flew Southwest, we had put the ME tags on our luggage, and at check-in we were told that our luggage would not be not picked up when we arrived in Orlando. I had been told by Magical Express that Southwest was not a participating airline, and not knowing exactly what that meant, I guess that I assumed that because we were given that information, that that was the proper procedure when flying with southwest.
I just discovered another cause of the misinformation you received. It sounds like you asked AT YOUR HOME AIRPORT about Disney's Magical Express procedures. Unfortunately, asking that question of an airline employee at your home airport was a mistake, as they have absolutely nothing to do with DME.

DME exists only in and around Orlando International Airport and Walt Disney World. Southwest or United employees working in Dallas or Chicago know nothing of DME, and they don't have to. Consider this example. Let's say your Cousin Horace offered to pick up your luggage in Orlando for you and deliver it to your hotel room. Horace asks you to put some bright orange yarn on your suitcases so he will recognize them. When you bring your bags to the Cleveland airport and check them with Continental, the Continental employee won't know what type of arrangements you made with Cousin Horace or what exactly Cousin Horace will do with your bags or won't do with your bags.

The non-Orlando airline exployees know as much about DME as they know about your Cousin Horace.

I hope this helps you understand the system a little better.

[Tink's Mom]

CleveRocks,
Thanks for your opinion, but I still feel that it was not the best way to go about it. Why wasn't the correct information just given? Even an explanation, like "Sorry that happened to Tink's, but that is not the correct procedure" would suffice. No comment was made to help me, or no concern was given about my situation. Only that I was wrong.

I do know that DME only exists at Disney, of course. Maybe, Disney in the title gave it away. At the check in counter, we were asked about the tags and then told that it was not available. Maybe it was a new employee, who knows, but I did not request information from them. I only followed it assuming it was correct. It was the first time we flew to WDW on Southwest. We have flown many, many times on other airlines, and have used DME since it first became available (we usually visit 2-3 times a year). I might mention that when we arrived in Orlando, our luggage still had the DME tags, but were not picked up and taken to our resort.

Maybe I am just sensitive, but I have been on this site for awhile now, and never had my feelings hurt before.

P.S. My feathers have all molted ;)

[Piglet822]

Piglet822, I think that it would have been nice of you to maybe ask what our particular situation was, other than quoting me to just to show everyone that my information was incorrect.


If I offended you in any way, I do apologize.

Yours is not the first post I've seen stating pretty much the same information you had posted. That X airline does not participate, your luggage won't be picked up, etc.
Some of this info has come from CM's.

DME has been in opertion for close to 3 years now and there's still a lot of confusion and incorrect information being passed around.