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Advice from Poor Weather Travelers Please

Ithocles

By Ithocles,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Ithocles

Ithocles

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We're flying out of Tulsa on Friday for our cruise on the Carnival Liberty on Saturday. The thing is, we are expecting 1/4" to 1/2" of ice Thursday a.m. and 6" to 12" of snow Thursday p.m., tapering off early Friday. Do any of you road warriors know what I should expect at the airport? When do they close airports? Should I just plan on being there a couple of hours earlier? I don't mind camping out at the airport if the planes will still take off!

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tulsacubfan

tulsacubfan

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We're flying out of Tulsa on Friday for our cruise on the Carnival Liberty on Saturday. The thing is, we are expecting 1/4" to 1/2" of ice Thursday a.m. and 6" to 12" of snow Thursday p.m., tapering off early Friday. Do any of you road warriors know what I should expect at the airport? When do they close airports? Should I just plan on being there a couple of hours earlier? I don't mind camping out at the airport if the planes will still take off!

 

Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing until the storm happens. As you know, Tulsa isn't used to this kind of weather...although we did get a taste of it at Christmas! I actually don't remember what the Tulsa airport did at Christmas as all of our family got in the morning of Christmas Eve before it got bad here (although our son was supposed to be in the day before and got stuck in Chicago because of weather there). I would hope, however, that by Friday evening or Saturday morning they will have things cleared off enough to get out of here. They do try their best to minimize delays as long as it is safe.

 

Another option would be to see if you can get out Thursday (if you can take the time off, change the flight, etc). But, right now they aren't sure when it is going to hit here!

 

Good luck! Be sure to let us know what happens.

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travelntreats

travelntreats

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We're flying out of Tulsa on Friday for our cruise on the Carnival Liberty on Saturday. The thing is, we are expecting 1/4" to 1/2" of ice Thursday a.m. and 6" to 12" of snow Thursday p.m., tapering off early Friday. Do any of you road warriors know what I should expect at the airport? When do they close airports? Should I just plan on being there a couple of hours earlier? I don't mind camping out at the airport if the planes will still take off!

As much as I hate to say it.... this is just another reason to try to fly to your embarkation point 1 - 2 days early.... if possible. Another reason to make sure you take out trip insurance to cover weather issues like this that can and do arise.

 

There is no way anyone will know what the airport will do this early in the game... the storm predicition could be very accurate regarding timing and intensity, or it could be way off the predicition.

 

Camping out at the airport maybe not be a bad idea, but who can really say if it will do you any good ?

 

Best of luck

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kat228

kat228

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If we get snow here, the plane takes off. ...But I also live in the snow belt. If pilot's didn't know how to fly in and out of snow, our airports would be permanently shut down... Doesn't help you much, but needless to say, I have a ton of experience flying in cold weather :)

 

If the snow storm does what it's expected to do and taper off on Friday morning, then I would imagine that a later flight would be okay. What to expect though is that you might have some flights that were canceled on Thursday, so your flight will probably be oversold. I only mention this because you want to check-in for your flight early and make sure you have seats assigned. The good news is that you have a day's buffer. If your plane is delayed, you'll be okay. You'll have to de-ice, which down in OK, I'm not sure if they build that time into the flight time during the Winter or not. (Here they do...) So even if you pull away from the gate on time, you might still be delayed.

 

The biggest thing for your airport will be clearing the runway of snow (which airports are capable to do!) and making sure that any planes needed for Friday get in.

 

Don't worry too much, but I would arrive early and expect a delay.

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tulsacubfan

tulsacubfan

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Don't mean to alarm you, but...this was just sent to me - an article from the Tulsa World - you might seriously consider getting out of here Thursday early.

 

A major winter storm is expected to cause extended power outages after it rolls into eastern Oklahoma on Thursday.

Forecasters predict that the storm will start with rain that will turn to ice and then snow as temperatures drop, according to the National Weather Service. The brunt of the storm should be on Thursday evening.

The ice could cause problems with power lines and outages that last for several days. The weather service is urging people to avoid travel and have enough food on hand to last through the storm.

After the snow, strong north winds likely will create a dangerous wind chill and intensify problems with power lines.

"This strong north wind will wreak havoc on the icy power lines as well as produce dangerous wind chills," according to a bulletin from the weather service. "Persons across eastern Oklahoma should begin to make preparations for a prolonged and severe winter weather event if they have not already."

A winter storm watch is in place starting Thursday morning for areas including Tulsa, Rogers, Creek, Wagoner, Osage and Muskogee counties. Other places in Arkansas and Oklahoma are also included.

According to early forecasts, the area could see between four and eight inches of snow, with up to 10 inches falling in isolated spots. Between ¼ and ½ inch of ice is expected, with up to an inch in some areas.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100126_11_0_rmrhtw452748

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Ithocles

Ithocles

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Thanks for the advice and encouragement. While I don't expect any certain answers, it's great getting the advice.

 

tulsacubfan - It's nice having a local person in the know. I wish we could arrange to get out early on Thursday, but I'm not sure we could get the time off. Depending on how it it looks tomorrow, we may try to force it. Hopefully we'll just be delayed, if anything. It sound like if we can get out of Tulsa it will be okay. Oklahoma weather...

 

kat228 - I'm hoping the Tulsa airport will be able to handle it okay too. Like tulsacubfan said, we had a snow storm right around christmas that was pretty bad, but I didn't pay attention to how the airport handled it, but I don't remember them saying anything about major delays.

 

Thanks again everyone!!!

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Ithocles

Ithocles

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As I can't sleep, I thought I would send a quick update. Earlier today we decided to go ahead and drive to Dallas and catch our connection there to Miami. While everything may go off here okay, we just don't want to run the chance of things not going well. It's worth the peace of mind to go ahead and leave a bit early. Things worked out with time off and we had some goldpoints so the room is free. Might as well go!

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tulsacubfan

tulsacubfan

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As I can't sleep, I thought I would send a quick update. Earlier today we decided to go ahead and drive to Dallas and catch our connection there to Miami. While everything may go off here okay, we just don't want to run the chance of things not going well. It's worth the peace of mind to go ahead and leave a bit early. Things worked out with time off and we had some goldpoints so the room is free. Might as well go!

 

Good idea! Nothing has even started here yet, but SWA has already cancelled incoming flights and Delta is cancelling all flights. My niece is in Dallas and she said that it is raining there now, but they are not forcasting anything tomorrow except cold. They don't expect any weather there tomorrow! Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Jay B

Jay B

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#1 Do not take a connecting flight during the winter unless you are very flexible on your arrival time and date. I can't count the number of times I've missed a connection when flying out of Denver in the winter because my originating flight had to be deiced (after waiting in line behind numerous other planes needing deicing).

 

j

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oncruisecontrol

oncruisecontrol

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As I can't sleep, I thought I would send a quick update. Earlier today we decided to go ahead and drive to Dallas and catch our connection there to Miami. While everything may go off here okay, we just don't want to run the chance of things not going well. It's worth the peace of mind to go ahead and leave a bit early. Things worked out with time off and we had some goldpoints so the room is free. Might as well go!

 

 

Are your original flights and your connecting flights on the same airline? If so, it might be wise to let the airline know that you will not be boarding the flight in Oklahoma, and instead, will be driving to Dallas but will still be boarding there. I mention this only because, once, I had booked a round-trip, but had decided not to fly the first leg; I called the airline to inform them and was told that if I did not show up for the first leg, they'd cancel my return ticket. This sort of thing may not affect a connection, but you never know. Better check to be sure. Hope it works out for you.

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travelntreats

travelntreats

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#1 Do not take a connecting flight during the winter unless you are very flexible on your arrival time and date. I can't count the number of times I've missed a connection when flying out of Denver in the winter because my originating flight had to be deiced (after waiting in line behind numerous other planes needing deicing).

 

j

Although this is good advice... some folks, like me, are unable to get non stop flights from our area....

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