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Stranded in Cabo After Hurricane Odile - What to do?

Stranded in Cabo After Hurricane Odile - What to do?

Old Sep 16, 2014, 9:29 am
  #1  
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Stranded in Cabo After Hurricane Odile - What to do?

My friends are in Cabo and are slated to leave on Tuesday SJD TO IAH. Right now they have a hotel room but only till Tuesday morning.

Any suggestions on getting out of Cabo going to anywhere in the USA? Will she have to vacate her room if she can't get a flight out?

I'm sorry if I'm being redundant. If this has been discussed please point me to the thread
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 9:35 am
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This is a natural disaster. You never vacate the room unless and until the disaster authorities tell you to. .
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 9:41 am
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However, after the period of the reservation, staying longer allows the hotel to raise the price to the rack rate or maximum price allowed by law. Whether a hotel would risk the bad PR from doing this to customers who are stranded due to a natural disaster will hopefully help your friends, who are lucky to have a habitable room in a resort that apparently is able to continue offering food service, etc.

What to do IMO would depend on how comfortable or not they are currently (Does their hotel have hot water, AC, etc.? Are some of the resort facilities, such as pools, open and useable? Etc.) and how desperately they need to return home for work or family obligations. Of course the likely cost of alternatives plays a role too, as well as availability. For example, can they rent a car and drive to another airport? When is UA expected to be able to fly them home? What refund would they get from cancelling the remainder of their plane tickets rather than waiting for UA to resume service or be able to rebook them?
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 9:48 am
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If flights are cancelled going out, they're likely cancelled coming in. I doubt the hotel will have any arrivals, and they should be able to accommodate.

What did the front desk say?
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 9:55 am
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Originally Posted by channa
If flights are cancelled going out, they're likely cancelled coming in. I doubt the hotel will have any arrivals, and they should be able to accommodate.

What did the front desk say?
Yes, this is best dealt with at the hotel desk, and a call to UA to understand flight options. I would first talk to the hotel and make sure I have a room while figuring out my escape route with UA.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:03 am
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My friend is in a timeshare called Pueblo Bonito Sunset. She has electricity and she's using a fan in her room. Her bathroom ceiling fell in but luckily nobody was hurt and also luckily her villa has two bathrooms.

There ARE people from California who have shown up to occupy rooms. I think they are idiots and have added to the problem. The lobby is FULL of people who have been evacuated from other Pueblo Bonita properties. These people and the California Idiots, are sleeping on the floor or beach chairs.

My friend had 4 inches of water in her room but somebody finally showed up to vacuum it out.

She's on an all inclusive plan but the lines are so long in the restaurants they are paying for food at the on site deli. I'm sure they're just glad to have anything to eat. The date of, and up to dinner time the day after, the hurricane there was no food at all. She and her husband ate the M&Ms and cookies I sent down with them. They didn't take any other food because they'd signed up for the AI.

I just found out her flight was cancelled. I sent her an email and told her NOT to check out. I hope they heed my advice. To make things worse they are both in their 70s and speak only a few words in Spanish. They are my dear friends and traveling companions and I'm very, very worried. This was their 40th wedding anniversary extravaganza and then this happened.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:20 am
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UA has a travel waiver through Thursday and it appears they've taken flights off the schedule until Friday, when flights to IAH and SFO resume.

Good advice to not check out.

They need to call UA and confirm a rebook for Friday. AA appears to be selling flights to LAX still but they are currently cancelled. That might be worth keeping an eye on as they may restart sooner than UA.

Good luck to your friends.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:37 am
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According to United's 1K desk the airport will remain closed until Saturday. I booked them on a nonstop from SJD to EWR for that day. They were originally stopping over in IAH to visit with relatives but now that's out the window too.

I made a management decision without their input to put them on the Saturday flight. I just wanted to make sure they'll get home. If the hotel wants to charge them I told her not to worry, I'll pay the bill but she should STAY PUT! I'm afraid because of their age they might be bullied into vacating their suite. I wish I was with them to handle this for them.

I have been sending emails and no response today at all. Also her cell phone is dead. Now I've totally lost communication with them and that's scary. I just hope they're not mad that I booked them on a Saturday flight if there was a chance, as the previous poster said, that they could have flown into IAH on Friday
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:48 am
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There's slim chance of getting out if the airport is closed ... no?

Originally Posted by icydog
My friends are in Cabo and are slated to leave on Tuesday SJD TO IAH. Right now they have a hotel room but only till Tuesday morning.

Any suggestions on getting out of Cabo going to anywhere in the USA? Will she have to vacate her room if she can't get a flight out?

I'm sorry if I'm being redundant. If this has been discussed please point me to the thread
Huh? Why are they idiots?

There ARE people from California who have shown up to occupy rooms. I think they are idiots and have added to the problem. The lobby is FULL of people who have been evacuated from other Pueblo Bonita properties. These people and the California Idiots, are sleeping on the floor or beach chairs.

Last edited by malgudi; Sep 16, 2014 at 10:53 am
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:49 am
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Just to clarify, UA has flights scheduled for Friday. That doesn't mean they will actually fly. AA is still selling tickets for flights that are cancelled. I think things are changing by the minute as the airlines assess their operations.

With the travel waiver, you can likely make additional changes this week if conditions improve.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:52 am
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Originally Posted by JBord
Just to clarify, UA has flights scheduled for Friday. That doesn't mean they will actually fly. AA is still selling tickets for flights that are cancelled. I think things are changing by the minute as the airlines assess their operations.

With the travel waiver, you can likely make additional changes this week if conditions improve.

Thanks I guess that I'll keep current on the status of the airport and UA flights to either IAH or EWR. IF they're booked on UA how can they fly on AA? I guess a revenue ticket, huh? Right now they're flying on UA Award miles.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 11:07 am
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Quite honestly, I would have rebooked them for Sunday as there's a greater chance that airport operations will be more normal. It would be a mess for them to check out, go to the airport, and find that their flight has been cancelled.

Have you been able to verify whether UA has aircraft on the ground down there? If not, watching flight status for the flights down will give some sense of whether the flight they're now booked on is likely to operate and whether it will be roughly on time.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 11:09 am
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From Tripadvisor forum thread:

NBC News says the airport is tentatively closed until at least Oct. 10

Tough to find hard info.
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 11:12 am
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Quite honestly, I would have rebooked them for Sunday as there's a greater chance that airport operations will be more normal. It would be a mess for them to check out, go to the airport, and find that their flight has been cancelled.

Have you been able to verify whether UA has aircraft on the ground down there? If not, watching flight status for the flights down will give some sense of whether the flight they're now booked on is likely to operate and whether it will be roughly on time.
I know you're right. I wish they would contact me. It looks like communications are down. I'm really worried now.

That's a good suggestion about checking flights going into SJD. I never thought of that. I'll check every 12 hours or so. Thank you!
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Old Sep 16, 2014, 11:12 am
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Articles are showing terrible damage at hotels and the airport. I was wondering what I would do if in a similar situation. I'm asking not suggesting. Is it possible to rent a car and drive to Tijuana then cross the border to San Diego? Are there services popping up to do this? Perhaps a group of people? It's a 1000 mile drive so not a fun thought. I'd keep checking and see if airlines bring in evacuation flights.
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