Heading Down to Clemson for the Game... little help here?

[javadoc]

I was about to say the same thing that Javadoc just did. If you're not on that flight from Savannah you will likely not have a seat on the flight from Atlanta. You could call the day of with some sob story about how you ended up being closer to Atlanta than Savannah, but you may be SOL.

Some recent evidence. I thought you could skip the 2nd leg of the outbound travel and it wouldn't affect the return trips, but it looks like missing any leg puts all subsequent legs in danger, if they were booked on the same reservation.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-a...rger/1359907-can-i-skip-first-leg-flight.html

 

[sutomcat]

I was about to say the same thing that Javadoc just did. If you're not on that flight from Savannah you will likely not have a seat on the flight from Atlanta. You could call the day of with some sob story about how you ended up being closer to Atlanta than Savannah, but you may be SOL.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Definitely not going to Savannah on the way there. Looks like that should be fine no matter what.

The plan is to try and check in electronically for the return flight from Atlanta to Syracuse (and not check in for the flight from Savannah to Atlanta). If that works, we are going to try and fly from Atlanta to Syracuse. If it doesn't, we will call Delta, explain the situation and see if we can find someone who will have mercy on us and cancel the tickets from Savannah to Atlanta for no cost. Otherwise, it looks like we will drive from Clemson (really Greenville) to Savannah (a couple of extra hours) and fly from there.

 

[javadoc]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Definitely not going to Savannah on the way there. Looks like that should be fine no matter what.

The plan is to try and check in electronically for the return flight from Atlanta to Syracuse (and not check in for the flight from Savannah to Atlanta). If that works, we are going to try and fly from Atlanta to Syracuse. If it doesn't, we will call Delta, explain the situation and see if we can find someone who will have mercy on us and cancel the tickets from Savannah to Atlanta for no cost. Otherwise, it looks like we will drive from Clemson (really Greenville) to Savannah (a couple of extra hours) and fly from there.

Does your rental contract have you dropping off in Atlanta? If so, and you have to change it to Savannah, there is often a $100+ fee for using a different location. Check on that too.

 

[sutomcat]

Does your rental contract have you dropping off in Atlanta? If so, and you have to change it to Savannah, there is often a $100+ fee for using a different location. Check on that too.

Haven't rented a car yet but will check on that...

Thanks.

 

[NashvilleOrange]

You could also take Amtrak from either Charlotte or Atlanta. This map was posted on Reddit by a Clemson fan and is quite cool; it shows all college stadiums that can be easily accessed using Amtrak.

 

[Lou_C]

Greenville has a good amount of destinations. Closest for you guys will be Newark and Laguardia. Also don't fly to Atlanta as the airport is on the south side of the city and you will be in Atlanta traffic for hours if you're flying down on Friday. Charlotte is about the same distance and you won't have to fight near as much traffic. Charlotte also has flights to Syracuse. HTH

Unless you're coming in Friday evening and want to spend the evening in Atlanta, or even just get dinner. Then it's an easy short drive Friday night or Saturday morning, no traffic. I get the idea of being stuck in traffic, but I can't imagine changing planes in Atlanta to end up in Greenville unless you had no other choice than to travel between 3-7 on Friday. Any other time, you'll be there faster than if you connected to Greenville.

And Clemson fans are great.

 

[Lou_C]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Definitely not going to Savannah on the way there. Looks like that should be fine no matter what.

The plan is to try and check in electronically for the return flight from Atlanta to Syracuse (and not check in for the flight from Savannah to Atlanta). If that works, we are going to try and fly from Atlanta to Syracuse. If it doesn't, we will call Delta, explain the situation and see if we can find someone who will have mercy on us and cancel the tickets from Savannah to Atlanta for no cost. Otherwise, it looks like we will drive from Clemson (really Greenville) to Savannah (a couple of extra hours) and fly from there.

If you want to skip the second half of the flight down, I would advise waiting until the flight to Savannah leaves, and then going to the desk and telling them you missed the flight. Tell them you got sick in the bathroom or had a family emergency or something. Tell them you're going to rent a car, but don't cancel the rest of your reservation back. If you don't do that, you won't have a flight waiting for you to go home. I just went through this going back to Buffalo last year. I was supposed to change over in Philadelphia and the plane was late and I missed the connection. I decided to just rent a car and drive to Buffalo rather than wait all day for the next flight, but it took a CONSIDERABLE amount of time to convince the agent to not cancel my flight back home. And that was with my flight clearly too late to connect...I don't know if it would have been tougher if I had just "missed it".

Just don't walk out in Atlanta and expect your reservation to still be there coming home...it will almost certainly be cancelled when you don't get on the flight to Savannah.

On the way home? I don't see any way they let you on in Atlanta without being on the plane from Savannah. You can try to call in with a sob story, but they'll see you skipped the ATL-Savannah flight on the way down, and it will be pretty obvious what's going on.

How much more would it be to just fly into Atlanta or Charlotte?