Silver Airways
On our Disney trip back in March, we tried Silver Airways for the first time. They recently started having direct daily flights from Huntsville to Orlando. The prices are not always cheaper than Delta (especially since my mom gets free bags on Delta), and it is not cheaper than Southwest, but the direct flight with little travel time to our local airport is hard to beat. We also have a cheaper airline, Frontier, but you have to be willing to fly on their specific days. That didn’t work with our trip, the Delta times didn’t make sense, and the drive to Birmingham to take Southwest wasn’t ideal. So we decided to give Silver a try.
We booked using United for a few reasons. One, I felt like if we had a cancellation or major delay, it would be possible to transfer to another United flight since it was already booked through United. Two, I was hoping we would be able to do baggage check at our hotel. However, looking back, that was a mistake. I highly recommend always booking through Silver!
First off, we were never given options to pick/pay for our seats using United. On the United website it implied it was like Southwest; you pick your seats upon arrival. Well as I investigated and talked to others, I realized that if you booked through Silver, you did have the option to pay for your specific seats. I really had a fear Melody and I would be split up if we didn’t pick our seats ahead of time. Everything I read online said that if you didn’t pick your seats during purchasing, you could not pick them later. They would be assigned at check in. Well mom was able to call Silver and explain our situation. They let her pay an additional $8 (I think) per seat to guarantee us all together. That was great for our first flight because it was full. Our second flight was not, but it wasn’t worth the risk.
We also had issues checking in. The only thing I can figure is that it was because we booked through United. I have not heard of this being a common problem. What had me most nervous is I read reports of people being bumped from the flight for not checking in early enough and weight being an issue. So many horror stories, and we were nervous. So we just arrived 2 hours before our flight to make sure we were the first ones there and hoped it didn’t create an issue (it didn’t thankfully).
As I said above, we decided to get to the airport about 2 hours before our scheduled flight time, so around 7:30 am. We were about 5th in line, and we waited probably 45 minutes. Their computers were down, and it took forever for them to fix them. Then it took about 5 minutes a passenger depending on what they were doing. We finally made it through though, and we had no issues.
Since we were so early, we went through security and had breakfast. Then we just sat at our gate and waited. Melody played on her phone and we just hung out. Since it is a prop plane, we were on the ground level gate which was new for us. As we were waiting, one of the attendants came around and put tags on any of our carry ons that would not fit under the seat in front of us. For us that was just Melody’s stroller. The stroller was free to carry on although we did have some friends that ran into an issue with their carry-ons and stroller. But we had no problems.
We started to board around 9:20. They scanned your ticket and out the door you went. This was a really new experience since you walked right onto the plane without a jetway. They had a cart to the right of the plane’s entrance (you can vaguely see it below) that you put your tagged carry-ons on. It was really simple. Then up the stairs you went!
The plane is VERY small, and for our flight to Orlando, it was completely full. Mom and I sat across from each other, and Melody opted to sit with my mom. So I had one seat all to myself. We took off around 10 am, which was only around 20 minutes behind schedule. This was good considering some of the horror stories I had heard.
I was unsure of how snacks and such would work, but they did give us a room temperature small bottle of water and a large bag of cheez-its. It was way more than I expected to be honest.
Melody had lots of fun and was kept entertained with her phone and a few toys.
The flight to Orlando was ROUGH. I honestly thought I was going to get sick, but luckily I did not. I did look back and wish I had brought a coke to help with the nauseousness. That free water was no help when it came to that, ha! We made it around 12:15 central time, and we did have to walk to a jetway to get inside of the airport.
For our flight home, we made it to the airport super early but that was due to Magical Express. Luckily the Silver Airways counter was already open, and we walked right up and checked in. [We had the same issues with checking in for this flight was we did for our Orlando flight.]
We sat outside of security for a while and let Melody sleep since we were so early. The terminal where Silver is located is kind of run down and doesn’t have much for entertainment. But after an hour or so, we finally did head back through security and decided to get some ice cream to kill time. It was too early for dinner for us, so the ice cream would be a good snack.
I was sure to buy a Dr. Pepper and a snack just in case they didn’t provide one to help with any airsickness.
The process was the same as it was while in Huntsville. They gave us a tag for the stroller as we boarded, and we placed the tagged item on the cart before getting on the plane. The only main difference was we had to show our boarding pass again after exiting the jetway which I wasn’t prepared for, ha! But we were all boarded and seated around 5 pm central time, and we were airborne less than 20 minutes later. This flight wasn’t full at all, and it was really a nice flight. Melody did get really bored on the flight a lot. She literally pulled out every toy and activity I brought for her. The flight home was nearly 3 hours long. So that made total sense. I mean I was bored too, ha! They did provide water (and gave us the option of ice) and cheez-its again which was nice. And this flight wasn’t bumpy at all.
I was able to snap a few decent pictures out of my window during sunset too. It was dark when we got home at 8 pm.
And Melody was SO excited to see Brad, ha!
So now after flying Silver, I would be better prepared for all the issues if I ever fly them again. However, I will try and fly Frontier whenever possible. I do like this option over flying Delta out of Huntsville only because it is direct and sometimes cheaper. But Frontier is even cheaper and is a jet vs prop plane. However Frontier only flies certain days where Silver flies once a day every day. If you fly them, be prepared for a few delays and some changes. And possibly even some issues when it comes to checking in and luggage. But aside from the few issues and the bumpy flight, it was a good experience.
