SUCCESS!!!  Talk about a nail biting finish.  Flying out to Puerto Rico for a week's vacation on Sat. and like everyone else, I'm waiting on my Oct. 3 combo package.  I've missed 2 camping trips and was afraid of missing this one.  Was seeing everyone's success at apple stores today and I just started looking across the country at apple store availability.  I found one in Las Vegas at the Forum Shops @ Ceasars.  Purchased it and now had to figure out how to pick it up at the store. I called the manager and was hoping that it would be ok if I could schedule a UPS or Fed Ex pickup.  I couldn't.   I looked at airlines that I have points on to see if I could round trip it for free tomorrow and no luck.  I found a Courier service and called Apple customer service and added the courier's name to the pick up contacts.  They sent a driver to pick it up with my receipt.  I opened a UPS account and prepaid for overnight delivery and emailed the service the label.  Found a UPS store that was open until 6.  They pick it up and get it to the UPS store with 10 min. to spare before close.  I was texting with them the whole time.  WOW!  So now to nervously track it to make sure it gets here tomorrow.  

Moral of the story?  Where there's a will there's a way.  If you find one for in store pickup at Apple beyond your ability to get there, purchase it and start looking for courier services.  Worst case is you can't find one and you cancel the order and get a refund.

I know a lot of people are buying extras and turning them over for a profit...and there's nothing wrong with that.  

When I get my combo pack, I will gladly sell the unopened mavic from it and keep this one I've got.  All I ask is that I can make the difference back on the courier service and overnight shipping which is a little over $200.  Will have receipts and everything.  Depending on how things are tracking on the shipping dept. I might even part with this one sooner and just wait for the new one but this one will have a few flights on it i hope.

So that's my adventure today.  All of this happened starting 3:00 or so.  Thanks for the heads up on the Apple Store sitch.  Should make for a better vacation with a drone to annoy my wife with!

That was a smart move! I was also looking at stores in my home state (where most of my family still is)  and in states where I know people just in case. But I was lucky to find one in my state.

MsSea Posted at 2016-11-17 20:22
That was a smart move! I was also looking at stores in my home state (where most of my family still  ...

I was doing the same but no luck.  The most nervous part was giving my receipt to a stranger for a 1K drone that they could walk away with and never see it again.  Positive Yelp reviews and talked to them in person.  Documented everything in case I needed to turn it in on insurance.