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Space A Flight to Cruise


Sitterfamily
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Hey all! Just a TIA!!!

 

Husband is retiring after 24 years and we're looking to do a European cruise (us and our 2 kids, 8 & 5). Of course flying commerical would be about $5,000 but we thought about flying Space A. I know with him being retired, he would be a cat 6 and getting bumped likely so very risky but if we gave ourselves a week to get there...is it an ok plan? We're price checking now so unsure where we'd leave from but found one out of Barcelona on the Carnival Vista that seems to be our price (850/pp).

 

So...has anybody used Space A to get to a cruise?

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We have not used Space A for cruising at this point. I have been doing some research on Space A because we do plan on doing some in the coming year or two. The biggest part of traveling Space A is being flexible. Traveling with school age children if going to be tough. Unless you take the kids out of school you will be traveling with the rest of the families with school age children. In other words, Families on summer vacation, spring break, moving back and forth for college breaks. All of these people are going to have higher priority than you being Cat 6.

 

For the wife and I, we plan on traveling during the school year with a very loose agenda.

 

There are some good sites that deal in Space A travel information. Suggest you google it. Good luck.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I would not recommend it unless you are trying to go while school is in session in most places. Google the DoDEA school calendars to see when school is out for American military in Europe...during those times, it will be difficult moving in both directions. However, if your schools get out for summer break earlier (say, sometime in May) you may be able to get to Europe. Then you have to consider how to get from wherever (most likely Ramstein) to Barcelona. Find the facebook pages of the passenger terminals you might be traveling to or from, and start watching their schedules (published 72 hours in advance) and flight history (to see how many passengers competed, how many seats were used, lowest category and signup date taken). It's doable, but definitely not during the summer! Good luck! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have not flown Space A in many years, but it can be a real hassle. I would never risk it flying with a family of four from the US to Europe trying to make a cruise. You might end up having to buy last minute plane tickets at a far higher cost (and risk of even finding availability), and incurring additional costs, such as hotels if you have to wait days for a flight, transportation from where ever you end in in Europe to the port, etc., than just buying regular commercial tickets now.

Edited by grandma*knows*best
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  • 2 weeks later...

We have done 5 space a trips (17 flights total) in the 18 months we have been overseas and NO WAY to space a'ing to get a cruise. Stuff just happens and you need 4 seats at the very bottom of the categories.

 

Our recent flight to Hawaii an active duty family of 5 were going to Japan. They made it 7 days after they left their home: drove to travis & missed the flight they wanted, flew to hawaii-2 nights there as the c5 was broken (always) okinawa-2 nights same, korea overnight then finally Japan. Their reservation at new sanno was finished by then. They were cat 3!

 

On our way back we flew to guam to take 2 flights that were coming to korea. Both disappeared by the time we landed and we had to wait a week until we could even get to Japan. Changed hotels 3x, rental car- doubled the cost of my trip. It was still beautiful but NO WAY would I chance it knowing we have a cruise booked. I have met more retires stuck in space a but they have all the time in the world.

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