Last Saturday, my wife and I left Memphis for cruise 13, a 7-night tour of the Southern Caribbean leaving out of San Juan. The first mistake we made was traveling that far on the day of the cruise, but with an early morning flight, a short layover in Atlanta, and an 8:30 p.m ship departure time, we had a 6-hour window. We have always flown in the day before our cruise, but not today. Not this time.:(
Thunderstorms in Atlanta resulted in a ground stoppage there, delaying our departure from Memphis by more than an hour - which is exactly how long our Atlanta layover was. When we landed in Atlanta, I checked the Delta app on my phone to see that our connection flight status was "Awaiting Takeoff". Not good. Went into the airport where the agent sent us to the gate where a later flight to San Juan would still get us to the ship on time. Unfortunately, there were 45 people on standby when we got to that gate, and they were taking no additional names. The next flight to San Juan was later that evening, but would have arrived after the ship. When we called Delta, they told us they had booked us on a new flight to San Juan - for the next day. Not good! :eek:
At this point, I pulled the Travel Guard policy summary page out of the cruise booklet - which my travel agent provided. I'm glad she put that there, because I had left the actually policy at home in the safe. I was supposed to bring that with me. But no matter, I explained to the Travel Guard rep what had happened and she told me that cancellation or delay due to inclement weather was covered. At least I was secure in that knowledge. She then connected me to another agent who would try to get us a later flight. No luck to San Juan for that afternoon. Our first port of call was Barbados on Monday morning. Unfortunately, Delta does not fly to Barbados, but he could get us to Barbados through Miami to arrive in Barbados on Sunday night so that we could meet the ship the next morning. I told him I'd get back to him.
While I was on the phone with Travel Guard, my wife was on the phone with Choice Air. They told her the same with regards to San Juan - no chance! But they could get us to Barbados that night (as opposed to Travel Guard getting us there the next night). Choice Air booked us on an American flight leaving in about two hours. They told us we just needed to let Delta know we would not be taking the San Juan leg of the flight but that we WOULD be taking the return flight home at the end of the trip (so they would not cancel that). They told us to have Delta arrange for the transfer of our bags to American. That sounded easy! :rolleyes:
After waiting 30-minutes to speak with a Delta desk agent, we learned our bags were on the flight to San Juan - the flight with 45 people on standby. The plane was already supposed to have departed - but it was delayed - and we could see it out the window. The agent tried to get the bags from the plane but FAA has this rule that once the plane is sealed and ready for take-off, none of the doors can be re-opened. So our luggage was going to San Juan without us. :eek:
Fortunately, a supervisor was able to help us with this situation. He "put a note on the electronic record" for Delta to transfer our bags to American in San Juan - where they would be loaded on an American flight to the Dominican Republic, and then on another airline's flight to Barbados where, hopefully, we could retrieve them on Monday - the day the ship arrived in Barbados. When I asked him how confident he was that we could get our bags by Monday, his response was "I don't know. That's on American. You'll have to ask them." Images started playing in my head of my wife and me boarding our ship in Barbados - with no bags - hoping they would catch up to us the next day at the next port. At that point, my wife was done, secure in the knowledge that we had purchased Travel Guard. I was not quite done yet - I wanted to go just a few more feet down this rabbit hole.
We went over to the American Airlines gate. Yes, we were scheduled to be on the flight which was departing in 40 minutes, but there was a problem (surprise, surprise). Delta had not yet released the tickets to American - which meant that the money had not been released to American - so there was no way we could board the plane. We'd have to check back with Delta.
Keep in mind - we're in the Atlanta airport. To get from one gate to another - with different airlines - requires a trip on their underground train. By now, we have been on that train from one end of the airport to the other - twice! We headed back to the Delta gate - when it occurred to me that the gate agent we spoke with there was probably gone. So we weren't sure what to do. My wife was sharing our tale with a stranger on the train, and she invited us to join her and her mother in the Delta SkyClub lounge. That was the best thing to happen to us all day and, as it turns out, the beginning of our way out of this mess.
In the lounge, they have free snacks and drinks - nice because we had not eaten a thing. They also have two or three Delta agents - who are there exclusively for lounge members. This stranger introduced us as her guests, and the agents treated us with kid gloves. They heard our tale of woe, and two of them looked in the system to explore any possibilities. San Juan - no chance. Barbados - they don't go there. I made one more call to Travel Guard to tell them of our attempts. They re-assured me we would be covered. Feeling good about that, I asked the question I had been trying to avoid all day . . . "Would you be able to get us back home to Memphis this evening?" Yes, they could - on a flight in four hours. But we were welcomed to stay in the lounge as long as we wanted until boarding time. As she handed us each our boarding passes, my wife started to cry. We had lost the cruise and our ship was sailing without us.
When we landed in Memphis, we checked with the baggage claim office where they confirmed that our bags indeed were in San Juan at that very moment - awaiting to be placed back on a flight to Memphis through Atlanta the next day. He called us the next day and we picked up our tanned and well-rested suitcases.
What made this experience even more frustrating was the fact that - at each and every decision point, my wife and I had little time to discuss and weigh the pros and cons. It also did not help that the Delta agents (not the ones in the SkyClub lounge) were frazzled as they dealt with other angry customers. See, we were not the only ones to miss the flight - and the ship. There were several others. Another couple heard us talking with the agent, and they told my wife they were on the same cruise. My wife asked them if they had purchased any insurance. They told her they never do - that it seems like an unnecessary expense. There but for the grace of God went us.
Until two years ago, we were like most others. We either booked our cruise online or aboard ship in the future cruises office. We accepted the cruise line insurance. Had we been there this time, we would have received a credit for a future cruise - and a refund for the unused portion of our flights - which meant we still would have had to pay for our Memphis - Atlanta round trip flight, even though we never reached our final destination.
Two years ago, we started working with a travel agent. She immediately saved us on flights to one of our ports by combining our NorthWest Airlines and Delta frequent flier mile accounts. She also introduced us to Travel Guard insurance and explained the differences between what it offers and what we get through the cruise line insurance. With Travel Guard, we get a refund of our money for the cruise (not just a cruise credit), and we get refunded the full flight fare - even the portion of the flight we used. And here's the important part - she's a travel agent! This is her profession. So it took her just a few minutes to gather the supporting documentation it would have taken us a while to get - documentation needed to attach to our claim. We met with her yesterday, she went over the forms with us - had us sign them, and showed us the supporting documents - including the flight history showing how our other flight left as we were landing. It will take us 30 days or so to begin to see refunds to our credit card statements, but she did a great job in gathering everything and submitting it all for us.
We hope our tale encourages you to:
Never fly the same day you cruise.
Use a travel agent. Travel is their job!
Purchase insurance through an outside organization, not the cruise line.
Purchase your air through ChoiceAir (offered through the cruise line). They assure you they will get you to your destination on time or to your first port of call.
Stay calm when dealing with the airline agents, secure in the knowledge that if you have to cancel the trip, you are covered.
Travel Day from Hell: Lessons Learned
in Cruise/Travel Insurance
Posted
Last Saturday, my wife and I left Memphis for cruise 13, a 7-night tour of the Southern Caribbean leaving out of San Juan. The first mistake we made was traveling that far on the day of the cruise, but with an early morning flight, a short layover in Atlanta, and an 8:30 p.m ship departure time, we had a 6-hour window. We have always flown in the day before our cruise, but not today. Not this time.:(
Thunderstorms in Atlanta resulted in a ground stoppage there, delaying our departure from Memphis by more than an hour - which is exactly how long our Atlanta layover was. When we landed in Atlanta, I checked the Delta app on my phone to see that our connection flight status was "Awaiting Takeoff". Not good. Went into the airport where the agent sent us to the gate where a later flight to San Juan would still get us to the ship on time. Unfortunately, there were 45 people on standby when we got to that gate, and they were taking no additional names. The next flight to San Juan was later that evening, but would have arrived after the ship. When we called Delta, they told us they had booked us on a new flight to San Juan - for the next day. Not good! :eek:
At this point, I pulled the Travel Guard policy summary page out of the cruise booklet - which my travel agent provided. I'm glad she put that there, because I had left the actually policy at home in the safe. I was supposed to bring that with me. But no matter, I explained to the Travel Guard rep what had happened and she told me that cancellation or delay due to inclement weather was covered. At least I was secure in that knowledge. She then connected me to another agent who would try to get us a later flight. No luck to San Juan for that afternoon. Our first port of call was Barbados on Monday morning. Unfortunately, Delta does not fly to Barbados, but he could get us to Barbados through Miami to arrive in Barbados on Sunday night so that we could meet the ship the next morning. I told him I'd get back to him.
While I was on the phone with Travel Guard, my wife was on the phone with Choice Air. They told her the same with regards to San Juan - no chance! But they could get us to Barbados that night (as opposed to Travel Guard getting us there the next night). Choice Air booked us on an American flight leaving in about two hours. They told us we just needed to let Delta know we would not be taking the San Juan leg of the flight but that we WOULD be taking the return flight home at the end of the trip (so they would not cancel that). They told us to have Delta arrange for the transfer of our bags to American. That sounded easy! :rolleyes:
After waiting 30-minutes to speak with a Delta desk agent, we learned our bags were on the flight to San Juan - the flight with 45 people on standby. The plane was already supposed to have departed - but it was delayed - and we could see it out the window. The agent tried to get the bags from the plane but FAA has this rule that once the plane is sealed and ready for take-off, none of the doors can be re-opened. So our luggage was going to San Juan without us. :eek:
Fortunately, a supervisor was able to help us with this situation. He "put a note on the electronic record" for Delta to transfer our bags to American in San Juan - where they would be loaded on an American flight to the Dominican Republic, and then on another airline's flight to Barbados where, hopefully, we could retrieve them on Monday - the day the ship arrived in Barbados. When I asked him how confident he was that we could get our bags by Monday, his response was "I don't know. That's on American. You'll have to ask them." Images started playing in my head of my wife and me boarding our ship in Barbados - with no bags - hoping they would catch up to us the next day at the next port. At that point, my wife was done, secure in the knowledge that we had purchased Travel Guard. I was not quite done yet - I wanted to go just a few more feet down this rabbit hole.
We went over to the American Airlines gate. Yes, we were scheduled to be on the flight which was departing in 40 minutes, but there was a problem (surprise, surprise). Delta had not yet released the tickets to American - which meant that the money had not been released to American - so there was no way we could board the plane. We'd have to check back with Delta.
Keep in mind - we're in the Atlanta airport. To get from one gate to another - with different airlines - requires a trip on their underground train. By now, we have been on that train from one end of the airport to the other - twice! We headed back to the Delta gate - when it occurred to me that the gate agent we spoke with there was probably gone. So we weren't sure what to do. My wife was sharing our tale with a stranger on the train, and she invited us to join her and her mother in the Delta SkyClub lounge. That was the best thing to happen to us all day and, as it turns out, the beginning of our way out of this mess.
In the lounge, they have free snacks and drinks - nice because we had not eaten a thing. They also have two or three Delta agents - who are there exclusively for lounge members. This stranger introduced us as her guests, and the agents treated us with kid gloves. They heard our tale of woe, and two of them looked in the system to explore any possibilities. San Juan - no chance. Barbados - they don't go there. I made one more call to Travel Guard to tell them of our attempts. They re-assured me we would be covered. Feeling good about that, I asked the question I had been trying to avoid all day . . . "Would you be able to get us back home to Memphis this evening?" Yes, they could - on a flight in four hours. But we were welcomed to stay in the lounge as long as we wanted until boarding time. As she handed us each our boarding passes, my wife started to cry. We had lost the cruise and our ship was sailing without us.
When we landed in Memphis, we checked with the baggage claim office where they confirmed that our bags indeed were in San Juan at that very moment - awaiting to be placed back on a flight to Memphis through Atlanta the next day. He called us the next day and we picked up our tanned and well-rested suitcases.
What made this experience even more frustrating was the fact that - at each and every decision point, my wife and I had little time to discuss and weigh the pros and cons. It also did not help that the Delta agents (not the ones in the SkyClub lounge) were frazzled as they dealt with other angry customers. See, we were not the only ones to miss the flight - and the ship. There were several others. Another couple heard us talking with the agent, and they told my wife they were on the same cruise. My wife asked them if they had purchased any insurance. They told her they never do - that it seems like an unnecessary expense. There but for the grace of God went us.
Until two years ago, we were like most others. We either booked our cruise online or aboard ship in the future cruises office. We accepted the cruise line insurance. Had we been there this time, we would have received a credit for a future cruise - and a refund for the unused portion of our flights - which meant we still would have had to pay for our Memphis - Atlanta round trip flight, even though we never reached our final destination.
Two years ago, we started working with a travel agent. She immediately saved us on flights to one of our ports by combining our NorthWest Airlines and Delta frequent flier mile accounts. She also introduced us to Travel Guard insurance and explained the differences between what it offers and what we get through the cruise line insurance. With Travel Guard, we get a refund of our money for the cruise (not just a cruise credit), and we get refunded the full flight fare - even the portion of the flight we used. And here's the important part - she's a travel agent! This is her profession. So it took her just a few minutes to gather the supporting documentation it would have taken us a while to get - documentation needed to attach to our claim. We met with her yesterday, she went over the forms with us - had us sign them, and showed us the supporting documents - including the flight history showing how our other flight left as we were landing. It will take us 30 days or so to begin to see refunds to our credit card statements, but she did a great job in gathering everything and submitting it all for us.
We hope our tale encourages you to: