FlyerTalker

You've been flying through the wrong airports. There are a number where I WANT to spend time and enjoy myself. Singapore. Hong Kong. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Virgin's Clubhouse at LHR. Doha. And others.

Do you really expect them to be fixed? It's your old friend supply and demand at work.

In addition, bag fees are not subject to Federal tax, so they go direct to the bottom line. If the bag costs are bundled into the fare, the boys in DC get a piece of that.

You have other options...just takes some work. Convert your 45Mb file (appx what you get from 16 megapixels) to a smaller file with any of a number of free file management programs. I recommend XNView, which is lightweight and easy to use. Now, you have much more manageable file size, and you still get a good image for Flickr.

That's one possibility. Another is that your seat request (which is all it is) got bounced for an actual ticketed passenger. An airline has incentive to cater to those who have put down cash for the tickets, as opposed to a "reservation".

From Business Travel News (edited for relevance): Turkish Airlines' content as of Sept. 1 is no longer available on Sabre-connected channels, after renewal negotiations came to a standstill last week between the carrier and the global distribution system provider. The break comes a month before Turkish Airlines launches its New Distribution Capability. That date also is when the carrier planned to begin charging a distribution fee for bookings made via global distribution systems. The carrier has not unveiled what that surcharge would be. -=-=-=- As reference, Sabre is the largest of the three major GDS providers, so this will show up in many channels. Posted this as a number of folks enjoy flying Turkish and may wonder why they aren't seeing flights through IST.

Elliott's playbook: Let's find a company that has a unique position in a market that many see as commoditized. Rather than build on those market differentials, let's destroy years of product identification and make it an operational clone of its competitors. Tell Wall Street that it will take a while for the changes to bear financial fruit, so as to hold off the wolves for a bit. Watch how past loyal customers see that there's nothing special about Southwest anymore. Liquidate your holdings, so that others are left holding the bag as WN can't compete with DL and UA. Herb is rolling over in his grave right now.

So THAT'S why we have issues with the air conditioning.

Just because something CAN be done doesn't mean that it SHOULD be done.

As the classic line goes: "At my age, I don't buy green bananas anymore"

Cathay Pacific (CX) will sometimes run some excellent pricing out of YVR. Not the non-stop from SIN that you have, but a sweet ride in any case. Plus, many CX fares allow for a no-cost stopover in HKG, so you can add in another great city to your trip.

Or the number of seats under the contract were already gone. Remember, there are likely capacity controls on how many seats the cruiseline can access at the contract price. So anything beyond that is at a higher price.

Ding Ding Ding. Absolutely correct, and spot on with the recognition of the contracts. Cruiseline promo air is ALWAYS a function of them getting a contracted rate from the airline. And those contracts include routings, dates, flights and most importantly, capacity. The airline doesn't get an unlimited number of seats on all flights. And they are always working with a subset of the overall availability to the general public. For the poster who wanted that one flight from Detroit. Yes, when you add in fees, plus the fare differential (due to being out of contract), it's more expensive than buying it on your own. Had it been in contract, you likely would not have a fare differential, so it would just be the fees. And guess what -- you can't find this out without getting into the process first. So there is a definite risk factor at play. Simple thing to remember is TANSTAAFL. Viking uses "free air" as a way to discount the overall price of the cruise - to stimulate business on cruises that aren't selling. They make the choice not to discount the cruise price, so as to maintain price integrity on their product. The only other way to "discount" is to give out benefits -- free or discounted air, drink packages, gratuities and the like. Decide what is important to you. Then you are better positioned to make an informed decision.

Plus any difference in the fare, especially if the desired flights are not part of their contracted rates. And even if in the contract, the actual price to the customer may vary. So it's not just the "fee".

Well, it's been a while -- guess the OP (vhs) didn't want to add anything. I was curious to find out what her definition of "last minute" was. Especially because changes happen in TWO separate categories. There are operational cancellations which generally happen the day of flight, or perhaps the day before. This is when your flight doesn't operate because of any of three things: mechanical issues, staffing issues, and weather issues. These are proximate to your flight. The other time your flight changes is if the airline does a schedule change. Unless they are dropping the route entirely, they are not "cancelling" your flight, but rather adjusting flight times, equipment and frequencies. This is a regular part of airline operations - fine tuning what were long-range assumptions into short range operational plans. If you want to know more, here's a CC post that I made with a link to an AA YouTube video. As I wrote: Here's a very illuminating interview with Brian Znotins, the VP of Network Planning for American Airlines. It's part of AA's internal communications effort, but available to everyone through YouTube. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2878237-placeholder-scheduling-at-aa-and-others-youtube-video/#comment-63879985 What does this all mean? So, you first need to differentiate the two separate cases. There isn't much you can do about the former - the airline doesn't want to disrupt their daily schedule, so please don't assign nefarious motives - such as "not enough seats sold on the flight", which is a huge urban legend with no basis in fact. For the latter, know that this is a fact of life. Schedules won't be adjusted near your flight, so within 1-2 months of flight, you are pretty well set. For more questions, try the Cruise Air forum here at CC, where a bunch of very knowledgeable folks hang out.

The muster locations are due to the vastly different placement of the lifeboats between the two ships. Serenity has them "tucked away" on deck 6, which Symphony has them on exterior mounts outside rooms on deck 8. So the muster stations on Symphony is the promenade deck (7) near each lifeboat, while Serenity has you mustering in interior rooms to then be led out to the boats. So, since you don't mention which ship you will be on, know that you can request a spot to sit for Symphony. Just talk with the staff.

I will also recommend a company for a motorcycle food tour in Saigon. Back of the Bike Tours. https://backofthebiketours.com/ Great tour with your own individual escort/driver. About as personal as it gets. And if you don't want to ride on the bike, they offer cars so you can get from location to location without the motorcycle experience (and the food is still worth the tour).

More specifically, you will find both Type B (North American) and Type C/F (European) sockets. I do not believe you will find any Type G (UK) sockets, though I might be in error. Best to have adapters for your UK plugs.

Only you will know how comfortable you are in traffic. And you will have traffic. Hoi An is a compact old town, with lots of pedestrian traffic along with the usual motorcycles you will find throughout Vietnam. As noted, there are no "bike lanes" and streets are narrow and two-lane. And if you have these concerns, are you really more than just an "open road, dedicated lanes" rider? Do you do any urban riding now, and how do you feel? Personally, I just enjoy walking through the streets of Hoi An, ducking into shops and cafes. And a nice restaurant with superb food is Mango Mango on the island at Old Town.

If you have the evening free on either Wednesday or Saturday night before you board the ship, I highly recommend this show at the Harpa concert hall: https://www.harpa.is/en/how-to-become-icelandic-in-60-minutes A fun look at Iceland culture and Icelanders. Also recommend the Cir­culeight exhibit at the Harpa, or one of their guided tours of the building. Or just to visit and enjoy the design. Have a delightful time.

I think you folks are all missing a VERY big consideration. It's 150 miles from Vancouver to Seattle. You can take the train, the Quick Shuttle, or even rent a car. From Seattle, there are many flights to SFO. 11 daily just on Alaska, plus Delta, United and Southwest (into OAK). If I was "stuck" in Vancouver, I'd just make my way down to SEA and take any of the many flights from there. Easy peasy, since you have two days to make the journey. (Heck, you could even rent a car and drive the whole way in that time)

I'm a believer in this old Holiday Inn slogan.

Just to be clear....I have no argument with anyone who likes cruiseline air, and who has had no issues in the past. My desire is for folks to be informed consumers - to know what they are buying and what are the pluses and minuses for their choices.

Irregular operations. Meaning when the flight doesn't go as scheduled, be it for weather, mechanical or labor reasons.