hobbsie65

I have my main tickets booked for my upcoming cruise, but I will need a one-way ticket for an internal European flight.

 

The price for a one way ticket is 20% more than the price for a return trip ticket for this intra-European flight.

 

Does anyone have any experience with booking a return ticket, and then not showing up for the return portion of the flight? Will there be any problems if I phone and cancel the return portion of the ticket after I have completed the outbound leg of the trip? Will the airline try to charge me for the difference in price, i.e. charge me for the extra 20% the one way flight would have cost.

 

Does Choice Air ever sell tickets for an intra-European flight?

 

I appreciate any help or suggestions you might be able to provide.

 

Thanks!!

There are many European airlines who offer one way fares especially the low cost ones - where are you flying between?

:D

 

I've been lucky. Average of the last say half dozen times I've used Fast Track has been no more than a couple of minutes per time I'd say.

Totally agree - I use Heathrow at least once a month & Gatwick more frequently & I can not remember it taking more than a few minutes in Fast Track.

I just booked this hotel through Hotwire for 3 nights in November for just £300 ($445) including all taxes so very pleased. It is the 5* hotel in the CBD area with a tripadvisor rating of 4 with over 1,000 reviews.

We will be staying in a hotel near Leicester Square in London, and need to catch a 10:10 a.m. Delta flight to DTW on a Saturday morning. the Delta site does not have a specific time to be at Heathrow, but they suggest 3 hours for all foreign flights except for a few airports.

3 hours? seems like a long time. Ad 30 minutes for a cab and we will need to leave at 6:40.

I prefer that flight over the 12:50 since that one goes through Atlanta and is over 9 hours long.

 

Any comments? Typical time to get to the gate on a Saturday morning? 30 minutes for a cab from west End to Heathrow reasonable?

I would allow an hour to be on the safe side - leave about 7am & you will be at the airport terminal 3 by 8am. I always get at the airport for 2 hours before an international flight.

I like the two tier pricing which was offered when we booked our next cruise - without the drinks package the cruise was about $1,000 cheaper for both of us & on a port heavy cruise to Australia & NZ it was a no-brainer. I like a drink but not $1,000 bucks worth in a 12 day cruise :)

Get a port cabin as land will be on your left as you cruise up to Auckland & the opera house should be on your left when you are docked in Sydney as the ship is normally bow facing. We are doing this cruise in November & have a portside cabin.

Did you have to pay extra for those extra legroom seats?

 

Well, Economy class in SIA is pretty decent, for economy that is.

 

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It was $400 for exit seats for both of us on all the flights - going from London to Sydney & returning from Auckland. I got a good deal on the flights & always factor in this extra charge on long haul flights in the final price. I have a SA gold card so we can use all the lounges as well so Singapore Airlines always works for us.

I booked with them & the site seemed OK - I wanted the extra legroom seats upstairs so booked direct to make sure I bagged them which makes flying all that way in economy slightly more bearable :)

That's really unfortunate about your luggage. But the rest is really user-error or TA or Mother Nature at work. Not even Celebrity controls the weather.

 

We had the cabin directly above the smoking area. We knew about it through CC but we were lucky and it was never an issue.

 

This would be that cabin view:

 

Hi- Could you tell me what cabin this was as we have booked 6155 which I think is fine. Many thanks

 

I'll take the rain on a cruise ship right now. :eek:

That's funny

You could try getting a cheap fare flying to London & taking a budget airline down to Barcelona. Easyjet from Gatwick have about 6 a day & quite cheap - I use them all the time and they are very good.

I just booked 2 nights on Waiheke so straight off the cruise and over to Waiheke which should be wonderful. Do any of our New Zealand friends out there know if there is anywhere to store our bags for a couple day to save taking them with us? I have read at the Britomart Travel Centre but I can not find any info on the Britomart site. Many thanks

I agree any time in queenstown is better than none. Give me queenstown over Auckland any day, but I am not a city person.

Unfortunately you might be up again bad weather and cancellations.

Friends were on a flight auk to queenstown last November, due to bad weather than were taken to Christchurch where they were told they would be taken by bus, but that didn't happen as the roads were closed, so they couldn't even hire a car. the airline then just flew everyone back to auk and gave them a credit for the return fare.

If you decide against the queenstown trip which I hope you don't, if your ship doesn't go to the bay of islands, that is another option. Not all ships go up there but to me its a beautiful area, particularly the town of Russell.

We are going to the bay of islands on the cruise so that should be good. We can not risk the weather in Queenstown for getting back for our flight back to Akl & home so we will give it a miss & go to Waiheke for the day during our stay in Akl. I agree that I have not seen loads that make me want to stay in Akl for a long time but as we are only staying 2 nights it will nice to visit especially being in Waiheke for a day. Thanks for your advice

I use Turkish quite a bit & like them very much even in economy. I have a star alliance gold card & use the lounges which are OK but you will be flying a couple hours longer as you have to fly east to Istanbul before flying back west home.

I have just moved back to the UK after 15 years living in Greece & October can be changeable especially as the month goes on. The season finishes in mid October on the smaller Islands & the end of October everywhere else. The southern Islands should be fine (Crete etc) but the northern islands (Corfu etc) can get quite wet - winters are better in the UK than Corfu as it gets so damp. Greece is beautiful & my favourite month is September - kids back at school & the weather still warm but not unbearable like August can be. Enjoy :)

OK - thanks for that. I was wondering how it was with flights being cancelled & I looked at early flights the next morning but as our flight home is 13.30 there is not much chance of making it. We will have a rethink - maybe Auckland for 2 days will be a safer bet & we were looking to do Waiheke for a day if we did that which looks good.

Many thanks for everybody's suggestions - I really appreciate them

We already have the flights booked so can not stay longer & we do not know if we will return to NZ so that was why we wanted to see it. Our original plan was to stay in Akl for 2 nights but Queenstown seems to be one of those 'must see' places.

Celebrity do offer an overnight trip but it is $1200 for both of us & we will miss a day & night onboard cruising the fiords. The flights are $200 each at the moment so a big difference in price and looking at the Celebrity trip it seems a lot of travelling time especially the first day. We will walk off the ship with our luggage so hopefully get off quite quickly & leave our bags at left luggage at Akl airport so only have carry on for the flight to Queenstown. I have a star alliance gold card so not much queuing at the airport for the air NZ flight.

We land at 1.55pm so will do the TSS Earnshaw lake cruise at 16.00 & then have dinner & enjoy Queenstown. The next day we will do one of the fast jet boat rides at 08.00 & then take the gondola up & have lunch before getting to the airport at 16.00 for our 17.20 flight. Have we got the main things covered for our quick trip?

I can recommend the Jet Park Hotel at Auckland Airport. It has a free shuttle to and from AKL There's also the Novotel AT the airport - walkable from both domestic and international terminals.

Many thanks - I will check those out

Many thanks for your help - I was thinking of storing our luggage at Akl airport after the cruise & collecting it when we return from Queenstown the next evening so I agree we can then sightsee all day.

That is spot on - I also looked at flights on the 16th & did not find anything to get us back on time & I also wanted to make sure we are back for our 13.00 flight on the 16th.

There is also a 10.15am flight from Akl to Queenstown - do you think that is possible or a little early after disembarking.

Sorry - yes we will fly down which is about a 2 hour flight so hopefully we will get there at 14.00 & have to be at the airport 16.00 the next day.

We are going on a Celebrity cruise from Sydney to NZ in November & really want to see Queenstown. Our flight home is already booked but i am trying to figure out if we can go down for 1 night after the cruise. There is an air NZ flight at 12.05 (midday) on the day we arrive in AKL from the cruise & a flight at 17.30 the next day back up to AKL - our flight home is at 13.00 the next day so we will stay in the AKL airport area that night.Is this enough time to get a 'taste' of Queenstown? Many thanks.

We found this on our trip to Australia/NZ this year so we booked exit seats in economy with Singapore airlines for an extra $500 for both of us on the A380 in the upper deck which is highly rated & a significant saving on PE. I also have a star alliance gold card so we can use all the lounges etc

I booked the Travelodge Phillip Street for our November trip - just $150 a night & 15 minutes walk to all the major places. It has pretty good reviews & a few minutes walk from St James station so convenient from the airport. If you sign up for newsletters you get 10% off your first booking as well :)