Zach1213

I'm going to go forward with assumption that it's a flight to the US. But technically, yes, if you set up a private ride and get yourself off the ship quickly, you should make it okay. Always a risk, of course. I personally would stay an extra night just to get an extra day of vacation and sightseeing, or just relaxing with a few final pints and teas, but to each their own. I also don't love the idea of ending my vacation with a "I sure hope everything is on time and I make my international flight that will be expensive to rebook if I miss it" nervous energy.

Each person's experience is going to be different because the cruiseline is going to put you on the cheapest option they can. So even if someone were flying from YYC to KEF on subsequent days, they may end up on entirely different itineraries via entirely different airlines, cities, and layover times. There's not really any consistency, unfortunately, so each person's experience will differ. One of the drawbacks of putting others in control of your flights is that you have no control of your flights.

I think (and my experience as a OneWorld frequent flier has shown me) that it's just flat out against the rules of all OneWorld carriers, be it AS/AA/BA, Qantas, Finnair, JAL, whomever.

Whether it's an advantage or not is up to each individual person, but one cool think about 11 hours in IST is that you could get out and see a bit of one of the greatest cities in the world.

I have no experience taking any shuttle, but I wanted to clarify that AA leaves out of Terminal 3, not Gate 3. Aerotel is indeed inside Terminal 3, so that makes it very convenient. BUT, are you planning to spend the whole day there AND the overnight? It's a place to sleep, but not much else. The only real food options will be those in the terminal themselves (and not only in terminal, but before security) so that will limit things a lot and raise the food cost.

I'm still intrigued as to what exactly you expected "comfort" to mean? The website is pretty clear about what you get.

Just don't overthink it. We're happy to help, but LHR is a pretty well-signed airport and people from all over the world, from rural Africa to New York to Tokyo, transit through it every day just fine. Overthinking it can only cause trouble!

Also make sure you book it as one ticket so you are protected in case of mis-connection at (what I assume will be) Narita or Haneda. And try to avoid having to go between Narita and Haneda unless you have a good amount of time...and still, make sure it's one ticket. More details would be beneficial.

Ah interesting, wasn't aware the UK had a legal definition of city based on population. So yeah, I guess Bath barely qualifies.

First off, it's not magic, it's the hard work of a crew of airline and airport employees and a fantastic piece of engineering in the form of T5's baggage system. Anyways...when you clear immigration and customs at LHR T5, I believe you take a right and just keep walking and keeping an eye out for signs that say Sofitel (or "Hotel", I can't remember which). You'll likely need to grab an elevator/lift up a level, but even in the elevator there will be a button that says either "Sofitel" or "Hotel", and more signage once you get out.

Now I'm just so intrigued what your definition of both "southern England" and "city" are. The only one of those in the south is Bath, and while it's lovely, it's not a "city" in my book.

Oh, I'm aware. My wife spent some time living in London and it's entirely different living there than visiting there. Still a pretty great city to live in, but of course no city is perfect or even near perfect. There are plenty of great cities in GB, I am just curious to see what city OP says is better than London in southern England. And what their definition of "city" really is.

Google Maps works well for this too. You can zoom in to London and just type "hotel" and a million will pop up along with their Google reviews rating (1-5). Then you can select a hotel and link directly to it for booking. It'll also give you a good idea of tube and bus stops nearby. I'm really curious what city is better than London for a visit when it comes to southern England. Bristol? Luton?

Yeah, I usually find that the operating carrier rules over the cabin baggage and there's little wiggle room on that part. I always plan my cabin baggage around the most restrictive carrier and would recommend you do as well.

INTL-INTL at AKL is pretty straight forward. Yes to security. No to immigration. No to customs. Three hours will leave you bored...won't take even a fraction of that time.

Eh, it's hard to tell. Depends so much on so many different things. For example, I've had to go to Seoul the last three months in a row, booking anywhere from three days out to 45 days out. Three days out was most expensive, 45 days out was middle, and two weeks out was the least expensive. But if I did the same series of bookings at the same intervals now, I wouldn't expect it to be the same order of pricing. It's just such a crap shoot.

Usually a lot more than that. I was paying $6-8k for roundtrips between the US and East and Southeast Asia back in the late-2000s when I started making regular trips between the two.

Uh, yeah. I know it's a different time of the year, but I recently booked MCI-ORD-HKG-SIN roundtrip in J for mid-March and it was like $12k.

What does Ricky Martin have to do with this?

Might I recommend Gatorade before you fall to sleep instead of when you wake up. That way you should wake up a bit more refreshed.

Just...water. Excessive water. I drink quite a lot on vacation, and while I bring LiquidIV with me, I don't usually take it because I drink so much water. The rule, for me, is one water per one drink, and it works like a charm. I mean, get ready to visit the bathroom a lot because you're having double the drinks, but it's so worth it.

My only complaint about the Sofitel (as someone who does highly recommend it and stays at it a few times yearly) is that many of the cheaper rooms have interior views. For a short layover where you're mostly sleeping, it's generally not an issue. But something to be aware of...the room will have a window, but it may only look out in to interior parts of the hotel, not exterior. Regarding food - I often do arrive at LHR around 10:30pm on that ORD-LHR flight I mentioned earlier, so it's not unusual for me to get to the Sofitel around 11:15pm or so. I usually hit the bar for a drink or two and maybe even a bite, and it's open until midnight. The "small bites" available are decently priced for a nice hotel and can tide you over until morning if needed.

OK, so if everything is T-5, look at the Sofitel. Yes, it's probably more expensive. But it's going to save you a bunch of time on either end as it's directly connected to T5. Otherwise, you'll still end up taking the train to another terminal.

Lol, no. A look at the map should show you the distance (and runways) between T3 and that hotel. You can take the tube, Elizabeth Line or Heathrow Express between the T2/3 stop and the T4 stop for free, but that involves walks on either end plus a wait for the train. Heathrow's website estimates 20-30 minutes to transfer between the two. Note that you can go T-4 to T-2/3 on the tube, but I am not sure you can go T-2/3 to T-4. Also note that, if your flight is delayed, I am not sure any of these go much past midnight if at all. As a somewhat regular on the daytime ORD-LHR flight, that sounds like what you're taking based on the arrival time. I've usually had success with it being on-time or early, but there are times it's late enough that it could be iffy once you factor in immigration and waiting for check bags. Also, note that flight is not BA, but American Airlines.