headhunterke

Next marriage? LOL :D

 

I guess that might come sooner as expected if he failed to show up in the morning because of that cancelled flight :D

Not exactly cruise related but at work I encountered a guy yesterday taking the last flight of the day to a given destination. Plane came in right in time, no overbooking and then all of the sudden: hydraulical leak and flight cancelled. That guy was furious because he had a wedding to attend in the morning. His own wedding, go figure! When I asked him why he took such a risk by flying in a couple of hours in advance, he simply had no answer. I'm pretty sure that guy is also convinced now and he'll be on an earlier flight next time.

I'm pretty sure that these kind of things that airlines implement is pretty much law suit proof

Well, I guess she is is indeed a little forced to say that and she probably has not clue about flight specifics. However, I never tell things like this to any pax I'm dealing with. A person with information that he or she isn't going to like is always better then one who's been told hocus. Anyways, you gave it a shot.

Nevertheless, most Star Alliance members at BRU usually do a good job rerouting you in case of a missed connection.

I'm wishing you a very smooth trip with as few delays as possible and a marvelous crusie ;-)

Happy Canada Day to you and the fam :-)

I hope AC will be flexible and they will be able to work something out to avoid any stress. Because, that's the last thing you'd want when on vacation, right.

Please let me know if your effort was successful :-)

AC has a notorious reputation on their long haul flights, specially the BRU bound one.

I don't like to disapoint you, but Brussels Airlines is the operating airline for your VCE flight and they don't wait for connecting passengers, unless it's like half the flight. In fact, they are one of the airline that calls other gates people will not make their flight and rebooks them in advance if they see any inbound passengers will not make it to their connecting outbound flights. This is good and bad. As a customer, it's nice knowing things are being done for you, but on the other hand it's a clear sign they do not wait unless of course you are an extremely loyal or important client to them.

 

Things are very busy in the morning and as I replied before, you'll be at the mercy of the speed of which immigration is moving.

Distances have been shortened since the Connector is open. That is a building connecting the departures and the A-Terminal which houses the Shengen flights.

I will take a look for you and see if there is any pattern of gate assignment, specific for the VCE flight. Although I must say, Brussels Airlines flights are scheduled in the beginning of the A-Terminal about 90% of the time. But there's of course only 1 little mishap necessary on another flight to start the game of gate changes.

 

The SN flight to VCE has a rather good record of on time departure. Times listed on sites as FlightAware & Flightradar24 are the times the plane is in the air. The times you have listed are the "off-block" times, which are the times a plane starts to be pushed back. So you'll need to reduce the listed times on these websites with 6-8 minutes to have the "real" departure time for the airline. Of course, waiting times at both security and on the tarmac will be longer as well since the summer season has just kicked off.

 

I'm not trying to discourage you, but if the past week is any indicator of how things are going to be, I'm afraid they'll transfer you to the 1.50pm flight of SN to VCE. Is there any way you can call AC to see if they can already transfer you to the later flight, given the poor On Time Performance of this flight. Chances are they'll say no, but you can always try of course.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know so.

I'll be crossing my fingers and hope the best for you guys. Unfortunately that's about all I can do. I'd call ATC to hold traffic, but I don't thing my manager would appreciate that ;-)

Great report, I watched every video and read through all of it.

How did you find the config of that cabin? It seems rather oddly positioned. Or are the seats that are facing eachother (middle and right side) misaligned so that you're not actually looking right at the person on the other side of the aisle?

I do love the left side of the cabin, it feels very enclosed, mainly because you're not facing an actual person but the back side of the other seat, and that's what I like when flying business class. But I can imagine when flying as a couple this might have some drawbacks as well...

Exactly, Ruth. They have cells all over the world. When I was on cruise in January, a massive anti-terror raid held by police forces and national security against these guys, about an hour from where I live. I'm from Belgium, so in an hour you've almost crossed the entire country, but you get my point, I guess. People say there's barely anything happening in this country. And I'm glad for that. But the last year we had the shooting at the Jewish museum in Brussels, the raid and some small scattered incidents all linked to extremists. We are not used to this, but hiding is not an option.

If you will hide for these dogs, you give them what they want. I'm not saying you need to take pictures at the front line, but avoiding places because of them is pretty much impossible. Not in the Middle East nor Europe nor the US.

I take taxis a lot, and I must say the organisation at the port in FLL is top notch. I've never had to wait longer than 5 minutes before getting a cab.

However, a little waiting time might of course occur. But I've never seen people wait because there were no more taxis available as there's a constant flow.

LAX is becoming "A380 central". Of the 13 airlines with A380's, 9 fly them to LAX. At certain times of the day there's 5-8 A380 departures in an hour's time.

 

I'd go for DXB on 380-central. Of course, most of these enormous giants are from EK.

But as far as the US, LAX takes the crown I think :-)

Frot de France, on a Sunday, hands down. Everything closes down it the town becomes a ghost town. I always get off in every port, but I don't even bother frustrating myself on a hopeless quest for something to do. It's about time HAL skips this port or at least makes sure they come here on weekdays.

Yes, you do. We can also get 10-year visas for China and you can not. From my cursory internet search just now, those traveling on Belgium passports can only get a tourist visa valid for a maximum of 1-year. The passport has to be valid for at least 18-months from when the visa is obtained - so, no worries about the visa being valid longer than the passport. Unless one is ill, they also want you to apply in person. My search also showed that Belgian citizens living in the US have to apply in person at a Chinese consulate as their fingerprints will be taken (I didn't see that when looking at applying in Belgium). Thankfully US citizens don't have to do the same.

 

Checking my old US passports, not one had a hole punched all the way through. Only the last few had holes punched. That was in the cover only and the data that's on the back side of the cover. The older ones (expired 70s-90s) merely had a stamp on the data page that voided the passport and gave the date for which a new passport had been applied.

 

Unless the US starts voiding passports differently than they have been for decades one doesn't have worry about visas (like China and Brazil), that are valid longer the passport, also being voided.

 

The issue doesn't go necessarily goes for Chinese visas only. There is are a lot of visas Belgian citizens can get for multiple years. Most of the Western countries can have valid visas in expired passports, no matter what destination (if that destination accepts this rule, that is)

So how do you make sure that the Passport issuing people don't void a specific page in an expiring passport?

 

Well, in my country we have a totally different passport system than in the US. We have to go to City Hall to get our new passport and when we pick up the new one, the city clerk usualy holds the old passport. But you can ask to void it except the pages you'll need. I know in the US passport applications go through mail, so I have no idea how you need to handle that specific situation.

Nevertheless, Ashland, you'd be surprised how many people get their old passport back completely voided, even though there still is a valid visa in that passport they will need. At the airport I work, we have a fair share of people being denied boarding because the page which contains their visa has been voided. Not their fault of course, but what I was trying to explain is that you need to pay triple the attention that the page that contains the visa is intact.

Valid visas in expired passports are accepted by many countries (only a few exceptions) as long as the page where the visa is on, has not been voided, punched or had a corner cut off.

St. Martin will accept both US$ and Euro

However, I found that in many places the raio is 1:1

Nowadays, the conversion rate for both currencies is fairly equal. But there was a time paying in US$ made a big difference when the ratio was 1:1

Save yourself the effort of getting Euro's and just pay with US$ or creditcard. Even street vendors will accept US$ and pretty much all of them will have change (unless you pay with a high note of course)

I flew on BA numerous times on a back facing seat. I like it, specially during take off and landing it gives you an odd feeling which goes in against your natural reaction on take offs and landings :-)

I haven't flown on the 787, but as I recall, the seats on the planes I flew on (777 & 747 mostly) were all really facing backwards or forward.

Here's a good link which will give you a pretty accurate overview of the cabin layout:

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/British_Airways/British_Airways_Boeing_787-8.php

That is a wise decision by your hubby. In the end, chances are rather slim something will go wrong, but you don't want to stress all out if you have the chance to avoid it, right?

Hopefully, you'll have a wonderful time here in Europe.

You are taking a TATL flight which arrives the day your cruise actually leaves? Just to verify this as most of the eastbound flights from the US to Europe leave during the evening and land in the morning the following day...

If it was a domestic flight, it would be ok as there are many options to get around. But a TATL...

Yes, you will probably make the ship, don't get me wrong, but don't you think this is pushing it quite a bit? Not I want to give you any bad feelings, but when traveling you always have to account for possible disruptions in your travel plans. There's so many things that can go wrong, specially during winter time, even when weather's all nice on both destinations. Imagine all these things: Weather conditions, technical issues, missed connections, lost bags,...

 

If even a small mishap occurs, do you really want yourself to arrive all stressed out to begin your cruise?

Not to be snarky or rude, but just out of curiosity: Why would anyone book such a risky thing instead of flying in at least a day before, specially on a TATL routing.

Hardly any were stopped at an actual airport screening. Unless they have a few that are kept under wraps, every terrorist threat was identified and prevented BEFORE the person(people) ever got to the airport.

 

Does it mean people will get stopped on every flight? No, not even close. But does that mean these 'checks' are needless? No.

Same thing with security. I agree that at some airports, it's a rather daunting experience. But the people who are against these measures should take a train. You know that in recent times air travel comes with a lot of rules. Take it away and I dare you to step foot onto an airplane.

A lot of the security people experience is to make them feel safe. But there's so much going on behind the screens most people have no idea of.

Again, same goes for these checks. Immigrations (both in US & EU) know who will arrive long before you actually check in, as you mentioned. And yes, people that aren't supposed to come to a certain country still get in. But at least they need to put in some effort. If you take away these first line checks, you're basically giving them an express card to enter.

Can it be different/better? Yes, without a doubt. But as with most things in life, pretty much anything can improve and one will never be satisfied until something is done exactly the way that person wants it to. I understand those checks can be tedious, but it's an actual fact a lot of people can only reasure themselves when they actualy see something happening. And what some of you don't know is that many of those security/profiling checks are also forced to take place for insurance purposes. I think most of the airlines would be happy to save a quite some money if they can save by eliminating this procedure. But there's a reason behind everything. Nothing happens 'just because', specially in aviation.

Without reading through all the comments, here is what most likely happened: All flight departing to the US from European airports undergo screening procedures. The computer system randomly picks passengers as a "Selectee" ergo that enhanced security. This happens at random, if your name happens to match or be close to one of a no-fly list or traveling on certain types of tickets. In a rare case, the agent can enforce this if you made a snarky comment in some way. Not saying you did, I'm just listing it as an option.

You can fly tens of times without ever being a selectee and if you've never been one, you don't know it exists.

As why the security agent was so rude, I have no clear answer ;-)

 

Normally when you fly a European/US airline it isn't as bad as flying with El Al or going through Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport (they really are top notch in profiling and sometimes take it a step too far), but still, these guys are all trained and will ask questions until you are almost starting to doubt yourself. Anyone not 110% convinced of themself will start to doubt unless you are a trained liar.

 

There's a lot of hidden things that happen at an airport during your time there that most passengers don't know about, even if you travel a lot.

While I agree it's a shame this area is now restricted (I always went up there on sail away or to spend some time by myself as not too many people got up there before the cabanas) I also feel HAL is indeed trying to meet up with revenue targets. They're still a business after all. And as others have said, as long as people are paying for those retreat cabanas, HAL will keep selling them. Because after all, a rented out cabana makes more money than a free sun lounger.

 

A little tip if you want a little hidden spot on the Noordam, when you walk past the Greenhouse Spa, on both sides you'll have a door leading outside. You'll be standing in front of the gym, but the view is quite amazing as that's as far forward you'll ever get when sailing. The only thing closer to the bow is when they open it up for some picture taking. I've spend many times on that little hidden spot last cruise and I've only seen another person there two or three times. There's also a compass that displays the heading the ship is going. I think that spot pretty much got me over the loss of that open space where those cabanas are now :)

Even if your flight would arrive in the morning, I would NEVER take the risk missing a cruise. For domestic flights, a day in advance is enough, certainly that time of year. International, I always try to arrive at least 2 full days early.

There's so many things that can happen when flying, just imagine all the stress you'd be going through if there was even a small delay and you're scheduled to arrive in the afternoon of your cruise.

Hi, I partly work for Aeroflot at BRU and here's a summary:

Bag handling is just fine at SVO. They've got a pretty solid product as well. As for communication; it's kinda hit or miss.

While I have crew on flights where I can perfectly communicate with in English, other flights have crew that barely speak English. And you can take this pretty literaly. Often the captain (or even First Officer) is the only one that can speak and/or understand English. That is a big let down for such a major airline that is part of a big alliance.

As for security, Aeroflot has very nice planes with rarely a technical issue. In the year my company handles flights for Aeroflot, the technical issues can be counted on 1 hand. Also the non-weather related delays are pretty minimal. And even with bad weather, they often pull a lot of flights out with very few delays. SVO is a pretty big airport (around the same traffic as Chicago ORD) and one of Europe's bussiest. Nevertheless, their gorund handling is often spotless. I seriously don't know how they do this at time ;-)

 

So it's up to you; if you want a good price (because that's something they're good at), go for it. If you want attentive service onboard and don't speak Russian, go find another carrier. If you speak Russian, they are certainly the perfect airline for you.

 

But again, their overall product is pretty solid. If you decide to go for it, let me know ;)

There is serious chaos in and around FCO airport. Even at Ciampino Airport, things are loco as they receive an awful lot of extra passengers at that airport isn't built for heavy loads.

Pretty much every other connection out of FCO yesterday and today was now going through Milan or facing huge delays IF the flight went out of FCO at all. So all of Italy is kinda messed up right now.

I saw the last flight out of BRU (airport where I'm based) to FCO went out with about 10 minutes of delay. But it will take a while before the airport can restart full operations again. Colleagues from Alitalia got info from their HQ that, at least until Monday, 11 May operations will reach to max. 60% of the capacity. After that's, it's rather unclear if the full operations can be resumed already. But they're working hard to restore everything asap.
But of course, a lot of people will be stranded there, so all the flights for (I think at least) the next week will be very, very full and/or overbooked. Passengers who can, now quickly book flights with Ryanair or Wizzair (lowcost) through Ciampino.