Feeling Nervous About Hurricane Irene

[heidik]

Not to make light of the possibility of a major hurricane hit and it's potential impact on thousands of people living along the coast (my family and myself included)......

 

I really hope that Irene piddles out and/or swerves away from the coast......does anyone know off the top of your head what happens if flights are cancelled, etc. because of the weather and a pax can't get to the ship in time to make her Med. cruise? :confused: I'm supposed to fly from Hartford to Philadelphia to Rome Saturday late afternoon/night.......my stomach is flip flopping all over the place.....

[Christine Frances]

I would phone your airline and see what they say the options are. Sometimes they let you fly a day earlier without applying change fees. Good luck!

[PartyAllDaTyme]

If you miss your ship, you'll need to catch up with the ship at the next port of call. You'll be responsible for arranging your own transportation from Rome. I'm hoping your cruise departs on Sunday, not Saturday. You might lose out on your hotel room if you booked one for Saturday night. This is one of the things travel insurance is for, and why it's always a good idea to fly in one day early to allow some leeway for unforeseen circumstances.

 

Your airline may allow you to change to an earlier flight, so if you can leave early it might be worth it to do so. You might have to book an extra night in a hotel at the last minute, but better than missing the start of the cruise.

[Gonzo70]

If you miss your ship, you'll need to catch up with the ship at the next port of call. You'll be responsible for arranging your own transportation from Rome. I'm hoping your cruise departs on Sunday, not Saturday.

 

If their cruise departs Saturday they are in serious trouble even if the hurricane totally vanished. :eek:

[heidik]

My cruise (Equinox) leaves on Sunday at 5:00pm.....and I have the premium insurance.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

If their cruise departs Saturday they are in serious trouble even if the hurricane totally vanished. :eek:

 

Sorry, thinking of our last departure from San Juan at 8:30pm. Due to wx delays, we spent the night before and much of the morning in DFW and didn't board until 5:30pm. If we had originally planned on arriving late that afternoon or early evening, as some do, and had the same wx delays, we would have been making our own way to St. Croix.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

My cruise (Equinox) leaves on Sunday at 5:00pm.....and I have the premium insurance.

 

Financially, you're covered, but I'd still look into leaving out early, if possible. Think of it as one extra day of vacation!

[Lois R]

Looks like she is going to take a turn towards the Carolinas over the

next couple of days. For those who live in that area, board up and

be safe!

 

You are flying out Saturday night? With hurricanes you really have to

just keep watching the news. Tomorrow they will know alot more.

[SuiteTraveler]

I looked at the Hurricane Trajectory and now Irene appears to be heading up the East Coast on Friday.

 

http://weather.herald.com/auto/miamiherald/tropical/tracking/at201109_5day.html

 

 

Considering that you are connecting through Philadelphia, if it were me, I'd probably go with a "better safe than sorry" approach and go ahead and fly to Rome early this week - probably on Thursday if you can possibly get the extra vacation time. That way, you will not have to worry about the hurricane at all.

[jerseygirl3]

Not to make light of the possibility of a major hurricane hit and it's potential impact on thousands of people living along the coast (my family and myself included)......

 

I really hope that Irene piddles out and/or swerves away from the coast......does anyone know off the top of your head what happens if flights are cancelled, etc. because of the weather and a pax can't get to the ship in time to make her Med. cruise? :confused: I'm supposed to fly from Hartford to Philadelphia to Rome Saturday late afternoon/night.......my stomach is flip flopping all over the place.....

 

So basically you are arriving early on the morning that your ship departs?

 

Most airlines are beginning to offer changes without any fees incurred. If possible, I would try to fly out Thurs or Fri evening. I don't think the hurricane will hit the Northeast that early.

[heidik]

oops - the cruise departs on Monday, Aug. 29th......I am seriously considering leaving Thurs - let's see what US Air says..........

[Gonzo70]

If it were me I would definitely be working on trying to fly out earlier; good chance the airline will waive any fees if they have spots open on earlier flights.

 

While it is good you have insurance, what does your insurance cover? Some policies would just do something like pay $250 towards new flights and would require you to make an effort to catch the ship in order for the trip cancellation coverage to kick in (i.e. if flights cost $2,000 per/person to "catch the ship" at the next port, they may only cover a small portion of this and not pay you anything if you choose to not catch the ship). You need to research your policy to see what exactly they will cover, and how much. Even if they cover all your expenses, do you still want the stress and lost days of your vacation if your flight is cancelled?

 

If at all possible try to change your flight to beat the storm; this storm seems like it might be very, very bad.

 

Best of luck and keep us updated.

[heidik]

I just looked up my reservation on US Airways - so it looks like I need to wait another day to see if they update this? Or maybe I'll just pay the $250 to fly out Thursday instead of Saturday....

Cities Affected

 

Freeport, Bahamas ; Nassau, Bahamas ; Daytona Beach, FL ; Fort Lauderdale, FL ; Jacksonville, FL ; Melbourne, FL ; Miami, FL ; West Palm Beach, FL

 

Date Range

 

8/25/2011 1:00 AM ET through 8/26/2011 11:59 PM ET

Revised Ticket Policy

 

We’ve relaxed our change-fee policies. If your trip is affected, you can change your trip online (in most cases) – we’ll waive your change fees!

[SuiteTraveler]

I think you are being sensible about the situation. Why take the chance of letting a hurricane mess up your vacation and put you under undue stress. If I were you, I'd go ahead and call US Airways today to ask about changing - they might suggest you wait until tomorrow to avoid the change fee, but maybe not, considering what is going on and a call today may be the best way for you to get guaranteed seats on earlier flights. If they suggest waiting until tomorrow in order to have the change fee waived, ask what the earliest time you could call would be and then call at that time - it may be just after midnight or whatever time their system reloads data. What you don't want to do is wait until a bunch of other people have changed their flights, too and then wind up in a stand-by situation at either your home airport or Philadelphia. Right now, I'm guessing things are still pretty open and you should be able to get seats, but it's hard to guess what it will be like in 24 hours. I've had to change flights/airports/etc. to avoid a lot of weather situations over the years and my tendency is to do what my gut tells me - and I always find myself on the "last plane out" or one of the last planes out while hundreds or thousands are stranded. So, my advice is to be aggressive in pursuing this so you don't get stuck since you seem to be able to take the extra vacation time. That will prevent a lot of stress and preserve your beautiful cruise in the Med! Have a wonderful time, btw!

[Gonzo70]

I just looked up my reservation on US Airways - so it looks like I need to wait another day to see if they update this? Or maybe I'll just pay the $250 to fly out Thursday instead of Saturday....

Cities Affected

 

Freeport, Bahamas ; Nassau, Bahamas ; Daytona Beach, FL ; Fort Lauderdale, FL ; Jacksonville, FL ; Melbourne, FL ; Miami, FL ; West Palm Beach, FL

 

Date Range

 

8/25/2011 1:00 AM ET through 8/26/2011 11:59 PM ET

Revised Ticket Policy

 

We’ve relaxed our change-fee policies. If your trip is affected, you can change your trip online (in most cases) – we’ll waive your change fees!

 

Go ahead and call now; sometimes the airlines have some flexibility with these situations and even if your city is not currently showing on the website, they may authorize you to switch flights without needing to pay any fees. Does not hurt to call and ask.

[hcat]

Hope it works out for OP...it is nervewracking --esp with weather being so uncertain til it is almost too late to change..

 

.we went through a week of torture with hurricane fears last Sept for Summit-- our cruise left late from Bayonne but we had a clear week in Bermuda between 2 storms! Never again anywhere in hurricane season...too much anxiety esp. for an expensive trip

 

winter is another iffy time period.....in Jan for Equinox we had to advance our flight by several days (cost a bundle to change plus hotel stay) to avert flying on a snowstorm white out day!... good move & we had a great time! ..

[heidik]

I"m on with the airline now......identical flight sold out for thurs. & fri. she is trying another route and now she is saying it is a higher ticket price now plus change fee....she has me on hold and they are trying to make this work for me.....i would have to wait until tomorrow to have change fee waived - I said to her - but then everything will be totally sold out!!!! fingers crossed

[Mr. Click]

and that is why I don't like US Air......if you are stuck with going on Saturday, consider driving down to PHL to make the Rome flight. BDL to PHL is a commuter plane and more likely to get cancelled. Parking at PHL is not too expensive. I use Parking Spot there, they used to AviStar until they were bought out a few months ago. We did that Equinox trip in June and it was a great trip, enjoy it.

[SuiteTraveler]

OMG! I'm so glad you called today. Hopefully she can come up with another route for you and waive the change fees. Let us know! My fingers are crossed that you will succeed in getting something reasonable. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to backtrack West to another international airport in order to go East to Europe. But whatever it takes, right?

[heidik]

I am so depressed. I just got off the phone with US Airways and in a nutshell, it would cost me $4439.72 plus the $250 change fee to change my ticket (business class). I said "you mean to tell me you guys are charging over $7000 for this ticket now???? She said because I am trying to do this last minute, the price is very high.

 

So, I don't know what to do. She is saying to keep checking their website to see if they extend the travel advisory to include Philadelphia and then she can be much more flexible in getting me a flight at a better price. And, of course, there is always the chance the hurricane won't hit the east coast. She said the Phil. to Rome plane is a big plane and most likely won't be cancelled, but yes, it's the Htrd to Phil. commuter that is likely to get cancelled. I need to think on this and see if I might be able to drive to Phil.

 

If there was a crying icon, this posting would end with 20 of them.....:(

[heidik]

p.s. the reason I have to stick with US Air is I had several thousand dollars worth of cancelled business trips over the past year and had all these credits to put toward my "bucket list dream vacation" plane flight........

[SuiteTraveler]

I looked on O rbitz and economy is NOT sold out on the US Airways flight on Thursday Aug 25. It cost $2113. The cheapest ticket is SAS $1589 with 2 stops.

 

Buying a new one way Bus class ticket on US Airways would cost $3883 according to O rbitz.

 

So can you possibly re-use your "to Rome" tickets at a later date for a different trip and buy new? That would enable you to wait to change the ticket until tomorrow without the fee.

 

There may be a bus or train you could take to Philadelphia, then take a taxi to the airport - that is often a good solution for this type of situation.

[SuiteTraveler]

I'd call US Airways back and get another customer service rep to help. Maybe the first one you talked to is not very good? Because it looks to me like there are lots of options available, but she's not offering them to you. I even looked at some of US Airways partners and other airports on Orbitz and there are definitely flights/seats available to Rome on Thursday in both economy and business class.

[windsor1234567]

Ask to speak to a supervisor and then keep escalating. Sounds like you are a frequent flier too. Use that as clout!

 

Don't take no for an answer.

[heidik]

Stayed up checking alternate flights until I could no longer see last night. After sleeping on it and checking the latest hurricane update, I'm going to sit and wait it out. It looks like the worst of the Phil-Htfd "zone" weather is being forecast for Sunday into Monday - so hopefully my Sat. afternoon flight timing will work [gulp]......I think Plan B will be driving down to Phil. if necessary.

 

We'll see -- US Air hasn't updated their Travel Advisory since 8/22!

 

Thanks everyone for your very thoughtful suggestions/recommendations......it's the "wait and see game" now :confused: