Have you ever missed your flight home!!!

[chefajax]

I was just wondering if anyone missed their flight home when the ship got into port a bit late then posted and did not have princess air or tranfers.

Do the airlines charge a fee !!!! Do they put you on the next available flight with out charge!!

[Druke I]

On Golden Princess' trans-Atlantic, 8-02, we were 6 hrs late into NYC, due to stormy conditions in the Atlantic.

 

I think Princess stepped up to the bat. They rearranged flights, put us up in a hotel overnight, and fed us. For those of us with Princess air - they did all the work.

 

For those travelling independently, they provided assistance in rearranging flights.

 

NYC was a zoo that Sunday - four ships in, all late, and only enough Customs/Immigration/teamsters/busses/taxis to handle one ship at a time! Not a fun time that day, but a great cruise!

[jhannah]

Fortunately, we've never missed a flight. We schedule for early afternoon, which gives us some leeway.

 

Michael, I'm sure that was a nightmare!

[geoherb]

We've never missed a flight coming back from a cruise. On our last couple of Caribbean cruises, I've booked us one night in a hotel after the cruise so we could fly back the next day. The FLL airport is a lot less crowded on Mondays, plus we've been able to save enough on airfare to pay for our hotel and meals.

[ahracer]

Most airlines will put you on standby for the next flight out if you miss your flight. Each airlines handle things differently. For instance on Delta for a $25 fee you can change your flight with in three hours of your original flight. So in theory if you knew you were going to miss you flight you could call Delta three hours before and have it changed to a later flight for $25.

 

Scott

[Budget Queen]

Several times, was put on standby and eventually made it home. Happened out of Los Angeles and Miami.

[GloriaF]

Scott, can you tell me if I can do this with my originating flight? This is the situation: I am using credit card points to pay for the flight, if that would make a difference. We are flying on Northwest out of Jax to Detroit, and I understand they are Delta partners. It will cost a lot to change it with the original booking company.The thing is we have 47 minutes between flights. I thought maybe if we left Jax earlier, then we could avoid this hassle. If the Detroit airport is large or if the first flight is delayed, then we could be in trouble and miss the flight to Anchorage.

 

I chose the schedule and was trying to avoid long layovers, but as time gets closer, I am beginning to worry about missing the connecting flight.

 

Any suggestions, or is the Detroit airport simple to navigate and small?

[SaylorGirl]

Gloria - the Detroit airport is one of the easiest to get around. We connect through there all the time usually with 45 minutes or less. We only had a problem once and that was our plane from our home city was cancelled. They have a great tram system just get on and ride.

[GloriaF]

Thanks, Saylorgirl - that makes me feel some better!

[Glassman]

Never missed because of our mistake or the ship being late. Did have a flight out of Pourt a Rico(sp) cancelled because the airline just cancelled the flight.After a long (several hours ) wait in line was put on another airline and just made the flight. No help from Princess. Also had a flight from O Hare cancelled because the airplane was broke. Was put up by airline in hotel and put on a next day flight that got us into London at 2am. The airlane got ahold of Princess through the travel insurance company and Princess bless their soul sent a private car to Heathrow at 2am to take us to the hotel we had booked for a one day pre cruise. We left for the boat that morning early for the boat and missed our pre cruise day. If we had not had the one day pre cruise we would have missed the cruise. We did get a refund from the insurance company for the one day pre cruise, two checks for over $500.Since then we always buy insurance and transfers. The worst part of any cruise is the air flight. I wish we lived closer to a ship port. Iowa is very far from all ports except the Mississippi and no cruise ships dock in our area.

[sailinglisa]

If you are on Northwest, Detroit is one of the EASIEST airports to get around. The Northwest terminal is HUGE, but, if you go up to the second floor, there is a train that will take you to the opposite end of the terminal less than 3 minutes - including a stop at mid terminal.

[wrp96]

From what the posters said Detroit seems like an easier place to make connections through than say Dallas or Atlanta. Just be aware of what your options are if you do happen to miss the flight. I've missed a flight before on the way back home. I just went up to the airline and explained the situation and the guy understood. However, the next available seat was 8 hrs after my original flight.

 

 

Good luck and enjoy Alaska!

[ahracer]

Scott, can you tell me if I can do this with my originating flight? This is the situation: I am using credit card points to pay for the flight, if that would make a difference. We are flying on Northwest out of Jax to Detroit, and I understand they are Delta partners. It will cost a lot to change it with the original booking company.The thing is we have 47 minutes between flights. I thought maybe if we left Jax earlier, then we could avoid this hassle. If the Detroit airport is large or if the first flight is delayed, then we could be in trouble and miss the flight to Anchorage.

 

I chose the schedule and was trying to avoid long layovers, but as time gets closer, I am beginning to worry about missing the connecting flight.

 

Any suggestions, or is the Detroit airport simple to navigate and small?

 

Gloria,

 

Northwest doesn't have the deal where you can change for $25 but if there is an earlier flight out of JAX you could go standby on it. Check Northwests website for an earlier flight and if there is one take a look at the amount of open seats to see what your chances of getting on are.

 

Scott

[Disneycruiser#1]

Missed our last summer when our 7 night CP turned in (sing along) hurricane Jeanne 9 night tour..............due to Port Everglades closing but of course that was a different situation :)

[cruisingbug]

We're worried about just that situation - had a choice between a noon flight out with cruise arriving to debark at 7:30 am, or a flight 2 days later (using frequent flyer miles). We chose the later flight and are still hoping something earlier will open, but figured noon was just too close.

[critterchick]

We came within 10 minutes of missing the only Delta flight of the day from Barcelona to NY. We were 4 hours late disembarking because the BCN port authority wouldn't let us in due to rough weather. Delta ended up holding the flight for almost an hour because there 90 ship's passengers booked. Thirty of them missed the plane, anyway.

 

If you know you're going to miss your flight, you should call the airline to advise them. These days, if you simply are a no-show, they will void your ticket. You might be able to convince them that it wasn't your fault, but why take the risk?

[nsimeri]

We missed our 11:30am AA flight out of LAX 4/9/05 when the Diamond was 7 hrs late getting back to port. Princess reimbursed us for our hotel & dinner charges. We flew stand by at no extra charge and caught a flight back to Chicago at 8:30 the next morning.

[Jim & Gerry]

We were on the Diamond 4/2 Mexican Riviera cruise that was 7 hours late returning back to LA on 4/9. We did not use Princess for the airline tickets. We had a 3:15PM flight back home that should have been easy to make. Needless to say, we missed those flights and it cost us several hundred dollars to rebook flights. We submitted a claim to Princess for reimbursement or credit and today we received a call saying they will be sending a out a check for full reimbursement.

 

 

We are very pleased that Princess stepped up and is providing a full reimbursement.

[kex1969]

We missed our flight out of FLL in Feb returning from the Star Princess. We missed it by 5 minutes. Jet Blue put us on standby for the day but when they realized that everything was booked solid and that our three kids did not want to wait around an airport all day they set us up at the embassy suites with a $69 room rate. This was not Jet Blue's fault either but rather the ship got back in late and we cut our flight out time too close. I cannot speak highly enough for how great the customer service people at Jet Blue were in our situation.Whenever possible I will always fly Jet Blue in the future.

[catdancers]

Last year we missed our 2:45 PM flight out of LAX as the ship was late in returning to San Pedro. American put us on standby and we spent the night in airports.

[KY Deb]

We were also on the Diamond Princess April 2 cruise that was 7 hours late getting into port. We did not make our air arrangements through Princess. The only seats we could get out of LAX before Tuesday (this was on Saturday) was to purchase 1st class one way tickets. There were 6 of us. We had to split up and two of us had to rent a car and drive another 90 miles, as that was as close as we could get to home that day. Princess is reimbursing us for the entire bill. They also put us up in a hotel overnight with food included. They let us use the phones from the ship at no charge to try to make arrangements. They really handled the situation well, and we are grateful.

[jcd3]

We missed our 12:15 pm flight out of LAX on 4/24/05, due to ship being late getting to port. We eventually all got home by 4/26, as all flights were booked solid. Our hotel and food was covered by the cruiseline.

[Leosmom]

We were on the Diamond 4/2 Mexican Riviera cruise that was 7 hours late returning back to LA on 4/9. We did not use Princess for the airline tickets. We had a 3:15PM flight back home that should have been easy to make. Needless to say, we missed those flights and it cost us several hundred dollars to rebook flights. We submitted a claim to Princess for reimbursement or credit and today we received a call saying they will be sending a out a check for full reimbursement.

 

 

We are very pleased that Princess stepped up and is providing a full reimbursement.

 

 

What airline was this with that wouldn't let you fly stand by?

I'd like to know so i won't use them unless i have to!

[Jim & Gerry]

Leosmom -

 

Delta was the airline and we had T fare tickets . Delta said they did not have two seats out until Monday morning. We ended up taking separate redeye flights. We both got the last seat on our flights. My flight through Atlanta had 69 people on the standby list. My wife’s flight through Cincinnati had 34 people on the standby list. The next flight out with seats available in T class was the Monday night redeye. So we had to pay the ticket change penalty plus the cost difference in the airfare to fly out Saturday night.

 

Delta did look at other airlines and they were booked solid.

 

I think Delta is getting much tighter on what they are willing to do when you try to change your flights on these really inexpensive fares.