Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

P&O should be ashamed n231

wannatan

By wannatan,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

Recommended Posts

wannatan

wannatan

Posted
Posted

Why is it in these days of technology when even a school kid can write programmes for computers P&O Still have not been able to get the flight planner up and running for a very few cruises. I'm sick and tired of checking my CP and e mails to see if the flight booker is open. We go 7 weeks on Friday. 28th Dec and although I know its not the be all and end all its another thing I would like to have done and in fact I find pre booking my flight seats a necessity. I dont want to take pot luck and wait till I arrive at the airport. Last year on a virtual same cruise but with Princess on our flight home in the Premium thomson cabin all 4 of us were totally seperated. We we not able to pre book seats.

Come on P&O get with it, sack your IT specialists... they really are not worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tizzy

Tizzy

Posted
Posted

I am sure there must be quite a serious problem as the Flight booker has been out of action for a while.

Like you, we are eager to book our seats for our Cruise in January.

P&O did inform us that they would email us when it is back up and running.

I do still have a quick check every now and again as I really don't want to be sat in a different part of the plane to my husband. It has happened to us in the past ! Not fun for a long journey. I am sure someone will let us know on the forum when it is working.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wannatan

wannatan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

we have 7 weeks to go tizzy so getting a bit worried to say the least. Esp as I have read conflicting flight times which varie by 4 hours!!

Will keep checking daily. Dont trust the arrival of e mails to come before flight booker returns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cristaltips

Cristaltips

Posted
Posted

I'm getting a bit fed up with it too. I agree that it's not important on the great scheme of things but it's part of looking forward to the holiday.

They've told us they will e mail us when it's up and running but imagine if they tell us all together. It will crash. It'll be impossible for them to cope. I keep trying the CP just in case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
smithy62

smithy62

Posted
Posted

I too am keen to book seats so that we are not all split up and am checking on an almost daily basis - something of an obsession at this point!! We leave on the 21st December and as I have said before need to sort out travel to Manchester and so need flight times etc confirming too! Stressful :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wannatan

wannatan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

we go in just over 6 weeks now. Last week p&o promised my travel agent it would be up and running in a day or so, 8 days later what rubbish.

 

Im off again in March Not a cruise but seats all booked for that!!!

 

Im reading on other sites that people are unable to print off luggage labels and tickets either, they are being told to just turn up at the airport!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RJChatsworth "Live from...." Rare

RJChatsworth

Posted
Posted

The booking of seats in advance on British Airways was a matter with which I had correspondence with someone senior in P&O earlier this year. With BA you can't pay for seat bookings until you receive the e-ticket from P&O some 35 days before the flight. We were travelling World Traveller Plus from Sydney to Heathrow and didn't want to be seperated on the long flight. P&O is well aware they have an increasing problem which they will have to address at some point in the future. BA won't let you pay for seat bookings until they get the money from P&O for the flight which is about 35 days in advance of the flight. This can be too late to get seats together on International flights. P&O had booked our fight with BA well in advance on a provisional basis. P&O won't pay BA until they get the money from the passenger. Thus the impasse. Also it is not in P&O's interest to confirm flights until the last minute because passengers change their minds, eg want upgrades, stay on at their destination or even cancel their cruises.

 

As part of the same holiday we flew from Heathrow to Singapore to embark Oriana for Sydney. The flight to Singapore was on Qantas and they did allow you to book seats in advance of receiving the flight fare from P&O. I then tried to transfer from BA to Qantas on the Sydney to Heathrow flight but it was full and if it had not been they would have charged more than on the BA flight. I was told that Qantas were going to fall in line with BA on seat bookings but I do not know whether they ever did.

 

In the end we upgraded at great cost from WTP to Business Class on the Sydney to Heathrow flight because with Business Class seats the layout makes it is less of an issue if you don't sit together. We were able to sit together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RJChatsworth "Live from...." Rare

RJChatsworth

Posted
Posted
I agree with you I also cannot book my seats. Absolutely unacceptable, was told IT team working on it, in my opinion they should get a new team as the ones they have are pretty useless. P & O should get there act together.

I don't understand why most seem just to blame P&O and their IT people. Isn't the issue the airline is not going to let you book seats until they get the money from P&O and in turn they understandably won't pay for them until the passenger pays up? I have suggested to P&O that I'm willing to pay the airfare part of the cruise in advance to allow them to pay the airline and for me to book seats. That seems to come into the too difficult category. As I said before P&O recognise they have a problem but earlier this year seemed unwilling to focus on it because of other more important unspecified issues and because few were complaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
laserblue

laserblue

Posted
Posted

So we're now into December and I still can't book flight seats for my first P&O cruise in February. The call centre have no information on what exactly the problem is or when it will be resolved.

 

As an ex-IT professional I can almost guarantee that a problem that runs for this long will not be a technical issue but far more likely to be a contractual one between P&O and their flight carriers as suggested on earlier posts.

 

Am beginning to think we'll just be turning up at the airport for a free-for-all.

 

Does anyone have any more info?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
smithy62

smithy62

Posted
Posted

Just to say, yes the flight seat thing went up at 9am for our flight too however I couldn't get on it! Rang the daughter in a different part of country and she managed to do it! Weird.

Anyway, hope everyone has managed and can now look forward to their trip:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...