Heathrow - Miami flight.

[GrandyMandy]

Hi, we are on the Poesia, FLl to Dover on the 20th April, and flying out on BA 1526 - 09.45 the same day, organized by MSC.

 

It appears that this is actually an AA flight, and therefore, the facilities are not the same. Has anyone, any experience of this flight, please. I believe that alcoholic drinks may not be complimentary for a start.

 

Also, how is the experience at immigration at MIA and MSC's transfer to the ship.

 

Thanks. Mandy :)

[earn]

If MSC have organised the flights you are covered, so all should be fine. What is the first port? I have heard that they will hold the ship for late flights, but if you are on an early flight you will be fine. Wouldn't organise it myself, but ok if they have done it. They will fly you to the next port if it is really bad. I imagine you will have at least one port in Bahamas or Caribbean.

 

Now the less good news. My husband and one of of our sons flew LHR to Miami last year, and there were no seat back TVs. They did have the old central TVs, but from their seats that was not too good, and obviously no choice as to what to watch. For a 13 yr old that was pretty tough, but he managed. Take an iPad or Kindle and you will be fine. They also changed planes in Raleigh Durham, which was not great, but perhaps you are direct. The saving grace is that there is a 5 Guys there! I am not sure if alcohol is comp., but you will get wine with dinner. They may have been unlucky as certainly we have flown AA to the west coast a couple of times and they had seat back entertainment.

 

You will have you cruise to look forward to, so I am sure you will be happy to be on the flight anyway!

[GrandyMandy]

If MSC have organised the flights you are covered, so all should be fine. What is the first port? I have heard that they will hold the ship for late flights, but if you are on an early flight you will be fine. Wouldn't organise it myself, but ok if they have done it. They will fly you to the next port if it is really bad. I imagine you will have at least one port in Bahamas or Caribbean.

 

Now the less good news. My husband and one of of our sons flew LHR to Miami last year, and there were no seat back TVs. They did have the old central TVs, but from their seats that was not too good, and obviously no choice as to what to watch. For a 13 yr old that was pretty tough, but he managed. Take an iPad or Kindle and you will be fine. They also changed planes in Raleigh Durham, which was not great, but perhaps you are direct. The saving grace is that there is a 5 Guys there! I am not sure if alcohol is comp., but you will get wine with dinner. They may have been unlucky as certainly we have flown AA to the west coast a couple of times and they had seat back entertainment.

 

You will have you cruise to look forward to, so I am sure you will be happy to be on the flight anyway!

Thank you for the reply.

I believe that it is a direct flight, however 91/2 hours without entertainment ! It was just that I noticed somewhere that headsets and alcohol were not complimentary. Also, that Miami airport Immigration is quite stressful, so any up to date info'. Would be great.

 

We had hoped to be able to upgrade ourselves as we are BA executive, but having now discovered that it is actually an AA flight codeshare, that doesn't seem possible.

 

No problem with MSC themselves, as we are black card with them, and they have just offered us complimentary transfers from Dover back to Heathrow. Also, there shouldn't be too many icebergs around the Atlantic at the end of April ! Must check up on the Titanic's date.

Thanks again.

[RoadTripFanatic]

In all honesty it just depends on what jet you fly on. I've been on transatlantic flights that only had the big screen tvs. I've had my own personal entertainment. Look on your flight receipt to see what type of plane it is to find out what is available on the flight.

[Darcy15]

I can't advise about the flight, but I can give some insight into a very recent - 2 weeks ago - experience with Miami immigration.

 

.......in a word, hideous!!! :eek:

 

 

There was a humongous queue, took over 2 hours to get through, and oh my goodness the rudeness of the personnel :(

 

I was snarled at, no other way to describe it, and I literally had my passport thrown at me when he had finished. Welcome to the USA!

 

 

.....in consolation, the cruise was fantastic. Shame that the airport experience was less than stellar. I absolutely appreciate that there is a job to do, and processing thousands of passengers is not fun - but when you are tired and hot after a 9 hour flight, a smile would just be so nice. Oh well.......:)

[monicajay]

Some more positive news. Our March 2011 sailing on the Poesia was delayed more than 4 hours while we waited for a group of 46 passengers flying in from the UK and the flight was late.

 

Because from the UK MSC books your flights they are responsible for you getting to the next port. When the group is large they will hold the ship for you as it is too much bother to fly 46 people the next day.

[earn]

Our strategy in Miami is either to be first off the plane and at the front of the queue or at the back! If you are at the back, once the US citizens have gone through, they one up these lanes (normally off to the right) for non-residents. They direct the people at the back to these.

[northerncomfort16]

It seems that MIA hasn't got any better - I have flown in 5 times and it took between 50 mins (once) to 2 hours to clear and as mentioned above there's not a lot of smiles! So long as your flight is on time you should be onboard by 17.00.

 

As for the flight, I have flown AA and they are OK, they operate 777s on their transatlantic routes and all have seatback screens, so that should be ok so long as they don't have to substitute the plane. You are right though about the drinks, whilst soft drinks are free, wine and hard drinks cost $7 and beer $6. The cabin staff can be a bit grumpy as well.

 

Not sure if you are flying back from Miami, but if you are and you have some time to kill at the airport, you used to be able to get day access to the pool deck at the on airport MIA Hotel for a reasonable charge - $10 or so.

[GrandyMandy]

Thank you all for your insights.

At least, we now know the worst to expect ! Emergency ration of gin will be prepared. (Flew PIA once, goes well with orange juice !)

Not a lot one can do about grumpy cabin crew, although being 'frightfully English, sometimes works'! Mind you, I fully expect my OH to out grump them.

 

 

We are, actually at the back of the aircraft, as, although MSC haven't given us any details, the booking and seating has come up on our BA exec' account. Won't let us use our avios points to upgrade though. I presume because it is a group booking.

 

 

 

First port of call is New York -3 days later !

 

Mandy

[GrandyMandy]

It seems that MIA hasn't got any better - I have flown in 5 times and it took between 50 mins (once) to 2 hours to clear and as mentioned above there's not a lot of smiles! So long as your flight is on time you should be onboard by 17.00.

 

As for the flight, I have flown AA and they are OK, they operate 777s on their transatlantic routes and all have seatback screens, so that should be ok so long as they don't have to substitute the plane. You are right though about the drinks, whilst soft drinks are free, wine and hard drinks cost $7 and beer $6. The cabin staff can be a bit grumpy as well.

 

Not sure if you are flying back from Miami, but if you are and you have some time to kill at the airport, you used to be able to get day access to the pool deck at the on airport MIA Hotel for a reasonable charge - $10 or so.

Did you have to pay for the headsets by any chance ?

 

Mandy

[welwyngirl]

We fly into MIA regularly and our experiences are mixed. Depends who you get at immigration. Some good some bad. I just wanted to give you a headed up though re luggage. Sometimes they move luggage from the carousels and line them up next to the carousel. When we first went to Miami we waited ages for our cases to come off only to realise they had removed them. It's as ridiculous thing to do. There is a terrible scrabble to get your luggage. Hope you get a good experience and enjoy your cruise. Incidentally, you are correct re the alcohol on AA. It is not complimentary.

 

 

 

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[northerncomfort16]

Did you have to pay for the headsets by any chance ?

 

Mandy

 

If memory serves me they were free, but you could check for sure on their website.

[Magnetchief]

We were caught out by this whole BA carrier share once before.

Never again!

We deliberatly fly BA due to the service.

Imagain our surprise when we discovered our BA flight was via AA.

Night and day.

BA flight over was a dream,

Flight back was a nightmare. Cramped, poor service, old aircraft, disgusting food and yes we had to pay for any beverages.

We were not amused..

 

Next time we will know better.

 

AA is the pits. There is a reason they have declaired bankrupcy. Pretty obvious once onboard.

[GrandyMandy]

We fly into MIA regularly and our experiences are mixed. Depends who you get at immigration. Some good some bad. I just wanted to give you a headed up though re luggage. Sometimes they move luggage from the carousels and line them up next to the carousel. When we first went to Miami we waited ages for our cases to come off only to realise they had removed them. It's as ridiculous thing to do. There is a terrible scrabble to get your luggage. Hope you get a good experience and enjoy your cruise. Incidentally, you are correct re the alcohol on AA. It is not complimentary.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thank you. All the extra info. is very much appreciated.

[earn]

How did you find out your flight was AA? Did it have a BA flight number?

[GrandyMandy]

How did you find out your flight was AA? Did it have a BA flight number?

Yes, it has . BA 1526

I enquired about the details when I booked, and was told that MSC didn't have the details at that time.

However, when I logged onto my BA exec' account, they were there, with the seat no. and that it was flown by AA ! Not a happy bunny, as you may expect, having heard all the adverse comments re. AA.

[GrandyMandy]

Just an update on the flight.

On looking at the flight 24 hours before, I noticed that an exit row seat had appeared, for £38.00. I quickly bought it, but the nearest one for me was at the end of the row of 4. However I moved to that.

On checking in, I asked if I could be moved to the other end, so that I was just across the aisle from my OH. This was done with no fuss and a smile.

The flight itself was good. No extra charges for headphones, or alcohol and a reasonable entertainment menu. So, happy bunnies, after original concerns. AA appear to have changed their attitude, even the cabin crew smiled!

Miami immigration was crowded, but not too bad, and we were through in about 30 minutes. The transfer was good, and we went straight through the ship check in procedure, and were soon standing on our balcony, with a drink and chocolate strawberries !

A very enjoyable cruise, although a bit 'bumpy', at times !