Airport Transfers nightmare

[i love dorset]

Last Year we were taken off the ship and dropped at the airport hours before our flight and an hour before we could check our luggage in,

Just received a flight change on V612A cruise this year. Our flight home on 20th August is now 15.30pm from Marco Polo to Heathrow. I have just rand Cunard and have spoken to three different departments asking if they intend to dump us all again at 11am which is two/ three hours and a very long wait standing with bags in the heat queueing before we can check them in. I was told that they would decide this on the ship!!!! Will they provide somewhere for us to sit and transfer us a little later I wonder. Any thoughts.???? I did explain they would lose valued customers if they continue to treat us like cattle at the end of our cruise.

We will wait and see!!

[Keith1010]

Marco Polo does not like it when people arrive too early and they do have strict guidelines about check in.

 

Keith

[Host Hattie]

We had an afternoon sailing from Venice a couple of years ago. We had to be out of cabins at the usual time but our airport transfer wasn't until after lunchtime. We had a wander round the city and lunch in the Lido before we needed to leave.

[sandancer]

We had a BA flight from Hamburg and while we had to leave the cabin at the usual time, we were allowed to stay on the ship until 1pm when they bussed us to the airport. We were at the airport for about 3 hours. Lines for security were dreadful so we could not have safely arrived any later. Given current security levels at airports, I would want to have lots of spare time.

 

 

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Edited March 24, 2016 by sandancer

[i love dorset]

Thank you for that.

[pepperrn]

... We were at the airport for about 3 hours. Lines for security were dreadful so we could not have safely arrived any later. Given current security levels at airports, I would want to have lots of spare time.

Well said sandancer.

Sadly hours of queuing, and then waiting around at airports is just a part of modern air travel it seems, something to be endured.

Each time I fly I have to make the best of it; standing in line "landside", and then wasting time at coffee shops, bookstalls, duty-free and eateries "airside".

Of course, I'm very happy if this hanging around is the result of security being super-tight...

[pepperrn]

... Our flight home on 20th August is now 15.30pm from Marco Polo to Heathrow. I have just rand Cunard and have spoken to three different departments asking if they intend to dump us all again at 11am which is two/ three hours and a very long wait standing with bags in the heat queueing before we can check them in. ...

Hi i love dorset (so do I, by the way :) )

 

I've no experience of Marco Polo, however I've flown home from JFK after a crossing several times. Each time the transfer coach has dropped me at the airport around 4-5 hours before my flight. The two/three hours you mention above would seem to be the very minimum required for international flights these days, unless I am mistaken?

If you are a couple then at least one of you can visit the loo or find somewhere to sit for a few minutes whilst the other stands in line/watches the bags.

(I once (as a solo passenger) flew back from LA and was dropped so early by the taxi at the airport that I was in time to catch the previous BA flight home! Check-in refused my bags (in case they got put on the wrong flight) and I had to wander around "land side" trailing my cases behind me for hours... that was tough!)

 

I'm sure we all find the interminable hanging around with cases etc at souless airports very frustrating, but arrival mid-morning for a mid-afternoon international flight seems quite the norm in these days of heightened security and the world we live in, sadly.

 

Have a great cruise and I hope that all works out for you :)

Edited March 25, 2016 by pepperrn

[Cats2010]

[quote name=pepperrn;49503355

Each time I fly I have to make the best of it; standing in line "landside"' date=' and then wasting time at coffee shops, bookstalls, duty-free and eateries "airside".

[/quote]

 

 

I recommend to do what Pepper uses to do, dorset. What happened to me once when I spent time in an airport building before taking off is that I missed the last call and just made it into the plane the very last minute ... :D. Don't do that!

 

It's nice to watch the planes coming and going from a terrace. You could also swap with your travel companion/husband/wife when queuing for check-in.

 

What immediately came to my mind when I was reading your post is that in one European capital there is no airport at all at the moment where one could wait. You probably know the reason.

[DreamflightPat]

Last Year we were taken off the ship and dropped at the airport hours before our flight and an hour before we could check our luggage in,

Just received a flight change on V612A cruise this year. Our flight home on 20th August is now 15.30pm from Marco Polo to Heathrow. I have just rand Cunard and have spoken to three different departments asking if they intend to dump us all again at 11am which is two/ three hours and a very long wait standing with bags in the heat queueing before we can check them in. I was told that they would decide this on the ship!!!! Will they provide somewhere for us to sit and transfer us a little later I wonder. Any thoughts.???? I did explain they would lose valued customers if they continue to treat us like cattle at the end of our cruise.

We will wait and see!!

In light of recent events in Brussels I think you will find that we are going to have to get to airports much earlier than we ever needed to. I am speaking as a retired crew member who flew for over 39 years. I know it it s pain but I would rather be early and go and have a nice meal and drink than be rushing at the last minute. Just programme it in to your day and then you won't be disappointed. Sadly we are not going to go back to the free and easy days.