Unusual question I know but can you change the outgoing flight but keep the return flight?

[MrsPowsey]

We are booked on the Spirit of Iberia on the Dream 22/03/2020 and fly from Manchester to Malaga at 6am with a return flight at 11.30am to Manchester on the 29th.  We noticed that there was a later flight at 6.20 from Manchester but the return flight wasn't until something like 7pm getting into Manchester around 10pm.  Whilst the original return flight is great for us we were wondering if we could change the outgoing flight to the later one but keep the original return flight.  I have just rung TUI but as I am not the "lead passenger" they couldn't help me.  Just wondered if anyone else has done this before and if you did, did you get charged extra or if you did change the outgoing flight you also had to change the return flight?

TIA

[okavango]

Why bother for the sake of twenty minutes ,cant imagine TUI accomadating you

[davecttr]

Probably not. when you buy the cruise a place for you is reserved on the outbound flight AND the inbound flight. So if you want to change the inbound flight the outbound flight will need to change as well. The seating arrangements have to be balanced otherwise some flights will have empty seats and others will have more passengers than seats!

[MrsPowsey]

Thank you for your replies Okavango and Davecttr, I think I should have given my reasons for wanting the later flight, on the flight we are booked on there were no extra leg room seats left to book and we would prefer them due to both of us having health issues however, just happy enough to be going on holiday, it was just an afterthought that the later outgoing flight may have more options available for more leg room.

[okavango]

1 hour ago, MrsPowsey said:

Thank you for your replies Okavango and Davecttr, I think I should have given my reasons for wanting the later flight, on the flight we are booked on there were no extra leg room seats left to book and we would prefer them due to both of us having health issues however, just happy enough to be going on holiday, it was just an afterthought that the later outgoing flight may have more options available for more leg room.

OK , you may have a chance of changing the complete flight but the split i would say is a definate no no , you may also find that the later flight could be a different price . At least Man/Mal is a pretty short flight

[Vitalsign]

I was in the TUI TA yesterday trying to change a return flight only for a cruise as our friends are on a different return flight from Palma It was possible but it was classed as an amendment and the charge was £50pp We did not go for it If you're willing to pay and seats are available it can be done for one flight only 

[Vitalsign]

PS. I would tell them when you ring that the reason you want to change the flight is cos you want extra leg room seats (as your return flight I presume) and you may not have to pay the £50 

[nancyneptune]

I doubt very much if you would be able to do this.  Tui / Marella are very rigid and are unwilling to make these sort of changes.  We have tried to amend  things in the past and have been told their system does not allow them to do this.   Eg . Add an extra week to a back to back cruise without having to purchase another one week package and having to pay for one flight that you won't use. 

 

Their system does not allow them to make changes to anything other than those stated in the brochure. 

 

Difficult to believe in 2020 when other companies can tailor and  package all sorts of holidays to suit passengers requirements.

[Vitalsign]

Sorry NancyNeptune but have to disagree We have booked on Discovery this April a cruise from Dubai to Aqaba 14days and added Aqaba to Palma 7days as advertised in the brochure When looking at the brochure we were surprised that a 21day repositioning cruise wasn't available so instead of booking on line we went to the TUI TA and told them what we wanted without paying for 4 flights They had to ring HO but they did do it for us and discounted the 2 flights we wouldn't be taking (return from Aqaba and flight out to Aqaba Of course we were very pleased. 

However we were back there to pay our balance on Wednesday for the first cruise and asked if we could change our flight back from Palma to Manchester to the same one that our friends are on. They are flying out to Muscat for a 14 day cruise back to Palma a week after we fly to Dubai and cruising back to Palma with us - they rang HO and were able to do this if we paid £50 pp for the amendment, which we thought was over the top as there are 3 flights back to Manchester that day all with available seats - we turned it down but my point is that what you can't get on line you can often get by visiting the TUI TA

[okavango]

11 hours ago, Vitalsign said:

Sorry NancyNeptune but have to disagree We have booked on Discovery this April a cruise from Dubai to Aqaba 14days and added Aqaba to Palma 7days as advertised in the brochure When looking at the brochure we were surprised that a 21day repositioning cruise wasn't available so instead of booking on line we went to the TUI TA and told them what we wanted without paying for 4 flights They had to ring HO but they did do it for us and discounted the 2 flights we wouldn't be taking (return from Aqaba and flight out to Aqaba Of course we were very pleased. 

However we were back there to pay our balance on Wednesday for the first cruise and asked if we could change our flight back from Palma to Manchester to the same one that our friends are on. They are flying out to Muscat for a 14 day cruise back to Palma a week after we fly to Dubai and cruising back to Palma with us - they rang HO and were able to do this if we paid £50 pp for the amendment, which we thought was over the top as there are 3 flights back to Manchester that day all with available seats - we turned it down but my point is that what you can't get on line you can often get by visiting the TUI TA

 

Have i read it right ,the Palma flight is only a one way job whereas the OP was talking about splitting a return flight in to two one way flights

[Vitalsign]

If I read it right they just wanted to change their outgoing flight from Manchester which was 20 mins later and were quite happy with the return flight

[nancyneptune]

14 hours ago, Vitalsign said:

Sorry NancyNeptune but have to disagree We have booked on Discovery this April a cruise from Dubai to Aqaba 14days and added Aqaba to Palma 7days as advertised in the brochure When looking at the brochure we were surprised that a 21day repositioning cruise wasn't available so instead of booking on line we went to the TUI TA and told them what we wanted without paying for 4 flights They had to ring HO but they did do it for us and discounted the 2 flights we wouldn't be taking (return from Aqaba and flight out to Aqaba Of course we were very pleased. 

However we were back there to pay our balance on Wednesday for the first cruise and asked if we could change our flight back from Palma to Manchester to the same one that our friends are on. They are flying out to Muscat for a 14 day cruise back to Palma a week after we fly to Dubai and cruising back to Palma with us - they rang HO and were able to do this if we paid £50 pp for the amendment, which we thought was over the top as there are 3 flights back to Manchester that day all with available seats - we turned it down but my point is that what you can't get on line you can often get by visiting the TUI TA

 

 

Hi Vitalsign.

 

Thank you for your comment.  I'm pleased you managed to get your cruise booked to your satisfaction.

 

None of the Far East and Middle East cruises are available departing from Scotland with Marella therefore we haven't even looked at these. 

 

 We have flown from Manchester and Gatwick in the past but now refuse to do it on principal as Tui are continually reducing the flights from Scottish airports, especially over the past two years.

 ( In the news this week another well known airline have introduced several more new European holidays flights from Glasgow  and increased the number of flights to destinations they already have ).

 

We enjoyed two re- positioning cruises in the Middle East about three years ago on the Celebration and these were very popular and Glasgow flights were fully booked well before departure dates but are now no longer available from any Scottish airports. 

Also some cruises that used to be available to book from Glasgow and Edinburgh are now only available from Glasgow  OR  Edinburgh.

 

As much as we have enjoyed our cruises with Thomson / Marella over the years we now book with another line if the itinerary we wish to book is not available with Marella from Scotland. 

 

I can only speak from experience and we have  had our requests to add an extra week to a back to back cruise without having to pay for a flight we wouldn't use refused.

 

A lot depends on which call centre your local TA gets through to to make the request. Some are more helpful than others and some are downright rude.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise.  We loved it and are looking at the Middle East again with another cruise line for later in the year.  Flights with Emirates.

 

 

[okavango]

1 hour ago, Vitalsign said:

If I read it right they just wanted to change their outgoing flight from Manchester which was 20 mins later and were quite happy with the return flight

But in your case its a single flight with three possible time options ,they were looking at splitting two different return flights ,and if you actually check it out the 6:20am flight option is actually £72 pp more than the 6:00am option so how would that get apportioned, i still think it would be a no no on tui's part.

[Vitalsign]

I give up. 😏

[MrsPowsey]

Hi guys, I didn't expect my question to be quite so divisive!

 

We contacted Tui and they said that it would be considered an amendment and they would charge us for it and couldn't actually guarantee that there would be any extra leg room seats on the new flight so we are going to just stick with the original flights and bear the discomfort......noticed the flight times tho I though it was just two/three hours to Malaga from Manchester but the flight is at six and we don't get into Malaga until ten......that is four hours by my reckoning!  As the date is 22nd March do you think this is the time difference as I believe that the clocks go forward to British summer time whilst we are away?

 

Many thanks to you all for your replies

[okavango]

46 minutes ago, MrsPowsey said:

Hi guys, I didn't expect my question to be quite so divisive!

 

We contacted Tui and they said that it would be considered an amendment and they would charge us for it and couldn't actually guarantee that there would be any extra leg room seats on the new flight so we are going to just stick with the original flights and bear the discomfort......noticed the flight times tho I though it was just two/three hours to Malaga from Manchester but the flight is at six and we don't get into Malaga until ten......that is four hours by my reckoning!  As the date is 22nd March do you think this is the time difference as I believe that the clocks go forward to British summer time whilst we are away?

 

Many thanks to you all for your replies

Are you looking at the landing time or flight duration time , Malaga is one hour ahead of us at the moment and still will be when you fly out so landing time would be 4 hours after leaving.

Were they going to let you change just the departure flight or would it have been the whole return flight.

[MrsPowsey]

1 hour ago, okavango said:

Are you looking at the landing time or flight duration time , Malaga is one hour ahead of us at the moment and still will be when you fly out so landing time would be 4 hours after leaving.

Were they going to let you change just the departure flight or would it have been the whole return flight.

We had to change both the outgoing and return flights and there was no guarantee that we had leg room chairs for either flights so we have decided to just stick with the flights as booked.

[okavango]

1

Edited January 20, 2020 by okavango

[Vitalsign]

MrsPowsey if you've got the wind behind you going out, which is usual it will be a much shorter flight It's never taken 4 hours either way for us. Have a great cruise

 

NancyNeptune. Thanks for your good wishes I did the Middle East cruise from Dubai Jan 2017 on Celebration and really loved it. I was surprised it was dropped but believe Celebration will be there again 20/21or 21/22 can't remember which so may go again

Weve also done the repositioning cruise on Spirit from Palma to Sharm el Sheik and on Celebration from Sharm el Sheik to Marmaris which we enjoyed - nice to have dry heat instead of the humidity you get in the Caribbean - although love the Caribbean 

so sorry you can't get flights from Glasgow for the cruises you want with Marella it needs sorting and quick

[okavango]

1 hour ago, MrsPowsey said:

We had to change both the outgoing and return flights and there was no guarantee that we had leg room chairs for either flights so we have decided to just stick with the flights as booked.

 

Would also have been expensive, £72 pp for the other flight and probably £50 amendment fee on top , thick end of £200

[okavango]

On 1/18/2020 at 4:59 PM, Vitalsign said:

I give up. 😏

Well we finally got the definitive answer 4 posts below.