Flight warning...

[ccruzer123]

Was reading an article about airlines scaling back most of their international flights, and that American Airlines was only flying 3 international routes for April & May.  Concerned I decided to check my Regent cruise flights for May and it looks like our nonstop flight from LAX to LHR on American no longer exists.  Checked my booking on Regent's website which still shows the flight good.  Checked the flight on Google Flight which don't show the flight existing.  Checked "my trips" on my American account which shows the flight pending.  Obviously there is a problem somewhere, which will have to be corrected.

 

I just want to warn those individuals who have international flights that their scheduled flights may no longer exist if they are cruising in May or possibly June.  You might want to do a new search for flights on the days you plan to travel.  That is how I found out about the problem.    

[giustot]

I would not expect any cruises out of Europe in May or June. The cruise lines seem to have decided on announcing rolling cancellations every 30 days. So you may have to wait a few weeks before your cruise is officially canceled. But I would not worry about flights being cancelled. There won't be any cruises.

 

Tom.

[GrJ Berkshire]

4 hours ago, az2sea said:

Was reading an article about airlines scaling back most of their international flights, and that American Airlines was only flying 3 international routes for April & May.  Concerned I decided to check my Regent cruise flights for May and it looks like our nonstop flight from LAX to LHR on American no longer exists.  Checked my booking on Regent's website which still shows the flight good.  Checked the flight on Google Flight which don't show the flight existing.  Checked "my trips" on my American account which shows the flight pending.  Obviously there is a problem somewhere, which will have to be corrected.

 

I just want to warn those individuals who have international flights that their scheduled flights may no longer exist if they are cruising in May or possibly June.  You might want to do a new search for flights on the days you plan to travel.  That is how I found out about the problem.    

I. Think that the airlines or lack of them will be a significant problem when the virus closure is over. Very few will pull through in anything like the size and format they were meaning accessibility to ports will become much more complex for crew and passengers. Equally the aircraft manufacturers like Boeing already in difficulty for the 737max problem are going to find few new orders for aircraft. In the UK , virgin Atlantic is in need of a bailout and BA is in trouble .Many smaller airports are closed down, Gatwick, London city  are now closed down, and LHR goes to just 1 runway on Monday. Hard to believe as we live only 20 miles from Heathrow and its usual pattern is a .

plane every 2mins, now it is so  quiet just a few a day, causing jokes like birdwatching, spot a lesser spotted plane!!

On your specifics whatever you are picking up in the States there is zero chance of any cruises in Europe in May/ June, look at Wimbledon's cancellation in late July, I would think the earliest that things could restart is Sept 1st 2020.

[Ladys Mom]

It goes even further.  They have cancelled the Edinburgh Festival for August.  We have a trip scheduled for September to India and I don't expect that will go either.

[Dolebludger]

Then there is the additional problem that a friend recently experienced on a domestic flight she was booked on. American canceled the flight at the last minute for the sole reason that there were supposedly too few passengers. And we know of other cases just like this one. Many, or most of us have to take a domestic flight or two to get to an international flight. And they seem to be unreliable too, causing the havoc of missed connections — if those are even flying! Under the bail out bill, airlines that accept the help are forbidden to cancel flights for this reason — but I don’t trust them.  We have no cruises booked, and have concluded that the airline network is simply too unreliable and unpredictable to take a chance on in the foreseeable future. As reliable airline service is needed to get to a cruise, many will not book one until there is a reliable way to get to it. For that reason, we seriously doubt that any responsible cruise line will be sailing this May or June. And perhaps not until later than that.

[jhenry1]

We have the Cape Town to Cape Town leaving on Dec 3 out of Austin Texas on British air to London an then on to Cape town and returning Dec 25 on BA.  That is my concern that they might cancel due to so few passengers and then what on earth would we do.  My other fear is that the cruise might not be cancelled but still concerned over the safety of flying and also the safety of getting on a ship especially in Africa  We have until Aug for our final payment .  If we were much younger than 75 I wouldn't be as concerned but being high risk places another burden on top of everything.  UGH

[GrJ Berkshire]

9 hours ago, jhenry1 said:

We have the Cape Town to Cape Town leaving on Dec 3 out of Austin Texas on British air to London an then on to Cape town and returning Dec 25 on BA.  That is my concern that they might cancel due to so few passengers and then what on earth would we do.  My other fear is that the cruise might not be cancelled but still concerned over the safety of flying and also the safety of getting on a ship especially in Africa  We have until Aug for our final payment .  If we were much younger than 75 I wouldn't be as concerned but being high risk places another burden on top of everything.  UGH

As a Brit my concern is that BA will not exist in it's current  form come Dec 2020 , already 36000 staff laid off on Gov't furloughing scheme and LHR going to 1 runway from Monday..

[seaknots]

20 hours ago, jhenry1 said:

We have the Cape Town to Cape Town leaving on Dec 3 out of Austin Texas on British air to London an then on to Cape town and returning Dec 25 on BA.  That is my concern that they might cancel due to so few passengers and then what on earth would we do.  My other fear is that the cruise might not be cancelled but still concerned over the safety of flying and also the safety of getting on a ship especially in Africa  We have until Aug for our final payment .  If we were much younger than 75 I wouldn't be as concerned but being high risk places another burden on top of everything.  UGH

december - no worry

[cruiseluv]

Yesterday I was checking flights I had booked with AA to/ from Italy for September/ October 2020 ( this is for a land trip). My reservations had disappeared without any notification from AA. Called them , and sure enough , the flights have been cancelled and they're in the process of refunding my miles/taxes. If I needed confirmation that my trip to Italy this fall won't happen, this is it. 

[ccruzer123]

Update:  American Airlines did cancel our flights, we are now flying out of DFW which I much prefer.  But now there is a new problem, the flight they now have us booked on (according to their website) does not fly the DFW to LHR route on that day.  In addition, they have assigned us seats D & G in business class, but there are no G seats on that plane.  

 

When I checked our return flights I found they had also changed them.  They now have us leaving LHR about the time we get off the ship and obviously that is not going to work.  You would think they would know that cruise lines require return flights be booked later in the day to accommodate disembarkation, travel to airport and check-in.

 

Checked with Regent and they have removed our old scheduled flights and replaced it with:

Your trip includes:  Round-trip airfare for two

 

I know most likely the cruise in mid-May will be cancelled, therefore I really don't need to worry about the flights.  But as I stated before, check your flights for cancellations or changes.  Our flight for a cruise out of MIA in mid-July has also been changed and once again our return flight leaves before we even get off the ship.   The airlines are really struggling right now and seemed overwhelmed, thus the many mistakes.

[Dolebludger]

I really feel sorry for the airlines, even though I am not one of their fans! Flights in The US are only 4% of what they were before thee pandemic. They have to shuffle their flights and cancelations in an attempt th guess the market. And cruise lines are forced to try to hit a moving target in finding flights that coincide with cruise schedules. It is just one huge mess!

[greenolaker]

After reading this I decided to check on our AA flights to Venice on October 22. It was cancelled although the return flight from Rome in November is still listed. Never got an email from AA that they had cancelled. I called and was told to request refund for the round trip. We were going to wait to see if things improved and the cruise would happen but now I guess we will cancel the cruise. 

[papa B me]

These are the types of threads that make CC so valuable. I cancelled a Cruise a couple of weeks ago for September. I had non cancellable business class tickets flying into Lisbon and back from Barcelona. My thoughts were that I could get a voucher for a future trip and then hope things improve in the months to come and start over. Was just waiting to call till it got closer.  After reading this thread this morning I went to American’s website and sure enough the Philly to Lisbon leg was cancelled. I immediately called American. Was shocked there was no wait. Rep checked and sure enough I was eligible for full refund. He cancelled then I had to go to AA.com to request a refund. It offered a 20% bump if you took the voucher but with all the uncertainty and the substantial amount involved I took the refund. Immediately received a confirmation by email. Says 7-10 days for the refund but the rep when I called said 3 weeks is more realistic. With no notice from American I truly appreciate the OP for posting. 

[rcandkc]

Add us to the list. Our flight from Iceland to home was cancelled without any notice from AA.  We have started our process of getting a refund. We do not want a voucher for future travel.  

[dreamercruise]

Wholeheartedly agree with papa B Me about thanking OP az2sea for starting this informative and helpful thread.  I also benefited from it.  The “warning“ word in the title caught my attention.  I looked up my June, RT AA flight from US -> LHR -> CPT South Africa.  Surprised to see that the segment from LHR to CPT was cancelled.  Never got a notice from AA.  Perhaps AA is currently overwhelmed with flight cancellations and reshuffling.  Since my flight was non-refundable, I called AA to inquire.  Agent said I had a choice of refund or rebooking.  She helped me cancel my flights, and instructed me to go online prefunds dot aa dot com to request refund.  The request process is simple.  It has a drop-down menu for refund reasons and a comment section for me to indicate that the cancelled flight segment was reason for my refund request.

Although AA is already very generous to allow passengers who shall be flying up to Sept 30 to rebook anytime up to Dec 31, 2021, I much prefer the flexibility of getting refund due to uncertainty of the virus and availability of vaccine.

My final payment for a guided land tour is due in May.  Now, I need not let non-refundable ticket loss to affect my decision to cancel the tour, before I dump more money into the pot of future tour credits.  I thank OP for this timely thread.

[Dolebludger]

This thread emphasizes the need to check your flights, and their status, even if the flights are somewhat far in the future. It is apparent that the airlines aren’t notifying booked passengers of flights and routes they have canceled. 

[barko4441]

44 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

This thread emphasizes the need to check your flights, and their status, even if the flights are somewhat far in the future. It is apparent that the airlines aren’t notifying booked passengers of flights and routes they have canceled. 

I know when I look at my booked flights, under each flight leg there is a box named click for flight alerts. Then again with all that is going on, they might be not alerting..............

[Travelcat2]

in my opinion, it is not surprising that flights are being cancelled.  However, once some borders open and cruising resumes, there should be plenty of flights to get us to the ports.  Regent will take care of this for you (unless you are not using Regent Air).  At this time, I would not book my own flights.  We booked our own flights (domestic) for our now cancelled May cruise.  We used points and are still  jumping through hoops to try to get points back, etc.   It will take a while for fights to stabilize and I would rather have the experts at Regent looking out for us.

[SusieQft]

51 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

We used points and are still  jumping through hoops to try to get points back, etc.   It will take a while for fights to stabilize and I would rather have the experts at Regent looking out for us.

I was thinking of using points for our May 2021 Regent Navigator booking (Miami to NYC), after (if) we make final payment in December.  I was under the impression that you don't necessarily get back the cost of the flights, and especially not the deviation fees and non-gateway fees, if your Regent booking is cancelled.  Could you explain how that works?  I am thinking that points would be easier and less costly to unwind, as well as to get business/first class domestic flights.

[ccruzer123]

Booked the flights for May cruise through Regent, as of today the flights are still pending.  But when Regent does cancel that May cruise, I have asked our TA so switch everything (cruise & air) over to a November cruise.  Regarding the July cruise, the final payment was due today but with the new 100 day "No Sail" order we decide to cancel.  The air for that cruise we did on our own so I simply logged into my American Airlines account, located "My Trips", clicked on change flights and switched our flight to our January 2021 Regent cruise.  It was very easy, no cancellation or change fee. 

[cruiseluv]

13 hours ago, rcandkc said:

Add us to the list. Our flight from Iceland to home was cancelled without any notice from AA.  We have started our process of getting a refund. We do not want a voucher for future travel.  

Out of curiosity, when were your flights?

[cruiseluv]

5 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

in my opinion, it is not surprising that flights are being cancelled.  However, once some borders open and cruising resumes, there should be plenty of flights to get us to the ports.  Regent will take care of this for you (unless you are not using Regent Air).  At this time, I would not book my own flights.  We booked our own flights (domestic) for our now cancelled May cruise.  We used points and are still  jumping through hoops to try to get points back, etc.   It will take a while for fights to stabilize and I would rather have the experts at Regent looking out for us.

 

But that's the whole point, borders may not open for a while  https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarathiessen/2020/04/11/europe-borders-may-close-to-september-due-to-us-covid-19-threat/#255eea4a431f   Seems like we're pariahs now...

 

Sorry, but I think people making final payments on European cruises for 2020 are making a mistake (unless you don't mind leaving your money parked with Regent for the foreseeable future)

 

 

[giustot]

1 hour ago, cruiseluv said:

Sorry, but I think people making final payments on European cruises for 2020 are making a mistake (unless you don't mind leaving your money parked with Regent for the foreseeable future)

 

 

 

You're absolutely correct. I personally doubt very much that US cruise lines will be sailing in Europe this season.

 

Too many things still have to happen. The US has to reopen, the CDC has to approve medical plans, the cruise lines have to comply with the medical plans, the ships have to be crewed and re-positioned, the airlines have to resume flights, the European countries have to re-open their ports, and enough passengers have to be willing to travel abroad. 

 

I may be wrong but I just don't see European cruises happening this year.

[cruiseluv]

7 minutes ago, giustot said:

 

You're absolutely correct. I personally doubt very much that US cruise lines will be sailing in Europe this season.

 

Too many things still have to happen. The US has to reopen, the CDC has to approve medical plans, the cruise lines have to comply with the medical plans, the ships have to be crewed and re-positioned, the airlines have to resume flights, the European countries have to re-open their ports, and enough passengers have to be willing to travel abroad. 

 

I may be wrong but I just don't see European cruises happening this year.

 

Thank you for capsulizing it much better than I could. Too many moving parts... 

[rcandkc]

9 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

Out of curiosity, when were your flights?

June 30