Flight Changes for Near-Term Sailing

[am0189]

Hi All, 

 

I appreciate any feedback / help anyone can provide with my questions!  A little background, we are scheduled to sail on the Jade on the 8/8/21 sailing and are very excited!! We took advantage of the NCL flight booking service and the flights we've been assigned leave a bit to be desired (leave BOS at 9 pm, 1 hour, 10 minute layover in London, and scheduled to land in Athens at 4:10 pm).

 

I have called a few times but each time have been told that we will be there with plenty of time. My concern is that if anything goes wrong on the flight over, we may miss our connection, and since the airport is about 45 minutes from the port in Athens we are not leaving a ton of room for error. I was also told that if we were to miss the boat due to the flight issues that we could work with the insurance for the cruise to get our money back and they will not be allowing people to get on at another port. I also asked if NCL will pay for our covid test to board our flight to London and was told that they would be only doing the testing at the pier (not the end of the world, but just wanted to include it if anyone is in the same boat). We are concerned about the US putting Great Britain on the red list, but I am hoping this does not impact anything.   

 

My question are, has anyone had any luck getting their flights changed under the 20 day mark (14 days at this point, We were told we would not have been able to ever change our flights since we booked under 90 days)?  Also, do you have any experience with the NCL shuttles from the airport to cruise port, do they run them frequently?  

 

Thank you!

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by am0189

[ClevelandCruisin]

27 minutes ago, am0189 said:

Hi All, 

 

I appreciate any feedback / help anyone can provide with my questions!  A little background, we are scheduled to sail on the Jade on the 8/8/21 sailing and are very excited!! We took advantage of the NCL flight booking service and the flights we've been assigned leave a bit to be desired (leave BOS at 9 pm, 1 hour, 10 minute layover in London, and scheduled to land in Athens at 4:10 pm).

 

I have called a few times but each time have been told that we will be there with plenty of time. My concern is that if anything goes wrong on the flight over, we may miss our connection, and since the airport is about 45 minutes from the port in Athens we are not leaving a ton of room for error. I was also told that if we were to miss the boat due to the flight issues that we could work with the insurance for the cruise to get our money back and they will not be allowing people to get on at another port. I also asked if NCL will pay for our covid test to board our flight to London and was told that they would be only doing the testing at the pier (not the end of the world, but just wanted to include it if anyone is in the same boat). We are concerned about the US putting Great Britain on the red list, but I am hoping this does not impact anything.   

 

My question are, has anyone had any luck getting their flights changed under the 20 day mark (14 days at this point, We were told we would not have been able to ever change our flights since we booked under 90 days)?  Also, do you have any experience with the NCL shuttles from the airport to cruise port, do they run them frequently?  

 

Thank you!

 

The shuttles run often, that said they wait till the bus is full before they walk you down to the shuttle. It's actually easier and faster to take a taxi. I really try to avoid these shuttles. The bus has to go drop off people, then drive back. So if you're the first shuttle,  it's great.. everything after that can be a lot of waiting. But this is what I can tell you for US ports, not Europe.

 

For the flights, I have no experience,  but we get a deviation and go in a day early. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by ClevelandCruisin

[julig22]

So far, NCL has always gotten me and everyone I know to the ship on time.  They know you are coming and are aware if your flight is delayed.  They will hold the ship for a reasonable amount of time if there are delays - one major consideration IMHO.

Happened on a cruise out of New Orleans due to weather.  Those on the late flight did their check-in onboard instead of the terminal and had to do a makeup muster drill the next morning.

The shuttles are dedicated busses that go directly to the ship but you might have to wait until they are full.  Sometimes it's a single bus, other times they have quite a few - it just depends on the demand.

Edited July 26, 2021 by julig22

[Sailing Smooth]

My sister-in-law is feeling the same way and has been trying to get help since the flights were ticketed.  No one at NCL Air Program has been willing to do anything about them whether it be change them to an earlier time or different route.  She's flying through Madrid to Greece on the same date as you on Iberia.  Calling Iberia customer service is not helpful as it's almost impossible to get an English speaking rep.  She's been documenting all of her contacts, but hopes she won't need them.

 

Here's to everyone making the boat on time.  Our group of 17 is coming on 3 different flights.

[sverigecruiser]

4 hours ago, am0189 said:

 the flights we've been assigned leave a bit to be desired (leave BOS at 9 pm, 1 hour, 10 minute layover in London, and scheduled to land in Athens at 4:10 pm).

 

 

The flights from the US landing in Europe in the morning often arrive early so that part is probably not a problem. To land in Athens 4.10 seems late but if NCL book it that way it should be fine.   

[mscdivina2016]

14 hours ago, am0189 said:

Hi All, 

 

I appreciate any feedback / help anyone can provide with my questions!  A little background, we are scheduled to sail on the Jade on the 8/8/21 sailing and are very excited!! We took advantage of the NCL flight booking service and the flights we've been assigned leave a bit to be desired (leave BOS at 9 pm, 1 hour, 10 minute layover in London, and scheduled to land in Athens at 4:10 pm).

 

I have called a few times but each time have been told that we will be there with plenty of time. My concern is that if anything goes wrong on the flight over, we may miss our connection, and since the airport is about 45 minutes from the port in Athens we are not leaving a ton of room for error. I was also told that if we were to miss the boat due to the flight issues that we could work with the insurance for the cruise to get our money back and they will not be allowing people to get on at another port. I also asked if NCL will pay for our covid test to board our flight to London and was told that they would be only doing the testing at the pier (not the end of the world, but just wanted to include it if anyone is in the same boat). We are concerned about the US putting Great Britain on the red list, but I am hoping this does not impact anything.   

 

My question are, has anyone had any luck getting their flights changed under the 20 day mark (14 days at this point, We were told we would not have been able to ever change our flights since we booked under 90 days)?  Also, do you have any experience with the NCL shuttles from the airport to cruise port, do they run them frequently?  

 

Thank you!

 

1 hour 10 minutes would scare me at Heathrow.  Hopefully you are in the same terminal with next gate nearby, and your seats are ticketed with boarding passes and bags checked thru.

 I personally would not be happy with that. I am surprised that they would book that little leeway. 

 The shuttles are just as already pointed out.

Steve

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

1 hour 10 minutes would scare me at Heathrow.  Hopefully you are in the same terminal with next gate nearby, and your seats are ticketed with boarding passes and bags checked thru.

 I personally would not be happy with that. I am surprised that they would book that little leeway. 

 The shuttles are just as already pointed out.

Steve

 

Both flights should be terminal 5, unless Covid has changed it and of course that's a possibility.

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

1 hour 10 minutes would scare me at Heathrow.  Hopefully you are in the same terminal with next gate nearby, and your seats are ticketed with boarding passes and bags checked thru.

 I personally would not be happy with that. I am surprised that they would book that little leeway. 

 The shuttles are just as already pointed out.

Steve

 

Both flights should be terminal 5, unless Covid has changed it and of course that's a possibility.

 

Lots of other big planes from the US landing that time of the day may be a problem because the lines for security may be long.

[nolatravelgirl]

It looks like you are on British Airways and there isn't an  earlier flight for BOS-LHR (on BA) which puts you in a precarious position. Have you checked to see what the fee is for changing to the flight the day before. The fee could be worth the peace of mind.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I have tried on more than one occasion to get a change in the NCL supplied air travel.  They absolutely refuse to even talk about it.  I have 2 cruises booked right now with NCL, both using their air promo.  Never again.  I prefer to be in control of my air travel.

[am0189]

1 hour ago, nolatravelgirl said:

It looks like you are on British Airways and there isn't an  earlier flight for BOS-LHR (on BA) which puts you in a precarious position. Have you checked to see what the fee is for changing to the flight the day before. The fee could be worth the peace of mind.

 

I have asked, American said I cannot do any changes because it is a code share with BA and they do not have any American Operated flights from LHR and NCL said we can't do anything because we are within their allowed guidance. We also received another flight change notice from NCL today, but the information was all the same....assuming the system was just catching up from before. American does have a flight an hour earlier, I may try to get to the airport a few hours earlier and ask!

 

Thankfully they did say that bags will be checked through and we should be able to check in for everything. My biggest concern is if they will be checking the covid test status there, we will absolutely do it, but another manual check point will just add more time. 

[nolatravelgirl]

You would be pretty much wasting your breath trying to get on the AA flight. I get that it is a code share but unless there is some major mechanical the likelihood of them putting you another company's metal is highly unlikely. Your flight is on BA. You will check in at the BA counter and they own your flight. My biggest concern would be your luggage. I would make sure that your carry on has everything you need for this entire cruise as it will be a hard itinerary to have your luggage catch up with you.

 

Can you get your BA PNR and see if you can log into ba.com and potentially change it yourself?

[cruise52]

Not sure why all the fuss. The ship doesn’t sail until 11:00 pm and you are due in at 4:10.  Very doable.  Agree with Nolatravelgirl, not likely to get on an AA flight, but you might be able to change directly with BA.  

 

As far as your trip being a hard itinerary to catch up to in the event of delayed bagged, given the destination is Athens this should make it relatively easy to catch up to other Greek ports.  Years ago we had bags that didn’t make it to Rome with us and they were delivered to our cabin on the 3rd day of the cruise when we reached Mykonos.  Not ideal, but not impossible or unlikely either, especially from Athens.  

 

Also, if the tight connection is the concern, keep in mind most airlines are overestimating the trip time.  Two reasons for this 1) tight connections and 2) their “on-time” record.  It’s hard not be on time when you over-estimate the time it should take.  Example, we just returned from Rome.  Our outbound flight to Rome was estimated for 8.25 hours from JFK.  We made it in 6.5 hours.  We were early because of tail winds, but also because the flight time was a bit over-estimated.

 

You should be fine - try not to worry and go and enjoy.  

Edited July 26, 2021 by cruise52

[hallux]

5 hours ago, am0189 said:

American does have a flight an hour earlier, I may try to get to the airport a few hours earlier and ask!

Probably not worth it.  When I sailed in October 2019 I used the NCL air.  NCL booked me on a red-eye from LA back to NY (through Philly as I'm in the green part of NY, not the concrete jungle of NYC) so I ended up with all day in LA.  I grabbed an early NCL shuttle back to LAX and tried to change my flight at the ticket counter to an earlier flight that was leaving in a couple hours but they wouldn't let me do it because of how the ticket was purchased.

[Sue Do-Over]

Frequent flyers and those with airline credit cards can sometimes get more flexibility than the rest of us, when it comes to hoping for stand-by on an earlier flight.

Before COVID, I travelled enough for work that I was recognized at the United and AA check-in and gate agents here in Dayton.  (which is tiny)   Hmmm, maybe the reason they recognized me is that I usually had m&m's ... funny how a little bag of sunshine helped score me upgrades and flexibility!

 

That said, NCL books the lowest economy fares with little or no flexibility.  Good luck!