Charter flights from LHR to San Francisco

[Belle on board]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the UK and planning to book a cruise that departs from San Francisco. The flight options are Heathrow or Manchester and both are possible for us. When we sailed with Cunard departing from Venice the flight we took from London was a charter flight. Should we expect the flight to San Francisco also to be a charter flight if we book direct with Cunard? Would it be usual for us to be able to upgrade to premium economy or business class even if it is a charter? We will be travelling Britannia class. 

Thanks for your help. 

[Craigrlewis]

I think for Long Haul it wont be a charter

 

When we did Panama Canal in 2019 we tacked on a week in San Francisco prior to the cruise and used Cunard for the flights.
 

We were on Virgin and paid £500 each to upgrade to Upper Class

 

Hope that helps

[LadyL1]

As said, flights will be with a national carrier. We have always found the long haul flights booked direct with Cunard, exceedingly good value.

As we are still experiencing travel difficulties due to the pandemic, and never know what is around the corner, if I were you I would book cruise and flight together with Cunard. If the flight situations change, your booking is altogether and will save a lot of hassle. It is virtually impossible to get refunds from airlines these days!

[lissie]

6 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

As said, flights will be with a national carrier. We have always found the long haul flights booked direct with Cunard, exceedingly good value.

As we are still experiencing travel difficulties due to the pandemic, and never know what is around the corner, if I were you I would book cruise and flight together with Cunard. If the flight situations change, your booking is altogether and will save a lot of hassle. It is virtually impossible to get refunds from airlines these days!

Depends on the airline - and you should have insurance to cover it as well - living in the UK you can probably get cancellation due to covid changes - which those of us Down Under can't .

 

I'm   also flying to SF from NZ - and have started booking flights which  completely refundable, at no extra cost. e.g. having miles with Qantas means I can book Alaska Airlines who fly direct to SFO from HNL. 

 

OP if you are flying from the UK - give yourself a day or 2 to recover -the jetlag is pretty brutal regardless of the size  of the seat you book. 

[PORT ROYAL]

As others have wisely stated.  Book Cunard cruise and flights together early and pay for an upgrade.

[elmsliebev]

we are flying to Vancouver from Heathrow and back from Miami (with Manchester shuttles) with Cunard. The flights are with BA and we've upgraded to Premium Economy for £340 pp return. 

[PORT ROYAL]

1 hour ago, elmsliebev said:

we are flying to Vancouver from Heathrow and back from Miami (with Manchester shuttles) with Cunard. The flights are with BA and we've upgraded to Premium Economy for £340 pp return. 

Extra suitcases pp @ 23 kilos - Hand luggage (pull along) each also @ 23 kilos 

 

[lissie]

2 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Extra suitcases pp @ 23 kilos - Hand luggage (pull along) each also @ 23 kilos 

 

Wow that's frightening - the hand luggage allowance I mean. 23kg falling out of an overhead  could do serious damage. There was a famous case where a well known NZ percussionist suffered permanent damage to his hand/arm because of something falling out of an overhead. And that was probably with a 10kg limit. 

[elmsliebev]

On 2/1/2022 at 12:47 AM, lissie said:

Wow that's frightening - the hand luggage allowance I mean. 23kg falling out of an overhead  could do serious damage. There was a famous case where a well known NZ percussionist suffered permanent damage to his hand/arm because of something falling out of an overhead. And that was probably with a 10kg limit. 

very scary. We travel pretty light and will make use of the laundry on board as we're away for 35 nights.  We did 3 weeks round Spain by train with hand luggage only - it's a bit of a black art! 😀

 

Certainly won't have heavy hand luggage! We'll probably have 1 suitcase each in the hold but it's good to have the option for an extra one if needed. 

[Morgans]

We booked a cruise out of San Francisco (World Sector) with Cunard and flew with Virgin from Heathrow.