Heathrow to San Juan Direct Flights?

[madmedic]

Just about to book our first cruise with Viking. I'm not looking forward to flying long haul again and wish to get some reassurance that the included flights from Heathrow to San Juan will be direct. Agent can't guarantee because the flights aren't open yet. 

[millybess]

2 minutes ago, madmedic said:

Just about to book our first cruise with Viking. I'm not looking forward to flying long haul again and wish to get some reassurance that the included flights from Heathrow to San Juan will be direct. Agent can't guarantee because the flights aren't open yet. 

I assume you mean nonstop(?) and others here will know better than I, but from Toronto we can no longer fly to San Juan nonstop.  I will be interested to see if you are able to fly nonstop from Heathrow.

[shipboy]

We did that journey pre Covid and from Heathrow, we had to transit through Miami. On our return, we went via Philadelphia. BA/AA going and vice versa on return

Edited July 26, 2023 by shipboy

[cruisinchrissy]

No. We did that cruise some years ago and had  to change flights going out and on return. Sorry can’t remember where we changed exactly. 
We found the flights exhausting and will not go to Caribbean with Viking again just because of the flights

I would think long and hard .

You might consider another cruise line that sails directly to Barbados.

[madmedic]

5 minutes ago, cruisinchrissy said:

No. We did that cruise some years ago and had  to change flights going out and on return. Sorry can’t remember where we changed exactly. 
We found the flights exhausting and will not go to Caribbean with Viking again just because of the flights

I would think long and hard .

You might consider another cruise line that sails directly to Barbados.

That's what I feared. If that's the case I will have to think of a plan b. 

[cruisinchrissy]

6 minutes ago, madmedic said:

That's what I feared. If that's the case I will have to think of a plan b. 

Sorry to have to say this. We love Viking cruises but getting to San Juan is not easy for us from the UK.

[SJD117]

6 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

OMG.  If I can't get a non-stop, I won't take a cruise.

 

Guess Australia is out of the question too.

 

 

Reported for ridiculing the OP.

[cruisinchrissy]

15 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

OMG.  If I can't get a non-stop, I won't take a cruise.

 

Guess Australia is out of the question too.

 

 

We only like non stop flights now that we are older. When we were young, flights didn’t bother us😀

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by cruisinchrissy

[millybess]

16 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

OMG.  If I can't get a non-stop, I won't take a cruise.

 

Guess Australia is out of the question too.

 

 

C'mon now.  Put on your helpful hat.  🙂

[photopro2]

Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from the UK to San Juan.

 

However, we have done the trip a couple of times with Viking. Each time they allowed us to fly a day early direct from Heathrow to Miami. We then overnighted at a Miami airport hotel at our own expense.

 

Jetlag made it easy for us to get up at 4.30 the following morning (9.30 by our body clock) to catch the relatively short flight (2.5 hours) to San Juan at around 8.30 arriving about noon. This gave us the whole afternoon to enjoy on the ship.

 

Other passengers from the UK, who had departed from Heathrow that morning, had to rush to change planes in Miami for a same day onward flight to San Juan. They arrived, bleary eyed, late in the evening - something that I would suggest you avoid at all costs! 

 

The return is relatively simple as the evening departures from Miami to Heathrow allow plenty of time to change planes on the way back.

 

The break in Miami (and a night in a real bed) made the plane change quite tolerable and we thoroughly enjoyed both the transatlantic and Caribbean cruises that the trip to San Juan allowed.

[Jim Avery]

8 minutes ago, cruisinchrissy said:

We only like non stop flights now that we are older. When we were young, flights didn’t bother us😀

 

When we were young flights didn't bother anybody...🍸

[Hobson1754]

5 minutes ago, cruisinchrissy said:

We only like non stop flights now that we are older. When we were young, flights didn’t bother us😀

Going to Australia -

We did three day stops at Singapore outwards and Hong Kong coming home and went Business Class. Wonderful !!!🤣

I agree, certainly in respect of long haul flights & especially when having to transfer through Miami, which from our experience is the worst airport. 

[SJD117]

5 minutes ago, millybess said:

C'mon now.  Put on your helpful hat.  🙂

Unfortunately, that’s not possible for some people.

[KBs mum]

It's possible to choose your flights as long as they are with an airline Viking has a contract with, and upgrade to business or first. You just need to tell them which flights you want and pay the difference over the included ones.

Payment for these has to be made immediately, but they are ticketed immediately. 

 

On second thoughts, book via one of the top two Which? reviewed bespoke TAs.  They have specialist cruise departments and can sort the flights for you, if booked at the same time as the cruise it counts as a package holiday for the legislation. Fly out a couple of days ahead in case of delay. 

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by KBs mum

[FlyerTalker]

1 minute ago, millybess said:

C'mon now.  Put on your helpful hat.  🙂

 

Lots of helpful is available.  But not when faced with a black & white blanket dismissal of a connection.

 

There are a ton of options available.  More than a dozen possible connection points, both in the USA and elsewhere. CLT ORD DFW MIA PHL ATL BOS DTW MSP JFK EWR IAH and more.  Though MIA may be the "closest", plenty of creative options are out there, including using a flight from the UK to Madrid, and then the Iberia non-stop to SJU.

 

But if the position is "non-stop or nothing", then the blunt answer is nothing.

 

And if pointing out the unreasonableness of that is ridiculing, well, sorry for being a realist.

 

 

 

 

[millybess]

1 minute ago, FlyerTalker said:

There are a ton of options available.  More than a dozen possible connection points, both in the USA and elsewhere. CLT ORD DFW MIA PHL ATL BOS DTW MSP JFK EWR IAH and more.  Though MIA may be the "closest", plenty of creative options are out there, including using a flight from the UK to Madrid, and then the Iberia non-stop to SJU.

 

I like the UK to Madrid idea.  I think that's what I'd do and spend an overnight or more in Madrid.

 

We are flying to San Juan in January for a Viking cruise and San Juan has become a very difficult place to get to from here  We decided to overnight in Miami.  

[SJD117]

13 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

And if pointing out the unreasonableness of that is ridiculing, well, sorry for being a realist.

 

 

Your statement above (“If I can’t get a non-stop, I won’t take a cruise”) went far beyond the OP’s immediate circumstances, i.e., the issue of flying from Heathrow to San Juan. It was gratuitous, incorrect, and pure ridicule.

Edited July 26, 2023 by SJD117

[photopro2]

21 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

It's possible to choose your flights as long as they are with an airline Viking has a contract with, and upgrade to business or first

Thanks for reminding me @KBs mum 

 

On our Caribbean trip we flew out economy as we find these tolerable for daytime flights, even longer ones. Maybe we are still somewhat young at heart 🍷 @Jim Avery 😁

 

However, we did upgrade to business for the return. This allowed lounge access during our time in Miami  and a (sort of) bed for the night on the way back too in the much improved Club World suites that BA have on the 777's out of Miami. The A380's still have the old style ying yang set up.  

Edited July 26, 2023 by photopro2
Added emoji

[TayanaLorna]

41 minutes ago, cruisinchrissy said:

Sorry to have to say this. We love Viking cruises but getting to San Juan is not easy for us from the UK.

I live in PR and getting ANYWHERE to/from San Juan on a direct non-stop flight - even to the US - is hard.  For a European connection Iberia has a non-stop between San Juan and Madrid but it does not fly every day of the week.  If there is a non-stop Heathrow to San Juan, then you only have one connection.  Flight time SJ to MAD is 7 hours. The return is 8 hours 

[TayanaLorna]

34 minutes ago, cruisinchrissy said:

We only like non stop flights now that we are older. When we were young, flights didn’t bother us😀

 

I agree that multiple connections are stressful and tiring as we age.  We are to the point where we can deal with one connection and layover must be at least 3 hours.  If travel to where we want to go requires more connections then we will do a layover.  Or if the timing of connections is too short or the trip costs too much we will try to be creative in our flights.  For example we are going on a Med cruise in 2024 from Rome to Athens.  So we are flying SJU to MAD round trip.  We stay over in Madrid one night and fly to Rome next day.  Then on the return we have a one way ticket ATH to MAD with another layover in MAD to catch the return flight of the round trip ticket.  Three tickets, a pain yes.  But on the way we get a good night's sleep in Madrid before we fly to Rome to begin a 17 night busy port intensive Pre and cruise.  On the way back we spend 2 days/nights exploring Madrid.  We saved over $700 per person over the cost of Viking Air so that should cover our days in Madrid.

[TayanaLorna]

46 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from the UK to San Juan.

 

However, we have done the trip a couple of times with Viking. Each time they allowed us to fly a day early direct from Heathrow to Miami. We then overnighted at a Miami airport hotel at our own expense.

 

Jetlag made it easy for us to get up at 4.30 the following morning (9.30 by our body clock) to catch the relatively short flight (2.5 hours) to San Juan at around 8.30 arriving about noon. This gave us the whole afternoon to enjoy on the ship.

 

Other passengers from the UK, who had departed from Heathrow that morning, had to rush to change planes in Miami for a same day onward flight to San Juan. They arrived, bleary eyed, late in the evening - something that I would suggest you avoid at all costs! 

 

The return is relatively simple as the evening departures from Miami to Heathrow allow plenty of time to change planes on the way back.

 

The break in Miami (and a night in a real bed) made the plane change quite tolerable and we thoroughly enjoyed both the transatlantic and Caribbean cruises that the trip to San Juan allowed.

Brilliant.  Plus dealing with clearing into the US can be done without worrying if you are gonna make your connection.  Miami can take a half hour or 2+ hours to clear in and go back through security.

[photopro2]

27 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

BA have on the 777's out of Miami

Ooop's it was a 787-10. I thought I had better correct that before @FlyerTalker spotted my mistake!

[Azulann]

Love your creative thinking when it comes to booking your own flights. I love your flight plans and cheaper than Viking Air. Madrid is still one Spanish city I need to visit . 
 

[downsmead]

We have flown LHR to San Juan a few times. No direct flights. This year we picked up a Viking cruise from San Juan and speaking to people there were a variety of flights booked. We did LHR to Dallas Fort Worth, then San Juan, whilst other people were booked LHR to Miami, then San Juan. I vaguely remember there being a direct flight from Dublin.

Travelling out wasn’t particularly onerous as it is a daytime flight. I think we had 3-4 hours layover at Dallas Fort Worth. We always choose a minimum of 3 hours in case of delays etc. We boarded the ship at midnight.

[Mich3554]

7 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Brilliant.  Plus dealing with clearing into the US can be done without worrying if you are gonna make your connection.  Miami can take a half hour or 2+ hours to clear in and go back through security.

We had a wedding to get to in the Caribbean and even from the west coast in the US, it’s painful.  I finally booked flights such that we flew in the day before, got a hotel and the next morning flew into Turks.  I hated the idea of spending the first day at an expensive resort both jet lagged and recovering from a red eye.  
Emirates has the right idea.  Last year, we went to the Maldives and on our return we had a 10 hour layover in Dubai.  We got picked up, taken to a hotel, provided meals and returned to the airport for the long, butt numbing flight from Dubai to Seattle.  That was probably the easiest long haul flight I have ever had.