Delta ATL to LHR

[smwg]

I think I know what your responses are going to be, but I'm gonna ask anyway. . .

 

Due to MONEY, My family of 9 would really like to fly in the day of our cruise.  Delta has an overnight flight that leaves 5:45 p.m. and arrives in LHR at 6:55 a.m. with NO layovers or transfers.   We are planning to book princess transfers to get from LHR to the Southampton cruise port.  Are most direct flights reliable to do this?  With 9 people that's a lot of extra money to arrive a day early, for transportation, hotels, etc to spend an extra day in London,

[Zach1213]

Just now, smwg said:

I think I know what your responses are going to be, but I'm gonna ask anyway. . .

 

Due to MONEY, My family of 9 would really like to fly in the day of our cruise.  Delta has an overnight flight that leaves 5:45 p.m. and arrives in LHR at 6:55 a.m. with NO layovers or transfers.   We are planning to book princess transfers to get from LHR to the Southampton cruise port.  Are most direct flights reliable to do this?  With 9 people that's a lot of extra money to arrive a day early, for transportation, hotels, etc to spend an extra day in London,

 

Are most flights reliable? Yes...the majority of flights arrive on time. But some don't, and if it's the one you're on, it doesn't matter that every other flight around you arrived on time. Also note that BA flies this route, and it might also be worth looking at connecting flights the day before versus nonstop flights the day of. Keep your options open, and also remember that not all nine of you need to fly on the same flight as that can raise prices because they'll lump all nine of you in to the same fare rate, which might result in a higher fare than breaking them up. 

 

I assume you have done the math of the flights + hotel + meals the day before and compared it to the day of? Without exact dates, we can't provide much advice beyond that. 

[smwg]

7 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Are most flights reliable? Yes...the majority of flights arrive on time. But some don't, and if it's the one you're on, it doesn't matter that every other flight around you arrived on time. Also note that BA flies this route, and it might also be worth looking at connecting flights the day before versus nonstop flights the day of. Keep your options open, and also remember that not all nine of you need to fly on the same flight as that can raise prices because they'll lump all nine of you in to the same fare rate, which might result in a higher fare than breaking them up. 

 

I assume you have done the math of the flights + hotel + meals the day before and compared it to the day of? Without exact dates, we can't provide much advice beyond that. 

Thank you.  This is very helpful.  Thank you for the reminder of booking 9 people all together.  I haven't thought of that lately.  I did notice that was true back in 2020 when I booked for a trip to Alaska and ended up booking two or three, here and there.

 

I will look at BA, as well.  3 of us have flight certificates that about to expire with Delta, that is why I've been looking at those.

 

Our cruise goes June 14th - 30th (Land of the MIdnight Sun. 🙂 )

[Zach1213]

11 minutes ago, smwg said:

Thank you.  This is very helpful.  Thank you for the reminder of booking 9 people all together.  I haven't thought of that lately.  I did notice that was true back in 2020 when I booked for a trip to Alaska and ended up booking two or three, here and there.

 

I will look at BA, as well.  3 of us have flight certificates that about to expire with Delta, that is why I've been looking at those.

 

Our cruise goes June 14th - 30th (Land of the MIdnight Sun. 🙂 )

 

Ah well then it definitely makes sense to take Delta for at least those three! 

 

From what I can tell, prices do look fairly consistent whether you leave on June 13 or June 12. It does look like JetBlue ATL-JFK-LHR would save a couple of hundred dollars per person. Over the six remaining people, that's $1200 savings versus the nonstop, so maybe that would help justify going a day early and grabbing a hotel. Keep in mind that the hotel can just bet at Heathrow, where there's a good variety of pricing...not exciting, but it will get you there with plenty of time, less stress, and allow you to get a good nights sleep before starting your cruise well rested. 

[smwg]

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Ah well then it definitely makes sense to take Delta for at least those three! 

 

From what I can tell, prices do look fairly consistent whether you leave on June 13 or June 12. It does look like JetBlue ATL-JFK-LHR would save a couple of hundred dollars per person. Over the six remaining people, that's $1200 savings versus the nonstop, so maybe that would help justify going a day early and grabbing a hotel. Keep in mind that the hotel can just bet at Heathrow, where there's a good variety of pricing...not exciting, but it will get you there with plenty of time, less stress, and allow you to get a good nights sleep before starting your cruise well rested. 

That's true in regard to resting.  My daughter flew to Germany last month and was exhausted after she got there because of the time change.  I am definitely taking this into consideration.

 

[Zach1213]

4 minutes ago, smwg said:

That's true in regard to resting.  My daughter flew to Germany last month and was exhausted after she got there because of the time change.  I am definitely taking this into consideration.

 

 

I change time zones as much as many people change underwear 🙂 I personally find that, while the time change can definitely mess up your body, you can struggle a lot from a lack of sleep on the plane. Economy seats + short-ish overnight flight (even from Atlanta, let alone New York,  you're only in the air like seven-and-a-half hours, and you're unlikely to sleep even most of that time) mean you're likely to arrive exhausted and cranky. Can't imagine immediately getting on a cruise ship and trying to enjoy yourself. 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Zach1213

[smwg]

3 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

I change time zones as much as many people change underwear 🙂 I personally find that, while the time change can definitely mess up your body, you can struggle a lot from a lack of sleep on the plane. Economy seats + short-ish overnight flight (even from Atlanta, let alone New York,  you're only in the air like seven-and-a-half hours, and you're unlikely to sleep even most of that time) mean you're likely to arrive exhausted and cranky. Can't imagine immediately getting on a cruise ship and trying to enjoy yourself. 

You are right!  Thus my dilemma, Money over Physical well-being!  Lol!

 

[waterbug123]

On 10/16/2023 at 9:54 AM, smwg said:

  Are most direct flights reliable to do this? 

Yes.  But if you end up on one that's not, it doesn't really matter if it's the only one.

 

Last summer we flew to Europe for a cruise.  I don't recall exactly what time the flight was supposed to depart, but it was very early evening.  6 or 7 pm maybe?  The plane had a mechanical delay, and they kept pushing the ETD back 30-45 min at a time.  But the cowling was off on one of the engines and nothing seemed to be happening. 

 

Eventually they announced that they were going to use a different aircraft.  We waited some more and finally boarded.  But that plane ended up with a mechanical issue as well, and eventually we had to deplane.  We thought we were just about to board again but the cockpit crew timed out.  By this time it was pushing midnight so it was too late to try to get rebooked on partner airlines or different routings.

 

They announced that all passengers had been rebooked on a newly created flight departing the following afternoon at 5pm.  We had a one day cushion so it was fine.  But there were a bunch of people on our flight who were on a different cruise and were flying in day of.  You can imagine the collective groan that went up when they all realized they'd miss embarkation and have to catch up to their ship.

 

Delta comped everyone's hotel room that night, but the link they sent said everything was booked.   Luckily I know how things work so we just booked our own and sent in the receipt and got reimbursed.  The ladies across the aisle from us on the plane the next day had had to pay something like 500 euro to book a van transport to their ship's first port of call.

 

 

[smwg]

On 10/17/2023 at 2:38 PM, waterbug123 said:

Yes.  But if you end up on one that's not, it doesn't really matter if it's the only one.

 

Last summer we flew to Europe for a cruise.  I don't recall exactly what time the flight was supposed to depart, but it was very early evening.  6 or 7 pm maybe?  The plane had a mechanical delay, and they kept pushing the ETD back 30-45 min at a time.  But the cowling was off on one of the engines and nothing seemed to be happening. 

 

Eventually they announced that they were going to use a different aircraft.  We waited some more and finally boarded.  But that plane ended up with a mechanical issue as well, and eventually we had to deplane.  We thought we were just about to board again but the cockpit crew timed out.  By this time it was pushing midnight so it was too late to try to get rebooked on partner airlines or different routings.

 

They announced that all passengers had been rebooked on a newly created flight departing the following afternoon at 5pm.  We had a one day cushion so it was fine.  But there were a bunch of people on our flight who were on a different cruise and were flying in day of.  You can imagine the collective groan that went up when they all realized they'd miss embarkation and have to catch up to their ship.

 

Delta comped everyone's hotel room that night, but the link they sent said everything was booked.   Luckily I know how things work so we just booked our own and sent in the receipt and got reimbursed.  The ladies across the aisle from us on the plane the next day had had to pay something like 500 euro to book a van transport to their ship's first port of call.

 

 

Wow.  I definitely think we need to plan that day of cushion!  I'm sorry this happened to y'all , but it sounds like you handled it well.

[waterbug123]

On 10/19/2023 at 12:53 PM, smwg said:

Wow.  I definitely think we need to plan that day of cushion!  I'm sorry this happened to y'all , but it sounds like you handled it well.

 

Thanks, we were fine, specifically because we intentionally booked an extra day into our itinerary just in case of something like this.  In all my years of traveling, it's the first time I got stuck stateside at a connecting airport. 

Many people would say "Oh that's never happened to me, we should be fine flying in the same day."  But I take the viewpoint of "just because it's never happened to me doesn't mean it never will."  When it finally did, I was prepared.

[rbslos18]

On 10/16/2023 at 9:54 AM, smwg said:

Due to MONEY, My family of 9 would really like to fly in the day of our cruise.  Delta has an overnight flight that leaves 5:45 p.m. and arrives in LHR at 6:55 a.m. with NO layovers or transfers.  

The other issue to factor is the stress and expense should something go wrong and you miss the ship’s departure. Normally things work out but when they don’t it can be a colossal stressor.

[Zach1213]

On 11/11/2023 at 7:22 PM, rbslos18 said:

The other issue to factor is the stress and expense should something go wrong and you miss the ship’s departure. Normally things work out but when they don’t it can be a colossal stressor.

 

A friend of mine is currently dealing with this. He ignored my advice and thought he could arrive in Europe the day of his cruise. He's now on Day 3 of re-routing to meet his cruise before it starts making its way back across the Atlantic. And his bags haven't made it. He's having a blast...

Edited November 13, 2023 by Zach1213

[Dancer Bob]

My cruise this spring, there was a TWO day flight delay. Admittedly unusual, and I was arriving three days early, no panic. But I estimate 25% of my flights have had enough delay that same-day arrival would have been stressful even if possible. You're going to Southampton anyway, there's a choice of hotels there, National Express runs from Heathrow, not too expensive.

As someone mentioned, if money is a factor, have you costed a Plan B for missing the ship?