Delayed flight equals missed cruise

[Jacqueline]

My sympathies are with you .How dissapointing. At the least, I hope that you will receive some financial relief, but missing a vacation is sad, even if there is no financial loss.
We recently had a flight cancelled due to bad weather (in St Patricks day- the Nort East got hit). It totally screwed up our plans and it took us two days to catch up with the ship as well as an overnight in SJ.
I did have travel insurance and passports. If any one of the three kids did not have passports, they could not have met the ship once it was in St Kitts.
The only place I went wrong was not spending the night before in SJ. With an 11pm sailway and the availability of many direct flights on many carriers I really had not anticipated that the whole NE would be shut down. Have done this cruise 4 times, we were always at the dock prior to boarding. In other words there was nothing even reckless or calling it too close. In the future I will go in the night before jst becuase it is not worth taking even a small chance.
,

[Pisces11]

[quote name='boatfloat']Hi all. It's Katie who missed the boat. Just to clarify some things-we knew that we had insurance for the trip and called them right away. We didn't think about the connection we had until we knew our flight was delayed and of course didn't know about alot of variables that led to us not being able to get booked on other flights. Of course we will be much more careful and fly out a day ahead next time.

American Airlines delayed the flight at 7:50-the time we should have been boarding and told us that the flight crew scheduled for our flight had already logged in the max hours that they could fly. Yes, there was fog and and I think there probably were some delays due to weather-either at O'Hare or other airports. We assumed that this problem was due to weather but now I think it could have been some other reason. Like someone else said, they change flights all the time.. and the connection time was exactly 20 minutes.
Katie:cool::D[/QUOTE]
I am so sorry this happened to you. I live in the Chicagoland area and can count on one hand the number of flights that I have been scheduled to be on that have gone out on time. If there is lightening in the area, the baggage handlers are not allowed outside so the planes cannot leave or arrive. Many times because of bad weather, the planes do not get into the airport for the first flight delaying every other flight. If there is a mechanical problem with the plane, it will be taken out of service. It just isn't the fog that caused the problem. The problem was actually someplace else in the country or an earlier plane that didn't get into O'Hare. Planes are always sitting in long lines to take off at O'Hare or circling the city, sometimes putting the flight crew over their allowed minutes of flying. Midway flights do not get delayed the same as the ones at O'Hare but it is a smaller airport and not dependent as much on weather all over the country. I am sure O'Hare's problems are repeated in every big city.

[kendon]

In my opinion, Princess goofed and should take care of you regardless of insurance. However, please NEVER travel without insurance. It's just plain foolish.

[terrierjohn]

Princess intend to allow us a 75 min connection in Newark to catch our Honolulu flight for our upcoming TP cruise; as we are flying in from Manchester UK we will have to undertake immigration, customs clearance and a security check in Newark. Even if the flight from the UK is on time I think we will be in a rush to make our connection. Fortunately we have booked a 2 day pre cruise stay in Hawaii so we are unlikely to miss our cruise. But this connection time is legal according to Continental, and the airline will be responsible for getting us to Honolulu, according to Princess. I can only assume that these flights are the cheapest Princess can obtain, so they have absolutely no incentive to find us any alternative. As a consequence we will be taking a large carry on with us because it's even money we will be spending an unscheduled night somewhere near Newark airport.

[spongerob]

[quote name='Pam in MA']The point is that the OP had options. Yes, Princess should have booked flights with a longer window between them but at a small airport with few flights, that might not have been possible. They wanted to fly down the day of embarkation which limited the possibilities and their flexibility should anything go wrong. It did go wrong. They had no passports and thus couldn't fly to catch up. It wasn't any one thing, such as the time between flights, that caused them to miss their cruise but rather several poor decisions such as flying down the same day and not having a passport. Both of these decisions severely limited their flexibility and ability to adjust.[/quote]There's another fly in the ointment here, that I didn't catch on to when I was reading this thread earlier.

The OP had to not just change planes, but change airlines in Wichita. So, let's assume that AA had available seating to get to Houston on another flight. The OP only has a ticket to Wichita, therefore, AA doesn't have to get them any further than that. Or, if Continental had a seat, she still only had a ticket from Wichita to Houston. Either way, she would have to pay any difference.

[Pam in CA]

[quote name='spongerob']There's another fly in the ointment here, that I didn't catch on to when I was reading this thread earlier.

The OP had to not just change planes, but change airlines in Wichita. So, let's assume that AA had available seating to get to Houston on another flight. The OP only has a ticket to Wichita, therefore, AA doesn't have to get them any further than that. Or, if Continental had a seat, she still only had a ticket from Wichita to Houston. Either way, she would have to pay any difference.[/quote]I'm not sure it works that way. I know that there's something about the tickets, even e-tickets, that indicate that the flights were booked for a cruise and when someone checks the booking, some sort of information is there. I know that when I called AA about my Princess flights, they referred me to a special number. I couldn't talk directly to Reservations about my flights.

[Cruisin Kay D]

Just read today (Sunday) of another couple missing their Princess cruise today!!! I was working on a trip to St. Martin & was on Traveltalkonline website -- read a TA's posting today that her client (honeymooners!) missed Caribbean Princess today due to airplane problems (undefined on the post) and the newly marrieds were being flown by Prin to St. Martin tomorrow (Monday) -- the TA was looking for recommendations for hotels to put the honeymooners in for a few days til the ship gets to St. Martin!!!

ANOTHER COMMENT:
Those of us using this website are a bit more savy about cruises, airlines, traveling, etc. There are sooooo many people (my adult kids, for example)out there taking their 1st or 2nd cruise who have never traveled or rarely do, and they book cruise air because they TRUST that the cruiseline will take care of them & get them where they need to be.

I was so inexperienced with travel for cruises #1 & #2 -- we went with my parents who were very very experienced and dad was very insistant that we get to Ft. L a day early!!! I didn't even learn that you could get lunch onboard ship on sailaway day til our 4th cruise!!!

[Buddy604]

[quote name='Cruisin Kay D']I didn't even learn that you could get lunch onboard ship on sailaway day til our 4th cruise!!![/quote]Wow, I'm a fat guy, I figured that out on the first cruise, and that they to get food without a line up was the burger grill next to the pool rather than the overpacked buffet. :D

[MortgageChick]

Sorry to hear this happened to you, but in the future as many posters have said
- one day before-ALWAYS
- do your own air- cruise air can be very BAD, and usually more expensive
- I never accept connection time less than 1 hour
- Insurance is a good idea, we usually have it, but more for trip interruption and sickness or death of an immediate family member.

[spongerob]

[quote name='Pam in MA']I'm not sure it works that way. I know that there's something about the tickets, even e-tickets, that indicate that the flights were booked for a cruise and when someone checks the booking, some sort of information is there. I know that when I called AA about my Princess flights, they referred me to a special number. I couldn't talk directly to Reservations about my flights.[/quote]You might be right, but it might depend on the type of fare purchased. Someone who had good knowledge about how things work with air travel might be able to address this.

[Smartcookie]

[quote name='Charles4515']A 20 minute connection is always too short. Even if they had made the connection their luggage likely would not. .[/quote]

That is so true Charles! Even if by some miracle you make a 20 minute connection, no way in hell is your luggage making it! That would be a true miracle of the travel gods...

[cynbar]

This brings up something that happened to us a couple of years ago --- I haven't read the whole thread so please forgive me if this has been addressed! We were sailing on Celebrity's Mercury with our daughter during school vacation week, and booked our air through the cruise because we couldn't go the day before and we thought this gave us some protection. Anyway, we were at the airport and checked in in plenty of time, but the airline denied boarding to us and another couple because the plane was overbooked and they did not have enough volunteers. Apparently the airlines pay the lowest cost of any of the discounts, and our tickets were coded that way. The airline was able to rebook us through Newark to Ft Lauderdale (this was out of Boston) but we made the ship with only a few minutes to spare, and would not have if our plane didn't arrive a little early. The worry and anxiety set us back for the first couple days of the trip. Needless to say, we ALWAYS book on our own now .

[cruise182]

Princess may not be legally responsible.:o
However, morally they are responsible to make the situation right. JMNSHO:)

[greatam]

[quote name='spongerob']There's another fly in the ointment here, that I didn't catch on to when I was reading this thread earlier.

The OP had to not just change planes, but change airlines in Wichita. So, let's assume that AA had available seating to get to Houston on another flight. The OP only has a ticket to Wichita, therefore, AA doesn't have to get them any further than that. Or, if Continental had a seat, she still only had a ticket from Wichita to Houston. Either way, she would have to pay any difference.[/QUOTE]

If the OP's tickets were booked as two separate flights (doesn't matter how the paperwork was done), there is NO legal connection needed. Both flights originate with the respective airlines' tickets. There is NO connection, period.

You are entirely correct in the post above. As I posted on the cruise air thread you started, cruise air tickets are generally NON ENDORSABLE (they have no value) to another airline. They are booked in consolidator classes which are non transferable generally.

If the originating carrier cannot get you to the end destination (no availability, weather, crew, mechanical, etc) you are STUCK. You generally cannot use your cruise air tickets to board another carrier. You have to buy a last minute ticket. Much better to book your own air. At least if you have problems, you have a ticket that MAY (depending on availability) get you on another carrier's plane.

[spongerob]

[quote name='greatam']If the OP's tickets were booked as two separate flights (doesn't matter how the paperwork was done), there is NO legal connection needed. Both flights originate with the respective airlines' tickets. There is NO connection, period.

You are entirely correct in the post above. As I posted on the cruise air thread you started, cruise air tickets are generally NON ENDORSABLE (they have no value) to another airline. They are booked in consolidator classes which are non transferable generally.[/quote]
Thanks very much for taking time to post this. I'm beginning to suspect that most people generally do not understand what they might be getting into with air travel purchased through cruise lines.

[KKB]

I definitely would have called Princess as soon as I realized the connection was unreasonable.
If Princess would not change it for you, it would have been worth the extra $50 to get the change made.
It really is up to the customer to advocate for themselves!
I am not a big proponent of travel insurance (cost for coverage is extreme compared to other insurance), but at least you are covered for unfortunate circumstances...

[akaCruiser]

[quote name='boatfloat']We were supposed to be on the Grand Princess (the one with the overboard passengers) last Saturday but due to poor booking of flights by Princess we missed the cruise entirely.
We were leaving Chicago O'Hare airport at 8:20am on American Airlines to a connecting flight in Wichita on Continental to leave at 10:35. This only allowed us 20 minutes to connect in Wichita to a different carrier with our destination being Houston where we were to be picked up by Princess to be transported to the boat in Galveston for a 5PM departure.
When our flight from Chicago was delayed we called Princess right away knowing the booking was tight to begin with. They attempted to get us on another flight directly to Houston but the flights were booked (spring break).
They looked for any other flights but told us that any other flight would get us to Houston too late for pick-up to the cruise boat and asked us if we had cruise insurance. They stated that they might be able to fly us to the first port but we didn't have a passport and then we were told it was up to American Airlines to get us to Houston in time and nothing more could be done by Princess. We subsequently missed the cruise since we ran out of options.
We feel that the travel arrangements were very poor and with any slight delay in either flight (especially the first flight) we were bound to miss the cruise. Had we known this we would have been willing to fly out the night before but we trusted the cruise line to get us there.
Then we were notified by our travel agent that Princess was threatening to charge us a cancellation fee. After what we went through we feel we should be compensated by Princess regardless of cruise insurance... Has anyone had a similar experience??
Katie[/quote]

I had a similar experience with HAL (Princess sister company). My flight had a connection from Toronto to Tampa through Dulles. The flight got delayed and we missed the connecting flight. (If you are really interested in the details you can search the HAL forum.) Anyway, long story short, I had several long discussions with HAL's Customer Services group and initially I was refused for a future cruise credit. I finally got my credit only after filing a dispute charge with my credit card company, as I didn't receive the service I originally paid for when I purchased the cruise. Talk with your credit card company and hopefully this will be enough that Princess gives in.

[Jacqueline]

Cynbar- thank you for this valuable information.

[greatam]

[quote name='KKB']
If Princess would not change it for you, it would have been worth the extra $50 to get the change made.

[/QUOTE]

Very common misconception. By the time cruise air is released to pax, not only will you pay the deviation fee, but you will pay the difference in air fare. And at 30-60 days pre-cruise, the price could very well be astronomical to popular destinations at peak times. And the astronomical price is only available IF the cruise line has deviation tickets available. "Custom air" tickets are limited by the contracts cruise lines have with airlines.

[Jimsgirl]

Personally I am stil very P.Oed over my own screwed up flights done by Princess Air, I am fortunate that the flight is to come home after the cruise, getting stranded will affect my arrangements re limo. and my arrival home and my comfort zone (seniors are notorious for over reacting and I am very much a senior).

My anger is that Princess staff do not seem able to realise how far passengers have to go to get from one plane to another, or that planes get down on the ground and then sit out on the tarmac, waiting to go to the gate, even at the gate, passengers are often standing and standing and standing waiting for the door to open and let them off. "Arrival time "to actual " get off" time is often over 20 mins!
NO CRUISE LINE should ever book a connection no matter where it is at ,or where it is going to, that is less than 1 Hour. ( and no responsible TA should accept the situation) Telling me that my short connection at Houston ( a very large and busy airport ) was LEGAL would be no consolation to me if I was stranded overnight and had to sleep in the airport.

In my case my original flight (with a 1 hour wait to connect) was still available, still had seats, and the only reason a change was made was because the cruise line "robot" was too busy thinking about the " lunchtime Latte" to use his/her brain. Indeed had this person ever flown ?

On one cruise where I needed to get through to Customer service I found I was in a town. in a state, thousands of miles from the ocean and talking to someone who had never taken a cruise. How could such a person understand the problem?

[txflyer]

I had a similar experience with HAL (Princess sister company). My flight had a connection from Toronto to Tampa through Dulles. The flight got delayed and we missed the connecting flight. (If you are really interested in the details you can search the HAL forum.) Anyway, long story short, I had several long discussions with HAL's Customer Services group and initially I was refused for a future cruise credit.

I finally got my credit only after filing a dispute charge with my credit card company, as I didn't receive the service I originally paid for when I purchased the cruise. Talk with your credit card company and hopefully this will be enough that Princess gives in.

 

Very good point! Sometimes maybe the credit card company will see things differently than the cruise line. Back in 2000 I had boarded a ship and learned of a death in the family just before leaving the port. I immediately left the ship, and flew home. The cruise company wouldnt refund my money so I disputed the charge with the credit card company, and got my refund. Disputing the charge is always worth the try.

 

This whole thing is interesting reading. Ive never used the cruise line to book our air travel and had no idea they would do things so randomly. Chicago to Wichita to Houston on 2 different carriers? It really leaves the customer holding the bag which is bad given that Im guessing most people book thru the cruiseline thinking they have an extra level of confidence. In this particular case the flight itinerary is so randomly pieced together that its almost...deceptive. ..>>jack

[stan1]

After 25+ cruises perhaps I can help: Princess's air/sea dept. issues the tickets 2-4 weeks prior to departure, so travel agent does'nt know flight assignment unless passenger informs him. I have found ALL of the cruise line people arranging air either ignorant or uncaring in precruise flight ticketing so that they accept whatever flights the computer program provides. After several unsuccessful attempts years ago, to get Princess (also other cruise lines)to change badly scheduled flights I have either requested an air deviation (for a fee the cruise lines permits you to select your own flights if they can get them)at additional cost or obtained my own air. As to this particular mishap: 20 minutes connection time is not a legal connection, since both passenger and baggage must get to the connecting flight. Either way, it is usually Princess's obligation to get you to the next port if you bought cruise/flight tickets from them, and you may have been given incorrect information from Princess's customer service. I have recently experienced substantial deterioration in the quality (long delayed and inadequate)of Princess' customer service response. Also, many of the big discount online travel agencies also provide very poor customer service. One agent told me (when I had a problem)that the extremely low prices of their tickets do not provide enough funds to have many people (or capable ones) provide customer service to their clients. I have not bought any more cruises from that agency. I agree with one of the other respondents(above) that you may want to write about your experience to the Ombudsman at one of the major travel magazines. You might even get a complete refund if the circumstances are as you describe.

[Perl47]

Hubby & I are taking his Dad to Alaska in May and booked Princess Cruise Air, believing (erroneously, I see now) it offered us a measure of protection from disaster. This thread has taught me a lot and I'm now extremely nervous about the arrangements. We have horrible connections -- from Cleveland to Fairbanks will take us some 18 hours, with 4 flights on 4 different airlines. Coming home is even worse, getting back to Cleveland 22 hours after disembarking.

 

(We did purchase insurance and have 5 days in Alaska on the land tour prior to the cruise so chances are slim that we'd miss the ship. But the trip is very expensive and missing even a couple of days would be such a disappointment. And since father-in-law is 87, chances are we won't have many opportunities to take him again if this trip gets screwed up).

 

Well, I guess I better pack lots of Power Bars, a "squishy" pillow and a tote bag full of "hoping for the best."

[greatam]

Hubby & I are taking his Dad to Alaska in May and booked Princess Cruise Air, believing (erroneously, I see now) it offered us a measure of protection from disaster. This thread has taught me a lot and I'm now extremely nervous about the arrangements. We have horrible connections -- from Cleveland to Fairbanks will take us some 18 hours, with 4 flights on 4 different airlines. Coming home is even worse, getting back to Cleveland 22 hours after disembarking.

 

(We did purchase insurance and have 5 days in Alaska on the land tour prior to the cruise so chances are slim that we'd miss the ship. But the trip is very expensive and missing even a couple of days would be such a disappointment. And since father-in-law is 87, chances are we won't have many opportunities to take him again if this trip gets screwed up).

 

Well, I guess I better pack lots of Power Bars, a "squishy" pillow and a tote bag full of "hoping for the best."

 

Since you have four flights on four different airlines, please take the time to look at all your airlines and print out all the schedules that may work for you if there is an "oops".

 

Or if you want some help, post your itinerary and airlines and I will take a look at it for you. I do international logistics planning for a living-moving people and freight all over the world via air, surface and sea. I have a couple of databases that are not available to the general public and can often see just how fully loaded the planes are, so you can plan ahead.

 

And hopefully, with a little advance planning, your trip will go off without a hitch.

[JolieMadam]

This has been a great thread....most informative and I learned things that I had never even thought about. It's wonderful that so many chose to take the time to post in this regard.