Princess "easy check out"-Princess partners with airlines to take bags to airport

[4275princess]

I understand that the Princess "easy check out" is available with Delta @ LAX. We will be on the Diamond Princess Hawaii Nov 07 cruise and interested in this service. Princess indicated bags go out night b4 disembark with "special tag". Princess will release luggage (2 pp for $15) to airline employee. Airline will reticket the bag @ airport according to your airline schedule. Princess will also print airline ticket so you can bypass the ticket counter & go straight to the security area @ LAX....does this sound correct??? (we are in a time crunch & would love to bypass the hasstle of checking in luggage @ the airport. Thanks.....

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I understand that the Princess "easy check out" is available with Delta @ LAX. We will be on the Diamond Princess Hawaii Nov 07 cruise and interested in this service. Princess indicated bags go out night b4 disembark with "special tag". Princess will release luggage (2 pp for $15) to airline employee. Airline will reticket the bag @ airport according to your airline schedule. Princess will also print airline ticket so you can bypass the ticket counter & go straight to the security area @ LAX....does this sound correct??? (we are in a time crunch & would love to bypass the hasstle of checking in luggage @ the airport. Thanks.....

 

We just did this on Disney Magic Saturday in Florida but I believe it was only for flights after 12 noon.

 

I hope it works out for you since it was really nice not to have to deal with luggage and porters.

 

Bill

[West Coast]

This sounds fantastic!

 

But I have to ask... how does the airline handle excess weight situations?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I have no idea. I was wondering that myself since ours were like 43 lbs leaving and I know they were heavier coming back.:confused:

 

Bill

[Mully too]

We did this coming home from our Alaska cruise, 3 weeks ago. We put our luggage out the night before and didn't see it again until we arrived back home at the airport in RI. It was a wonderful experience. It did cost $15 per person but was very well worth it. We flew on United so they are also in the program. We thought it was only because we were flying from Canada so I really hope they do the same for us at Lax when we disembark on the cruise back from Hawaii next April.

 

Not sure how they handle a weight issue on the luggage but we know we were overweight on one of our bags and it went through ok.

 

Please let us know how you make out with this.

 

 

 

Jan

[Hlitner]

I have a big problem with this latest service. Lets assume you use the service and when you get home your luggage is not on your flight. Than the question is did the cruise line lose it, the airline, or did someone on the pier just take the luggage. Personally, we still prefer the extra security of personally tracking our luggage through the various steps (pick up on pier, take to airport, etc). Another reason is that we will often get to the airport before most passengers (we have priority disembarkation on most lines) because we simply grab a taxi while others are waiting for their shuttle buses to leave the port. When we get to the airport we quite often are able to change to an earlier flight, and its nice to have our luggage properly tagged for that earlier flight. By the way, despite the airlines telling you that you cannot change flights without paying a fee, there are plenty of exceptions. Most of the time if you are very polite and ask if they have room, the ticket agent has the option of waiving the change fees. These poor agents deal with angry and nasty people all day, so its amazing what simple manners and a nice smile can accomplish.

 

Hank

[Murphey]

I asked this on a similar thread but did not get an answer.....this sounds GREAT!!!! BUT......what about customs?? Does this mean your luggage does not need to go through customs?? Also, as previously brought up...weight can also be an issue. If all this happens like magic, it would be worth more than the $15!! :D

[West Coast]

Also, as previously brought up...weight can also be an issue. If all this happens like magic, it would be worth more than the $15!! :D

 

Without the wine in your luggage on the way home, surely you'll have lighter bags :rolleyes:

[Copper Lanterns]

Just did this in Alaska with Carnival. It was with Delta airlines.

It worked perfect. I was nervous at Logan but everything went as planned.

My girlfriend packed her suitcase tight. It didnt make a difference. If it was overweight nobody said anything. We also got our boarding passes and had no troble at all.

 

I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

Would like to do it in Ft. Lauderdale if they offer it. We will be on the Emerald on Dec. 16. Dont know if they offer the program but I will check.

 

Have a great cruise.:D

[Nautical but Nice]

This was offered yesterday in Ft. Lauderdale with Southwest on the CB. After claiming the bags and going thru customs, there was a big truck outside with the kiosk things and 2 agents there. It was $10 to check the bag(s) thru to your final destination, check in for the flight and print boarding passes.

 

I had already printed the boarding passes on the ship and only had 1 bag to check and knew I was going to have close to 4 hours at the airport, so I just went ahead and checked the bag with curbside check at the airport.

[4275princess]

So if Princess prints the boarding passes, do we really get to bypass the ticket counter & just head straight to the security counter since we have no need to check in luggage either?

[helpmesailaway]

Has anyone ever seen this service out of FFL with Jetblue? I would love to unload the luggage because we have a full day before our very late flight.

[frannie]

I posted on another thread . I asked this question by e-mail to Princess and did not get a reply . They did reply and gave me info on the door to door service with DHL . It cost about $300.00 to ship 1 bag . The info they gave me is on their website . The $15.00 service is not there . Still do not know if We can do this in Ft. Lauderdale wit West Jet Airlines

[4275princess]

We bought a portable scale from someplace like Mageline $10/SH. I also take a medium size duffle bag rolled up in my suitcase so if I buy a lot of stuff; I automatically have a 2nd piece of luggage to send back home with the "extra stuff bought".

 

STILL NEED to KNOW if ANYONE can COMMENT on using "easy check out" & being able to bypass the ticket counter totally & just going directly to the security area @ the airport?????

[4275princess]

This service is NOT on Princess website & many reps @ Princess don't know about it (ask them to check with a supv). I found it on the LAX webpage & it referred me to my cruise line. Princess does have the DHL pick up service but the service I'm referring to is called "easy check out service". NOT all airports or airlines participate. The $15 charge may be different depending on what airport/airlines may be participating. You pack your bag & sit out night b4 departure BUT will have a special luggage tag provided by Princess. Princess will pick up the luggage as usual, however the next day; Princess partners with the airlines & a rep from the airlines take the luggage to the airport & retags the luggage according to your flight schedule. I'm not sure about how it is weighed @ the airport & if overweight an extra charge may apply....But then, you don't see your luggage until your final destination. *I am also not sure how it works with customs*

[Nana G]

We did this when arriving home from alaska in Seallte. We by-passed checkin desk and went directly to Security. It was offered by Princess thru about 5 different airlines. Worked like a charm. 1 bag was over weight and we never heard a thing!

[Pam in CA]

I've heard of this service for ships returning from Alaska cruises to Vancouver but never for a Hawaii or other cruise. The reason it works for Alaska is that when you fly from Vancouver, you go through U.S. Customs and Immigration in Vancouver rather than upon arrival in the U.S.

 

Where did you hear/read that this was available for cruises returning to San Pedro?

[Murphey]

Without the wine in your luggage on the way home, surely you'll have lighter bags :rolleyes:

 

Ahhhhh....someone who knows us!!! :D :D :D

[Mully too]

We got to the airport in Vancouver (after Alaska cruise). We did not have to go to ticket counter, just through security with carry on bags. Never saw luggage from the time it left the ship the night before until we arrived at home airport. Worked great.

 

 

Jan

[TCB2006]

STILL NEED to KNOW if ANYONE can COMMENT on using "easy check out" & being able to bypass the ticket counter totally & just going directly to the security area @ the airport?????

 

ABSOLUTELY!! :) If there are no problems with the boarding pass you get from Princess, and if you don't decide to check another bag, you can go straight to security (at least that was the case for us on a US flight).

 

We used this option through Princess 2 weeks ago. We sailed out of Vancouver, and our return flight was from Anchorage to Chicago on Alaska Air, and then Chicago-to-Dallas-to-Tulsa on American. Our flight out of Anchorage was at 10:05 p.m., and we were so excited that we wouldn’t have to keep up with our luggage for 12 hours!!

Of course, there is a form to fill out. :D The form explains that Princess will check you in, get your boarding passes and deliver your bags to the airport for the low, low price of $15 per person. You have to provide your transfer info, flight info, number of bags and passenger info. Our form had to be turned in to passenger services by 7:00 p.m. on Day 4 of the cruise (Tuesday for us). One person from each cabin had to deliver the form in person and present both passports.

Even though the form is submitted on Tuesday, you don't find out if Princess was able to get your boarding passes until Friday. Then, on Friday afternoon, an envelope is delivered to your cabin with computer generated boarding passes and 4 luggage tags. These appeared to be airline-issued luggage tags (with bar codes). (Best we could tell, everyone got 4 luggage tags regardless of how many bags they indicated they would check.) Also, we found out that you could still check another bag at the airport within 4 hours of your flight (if you were so inclined to keep up with it all day Saturday) in addition to the bags that you sent with Princess. Our luggage had to be outside our cabin by 10:00 p.m. on Friday and they were there to get it at 9:45!! (This was our first cruise, so the Friday night packing scenario was NOT pretty. :eek: LOL) We also received our disembarkation group assignment with the boarding passes.

We had non-Princess transfer arrangements with Alaskan Leopard, and needed to be off the ship by 8:00 a.m. (even though our flight didn't leave until 10:05 p.m.) We were initially told by passenger services that we couldn't "do that" and that disembarkation would be assigned based on flight time. We talked to several people at passenger services and were finally told there would be no problem disembarking in time to meet our non-Princess transfer. And, Princess did in fact assign us to White EE for debarkation between 6:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. It was wonderful to have a nice breakfast and then disembark without having to worry about luggage!!

For us, all went well at the airport. We stopped at the ticketing desk and asked the Alaska Airlines agent if she could tell whether our 3 bags had been delivered by Princess. She said that Princess was very good with luggage and there had been no problems in the past (at this point, we were not sure how long Princess had offered the service--since we did not see it on CC before we left). We asked her again if she could tell from the computer whether the bags had arrived or not. When she checked the computer, it said we had checked 4 bags (obviously, the computer knows the number of tags that were issued, but is not updated to match the tags to the bags delivered by Princess). At that point, we also asked how we would verify that the bags made it. The agent told us that the bags were Princess’ responsibility--so if they were missing at our final destination, or damaged, we would have to go back through Princess. (HINT: Keep your original paper boarding pass from Princess as it lists the luggage tag numbers assigned to you. You may have reason to get another boarding pass--but keep the Princess paper!!) Also, since our first flight was Alaska Air and the next was American, the boarding passes only showed our flight to Chicago. We asked about that, and were told we would have to get the other boarding passes in Chicago from American (because Alaska Air couldn’t issue American Airline boarding passes).

For the couple traveling with us, they only received one boarding pass (but 4 luggage tags) from Princess. When we got to the Anchorage airport that evening (about 2 hours early), they went to the ticketing counter, and presented the Princess boarding pass, and American then issued 2 regular boarding passes with seat assignments. Piece of cake.

We went straight through security with the paper boarding pass we got from Princess. When we got to Chicago, we stopped at an American ticketing counter and requested the remainder of our boarding passes. The agent said that the computer showed that all boarding passes has been issued. We showed her the paper from Princess, and she went ahead and printed the boarding passes for Chicago and Dallas. Everything was quick and easy!!

In Tulsa, all bags arrived with us, including the 4th one we checked at the airport. One duffle had been opened and hand-searched at the Anchorage airport, and had some damage (split open on a seam--thank goodness, a scarf was hanging out and blocking the hole--I wondered how many unmentionables :o had spilled out before the scarf--but nothing was missing). We were fairly certain that one or both of the duffels were overweight, and were afraid we’d have to pay a fee to get them out of hock at the end of our flights, but nothing was ever said. We did call passenger services on Friday evening to ask if there was a scale on board to weigh your bags --alas, no such amendity--probably has nothing to do with the abundance of food . . . (Do they have one in medical??)

Oh--and there was one weird thing though--almost creepy. In our second duffle (the one that wasn’t opened at the airport), we found a .22 bullet (not the whole shell, just the bullet part) when we were unpacking at home. Go figure.

[4275princess]

I initially saw this on the LAX webpage. It is offered to various locations in LA and the San Pedro port was one of them. It refers you back to your cruiseline. I called Princess & she was very confused, kept trying to explain the DHL service to your door. After checking with a supervisor; she said it was the "easy check out service" & Princess partners with the airlines. It MAY not be available to ALL airlines & the cost may VARY. Check your airline web page then check with Princess....hope this helps

[Pam in CA]

I initially saw this on the LAX webpage. It is offered to various locations in LA and the San Pedro port was one of them. It refers you back to your cruiseline. I called Princess & she was very confused, kept trying to explain the DHL service to your door. After checking with a supervisor; she said it was the "easy check out service" & Princess partners with the airlines. It MAY not be available to ALL airlines & the cost may VARY. Check your airline web page then check with Princess....hope this helps

Thanks. I'd still keep checking if I were you because even the supervisor might have been confused or misunderstood LAX vs. Vancouver.

 

All of the previous responses have referred to Vancouver but the OP isn't asking about Vancouver so it's not applicable or related information. If you know anything about this when disembarking in SAN PEDRO for LAX, let us know.

[marne001]

ABSOLUTELY!! :) If there are no problems with the boarding pass you get from Princess, and if you don't decide to check another bag, you can go straight to security (at least that was the case for us on a US flight).

 

We used this option through Princess 2 weeks ago. We sailed out of Vancouver, and our return flight was from Anchorage to Chicago on Alaska Air, and then Chicago-to-Dallas-to-Tulsa on American. Our flight out of Anchorage was at 10:05 p.m., and we were so excited that we wouldn’t have to keep up with our luggage for 12 hours!!

 

Of course, there is a form to fill out. :D The form explains that Princess will check you in, get your boarding passes and deliver your bags to the airport for the low, low price of $15 per person. You have to provide your transfer info, flight info, number of bags and passenger info. Our form had to be turned in to passenger services by 7:00 p.m. on Day 4 of the cruise (Tuesday for us). One person from each cabin had to deliver the form in person and present both passports.

 

Even though the form is submitted on Tuesday, you don't find out if Princess was able to get your boarding passes until Friday. Then, on Friday afternoon, an envelope is delivered to your cabin with computer generated boarding passes and 4 luggage tags. These appeared to be airline-issued luggage tags (with bar codes). (Best we could tell, everyone got 4 luggage tags regardless of how many bags they indicated they would check.) Also, we found out that you could still check another bag at the airport within 4 hours of your flight (if you were so inclined to keep up with it all day Saturday) in addition to the bags that you sent with Princess. Our luggage had to be outside our cabin by 10:00 p.m. on Friday and they were there to get it at 9:45!! (This was our first cruise, so the Friday night packing scenario was NOT pretty. :eek: LOL) We also received our disembarkation group assignment with the boarding passes.

 

We had non-Princess transfer arrangements with Alaskan Leopard, and needed to be off the ship by 8:00 a.m. (even though our flight didn't leave until 10:05 p.m.) We were initially told by passenger services that we couldn't "do that" and that disembarkation would be assigned based on flight time. We talked to several people at passenger services and were finally told there would be no problem disembarking in time to meet our non-Princess transfer. And, Princess did in fact assign us to White EE for debarkation between 6:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. It was wonderful to have a nice breakfast and then disembark without having to worry about luggage!!

 

For us, all went well at the airport. We stopped at the ticketing desk and asked the Alaska Airlines agent if she could tell whether our 3 bags had been delivered by Princess. She said that Princess was very good with luggage and there had been no problems in the past (at this point, we were not sure how long Princess had offered the service--since we did not see it on CC before we left). We asked her again if she could tell from the computer whether the bags had arrived or not. When she checked the computer, it said we had checked 4 bags (obviously, the computer knows the number of tags that were issued, but is not updated to match the tags to the bags delivered by Princess). At that point, we also asked how we would verify that the bags made it. The agent told us that the bags were Princess’ responsibility--so if they were missing at our final destination, or damaged, we would have to go back through Princess. (HINT: Keep your original paper boarding pass from Princess as it lists the luggage tag numbers assigned to you. You may have reason to get another boarding pass--but keep the Princess paper!!) Also, since our first flight was Alaska Air and the next was American, the boarding passes only showed our flight to Chicago. We asked about that, and were told we would have to get the other boarding passes in Chicago from American (because Alaska Air couldn’t issue American Airline boarding passes).

 

For the couple traveling with us, they only received one boarding pass (but 4 luggage tags) from Princess. When we got to the Anchorage airport that evening (about 2 hours early), they went to the ticketing counter, and presented the Princess boarding pass, and American then issued 2 regular boarding passes with seat assignments. Piece of cake.

 

We went straight through security with the paper boarding pass we got from Princess. When we got to Chicago, we stopped at an American ticketing counter and requested the remainder of our boarding passes. The agent said that the computer showed that all boarding passes has been issued. We showed her the paper from Princess, and she went ahead and printed the boarding passes for Chicago and Dallas. Everything was quick and easy!!

 

In Tulsa, all bags arrived with us, including the 4th one we checked at the airport. One duffle had been opened and hand-searched at the Anchorage airport, and had some damage (split open on a seam--thank goodness, a scarf was hanging out and blocking the hole--I wondered how many unmentionables :o had spilled out before the scarf--but nothing was missing). We were fairly certain that one or both of the duffels were overweight, and were afraid we’d have to pay a fee to get them out of hock at the end of our flights, but nothing was ever said. We did call passenger services on Friday evening to ask if there was a scale on board to weigh your bags --alas, no such amendity--probably has nothing to do with the abundance of food . . . (Do they have one in medical??)

 

Oh--and there was one weird thing though--almost creepy. In our second duffle (the one that wasn’t opened at the airport), we found a .22 bullet (not the whole shell, just the bullet part) when we were unpacking at home. Go figure.

 

Every ship has a scale in its gym/spa...I weight the day I board and the day I leave... hahahaha

[Pam in CA]

I recently purchased a luggage scale at Radio Shack for $5. It was pretty accurate.

[TCB2006]

Marne001 and Pam in MA--you're both thinking faster than me!! We looked all over for a small, hand-held scale. Never thought of Radio Shack. And now that I think about it, it makes perfect sence that there would be a scale in the gym!! Thanks!