Why You Should Never Plan to Arrive at the Departure Port the Day You Sail.

[kenexx]

I work for a big Aussie Airline that has flights to Australia from the US. There was an interesting situation last Sunday Nov 4. To set the scene the Statendam was due to sail from Sydney at 1800 for Melbourne and I think Tasmania before heading to New Zealand.

 

I had started work at 0600 and the morning was progressing nicely until we got notification from QF094 that was headed to Melbourne from LA. Due to really rotten weather Sunday morning in Melbourne QF094 had to divert to Sydney for fuel. It was purely what we call a gas n go. This however still normally takes at least an hour on the ground given taxi time and waiting for re-fuelers.

 

Now where it gets interesting is that on board QF094 were 2 people who were headed to Melbourne with a domestic connection to come up to Sydney to embark on the Statendam that evening. Nobody is allowed off the aircraft in Sydney as its only a tech stop for fuel. Reason is that if it's one off it's all off! :eek: Anyway QF094 gets ready to depart Sydney and is further delayed due to a problem with the load sheet. (lousy new system we have but thats another story :D)

 

So QF094 finally gets to Melbourne at 1134 instead of the scheduled arrival time of 0830. I finished my shift at 1400 and asked one of my colleagues who was looking at the missed connections what happened to the people going on the cruise. At 1400 when I left they were still sitting on an aircraft in Melbourne even further delayed due to the weather :eek:

 

I dont know what time they eventually got to Sydney and if they made the Departure of the ship. If they didn't they would have to fly back to Melbourne!!

 

The moral of the story is please plan to arrive at least 1 day before the ship sails. I know I could not stand the stress of being in their situation!

 

Happy Sailing

 

Maurice

[Spikesgirl]

Sound advice, Maurice! Plus if you fly in a day or so early, we get to see your beautiful country! We spent four weeks there and it wasn't enough to see all we wanted to see (not to be confused with all that there is to see).

 

Charlie

[mipps]

Very good read Maurice .... we fly in early

 

now I just need to find a baggage guy to explain why the most important bag (the one with the photos and pressies for the kids) ALWAYS ends up in a different city on your return :p

 

:)

[eh2zed]

Maurice, wow what an adventure. My guess is they didn't make it and had to return to Melbourne.

[Missabby]

Sound advice. We figured it out after our first cruise.

 

I wonder if they took HAL's air add-on?

[Aussie Gal]

Maurice,

 

You are so correct. It only takes some bad weather like last Sunday here - it was actually raining! - and the airline schedules literally fly out the window, excuse the pun!

 

We had a similar situation in June when we were flying to Papeete from Melbourne. Princess had booked us on a flight leaving Melbourne at 6am to connect with a Air Tahiti Nui flight out of Sydney at 9.20am.

 

We had been having foggy weather around that time and our airport had been closed one day for hours, so after a lot of hassle requesting my T.A. to organize changing the flight, we finally were able to fly to Sydney the afternoon before, at a cost of $100 or so more. It was well worth it, to know that at least we were in Sydney the day before our flight.

 

I had requested this change back in January and my request was refused. It was only when I brought up the subject of fog that the T.A. (who is in W.A.) decided to do something about our flights.

 

By the way, our Air Tahiti Nui was delayed for a couple of hours in Sydney and Melbourne didn't have a fog, so we would have made the flight with time to spare but I would not have had that peace of mind until we had reached Sydney.

 

Jennie

[CRUISENAV8R]

Yikes! Maybe that's why our ship leaves Sydney the NEXT day. From what I understand X has a lot of folks on our LAX to SYD flight.

 

Jon

[Missabby]

We flew into Auckland on Friday, Oct 19th (arriving at 6:15 AM) for a sailing date on the Statendam of Oct 21st. Two of our cruise partners changed their plans coming out of Ohio due to weather and didn't get to our B&B until 5PM. Their luggage finally caught up with them late the next day.

[AuzzieCruiser]

I would have been having a heart attack!!;)

We always head over before the cruise a few days beforehand. It gives you time to get over the long flight and to freshen up before jumping on the cruise. :) I find that the effects of the flight, affect me about 3 days after arrival.

[mochuck]

We flew into Auckland on Friday, Oct 19th (arriving at 6:15 AM) for a sailing date on the Statendam of Oct 21st. Two of our cruise partners changed their plans coming out of Ohio due to weather and didn't get to our B&B until 5PM. Their luggage finally caught up with them late the next day.

 

The luggage issue is a very important one. If you get on a cruise without your luggage, it may be several days before you can get it.