Different question about flying in same day

[petesweet]

I am a huge advocate of flying (or driving) to a port the day before a cruise. I preach it to everyone. However, we are part of a group tour flying overseas (Charlotte to London) to drive to Dover for the Pearl cruise to the Baltics. Has anyone had any horrible experiences with overseas flights? (It is the end of May, if that matters--May 28.) I've never had any bad experiences with late overseas flights.

[Toyz711]

it wasn't to meet a tour/cruise, thank goodness....but 3 times, flying to london, we were held on the tarmac at DFW, once for over 2 hours. the 1st time wasn't a problem, we were doing london on our own. 2nd time, only caught our connecting in NY because they held the flight, but the luggage missed the flight. we were going to scotland for a couple of days, which we did, but without luggage ...only the carry-on (yes, i had underwear...but only one jacket for sept...cold!!). the flight to NY from DFW was awful, they never served any sodas, ran out of water, but the flight to london the attendents took special care of everyone from the other flight. our luggage had to be delivered to the hotel in london. after scotland, we caught up to the luggage and our group.

on a 3rd time, DFW delayed us, but in london we had a 6 hour layover before the flight to athens.

usually they have been able to make up some time in the long flight to london. as long as you aren't going through DFW, you should be fine:D

[Barb Nahoumi]

Although I have never taken a cruise leaving from Europe, I have experienced many overseas flights, and they all arrived on time.

 

Probably, you will fly through the night, arriving in London at daybreak. This should allow enough time to reach the ship.

 

What time does the ship sail?

 

Barb

[petesweet]

Although I have never taken a cruise leaving from Europe, I have experienced many overseas flights, and they all arrived on time.

 

Probably, you will fly through the night, arriving in London at daybreak. This should allow enough time to reach the ship.

 

What time does the ship sail?

 

Barb

 

We don't have any of those details yet, but I have not felt particularly anxious about this same-day flight (or rather same-night flight). I've never had a problem flying overseas before, and we don't have to connect with another flight since Charlotte is an international airport. Just wondered if anyone had had a bad experience. The previous poster (thanks:) ) had a problem because of a connecting flight. I guess we should be OK.

[fin]

Are you going through Heathrow? Are you going as a group on the drive to Dover?

[petesweet]

We haven't yet been told which airport (they don't even know which airline yet), but yes, we will be going as a group to Dover. There will be about 35 of us--I presume we will go by bus.

[fin]

If you are going as a group, then I would suppose it is up to the group leader to be sure that you are there on time. If the leader is OK with your flight time and sailing time, then you should have no worries. It should be a pretty drive at that time of year.

[petesweet]

If you are going as a group, then I would suppose it is up to the group leader to be sure that you are there on time. If the leader is OK with your flight time and sailing time, then you should have no worries. It should be a pretty drive at that time of year.

 

It is up to the leader; however, I am debating about insurance. We have never bought insurance (I know - don't lecture me), but I have always been the one in control of our plans. I am definitely a control freak. I am willing to take my chances and won't blame anybody but myself if we have a problem, but I do want to make an educated decision.

[Antioch Cruiser]

I am a huge advocate of flying (or driving) to a port the day before a cruise. I preach it to everyone. However, we are part of a group tour flying overseas (Charlotte to London) to drive to Dover for the Pearl cruise to the Baltics. Has anyone had any horrible experiences with overseas flights? (It is the end of May, if that matters--May 28.) I've never had any bad experiences with late overseas flights.

 

We flew from SF to Heathrow on the same day in Late September and got to Dover with no problem. The only problem we had was our bus was waiting form more passengers. It was a long flight.:mad:

 

John

[Keith1010]

I would do what you normally do. Fly the day before and then stay over at a hotel at whatever London airport you are flying to.

 

As you know there are so many other things that can go wrong that have nothing to do with the weather. Could range from a shutdown of the London airports or a cancellation of flights due to problems at the London airports, a computer glitch at your airport or the London airport and so forth. Not sure if you remember but it was only in August of 2006 that there was the problem at the London airports which lead to all of the new restrictions there. Well the first couple of days there were lots of problems with flights in and out of London.

 

If it was me, I would do what I have always done and what you have always done. Fly in a day early. Use the day to get onto the time zone.

 

Keith

[TrqoisWtrs]

If it was me, I would do what I have always done and what you have always done. Fly in a day early.

 

I agree. We're having bad weather here in Chicago today and just this morning on the radio I heard that even though the bad weather isn't everywhere, its going to cause problems with everyone's holiday plans because O'Hare is a large hub. Its always fun when equipment is delayed at another airport because of weather when you're sitting in sunshine, :p (and especially since May could have some good spring storms).

[petesweet]

I would do what you normally do. Fly the day before and then stay over at a hotel at whatever London airport you are flying to.

 

As you know there are so many other things that can go wrong that have nothing to do with the weather. Could range from a shutdown of the London airports or a cancellation of flights due to problems at the London airports, a computer glitch at your airport or the London airport and so forth. Not sure if you remember but it was only in August of 2006 that there was the problem at the London airports which lead to all of the new restrictions there. Well the first couple of days there were lots of problems with flights in and out of London.

 

If it was me, I would do what I have always done and what you have always done. Fly in a day early. Use the day to get onto the time zone.

 

Keith

 

Not an option since we are part of a group tour. Thanks, Everyone, for your input. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.

[fin]

While the peace of mind of being there early is nice, with the pound vs the dollar, and with London Hotel prices, it comes with a serious pricetag these days. And nobody I ever knew has claimed that they enjoyed a transit through Heathrow.