Maybe you can afford a cruise -- but, how do you get to it?????

[Travelcat2]

Tonight's news reported that 1100 flights were cancelled yesterday and that flights this summer may be cancelled if they are not full (i.e. profitable). There have been discussions regarding how the economy will affect luxury cruising (probably won't), however, even if you are paying for first class, cancelled flights could be an issue. Perhaps it would be a good idea to make sure you book air through Regent (or whatever cruise line you are booked through) or risk missing the departure of your cruise. Not trying to over react -- just a bit concerned. . . .:confused:

[Gail C]

Flying into your cruise departure city a day or two early is a good insurance policy. At least that's what we do.

[ricki]

The previous poster's suggestion about flying into the port a day or two early is a good suggestion. It's something we always try to do.

 

Booking your flight through the cruise line does not guarantee you assistance if the flight is canceled or delayed. There is a caveat in the contract that says they are not responsible to fly you to the next port if you should miss the sailing, even on a flight that you booked through them. You must make your own arrangements and pay for them.

 

It is up to the discretion of the captain to delay departure of the ship to wait for passengers that are late. When we sailed on RSSC Mariner March 4, the captain waited for about an hour for a group of late passengers. I don't know how this decision is made...perhaps the number of passengers involved, VIP travelers, etc? Anyone have knowledge of this?

 

Ricki

[Iamboatman]

I haven't seen anything like that being announced, and I receive emails from most of the major travel news feeds. I would hate to see the speculation by one reporter trying to "make" news getting people upset. Please let us know where you got this information from. It is only fair.

 

Regardless, with the general state of the airline industry's performance there is little more you can do that try to fly in the day before or, worst case, the earliest you can on the day of departure. Travel insurance won't get you there, but most provide missed connection coverage or cancellation protection.

[mikenbob]

I believe that if you dig a little further you will find that the majority of the cancelled flights this week had to do with the need to take airplanes out of service for mandatory inspections. Most of these involved Southwest Airlines and older 737's. Airlines cancel flights everyday if the passenger load is extremely low (they simply shift the passengers to later flights). The rising cost of fuel is certainly going to impact the airline and cruise industries, but probably no need to panic just yet. I just hope that we can afford the gas to drive to the airport for our next cruise! :)

[Travelcat2]

We, too, fly into most destinations a day early. There was a 3 minute or so story on the 6:00 p.m. headline news last night (sorry -- don't know if it was ABC, NBC or CBS -- my DH is a channel surfer). They did show the planes that were taken out of service for maintenance and went on to show the percentage increase in fuel costs in the past 5 years. United Airlines, Jet Blue (can't remember them all) were listed as airlines that "may" be cancelling undersold flights this summer as they cannot afford to fly with partially full flights.

 

We are doing a short Alaska Airlines flight for our Alaska cruise in May (Seattle to S.F.) and are not booked to go in a day early. Having experienced long delays last week on Alaska Airlines (not due to maintenance issues), we are a bit concerned.

 

This post was certainly not to put anyone in a panic. If Seattle is the only city putting this story on the news -- that is good to know. It still may be a good idea to check with your TA. In our case, we will be watching the flights from SEA to SF in April just to see if any flights are cancelled.

[Travelcat2]

Just found a couple of articles regarding some airlines cutting plane service due to the increase in fuel costs. Check out CNNMoney.com -- search United Airlines (note -- not sure how to link the article to this site). United will be grounding/selling 20 of their non-fuel efficient planes -- announcements will be going out at the end of April or early May. CNN has another article regarding Delta Airlines taking similiar measures.

 

Again, nothing to panic about -- just something to be aware of.

[Host Dan]

Just found a couple of articles regarding some airlines cutting plane service due to the increase in fuel costs. Check out CNNMoney.com -- search United Airlines (note -- not sure how to link the article to this site). United will be grounding/selling 20 of their non-fuel efficient planes -- announcements will be going out at the end of April or early May. CNN has another article regarding Delta Airlines taking similiar measures.

 

Again, nothing to panic about -- just something to be aware of.

Heres the link to the United airlines article:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/18/news/companies/ap.il.unitedairlines.fu.ap/index.htm

[Kissing Seahorses]

At least in the USA, it is against FAA rules to cancel a particular flight because it is not at a certain capacity, I am not naive enough to say that this never happens, but the airlines doing so would face very stiff penalties if it were proven. Often, shuttle flights (ex. SFO-LAX) are accused of this practice, but it is difficult or impossible to prove as a pilot has the final say as to whether a flight will operate or not due to assorted "mechanical" problems, passengers are usually acommodated on the next flight which is often within an hour of their scheduled flight, thus combining two half full flights into one full flight.

[basedow]

That has been my experience also on the shuttle from LAX into SFO. Seems to be commonly done.:(

 

Basedow

[larry1365]

The airlines are not cancelling flights, what they are doing is reducing capacity on their future schedules by taking aircraft out of service.

[Travelcat2]

The airlines are not cancelling flights, what they are doing is reducing capacity on their future schedules by taking aircraft out of service.

 

The actual news story on television earlier this week did indicate that partially filled flights may be cancelled or delayed to combine flights. It was a warning about travel this summer. When I was asked (above) where I heard the story, I did not recall which channel this was reported on, however, it was a detailed story on cancellations, fuel prices as well fewer flights due to planes being taken out of service.

[Iamboatman]

This is pretty normal stuff that is being made "news" out of. The reality of it is unless you are truly dependent on a particular airline (because you live in a remote area that basically is serviced by one airline) there will be plenty of flights, if not be Airline X by Airline Y.

 

Does anyone remember all the complaints about overcapacity?

 

Anyone sit on a runway during "rush" hours (those horrible 6-9AM and 6-9PM periods)?

 

I, personally, do not believe the sky is falling. Hence I do not think this "news" going to impact the ability or manner in which of 99.99% of passengers reach their cruise port. JMO.

[Travelcat2]

I don't recall a major airline taking planes out of service for the sole reason that they are burning too much fuel. Two carriers (Delta is one) just stopped service out of our local airport this month. No, the sky is not falling -- however, CruiseCritic does a good job of "informing" . . . .I believe that this thread does just that. With United taking approximately 20 planes out of the air (Delta and Jet Blue also -- just don't have numbers yet). . . it's inevitable that there will be flight changes and cancellations.

 

Hope TA's can give suggestions on the boards as many people book their flights many months in advance. If/when United, for instance, makes their announcement in 4 - 6 weeks, will we be ready?

[Iamboatman]

Aircraft are regularly retired, sold, etc. For example, Continental used to fly 747's and DC10s, but no longer flies either of them. The reasons: age and fuel efficiency. BTW, they were retired about a decade or so ago.

 

How many have walked on a plane and said, "This thing is ancient!" and then lost loyalty feelings toward that airline vs. walking on a new plane and having a good feeling.

 

How many have heard there was a "change of equipment"? I bet most.

 

How many have booked a flight 200 days out and then had a schedule change? I bet most.

 

This really is a non-story that has been transformed into "news". Driving people crazy with this non-issue is like walking around a ship wearing your life jacket...just in case.

[Travelcat2]

So, since this, IYO, a non-issue, and United Airlines and Delta ground 30-40 planes (not necessarily old ones) without replacing them, this will have no effect on anyone? How interesting. United Airlines, Delta and CNN seem to have a differing opinion.

[CruiseFan01]

I actually think that Eric's previous comment is spot on. The title of your thread was far too dramatic and the information did not deliver. I don't really think your back and forth is helping here.

[Travelcat2]

The actual news story I saw on television (not possible to get a video of it for this boad) was making announcements to passengers regarding this summer and went into great detail. Wondering how one could get to their port destination was, from what was stated on television, was a real question that we asked ourselves.

 

If you and boatman prefer to wait for the official announcement by Delta and United in late April or early May -- no problem. Others that may have bookings around this time may wish to contact the airline or their TA.

 

This has gone back and forth because my original story was questioned. . . the link to the CNN report (only a piece of the whole story) was also turned into a non-story. I was giving information from more than one source. It did not require argument -- it was not put there for that reason. As with other posts, some people just will not allow people to post without turning it into something it was never meant to be (a bloody argument!)

[CruiseFan01]

Seriously did not mean to upset you but Boatman and you do seem to go back and forth a lot. Sometimes he's right and sometimes not.

[jhp]

While we usually agree on cruise stuff, travelcat2, I flew on 3/19, the day you talked about in your OP, first on domestic, then international flight. I think it was weather on that particular day. I was flying from my regional airport, and was told by my "local" sources (I fly out of there often), that going to PHL was a mess as well as the rest of the East Coast because of rain that they were experiencering. I also talked to pax coming in, and really this day was from what I can see, just a weather phenomena. Very rough rides on those small planes.

[Travelcat2]

Actually, these "cuts" won't be in effect until sometime after May. My late plane experience on March 13th was actually a plane coming in from Spokane 2 hours late (into Seattle). For whatever reason, Alaska Airlines choose to announce that the crew was late rather than telling us about the delayed plane (I learned about it during the flight from the head flight attendant).

 

Somestimes my posts are a bit off -- my intent is to post only accurate information (from at least two sources) -- unless I'm giving a personal opinion. I was concernerd when I heard the information regarding cuts this summer (especially on flights that were not full -- due only to the fact that it was not cost effective to run a less than full flight).

 

The back and forth "stuff" is puzzling -- even to me. I give criticism to Regent when something is amiss -- however, I am only a well informed passenger -- not a TA. Overall, Regent fulfills what we require from a luxury cruise line. That's not to say that other lines are not good -- just not necessarily our taste. When someone (especially a TA that specializes in other booking a competitive cruise line) seems to enjoy bashing Regent to people who are considering their first cruise with Regent, I get a bit combative. The same is true when I make a post (this thread is a perfect example) when I am not posting to alarm anyone or to hurt anyone -- only to share information that may assist other cruisers.

 

Sorry for venting. hope you had a good Easter.

 

Cat

[Iamboatman]

Geez, what I say? I said the media shouldn't hype this stuff and nobody should worry as there are lots of things that affect air travel...and the events spoken of won't even be a blip in the ordeal we call air travel.

[basedow]

I saw in the NYT yesterday that plane availability to Europe will actually be opening up this summer, as other airlines will now be able to fly into Heathrow and other European destinations as well as USA cities.

 

Some restrictive agreements have been tossed out which allows all this. I would think prices would be coming down too.

 

Sorry I don;t remember in better detail but I thought it was a positive thing. You could check out the NYT Travel section. (Or maybe it was the WSJ. Sorry)

 

Basedow

[Travelcat2]

I saw in the NYT yesterday that plane availability to Europe will actually be opening up this summer, as other airlines will now be able to fly into Heathrow and other European destinations as well as USA cities.

 

Some restrictive agreements have been tossed out which allows all this. I would think prices would be coming down too.

 

Sorry I don;t remember in better detail but I thought it was a positive thing. You could check out the NYT Travel section. (Or maybe it was the WSJ. Sorry)

 

Basedow

 

I hope you are right -- I don't want to inundate this board with quotes (especially since there seems to be laws about copying from certain sources).

 

I did read an article from back in 2005 (Washington Post) where Delta admitted to cancelling flights in order to fill up planes (putting two flights together). They then stated that they would cease doing this.

 

Earlier in 2008, USA today had an article on United Airlines. They discussed United being in a better position to downsize than most airlines with an estimated 100 aircraft either unemcumbered or coming off lease. They mentioned that the United pilot contract does not appear to imperil it's ability to shrink should conditions warrant.

Last but not least, (and I hope I can quote from a non-US newspaper):

Monday, March 24, 2008 – The Royal Gazette (U.K.)

Due to skyrocketing fuel costs, last week, Delta Air Lines announced it will not resume its seasonal New York La Guardia service in May, while United Airlines confirmed it too would not resume its twice-a-week service out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport this summer.

However, Opposition Leader Kim Swan has linked the airlines' decision to a shortage in Bermuda tourism, specifically, poor visitor projections for this year. In a statement last night Mr. Swan contended: "We maintain that poor visitor projections for Bermuda this year were a factor in decisions to cancel these flights. The Government, in its March 18 statement on flight cancellations, did not actually refute our assertion that poor visitor projections factored into the decisions."

He highlighted that when an airline decides to cancel a flight it does so based on a variety of issues, filling the plane with people, he added, is the main one.

"Visitor projections are based on more than just advance reservations, as implied in the Cabinet Office statement.

"The decision as to whether an airline establishes or sticks with a flight can be complex, but it depends first and foremost on whether it can fill the plane with paying customers."

Think I'll look into this issue in a month or so as that is when we'll be booking international flights for later in the year. Again, hope the positive predictions are the right ones. The media certainly can cause confusion and concern amongst its readers.

[basedow]

I just saw an ad in the NYT front section from Delta. Continental will be flying there too. They are or will be flying to and from Heathrow and Gatwick. I think it's a sure thing that more airlines will be plying these routes. Encouraging.

 

Basedow