Grrrrrr - yet another flight nightmare!!

[mad4rda]

I'm booked on VOS on Nov 8th and was supposed to be flying from London Gatwick (25 min drive from my house) to Barcelona with British Airways (booked through RCI) on the morning of my cruise.

 

This afternoon I get a call from my TA to say BA have dropped their morning Barcelona flight and RCI will rebook me on the BA flight from London Heathrow (2 hour drive in good traffic) from my home. This flight will also leave 2 hours earlier which will result in a journey starting at 3am instead of a journey starting at 7am!!

 

I'm now considering my options re flights, etc..... Just when I thought it was all sorted.

 

Can't blame RCI for this..... but it's just so annoying!!

 

Kazza

[cb at sea]

If an airline cancels or changes your flight by more than 90 minutes, you can cancel without penalty. Try to find a flight on your own that suits your schedule better, if you can!

[TEXASMUNK]

You are quoting USA rules, not necessarily those of the UK.

[waterbugohio]

Will they let you change to the day ahead?? Our flights were changed and they gave us many different options. Day early, day later, another departure city

[mad4rda]

I'm waiting for my TA to come back with options but ideally I'd like to fly on the day on the cruise (it's only a two hour flight).

 

Looking at staying overnight at an airport hotel and taking the Heathrow flight. It's a shame because I never get to fly from Gatwick and the airport is much closer to home.

 

Kazza

[land lover]

You are right is it annoying and it is nice to vent here.

 

Hope things work out for you:)

[rrmcdonald]

I feel your pain, but I had one worse. We booked our flight through the cruise line (THANK GOODNESS, as you will see below) scheduled to fly to Ft. Lauderdale (departure port) the morning of the cruise, board the ship shortly after noon for 5 pm departure. Due to maintenance problems, though, after the plane sat on the ground for some time they finally cancelled the flight. AACK! Through the cruise line and us pestering the agent at the airport we got on a flight to Miami (45 minutes to hour drive away), the cruise line picked us up at the airport and shuttled us to the cruise ship, getting to the terminal after the scheduled departure time. On this cruise we had about 21 traveling, of which about 10 were on the cancelled flight. Since we booked air through the cruise line the ship waited for us, delaying departure about an hour. A few good things did come from that: (1) I don't complain if we are delayed leaving a port as there may be others going through what we did, (2) we breezed through check-in, as there was no one at the pier when we arrived, (3) we didn't have to go to muster drill! and (4) another great cruise memory to look back on. (However, one on the flight did not get their luggage; first port of call was Princess Cay, so the cruise ship gave them an allowance to buy new bathing suits in Princess Cay for that stop and they had their luggage waiting for them at the next port).

[Mach1]

I feel your pain! Our flights kept getting changed, that is why I ended up cancelling my Serenade cruise in Apirl! I did get a full refund back on my flights…(and changed directions and headed to Hawaii) it is something to check into and do some changing on your own.

However like the previous post….RCI will help you if book through them.

Good luck!

[cruisinfanatic]

I'm booked on VOS on Nov 8th and was supposed to be flying from London Gatwick (25 min drive from my house) to Barcelona with British Airways (booked through RCI) on the morning of my cruise.

 

This afternoon I get a call from my TA to say BA have dropped their morning Barcelona flight and RCI will rebook me on the BA flight from London Heathrow (2 hour drive in good traffic) from my home. This flight will also leave 2 hours earlier which will result in a journey starting at 3am instead of a journey starting at 7am!!

 

I'm now considering my options re flights, etc..... Just when I thought it was all sorted.

 

Can't blame RCI for this..... but it's just so annoying!!

 

Kazza

How much is RCL charging you for your flights. Can you do better? Your TA should be telling you all of your options, not only the ones that make her commission.

[mad4rda]

I've just taken a call from my TA (very surprised she was still at work - sounds like she'd had a nightmare day).

 

I have decided to take the Heathrow flight to Barcelona. I have incurred an extra cost because I will travel up to Heathrow the night before and stay at a hotel so to be relaxed before the early flight.

 

She's going to sort it all out with RCI in the morning.

 

And to be positive about it all - I'll get to the ship a couple of hours earlier!!

 

:)

[Benita]

Look at the bright side, at least you have only one nonstop flight - try getting to Barcelona from the US - we had a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt, after flying overnight from Miami, and had to use every minute of it, between waiting on lines at immigration and three more security checks.

[suekay]

Don't forget Priceline or Hotwire for your Heathrow hotel - much cheaper than booking through any other site:)

[As the ship sails]

Hi Karen! I am a single traveller also going on the Voyager Nov 8th. I saw that you posted once on the roll call but just wanted to say HEY come back and post.:D Its not exactly the friendliest or talkative roll call going but Hey maybe you and I can get the momentum going and get the darn thing past page 2!:p :D :D

[startwin]

If an airline cancels or changes your flight by more than 90 minutes, you can cancel without penalty. Try to find a flight on your own that suits your schedule better, if you can!

 

I didn't know that! I once lost my deposit because I cancelled when the airline changed my flight by a whole day! I seem to learn something new all the time on here.

[senrab]

I've just taken a call from my TA (very surprised she was still at work - sounds like she'd had a nightmare day).

 

I have decided to take the Heathrow flight to Barcelona. I have incurred an extra cost because I will travel up to Heathrow the night before and stay at a hotel so to be relaxed before the early flight.

 

She's going to sort it all out with RCI in the morning.

 

And to be positive about it all - I'll get to the ship a couple of hours earlier!!

 

:)

Not sure if we can post hotel recommendations at Heathrow, but I can say that the Jury's Inn at Heathrow was quite adequate. It's one (or two) tube stop(s) from LHR (depending on whether you are in T5 (2 stops) or not (one stop)), and resonably priced. Seeing how you're from London, you might not have extensive experience with London hotel options. I've stayed there, as have coworkers, and were quite pleased with their product...

[angelina46]

i too am flying to barcelona from gatwick but in december. have not been notified of a change to heathrow, that would be very inconvenient to me too. am puzzled as i just checked b.a.`s website and they are still showing morning flights on your date and mine!

angelina46

[dougp26364]

I'm booked on VOS on Nov 8th and was supposed to be flying from London Gatwick (25 min drive from my house) to Barcelona with British Airways (booked through RCI) on the morning of my cruise.

 

This afternoon I get a call from my TA to say BA have dropped their morning Barcelona flight and RCI will rebook me on the BA flight from London Heathrow (2 hour drive in good traffic) from my home. This flight will also leave 2 hours earlier which will result in a journey starting at 3am instead of a journey starting at 7am!!

 

I'm now considering my options re flights, etc..... Just when I thought it was all sorted.

 

Can't blame RCI for this..... but it's just so annoying!!

 

Kazza

 

 

Tell me about it. With the fuel crunch and the airlines constantly consolidating flights and eliminating seats, about all that's guarenteed is that you'll eventually be on something flying to your destination. Every flight I've booked in the past couple of years, except for the charter flights, has been changed. Some of them drastically.

 

We'll need to be booking flights from mid-America to BCN for our next cruise. I'm starting to think I need to arrive 2 days early and leave 1 day late in order to give us plenty of cushion so as not to be stressed out before or after our cruise. As it is with the current situation with airlines, I'm not certain I could book a same day flight unless it was through RCI and I knew they'd get me to the ship on time. I am considering it for our next cruise as time can become a factor along with hotel accomadations, transportation and everything else that goes with booking my own flights.

[land lover]

Tell me about it. With the fuel crunch and the airlines constantly consolidating flights and eliminating seats, about all that's guarenteed is that you'll eventually be on something flying to your destination. Every flight I've booked in the past couple of years, except for the charter flights, has been changed. Some of them drastically.

 

We'll need to be booking flights from mid-America to BCN for our next cruise. I'm starting to think I need to arrive 2 days early and leave 1 day late in order to give us plenty of cushion so as not to be stressed out before or after our cruise. As it is with the current situation with airlines, I'm not certain I could book a same day flight unless it was through RCI and I knew they'd get me to the ship on time. I am considering it for our next cruise as time can become a factor along with hotel accomadations, transportation and everything else that goes with booking my own flights.

 

Look at going AA as they have a new direct flight from JFK.....

We are flying from LAX in October and will be landing in BCN at 9:10 am.

[YYC F/A]

How much is RCL charging you for your flights. Can you do better? Your TA should be telling you all of your options, not only the ones that make her commission.

 

RCI and other mass market cruise lines do not pay commission on air so I highly doubt she had a bias towards booking RCI in-house air - (s)he makes zero dollars on that.

 

In fact most air options are 0% commissionable to TA's so they will either be doing the work for you for 'free' and relying on the cruise commission, or offering independent air with a service fee.

 

The big online agencies only use cruiseline air because they work in bulk and don't have time to do independent air for 0% commission and cruiseline air is an easy 'check box' option that takes them no time. Local agents or cruise specialist agents may work with you on researching and booking independent options to save money.

[dougp26364]

Look at going AA as they have a new direct flight from JFK.....

We are flying from LAX in October and will be landing in BCN at 9:10 am.

 

 

The problem would remain the same. The schedule today won't necessarily be the schedule when the flight leaves. Like I said, for the last two years I'm pretty certain that every flight we've taken, with the exception of the charter airline we fly to Vegas (Allegiant), has done something to mess up our itinerary. Sometimes it's a minor change but two flights I have on the books right now have had MAJOR changes. One with changed our departure time to 7 hours later and changed our flight to an overnight flight arriving the next day and the other changed our connection leaving and getting us to our destination almost 5 hours later.

 

For an oversea's flight to meet a cruise ship, I can't see taking that risk. Airlines have a habit of changing their flight times leaving me to scramble unless I build in time to spare.

 

Keep in mind the old saying. If you have time to spare, go by air. That seems to be more true every day.

[Madkitty]

staying overnight is normally not much cheaper than parking with it included - we have paid £80 at heathrow before for a nights hotel and up to 14 days parking. Holidayextras are the best for prices encase youre interested x

[Linda/Ohio]

This whole airline flight deal is a pain. We have Future Cruise Certificates worth $500 due to a problem on Enchantment last year. They need to be used before November. We opted for the Bermuda cruise--as we can drive (10 hours) to the port and not have to deal with the problems of cancelled flights. We drive a day early--stay over nigth about 45 minutes away (hotels are about 1/3 the price) then drive over to the port in morning.

[pcur]

Look at going AA as they have a new direct flight from JFK.....

We are flying from LAX in October and will be landing in BCN at 9:10 am.

 

That overnight flight LAX to BCN is great. It's nonstop and you'll want to sleep anyway, because it's at night. Also, arriving around 9 AM, everything is open and ready for business in BCN.

[land lover]

That overnight flight LAX to BCN is great. It's nonstop and you'll want to sleep anyway, because it's at night. Also, arriving around 9 AM, everything is open and ready for business in BCN.

 

Glad to hear it worked great for you........what time did you leave LAX?