Nedd Princess Air help - changed departure airport

[mikiecc]

:eek: We are a party of 8 traveling to Mexico. One in the party is using Princess Air. The cruise is the 29th of November from LA Harbor.

 

We had paid for all of the trip and the person using the air had requested a departure airport of Oakland. Late last week, the TA was notified that due to the "holiday" no air was available out of Oakland and book the individual out of San Francisco.

 

Since it is very difficult for him to get to SFO (he lives up the coast on the East Bay side) it has now posed a problem for him. He is older and will need to take BART (if possible) to SFO while hauling his luggage along with him.

 

Princess Air just states that "that is the way that it is". Yet, in looking online at Southwest out of Oakland, they have plenty of flights to LAX.

 

I have written Customer Relations in an effort for them to resolve the problem, but right now, we are not happy with Princess Air.

 

Customer Service does not seem to be a strong point with them.

[wrp96]

Princess does not have contracts with Southwest so they cannot book him on those flights. If he absolutely has to fly from Oakland, have him see if he can cancel the Princess Air and book directly with Southwest.

[chrysalis]

"requesting" the departure airport is very different than paying the "deviation fee" of $50 and specifying the airline, date and airport.

 

Who is talking to princess air...him, you or the TA?

 

Normally, if booked via a TA, that is the only person that Princess will talk to....

[mikiecc]

Thanks for the fast help.

 

The TA is talking to Princess Air. He stated that they were very rude and not very understanding of the situation.

 

If we book directly with Southwest, he said that they may not meet him in LA for the transfer to the ship. Do you know if that is correct?

 

What is the $50.00 fee for?

[Mr_Cruise]

All cruise line air departments work within the constraints of seat availability within their contracted space; they do not have access to every airline/flight/seat available on the open market to assign.

 

Most of the time they can accommodate the requested origin gateway, but not all of the time. One course of action you might want to try is inquiring about an air deviation (your agent should have checked this automatically mind you); there's a fee involved, but the custom air departments almost always work within different inventory than the standard air departments at each cruise line.

 

Good luck with that!

[CruiseAholic]

I've never seen any cruise line refuse to not take a passenger from the airport to the ship with independent air, I do it all the time. If you pay the transfer fees, you are met at baggage claim and taken to the ship.

[paul929207]

The %50 fee that was mentioned is the air deviation fee. This is charged if you wish to specify the flights you take or fly in early.

[Lookingforfacts]

Southwest has 10 flights scheduled to arrive at LAX before 3:15. Every flight is currently available for $69. Cancelling Princess Air (if possible) and booking SW is the best solution. Remember SW lets you check 2 bags for free. Include the air deviation fee, and a possible charge for checked luggage, and I doubt Princess Air will save you much (if any money). Shared van service (Primetime) is $16.

 

Book an early flight and I'm sure Princess transfers will also work.

[Lookingforfacts]

Southwest has 10 flights scheduled to arrive at LAX before 3:15. Every flight is currently available for $69. Cancelling Princess Air (if possible) and booking SW is the best solution. Remember SW lets you check 2 bags for free. Include the air deviation fee, and a possible charge for checked luggage, and I doubt Princess Air will save you much (if any money). Shared van service (Primetime) is $16.

 

Book an early flight and I'm sure Princess transfers will also work.

 

I looked at the wrong date but there are two available flights at $69 one at $82 and two at $91.

[bubbadog]

just book the flight to L.A.,and then get the transfer from princess,and they can take you to port;)

[crusinbanjo]

ANother good reason to have your air booked by your TA and not by the cruise line. I like the idea of using Southwest and Princess will pick you up with your transfer.

[Colo Cruiser]

Southwest has 10 flights scheduled to arrive at LAX before 3:15. Every flight is currently available for $69. Cancelling Princess Air (if possible) and booking SW is the best solution. Remember SW lets you check 2 bags for free. Include the air deviation fee, and a possible charge for checked luggage, and I doubt Princess Air will save you much (if any money). Shared van service (Primetime) is $16.

 

Book an early flight and I'm sure Princess transfers will also work.

 

 

As you are seeing it is not always the best thing to book air through the cruise line. ;)

[Sea Fan]

Worse case scenario if you can't get it change you might use a shuttle! We have had East Bay shuttle pick us up at home and drop us at SFO.

We have also used Super shuttle from Oakland to home but it made a couple of stops before we got there. We live in the East Bay Hills

 

 

 

 

http://www.eastbayshuttle.net/?gclid=CJv3gbeSlpYCFQkiagodbmWnFQ

 

http://www.charterandshuttle.com/tours/san-francisco-oakland-airport-shuttles-supershuttle.html

[Lookingforfacts]

As you are seeing it is not always the best thing to book air through the cruise line. ;)

 

Agreed but some posters seem to think it's never better to book through the cruise line.

 

This is a no-brainer, the cruise line doesn't even book the airline that's best fits the customers needs.

 

If the TA was any good at all they would have told the customer that.

[mikiecc]

:) Thank you all for your input. We are attempting to put a plan in place. The issue was not for me but for one of the members in our group who is older and it is more difficult for him to get to and from airports.

 

What bothered me the most was that we did not find out about the change until we looked at the paid in full booking to complete the online info. I guess the TA was to blame as he did not notify me (it appears that I have become the group leader) of any change to any of airport info for this one passenger.

 

Again, thanks for all your valuable input.

[Lookingforfacts]

It may be worth paying the $70 to SW even if Princess refuses a request for a refund. It sounds like the cost and inconvenience to get to the alternate airport may be more then $70. You might even lean on the TA to eat the $70 or give you shipboard credit.

[notentirelynormal]

If we book directly with Southwest, he said that they may not meet him in LA for the transfer to the ship. Do you know if that is correct?

 

 

This is NOT correct. We have used the transfer in LA, where we live, by going to LAX and transferring from there. We cruised out of San Pedro but we were flying back into LAX so wanted to leave our car at the airport. Our TA told Princess what "flight time" we would be arriving at. She simply figured out a flight that would be arriving at the time we wanted to be picked up and told them we would be there. No problem at all. They don't care as long as you've paid for the transfer.

[G'ma]

:eek: We are a party of 8 traveling to Mexico. One in the party is using Princess Air. The cruise is the 29th of November from LA Harbor.

 

We had paid for all of the trip and the person using the air had requested a departure airport of Oakland. Late last week, the TA was notified that due to the "holiday" no air was available out of Oakland and book the individual out of San Francisco.

 

Since it is very difficult for him to get to SFO (he lives up the coast on the East Bay side) it has now posed a problem for him. He is older and will need to take BART (if possible) to SFO while hauling his luggage along with him.

 

Princess Air just states that "that is the way that it is". Yet, in looking online at Southwest out of Oakland, they have plenty of flights to LAX.

 

I have written Customer Relations in an effort for them to resolve the problem, but right now, we are not happy with Princess Air.

 

Customer Service does not seem to be a strong point with them.

 

SFO and OAK are considered the "same"....sort of like JFK, LaGuardia and Newark. When you use cruiseline air, they have to use the airlines and airports that are in their contracts with the airline. Southwest doesn't contract with cruise lines.

 

The gentleman can call a service like Super Shuttle or other transportation companies....they're all over the place.

 

Don't be mad at Princess...there is nothing they can do. The air is under the complete control of the airlines.....

[baltimore60]

Just curious - how much is the transfer from LAX to San Pedro by Princess?

[Crown Prince]

I believe the x-fer in L.A. is $25.

 

You MUST add the x-fer on before 14 days out and give Princess the name of the airline, flight number, date, and arrival time. Sabre (the airline booking system) steps in and adds the correct times. Arrival time must meet the Princess guidelines.

 

This data may be entered into the Cruise Personalizer on the Princess website.

 

Princess needs this time to get the manifest organized so that the Ground Tour Operator can hire the right number of employees to Meet & Greet & bus drivers, as well as planning for the number of coaches and their airport departure times. It is just a logistics puzzle that needs time to arrange.

 

It sounds as if the OP is under the impression that the x-fer is included with the air price - never. It is always inclrded if you buy the Princess hotel package.

 

Next time, look for a new T.A. This one does not know what he is talking about, giving erroneous information. :eek:

I only use Brick & Mortar agencies.