HA--less than helpful

[PaulaJK]

We are sailing 12/26. Today, still without documents,
I contacted my TA who contacted HA. Oops, they
found the dox, still on the desk. Why? Because they
didn't have any air! We booked only 6-7 weeks ago
but they sold us air at that time, so why didn;t they
alot it?! today they were
-saying we should go to FL on 12/25 [Christmas!] and
overnight, at our own expense yet
-'red eye' in ....from Newark???? Get a map.
-Oh, they didn;t have air. But they refused to
cancel/refund the entire cruise. They would only cancel
the air portion. Now where were we to find air 8 days
in advance??
-Thankfully, we had an experienced agent who spent her
entire morning dealing with this issue....we have air..with a
change of plane, but air....But now we also have VERY
negative feelings about HA! No apology for their errors, of course.

[jhannah]

Yikes! :eek: Someone definitely dropped the ball here. Too bad. I'm glad you have a flight now. It's just sad that you had to go through the aggrivation you did. Hopefully things will go smoothly from here.

[doone]

Its not only HAL, my friend had that same experience once with Princess. Princess made no apologies or anything either. Hey, they are only human. This is the time that TA's are worth their weight in gold, IMHO.

[bepsf]

Sounds like another good reason to make our own air-travel arrangements...

Thanks for the info - I hope the rest of your vacation goes better!!!

[jhannah]

This is the time that TA's are worth their weight in gold, IMHO.Absolutely, Doone! I started to say that, but didn't. I'm glad you did. I seriously doubt an online outfit would have gotten that deeply involved.

[doone]

Jim, I doubt it also.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Today is 12/17. If I were cruising on 12/26 you can rest assured I would have been on the phone a week ago at the latest to ask where the heck my docs were. If my TA didn't have an answer, I would call HAL directly.

Maybe I've misunderstood the OP, but it appears that she was booking the air through HAL and had (it appears) paid for same. So I am confused why the responsibility does not fall on HAL.

So I can't help but wonder where the buck stops ... perhaps with the TA? Someone obviously dropped the ball.

In the future, nine times out of ten you'll get a better deal booking the air yourself anyway ... especially flying Newark to Ft Lauderdale. The fares are reasonable and the cruiselines charge a fortune.

[PaulaJK]

I was on the phone end of last week and was told
I would have them in hand this week. The holidays
have been pressing and I haven't been able to track
everything quite as well as usual. I am glad that I
called today. I was rather surprised that HA wasn't
'surprised' that they were still sitting with documents
and had no air arrangements in place despite having
charged for them! Whatever.....
Usually I do book independently....however, flying
on the 12/26 and 1/2 presents challenges, so on those
cruises I often go thru the line.
Hopefully Shakespeare is correct.....all's well that ends well.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Paula, hopefully yes! I'm sure it will end fine, but what a pain!!! Wouldn't be so bad another time of year.

Still sounds to me like HAL owes you an explanation ... maybe they'll put flowers in your room;)

[DoctorFeelgood]

...darned if you don't!

Honestly... if you had booked your air yourself and run into a similar problem, HA would have said "Oh... it's your problem, you should have booked air with us."

So you book your air through HA and they STILL say "It's your problem".

I'm not calling you a liar... but I can hardly believe HA would have the nerve to tell you they were not going to refund your cruise.

[dakrewser]

It does sound like your TA dropped the ball here. THey should have been following up daily to be sure, especially as your docs should have been issued almose immediately after you booked.


But I'm a bit confused. First you said they would bring you in the day before, then that they wanted you to take a red-eye and then that there was no air available - which was it?

[PaulaJK]

I am going to make one attempt to clarify this; it's all it warrants.
Today, when we pursued with our TA still being without documents, TA called HA. There were multiple interchanges, involving 3 parties. HA said that
they still had the documents because they hadn't booked air....then couldn't book air. They advocated our coming in 1 day early [Christmas] and staying 1 day later, all at our expense. Didn't matter, because coming to FL on Xmas was not an option as missing an additional day of work was not an option. They persisted. We resisted. Then they suggested we take a red eye; this made no sense from Newark to FL. Then they said we should handle our own air since we were unwilling to come early. When I finally got tired of all this, I said that if they could not provide the air they had booked and been paid for, they should cancel the entire cruise and refund our $, they then seemed to state that they could refund the air booking but would NOT refund the cruise. This blew my mind and I suggested a complaint to Consumer Affairs & pursuing action. The morning was absorbed with this. Finally,they found a US air flight , with a change of plane, into West Palm and a bus transfer to FLL. DrFeelGood would not have felt so good with all of this! I didn't say 1 thing, then the other. I said all of these because all of these
transpired. It wasn't a good day...nor a good impression of HA. So be it...and let it be better once we board. Amen

[HeatherInFlorida]

Paula, a lousy experience ... no question. I have a feeling, and I could be wrong, that when you book thru HAL they give themselves a "window" of when they can fly you in. I think (and I'm not sure), they may say that in booking air thru them an overnight might be included which they would not pay for. Before going further, you might want to just check all the fine print on their website.

[stanjj111]

Only the squeeky wheel gets the oil. I am pleased for you that you persued this. If they messed up on the air they should have given you a full refund as a customer service gesture or at least put all your money towards another cruise. Even if they found an acceptable flight I would be annoyed with them and choose another line for my next cruise if possible.

[stanjj111]

We are leaving on the Volendam on the 26th and have a thread going. If this is your cruise do you want to join us?

[Krazy Kruizers]

About 15 years ago we booked a Christmas ! year in advance through Princess and at that time did their air. Two weeks before we were to leave our documents arrived and no air tickets. Our TA called Princess to find out what was up. They waited too long and couldn't find any air from Pittsburgh to San Juan for Dec 24, especially since we had to be on the early flight in order to get on the ship that day. They didn't even bother contacting our TA and letting her know that there wasn't any air. That began the fight. It went on for a couple of days. To make a long story short, Princess could get us air on the 22nd if we would pay for 2 nights hotel rooms - more fights. We were both working at that time and could not take off 2 days of work. After much arguing because Princess wasn't going to refund our money, they got us first class seats down and back.

That taught us a lesson - do our own air whenever possible or pay for the air deviations.

[kryos]

It wasn't a good day...nor a good impression of HA. So be it...and let it be better once we board. Amen
I'll tell you, I love HAL but I will never, ever allow them to set up my air arrangements again. I think they SUCK in that area.

I used HAL air service for my Zuiderdam cruise last August. If there were more inconvenient flights they could have booked me on, I can't imagine what they would have been!

They had me arriving in Miami (not Fort Lauderdale, but Miami) at about 8:30 a.m. on the morning of embarkation. I had HAL transfers to Port Everglades as well, and as soon as I had gathered my luggage, and the HAL rep had helped me to store it at HAL's desk area in the airport, I was then informed that I had over three hours to kill before they would have a bus there to transfer me to Port Everglades! Why the hell did you make me take such an early flight then?!?!?!

Return air was no better. I was off the ship at about 8:00 a.m. Because there were not many people on that particular sailing (hurricane caused a lot of cancellations for the second week of my b2b), it didn't really matter what your disembarkation number was ... they only had one bus going to Miami Airport and the bus didn't move until EVERYONE was off the ship. So you could have been first group to disembark or last ... didn't matter.

Then I get to the Miami Airport ... and I've got about five hours to kill before my flight. I had figured ... no biggie ... I'll see if they can get me on an earlier flight. No way. There WERE NO earlier flights. The one I was booked on was their first flight to Philadelphia that day. If I wanted to try another airline, I would have to pay another fare. I would receive no credit for that one.

Because of this, I wound up sitting around the Miami Airport from like 10:00 a.m. until 3:30 ... doing nothing. Then, to make matters worse, the plane was late taking off ... adding another hour to that total.

I swore after this experience that I would NEVER allow HAL to touch my airline arrangements. They could have done a whole lot better in my opinion. And the real thing that gets me is that HAL charges much more for air when they arrange it ... far more than the cost of the transfer to the port that they throw in.

I made my own air arrangements for my Princess cruise next month ... and I got far more convenient flights for half the price HAL charged me. And, I fly into Fort Lauderdale, not Miami. Even adding the cost of transfers to the pier ... I'm still saving a bundle on the air.

Do yourself a favor in the future, either go onto Travelocity or one of the online services and arrange your own air, or have your TA do it for you. Just keep it out of HAL's hands ... cause they'll surely find some way to screw it up.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[PaulaJK]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Please note, I wasn't
even attempting to get any compensation [not even discussed]...
we only wanted our air!! Of course, we are not on very convenient
flights [changing planes in Charlotte going south] and using 2
airlines to return north....all for what with every other cruise
line has been a 3 hour flight non stop from Newark to FL.
Also, they are sending us into West Palm Beach and busing
us from there. What had blown my muind was their approach [akin to Princess'] that they suddenly could supply only the cruise and we
should find flights!
I do not consider this a satisfactory experience.I do plan to enjoy my cruise, if HA doesn't throw more roadblocks our way. However, I would have to think long and hard before considering HA for another cruise.

-thank you for the invite on the Volendam. We are sailing Osterdam.
Enjoy your cruise.

[lissa6626]

Now I rarely have to book air since I live in Florida. But last week on the Veendam 12/11 our ship was 2 hours late sailing out of Tampa due to delayed flights, so the Captain said. I would assume they booked through HAL or else we not have waited for them. I realize that they usually rip you off, but it may be worthwhile insurance to have. Just my opinion, but I would probably fly out a day early on my own. Win-win...know you'll get there in time, save money and start vacation a day early!

[jhannah]

Just my opinion, but I would probably fly out a day early on my own. Win-win...know you'll get there in time, save money and start vacation a day early!You've hit the mark! We do this, and it's truly the stress-free way to start your vacation. This spring when we sail out of Los Angeles, we'll fly over the same day of embarkation ... but since there are flights literally every half hour from LAS to LAX there doesn't seem to be any risk of missing the ship.