Europe Flight Question

[zorrosuncle]

Hi --

If your Europe-bound flight was cancelled -- i.e. volcanic ash problem -- how long would you be willing to wait for another flight before you decided to give up on the cruise?

[zorrosuncle]

Hi --

If your Europe-bound flight was cancelled -- i.e. volcanic ash problem -- how long would you be willing to wait for another flight before you decided to give up on the cruise?
Hi -- In my case, the next port is several days away and I am traveling alone. Makes for extra expenses.

ZU

[sandthrush]

The responses to this should be interesting. Fortunately this has never happened to us, but you would need to be in touch with your insurance carrier (if you have insurance) and the cruise line. They will determine when you should "give up" unless you want to forfeit the cost of your entire cruise.

[zorrosuncle]

Hi --

I am departing cruise from Amsterdam. Next port is Lubeck followed by Copenhagen. Waiting an unknown number of days for another flight to Amsterdam precludes even booking another flight to a new port city until I arrive in Amsterdam. I might find that there are no flights available for another week -- much less a hotel room!

My platinum insurance is supposed to allow me to cancel at any time without reason.

But nevertheless why even consider trying to navigate through the nightmare of multiple unknowns! It would just be a bad scene.

ZU

[RevNeal]

My cruise this summer is out of London. We stay overnight in London one night, then cruise to two Scottish ports over 3 days. I would wait until it became clear that I couldn't get to London and then from London to wherever the ship was at a port on the Isles before I'd "give up." Once the ship has left britain the cost becomes prohibitive.

More importantly, would I try to book a flight to Europe somewhere where the airports are still working, and then take the train to London. That's a possibility. i.e., fly to Madrid, then train to Paris and from Paris to London. If it looked like Heathrow were to be closed, and if I had time to shift to Madrid, I'd do it.

[tomtal]

Unfortunately, day by day different airports and sky space above are being affected by volcanic ash. Today I understand flights to and from some Spanish, Italian and Portuguese airports are affected, as well as Scotland and Ireland. Heathrow and south east England seem to be ok - at the present time. It really is a matter of keeping watch day by day and contacting your airline before you set out. In the past 3 weeks, I have had 2 flights cancelled, and 2 more disrupted, and although I say contact your airline before travel, it is almost impossible to get through to them (here in the UK) - either my phone or email. One of the airlines I hoped to travel on emailed me not to contact them again as they were inundated with queries! Hopefully by 2011, I may get some money back - at least I live in hope. How long do you wait before cancelling a cruise - well how long is a piece of string?

[milleruszk]

I would not wait too long before canceling. We were scheduled to take a land tour in Italy leaving from Newark on April 19th. This was the first night that transatlantic flights were resuming. Our itinerary was to take us from Newark to Paris to Milan. The initial flight from Paris was delayed 3 hours. When we got to the airport we were told by Air France that they could not guarantee when they could get us on a flight from Paris to Milan as our original flight to Milan had been cancelled. This they explained was due to chaotic flight situation in Europe and advised us to cancel. Having trip insurance we decided to cancel immediately. I could not picture us sleeping on the floor in the Paris airport. We have filed a claim with the insurance company and are now waiting on settlement.

[doctork]

I voted 3 - 5 days, but the answer really is "it depends."

If I were already in Europe or South America, or wherever, I would explore alternative ways to reach the port - train, bus, rental car. If I were in the US trying to get to a foreign port city, I'd look for alternate airports that were still open and also check any necessary land transport to the port city.

This is one time when a travel agent and elite membership in an airlines frequent flyer program (preferably one with strong alliance partners) can be very helpful, especially if you have a lot of FF miles in your account to avoid paying an exorbitant cash price for a new ticket if the airline doesn't want to pay for your alternative travel.

If I were at home and required a domestic flight to an expensive city like New York, only to face sitting around for 2 or 3 days there before being able to fly overseas, I'd cancel more quickly.