Earliest flight time with express baggage program in Vancouver

[JudithLynne]

Sure hope someone who used this program in Vancouver can help me.

Am in the process of booking flights. Having used Express Baggage program 3 times previously will not disembark w/o it. I book airlines and flight times based on the program, it is that wonderful. I called HAL and was told by a “lead person” that the earliest flight one could take with the program is 11 am. Because that seemed awfully early to me, I sent an e-mail asking the same question. The response was 1pm! I again called HAL, talked to a third person, told her about the e-mail and she referred it to another “lead person” who said the earliest flight was 11 am.

My fear: we book 11:50 flights (which are the most desirable schedule wise for us)and then find out we do not qualify with such an early flight. We get off the old stressful way and end up missing our flight with all the chaos at the airport.

We live in a small city so making the 11:50 flight would get us home hours earlier than an afternoon flight.

When we did this program previously (in Vancouver), I will say it goes fast as you have your own customs area and making an 11 am flight would not be out of the question.

Did anyone use this program within the last year in Vancouver and if so, what was the earliest flight allowable? Would sure appreciate some feedback. Am very disappointed that HAL can’t seem to agree on a correct answer to my question.

Thanks s much…..Judith

[bepsf]

You can obviously book your air for any time you wish - but HAL won't guarantee that you'll make your flight, and Noon seems to be cutting it kinda close for an International flight under normal circumstances.

You also have to consider: What if there's a delay in disembarcation for some unforseen reason? Strikes, medical emergencies, bad weather and mechanical malfunctions, etc. do happen - Is the chance of missing your flight and therefore not getting home until a day later really worth the possibility of getting home 2-3 hours earlier?

[pengu1n]

I'm having this same dilemma for booking flights. It looks like flights to get us back to St. Louis from Vancouver leave either at 11 am or 11 pm. Don't know what's going on the rest of the day!:confused: It's not a direct flight anyway. I emailed HAL but have not gotten a response. And really I don't think booking an 11 am flight would be a good idea no matter what they say. I just keep hoping next time I look at the flights a more agreeable flight time will be available.

[JudithLynne]

I will be interested in what you hear from HAL. I am beginning to qgree with you and the previous poster that anything before noon might be chancey. The thing that makes me think otherwise is that when we did this previously, I was amazed at how fast the process was. You are on the way to the airport by 7:30 am. You are taken to a special expedited customs area for only express baggage people. We were ready to board our plane long before 10 am!

Please keep me posted via this thread if you hear from HAL.

Judith

[judynorth]

Can you use US Direct? That expedites the process even more. You have to fly a participating airline and arrange US Direct after you board the ship for your cruise. This cuts 2-3 hours off the time that it usually takes to get to the airport and through immigration, customs, and security. You might check the Alaska board too. HAL isn't very helpful about US Direct but we plan to use it for our cruise. We are trying to find out if we have to purchase our HAL transfers before we start the cruise and can't get an answer from anyone at HAL.

[Mary Ellen]

You also have to consider: What if there's a delay in disembarcation for some unforseen reason? Strikes, medical emergencies, bad weather and mechanical malfunctions, etc. do happen - Is the chance of missing your flight and therefore not getting home until a day later really worth the possibility of getting home 2-3 hours earlier?I have to agree with Brian. Our first cruise into Vancouver, we didn't dock until about noon (VERY unusual). I've also been stuck in Vancouver traffic with the bus driver hopelessly searching for a navigable route (certainly not unheard of).

[andeesue]

Mary Ellen, I'm interested to know when your Vancouver cruise was that came in so late. I will be taking the QuickCoach to Bellingham after my July cruise and hoped to catch the 10:15 a.m. bus. The earlier one at 8:30 seemed a bit risky. However, because those are scheduled times for Canada Place pick ups, it seemed like disembarking started early. Obviously, there could always be delays.

[Juanita462]

Things do happen - we were 6 hours late getting in from one Alaska
cruise. Only those who made late flight arrangements were able to
leave that day - all others had to stay overnight.

A good lesson is that those who booked their flights through the cruise
line were taken care of and put up in a nice hotel, flights rebooked for
them and a bus to the airport the next day. Those who booked their
own flights were put up in a hotel near the airport and left to look
after their own flight arrangements.

We were fortunate as we only had to phone our son to delay coming
down to the pier to pick us up until we confirmed our actual arrival
time.

[Mary Ellen]

Mary Ellen, I'm interested to know when your Vancouver cruise was that came in so late. This cruise was September 1980. For us it was due to a storm that required our ship to return to the inside passage. This was much slower going than sailing 'outside' down from Sitka. There were also a TON of fishing boats that had sought shelter in the inside passage, making it more congested. We'd also had to stop again in Ketchikan to put ashore a passenger with serious injuries suffered in a fall during the storm.

Not something one could plan for. Fortunately, we lived in Seattle at the time, so no air was involved, just the HAL shuttle.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have this link that answers a lot of questions for this program but unfortunately doe not give the time for the earliest flight.

http://www.portvancouver.com/vanAlaCruise/content/infoPassengers/usDirect.html