Flying scheduled airlines on P&O Cruise

On previous cruises, we have learned from fellow P&O passengers that they have not flown with Thomas Cook or Thomson (i.e. chartered flights), but with British Airways or Virgin (i.e. scheduled flights). How is this; does anyone know?

Thanks

Main reason is when there are cabins available but all the charter flights are full, they’ll offer scheduled flights.

Some folks also don’t want charter flights and prefer scheduled.

Some people have some days pre / post cruise in eg. Barbados and therefore go by scheduled flights.

Sorry forgot other reason - airports which offer the charter flights are not convenient for some passengers (too far to travel).

It depends where the cruise is - we have flown with Virgin and Etihad on P&O packages to San Francisco and from Sydney.

Were you meaning the Caribbean itineraries?

We've done both to the Caribbean from London with P&O - it was just based on seat availability. The downside of scheduled for us was having to go through immigration and baggage reclaim in Barbados - which is normally avoided on charter.

Any time i can avoid the halfwits crowding around the baggage carousel is a plus in my book.

We've done both to the Caribbean from London with P&O - it was just based on seat availability. The downside of scheduled for us was having to go through immigration and baggage reclaim in Barbados - which is normally avoided on charter.

 

Any time i can avoid the halfwits crowding around the baggage carousel is a plus in my book.

This is interesting. P&O can get us out to the Caribbean but they can't get us back. They are looking into a scheduled return flight with BA but have advised us that we will have to pay extra (don't know how much yet). How much extra did you have to pay for your scheduled flights? This may give us an idea although I know flights costs can vary widely. TIA

We didn't pay any extra - that we were aware. I think the flights were organised and confirmed post-booking.

We did a Mediterranean Cruise on Oceana a year ago and were put on a BA Scheduled flight, notified after we'd booked. I'd assumed that this was because the P&O charter flights were full. We did not pay any extra. The downside was that we had to collect our luggage on the way out but funnily enough not on the way back, our luggage went outside our cabin the night before disembarking in the normal way. The advantage was that the BA hand luggage was so much better. I could take a handbag and a piece of hand luggage that could weigh up to 23kg! This really helped. The only thing I had to ensure was that the hand luggage was of a specific measurement - bought a new small 2 wheeled case - and that I could lift it into the overhead locker - well my husband did that. So all in all we felt it benefitted us. Also it was to/from Genoa Airport and on the way home the airport is so small that it was so much nicer than the hustle and bustle of somewhere like Bridgetown.

On long haul flights, the seat pitch in economy is better on the charter airlines than on the scheduled ones. Those extra couple of inches make a difference!

We were quoted £899 per person extra to change to a Virgin/BA flight to Barbados in January which seemed a ridiculous price considering the price to do a flight independently with those airlines was only £550... We would have been concerned doing our own flights as if we were delayed it would have caused problems and transfers were not included either. We have gone with the Thomson flights included...

We were quoted £899 per person extra to change to a Virgin/BA flight to Barbados in January which seemed a ridiculous price considering the price to do a flight independently with those airlines was only £550... We would have been concerned doing our own flights as if we were delayed it would have caused problems and transfers were not included either. We have gone with the Thomson flights included...

Well, it would be pretty silly to pay extra for a worse experience! Less legroom and having to collect your luggage on arrival. They should offer the scheduled flights at a reduction!

Well, it would be pretty silly to pay extra for a worse experience! Less legroom and having to collect your luggage on arrival. They should offer the scheduled flights at a reduction!

Just read what I wrote and it sounds rude. Apologies! Didn't mean to call anybody silly.

That's fine, I was just giving the price as a guide for the person who asked, but yes silly price !

Thanks all. I should have said that P&O can't offer us return flights from the Caribbean in premium (just outbound), which is why we were considering the scheduled option. Happily this has been achieved. We've had to pay a supplement for the BA WTP flight, but overall it's still cheaper than 2 weeks on Britannia and we have a decent balcony on C Deck. Can't wait to get on board Azura again!