Alaska Air Flight time changed leaving Boston. Is 10 am too early when disembarking?

[Andi Land]

Hello, I just logged in to my Alaska Airlines profile and noticed that they changed my flight time to 10 am. From others experience, is this too early of a flight to make? We can do self dis-embarkation without any problems. The next flight out isn’t until 5:05 pm. 

 

Any input others can provide would be wonderful. BTW, Alaska didn’t send me notice. I follow a group on Facebook and the one person works in travel and all 20 of his flights had changes to the itineraries.  So, wouldn’t hurt to check your flights if you’re booked with Alaska. 

[Seasick Sailor]

Yikes.. We disembarked at 8:30, caught a cab and got to airport at 9:30. This was September. There was a lot of construction going on and traffic was bad.

We always get a text and an email when Alaska Airlines changes times..

[RuthC]

You're coming in on Saturday, I presume? If so, then that is likely to be much lighter traffic than during the workweek, so it is possible to make that flight, especially if you do self-disembarkation. 
But it is much too close for my heart to handle. Depending on how long your flight is, I would either take the later flight, or change to the same flight the next day. 

[CruiserBruce]

Am I missing something here? What airport, city, day, etc...not many details here.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Keep an eye on United if you're flying with them. Every time I've flown to Seattle they have changed flight times. Sometimes a few minutes. Once more than an hour and they changed the flight number. Didn't get any heads-up from them. I found out about the change in flight number when the car service called me 2 days before the flight to ask if I was still going to Seattle because they couldn't find the flight number I'd given them when I booked. 

 

[Seasick Sailor]

14 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Am I missing something here? What airport, city, day, etc...not many details here.

The topic said Boston. 

[CruiserBruce]

14 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

The topic said Boston. 

oops, missed that. I wouldn't be comfortable with a 10am flight out of Boston.

[Crew News]

My last two self-disembarkations in Vancouver with Alaska Airlines flights, I arrived at the Vancouver airport at 8:30 AM and was at my gate by 9:00 AM.  In my case, everything went right for my 11:00 AM flight. 

 

A 10:00 AM flight with boarding starting at 9:30 would require everything to go right.

 

Another option would be one of the hourly flights from Vancouver to Seattle and then transfer to Southwest

 

If you are flying out of Seattle, the ride to the airport from Pier 91 is a bit longer in good traffic.  There is no Immigration in Seattle for domestic flights but the Security Screening lines are loooooong.  If you are flying out of Seattle everything has to go perfectly to make a 10:00 AM flight.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Crew News

[terrydtx]

You will need to walk off the ship for disembarkation as early as possible. You will need to take a cab to Boston Logan, but you should be OK as long as your arrival in Boston is not late. 

[Hlitner]

WOW!  We would not accept a flight that early in Boston.  While you might be OK if your disembarkation is on a Sunday (less traffic) and you use express disembarkation (carry your own luggage off the ship) you still will be taking a big gamble that CBP quickly clears the vessel.  The only cruise port where we would gamble on a 10am flight is at Port Everglades if we are flying out of FLL.

 

As to Alaska Airlines, if you booked direct you can call them and have your flight changed or even cancelled.  Because they changed the time of your flight the penalties should be waived (for either a change or cancellation with full refund).  If you booked through the cruise line you would need to call the cruise line air folks who should handle the change.   The new time would not even meet the cruise line's own air time limitations.   If the cruise line tells you to keep the flight you should make sure to document that info (get it in writing) so that if you miss your flight and have additional costs it is on them.

 

Hank

[3rdGenCunarder]

11 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

oops, missed that. I wouldn't be comfortable with a 10am flight out of Boston.

 

I wouldn't, either.

 

OP, is Boston your port of entry into the US? If so, definitely change the flight. Two experiences with customs/immigration in Boston in recent years and both were incredibly slow. 

 

[Seasick Sailor]

Andy Land, we live in Pacific Northwest and pretty much use Alaska Air for all travel. If Alaska changes your flight times outside an hour window, you can call and make flight changes for no fee. We book way in advance for our 1st class Maui seats and get several changes throughout the time period.

We were just in Boston in September, disembarking from an NCL ship. That went fine, but the traffic due to construction en-route to the airport was maddening. 10 am is doable if the stars and moon align. Best of luck to you!

[Andi Land]

6 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Andy Land, we live in Pacific Northwest and pretty much use Alaska Air for all travel. If Alaska changes your flight times outside an hour window, you can call and make flight changes for no fee. We book way in advance for our 1st class Maui seats and get several changes throughout the time period.

We were just in Boston in September, disembarking from an NCL ship. That went fine, but the traffic due to construction en-route to the airport was maddening. 10 am is doable if the stars and moon align. Best of luck to you!

I did an online chat with them last night and had them cancel the flight with a full refund. They were excellent to deal with and explained they are doing lots of rescheduling due to the grounding of the 737 max plane. So, I need to decide if we still do the Canada New England cruise or opt for something else. Right now we are looking to cancel and go with the 14 day Alaska.  It means we don’t need to worry about flights and let’s me look at the 10 day Canada New England for 2021 without feeling guilty 😉 So, this flight change may be a blessing in disguise. 

[Seasick Sailor]

3 minutes ago, Andi Land said:

I did an online chat with them last night and had them cancel the flight with a full refund. They were excellent to deal with and explained they are doing lots of rescheduling due to the grounding of the 737 max plane. So, I need to decide if we still do the Canada New England cruise or opt for something else. Right now we are looking to cancel and go with the 14 day Alaska.  It means we don’t need to worry about flights and let’s me look at the 10 day Canada New England for 2021 without feeling guilty 😉 So, this flight change may be a blessing in disguise. 

 

You live in Oregon, so your flight (if you take one) is a hop-skip-jump to Seattle. I didn't realize how expensive the flights were to get to Quebec City this past Sept. It took us forever to get there. The Canada/New England cruises are really beautiful and the ports were great. We stayed 3 days in Quebec City and would have loved to stayed longer.. Next time!

[sail7seas]

14 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

The topic said Boston. 

Which ship are you  sailing ?  Number of  guests who  have to  clear  immigration gives a clue as to how long it might   take you to clear and get on your way  Logan airport is very near the cruise  terminal, a fast ride through  the  tunnel  to the  airport;

 

 

 

 

[Seasick Sailor]

Just now, sail7seas said:

Which ship are you  sailing ?  Number of  guests who  have to  clear  immigration gives a clue as to how long it might   take you to clear and get on your way  Logan airport is very near the cruise  terminal, a fast ride through  the  tunnel  to the  airport;

 

 

 

 

 

Andi canceled the trip.

[sail7seas]

1 hour ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Andi canceled the trip.

YES, I read that 🤷‍♀️

 

Is there a chance there is  someone here reading  this thread that may find all  information co ntributed  to be helpful?   When we post here  we do   not post only for the OP but  for all who wish  to read it.  I live in Boston area and have sailed into and  out  of  that cruise  terminal literally dozens of.   times

Edited December 30, 2019 by sail7seas

[Seasick Sailor]

24 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

YES, I read that 🤷‍♀️

 

Is there a chance there is  someone here reading  this thread that may find all  information co ntributed  to be helpful?   When we post here  we do   not post only for the OP but  for all who wish  to read it.  I live in Boston area and have sailed into and  out  of  that cruise  terminal literally dozens of.   times

 

AH! I remember you now sail7seas..

[Andi Land]

37 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

YES, I read that 🤷‍♀️

 

Is there a chance there is  someone here reading  this thread that may find all  information co ntributed  to be helpful?   When we post here  we do   not post only for the OP but  for all who wish  to read it.  I live in Boston area and have sailed into and  out  of  that cruise  terminal literally dozens of.   times

This was for the Amsterdam in June of 2020.  So, approx 1200-1400 passengers I believe. 
 

Thanks for asking. 😊 I agree that someone else may find themselves in this same situation with all the airline changes. 

[Tom O.]

17 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Keep an eye on United if you're flying with them. Every time I've flown to Seattle they have changed flight times. Sometimes a few minutes. Once more than an hour and they changed the flight number. Didn't get any heads-up from them. I found out about the change in flight number when the car service called me 2 days before the flight to ask if I was still going to Seattle because they couldn't find the flight number I'd given them when I booked. 

 

 

5 hours ago, Andi Land said:

I did an online chat with them last night and had them cancel the flight with a full refund. They were excellent to deal with and explained they are doing lots of rescheduling due to the grounding of the 737 max plane. So, I need to decide if we still do the Canada New England cruise or opt for something else. Right now we are looking to cancel and go with the 14 day Alaska.  It means we don’t need to worry about flights and let’s me look at the 10 day Canada New England for 2021 without feeling guilty 😉 So, this flight change may be a blessing in disguise. 

 

It is not just United. I have flown Delta, American and United recently, and have had several schedule changes for every flight.

One big reason is the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. The two main airlines that have a bunch of grounded 737 Max is American and Southwest. Alaska has some 737 Max ordered, but has not taken delivery of them yet. I would avoid any airline that has a lot of grounded airplanes, because they will have an inordinate number of last minute flight changes. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

My problems with United to Seattle were before the 737 problems. And recently, it was a little commuter jet. I understand that schedules change, but my complaint is that they don't send out any notification. And, until I go into the website and accept the change, my seat selection is released to inventory. So if I book early and choose a good seat, lack of notification about a schedule change could cause me to lose that seat and end up in a less desirable seat.