Help you airline gurus! I'm over my head.

[Brahmama]

We are going on the Galaxy Greek Isle cruise in May - flying back on June 3.

 

Since we sail one way and fly back (trans) the cruise air is cheaper than the open-jaw that we can find. Plus it covers transfers (Houston to Galveston and Civitivecchia to Rome) So I booked it.

 

Then I tried to get a deviation. We prefer to fly AA or Delta for the FF miles. I found a good combo on AA , but it leaves at 11:30 AM and the TA said that Celebrity wouldn't book one that early. There are literally NO AA or Delta that leave in the afternoon (how strange?) and they have booked us on Northwest on a Douglas DC 10 at 1:20 connecting to DFW through Detroit.

 

We don't know anything about NW, but I looked up this plane and it's 31,32 pitch and 17.2 wide. That is narrower than AA which we usually take, but is it fairly comfortable? My husband is 6'3'' and 260 pounds with football knees - need I say more!

 

Any suggestions, comments, etc? I had thought that 11:30 would work - as I've read that the ship docks early and starts breakfast at 4:30 AM!!

 

Thanks for any help. I don't know what to do next.

 

:confused:

[greatam]

I believe it is about 1 1/2 hours from the pier to the airport. So that would mean you would have to be OFF the ship by 8:00AM to make your flight. Just too close. That is why Celebrity won't book it for you.

 

Everything I am seeing that is on AA (my carrier of choice, also) has an overnight in either London or Frankfort. The Frankfort flight has a LOT of extra miles, if you are NO hurry to get home. Don't know whether Celebrity will book it for you.

 

If you don't mind, what was the price of your air fare? Before I look for options, I need to know what prices we are dealing with. You can always cancel your cruise air if you find a better price.

 

Email if you need further info. greatam@earthlink.net

 

Gina

[billybob123]

If you fly on NW, you can credit your flown miles to your Delta Skymiles account, they're in the Skyteam alliance together. Just call Northwest reservations and ask them to add your FF #'s, or ask them when you arrive to check in in Europe.

 

The seats are a bit cramped on NW, but i don't find them any worse than Delta (Delta's planes tend to have identical pitch as NW, so you won't notice a difference). If you arrive early to check in, you can ask the agent if you can get bulkhead seats or something to try to fit in. I know the pain of stuffing yourself into airline seats for long haul (i'm 6-2), so I sympathize!!

 

Enjoy your cruise

-bb123

[Brahmama]

Thanks for the replies and opening up the "box" I was in.

 

Gina,

Our price was right - $675 - especially considering transfers are included.

 

However in this situation it virtually is just for the transfer and for the flight from FCO to DFW. Our daughter will drive us down to Galveston so we don't need the flight or transfer in that direction.

 

I'm intrigued by the overnight in London/Frankfort - that's certainly doable - but not sure how that works?

 

and Billy Bob,

 

Good to know that NW is equivalent to Delta - that will give us a known quantity. About the FF miles, does it work the other way? For example, can we use our Delta FF points to upgrade to business on NW?

 

How did we travel before we had newsgroups!

 

Carol / Brahmama

[freddiebud]

and check seatguru.com. you can see the planes layout to pick the right seat for you.

[vivian02]

As far as doing over night stays in Europe on the way home it all comes down to good planning and timing. I have done the over nights at Frankfurt and London Heathow. In my opinion Frankfurt is the easiest since there are some hotels near the Airport that have courtesy vans. Usually these vans charge 5 euros for one leg of the trip. My wife and I flew from Barcelona into Frankfurt last June arriving at the airport at 9:35 pm. There is a courtesy phone at the airport bus stop(Terninal 2). We contacted the hotel and they sent there driver (who was on his last run for the evening.) back to the airport to pick us up. The hotel was within 5 miles of the airport and getting back to the airport was real easy. I had a back up plan if the courtesy van wasn't working and that was to take a taxi. My guess was probably 25 Euros for the taxi ride. That day was one to remember because we spent most of the day touring Barcelona and had dinner at the Barcelona Airport. We flew over the Swiss Alps which was just spectacular. We ended the day with a mug of Dunkel Beer and the wife had a glass of German White wine.

Stay overs can be great, just plan ahead. Tim and Cathy

[StephenJohnson]

-SNIP-

Good to know that NW is equivalent to Delta - that will give us a known quantity. About the FF miles, does it work the other way? For example, can we use our Delta FF points to upgrade to business on NW?

 

Carol / Brahmama

 

Yes, you can use all Skyteam airlines (NW, Continental, Delta, Alitalia, Air France, etc.) points to upgrade, etc. But, be aware that many airlines charge miles AND cash when upgrading to Biz class - for obvious reasons.