I cruise frequently and know only too well the issue of flights and what route they may take. My advice is to do what I do. Look to see which Airline has a direct flight ie Manchester - Miami. Price up the flight and then go to your TA tell them that you want Princess to put you on that flight. I have almost without exception had no problem in doing this.
eg New York last year flight Leeds/Heathrow/New York BA had flight direct from Manchester TA booked me on that flight.
I am about to set off on an extended holiday including a cruise. Celebrity had booked me Leeds/Heathrow/Singapore/.Sydney/Auckland.
Looked at my options. Singapore fly Manchester direct to Singapore then fly direct to Auckland. Coming back I am doing an internal flight Sydney -Perth with Qantas. Fly back with SIA from Perth to the UK
In this instance Celebrity did not have a contract with Sia only using Qantas. I was then advised by my TA to book the flights myself as she would have to charge me to do so.
I booked all the flights myself with Trailfinders and the flights were less expensive. For the past couple of years I have booked my own flight to the MED as the Cruise company want to send you all over Europe eg Leeds/Amsterdam/Barcelona or Leeds/Frankfurt/Barcelona and charge you well in excess of £350 to boot.
Have a look yourself find a flight and take it from there. If you have the time then you could say you want to buy cruise only and they may charge you an admin fee to change this but get the flights you want. I am pretty sure that Virgin will fly out of Manchester or what about BA. Endless options.

Sue

On their confirmation it states they would be flying Virgin Atlantic or BA. Its just a complete joke, they are flying on airliines we have never heard of. My parents always try to avoid foreign airlines as they had a bad experience with a Spanish airline long story!. They are travelling down from Glasgow aswell for their Manchester flight. The could have booked direct from Glasgow and booked the cruise all DIY but thought it would be easier if TO did it, meaning they had to fly Manchester. I will look into finding them a direct flight and going on from there!

On their flight confirmation, it says Thomas Cook only booked them on 17th October and paid cash. I just don't understand how you can take £5000 of someone for 9 day holiday and expect them to not fly direct, or even bother to tell them they aren't flying direct!

I can't find a direct flight now from Manchester to Miami, they are flying 28/11/08 and returning 6/12/08

Yes it is cutting it a bit fine. Could they get a flight from Heathrow but the problem with it now being so near the date they are probably ticketed!

Had it been that the cruise was a long way off then it would have been less problematic.
Which Airline are they flying with? I do think at this late stage there will be little you can do. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Just how long ago did they book and when did they realise that the flights were indirect.
I know that Princess sometimes uses Charter to the Caribbean and often that Charter will be with Virgin? It may be that all the allocation of seats may be used up.

Sue

Hi there,
you will not find a flight from Manchester to Miami because there isnt one, no-one flies that route. American did but it was cancelled at least 2 years ago.
I am very surprised that Princess have routed them via Germany as they usually route via london usuing as you say BA or sometime AA or Virgin, but never in my experience via Germany, which makes me wonder if these flights have even been booked through Princess, or wether they (Cooks) have booked cruise only with Princess and booked flights separate, which as they are ATOL bonded they can do, but if that is the case, that should have been explained at time of booking.
I am sure , in fact certain that this is the case as the routings do not add up at all. I dont understand why they are not flying from Glasgow either as its gla-lhr-mia without the need to go to Manchester at all.
Go back and tell them the flights are unacceptable, You could try ringing Princess and asking them if your booking is cruise only with them, I think Cooks have done this to keep the price down as tbh Cruise companies flight prices are usually much more expensive but take the best routes.

I would also tell them that 30 mins in chicago for a domestic ti international flights is absolutely not possible, this is the largest(in area ) Airport in the world, it isnt physically possible to get from one flight to another in the states in 30 mins.

Holiday was booked a year ago and she found out about flights when they arrived in the post on Thursday!

She phoned TC who said that the flights have been organised by princess and have nothing to do with them and that princess has organised all the manchester passengers this way. They are flying Lufthansia and American Airlines. On the way there they have a 2 hour wait in Germany which should be fine and cover their back for any delay. The way home is crazy. TC it is possible to get from one flight to another in 30mins as they dont have to pick up their luggage! Even a 10minute delay and they are struggling...TC aren't budging on this and said this is they way princess have organised it!! I don't think there is anything we can do

Dussledorf is the German airport

greenshoes wrote:

they are flying on airliines we have never heard of.

greenshoes wrote:

They are flying Lufthansia and American Airlines.

These are 2 of the largest airlines in the world, the German national carrier and the American national carrier, similar to our British Airways. I thought you meant they were using some obscure company. I am surprised you haven't heard of them.

luci

I agree with what Luci says. They are well know Airlines and other than the routing there is nothing wrong with the booking. I am surprised that they didn't know which Airline they were booked on. Whenever I receive my invoices from the Cruise Company the Airline and the routing etc is on that.
I don't think at this stage there is anything they can do.

Sue

When the original booking was made was no question asked about routing - timings - airlines - etc etc?

Luthansa (spelling ?) and American are fine. If a genuine "package" has been booked it is the responsibility of the Tour Op. to ensure the passengers arrive at the "dock" in time for the ship's departure.

I do find the routing a little strange American and Lufthansa are not in the same alliance so I would guess that the luggage can't be checked all the way through and may have to be retrieved at Düsseldorf. Still a 2hour stopover will be long enough as German Airports are usually very efficiently run, signs at the airport are in English and German and most airport/airline personnel will speak English if there are any problems.
The flight from Manchester to Düsseldorf should be OK, Lufthansa are normally spot on with their timing, your parents will get something to eat and drink free of charge on this short flight.

Lufthansa are good but I'm not a fan of Dusseldorf airport, in particular the signing is poor and when I came through in September the security staff were hopeless - they managed to cause a huge queue and still failed to do decent checks!

The outboard Lufthansa flight sounds ok (though obviously not so good if you thought the flight was direct!) but I don't think the 30 minutes between flights in Chicago will be possible, especially for an international flight. The only way this would be achievable is if the Chicago-Manchester flight is a connecting flight from the Miami-Chicago one, which seems unlikely with a 30 minute gap. If it is a connecting flight, the Chicago-Man flight will be held until the Miami-Chicago passengers arrive. If not, American will probably arrange for them to go on the next available flight with vacant seats as it is almost certain they will miss the flight.

I suggest checking with American Airlines to ascertain whether it is a connecting flight and if not ask Thomas Cook to change the flights as this will prove to be impossible, even if the aircraft from Miami is dead on time, or even a little early.

Good luck with sorting this one out!

Cazz

I also agree that to get across Chicago from domestic to the international terminal in 30 minutes is very slim if not impossible and if they did make it there luggage won't. we struggled with an hour and a quarter, the luggage followed the next day as all luggage is rescanned between planes.

Dave