bill_carole

I disagree. Most, if not all, of the "perks" you mention are marketing ploys. There needs to be a basic package all the airlines agree on that can be used measure the real costs of a ticket and allow accurate comparisons between them when making purchase decisions. Without congressional mandates this is never going to happen.

regards

Bill

Our entire point here, was to inform others of our "mistake", not to get criticized or roasted.

The entire "add on's" or hidden fees matrix is intended as a marketing gimmick and the "gotchas" have ended up generating literally billions of dollars in profits for the airlines. Things are not transparent. There should be a posted price that includes the basic elements of a ticket, i.e. a comfortable seat, one suitcase, and a meal if the leg is over 5 hours. This is going to require congressional legislation. The airlines are vigorously resisting this as the profits from misleading ticket prices have been huge.

Regards

Bill

You are quite right. its $25 per direction (to the ship) and from the ship. There are my wife and I so it in reality its $50 each. We like to know all the charges up front so we can factor them in to our decisions. In this case this factor slipped by us.

Hi jagoffee

Your right. Between cruises we RV as much as we can. It's been a " loonngg" time since we have flown domestically. Also, our travel agent made the reservations. We try to keep up with all the changes. Today each airline has different baggage policies with complicated structures. We were used to the majors generally giving you one free 1st bag. We assumed choice air factored this into their cost structure when making the connections for us. There was certainly NO NOTIFICATION that the 1st bag was an additional $25 each at each flight by them in our paperwork or by our travel agent. Had not my wife suggested checking we would have been unaware of the charges till we arrived at airline check in.

Your suggestions are good. We do have a delta sky miles program and perhaps this will help. We slipped through the loop holes here and are wiser now.

Thanks to all who made good suggestions and refrained from snide comments in our lack of knowledge. I am quite sure there are at least some who have benefited from this conversation. Many refrain from commenting or posting due to concerns about the superior attitudes of some who lurk here.

Regards Bill

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Hi Everyone

An Informational note.

We have normally used choice air flights, but they have been international for the most part and we had just worried about the weights. However on domestic flights there can be baggage charges that are not included in the price quoted/paid. This came as a surprise to us as we expected the 1st bag on Delta Airlines, an national carrier, to be included. This means our two legs are actually $100 more than were quoted when we made the reservation.

I feel this is more than a little deceptive.

Regards

Bill

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Thank you for your replies. We regained the use of our phone, called Hertz and are going to turn in the car at the port. It's raining here today so we hope to take a taxi from Hertz to as close to the docks as possible. According to gòogle maps, the distance is a mile. A bit far in possible rain with heavy suitcases.

Regards

Bill and Carole

When we rented from hertz we did realize there was a cruise terminal return. This is what they assigned us when we said Southhampton. Can we easily change it?

Hi Everyone

We sail Tuesday from Southhamptom to Iceland. We have to drop our rental car at Southhamptom Airport and take a taxi from there to the cruise terminal which I believe are births 46/47. Is this correct? Any idea how much the taxi cost will be?

Regards Bill and Carole

If you book on board, realize that if you wanr/need travel insurance, that the 2 week window to avoid cancellation of numerous elements (example - preexisting medical conditions) starts when you put down the deposit. It doesn't matter how far away the sailing is the cruise. The insurance has to be paid within 2 weeks of booking.

I tried a dummy booking a car in Dublin for April, I'm 76 and unable to get insurance to drive my company van. I tried a car hire comparison site and had no problem getting a car. I don't think I am breaking site rules by naming the site, if I do, mods please delete this post. I typed in car hire Europe, and came across 'Auto Europe' where you get the information.

 

Incidentally, take a raincoat with you, every time we go it rains!

With some companies/franchises (local franchise actions can differ from the general corporate ones) it depends on the type of vehicle you rent. The last type of rentals possible are the upper cost sedans. It's the local restrictions we are concerned with. We are visiting both our cruise visits both jurisdictions in Ireland, Cork and Belfast.

Prior to our next cruise we are renting a car in Ireland. We have reached the "magic" age of 70 and have run into an issue with renting cars. Many of the car rentals start restricting renting to us around 70. The franchise main offices claim there is no restrictions till 74, but I have noted that 70 plus seniors often incur a "surcharge" tacked on to to the rental by the local franchise. We have a reservation with Dollar that definitely kicks on at 74. The question of whether or not we are going to have trouble with the Dublin Airport rentals. Any recent experiences out there?

Thanks

Bill and Carole:confused:

Hi everyone,

Were trying to get a roll call connections group together. Our objectives are:

1. Meeting motivated people

2. Create a meet-mingle

3. Get a cabin-crawl organized

4. be open to other suggestions/share information

Regards

Bill and Carole