styme123

4 hours ago, Bob++ said:

Taking a train from Southampton to Salisbury is pretty simple (we do [mostly] speak the same language) and if you are not sure, ask anyone. The hoho bus from Salisbury to Stonehenge starts and ends at Salisbury (train) Station; you can easily walk to the Cathedral in 15 minutes from there.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/pTU1AY1kG2W3ADG6A

Thank you so much for the response. Do you think I should use a Southampton hotel as a base the day before the cruise or a hotel right near the cruise terminal? Not sure if we did one right near the cruise port if it would be just as easy to get to Salisbury.

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

The Int Friends' tour-transfer London / LHR to Southampton includes only Stonehenge,, because of the need to be at the cruise terminal around  1pm.

Because there's not the same time constraint, their tour-transfer Southampton to LHR /London includes a brief visit to Salisbury cathedral plus Stonehenge plus Windsor, so altho it's a little more expensive it's better value. But can only be done if you take that 8.15pm flight.

On the way back from the cruise we would have the time as we get into port on Thursday and are flying out Saturday. Do you think it's better to try and go to Salisbury, Stonehenge etc on the Friday we fly in so we can save the post-cruise days all for London instead of taking the IF tour on the way back to London post cruise? We are also only taking carry-on luggage, so I'm not sure if that saves a lot of time or not when we arrive.

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

IMHO arrive friday morning (either airport) & cruise saturday makes travel into central London pretty pointless for the time you'll have in the big bad city.

From the time your aircraft touches down, allow about 90 minutes to clear the Arrivals Hall, then 30 to 75 minutes travel to central London, then drop your bags at a central hotel. 

So even if you flew into LHR on the early Delta it'd be gone 10am before you hit the sights. And whichever way you travel to Southampton you really won't have time to sight-see on cruise morning, especially after an overnight flight followed by a full day. Hardly worthwhile if you take that early Delta flight, certainly not worthwhile if you take the late one. 

Yeah I think I was leaning toward trying to make my way toward Salisbury/Southampton on the first day in. I wanted to try and go to the Salisbury Cathedral before the cruise. Stonehenge and Windsor Castle would be great too. I think I just want to see everything, LoL. As I look into all the different sites I want to see them all 😁

Do most people do the IF tour on the morning of the cruise? I guess since we leave a bit later it gives you the morning to work with.

But if you ignore my advice (plenty folk do ) you can take the Int Friends' tour-transfer via Stonehenge from central London because that's on the saturday (cruise day), not the friday (fly-in day).

Alternatively  (LHR only)  you can book a hotel near the airport, leave your bags there and take the tube or train into London for the afternoon / evening. Then if you wish you can take that same Int Friends tour-transfer from your LHR hotel. I intensely dislike any airport-land hotel worldwide, but for one night it might be a good solution - as long as you choose a hotel on the Heathrow Hoppa bus route or handy to an airport terminal (for tube or train into London) and on Int Friends LHR hotel list (to avoid having to cross to a hotel on their pick-up list)

 

Can you not spare at least one more day (preferably 2 or 3) to do London justice?

That would make it so much more worthwhile.

 

Unfortunately I can't stay any longer, DH has to go back to work on Sunday.

 

Alternatively put the big bad city on the back-burner.

Head from airport to Southampton by National Express bus (Heathrow) or by train (Gatwick). Book a Southampton hotel close to the train or coach station. If you want, take the train to Salisbury (half-hourly service, 35 minute journey, about £10 return), then Stonehenge ho-ho from Salisbury station to Stonehenge (about 35 mins e/w, buy your Stonehenge entrance tickets from the driver). on your return to Salisbury explore this historic and laid-back city's centre and magnificent cathedral, then train back to Southampton. Should we look for a tour out of Southampton or just do the train ho ho option. I get a little nervous about getting lost or paying for things. Any hotel recommendations? I'm not to fussy or need anything high end, charming, cheap and clean are always a winner.

If you're still full of beans next morning you can explore Southampton - not a tourist city but more than enough historic sights, shopping, pubs etc  to keep a visitor amused for a day or two.

 

Consider those options - more info & links for any that you narrow down.

 

Even though Southampton to LHR is no more than a couple of hours, a 5.30pm flight out of Heathrow on disembarkation day won't give you time for any sight-seeing. It's a couple of hours too early for the Int Friends tour-transfer (arrives LHR 4.30 - 5pm), and you'd need to stash or check-in your luggage before heading to London or Windsor or Hampton Court.

Better to take an earlier flight home - from about 1pm onwards. There is 1 later flight at 8:15pm from LHR but the plane layout isn't great. 3-3-3 across vs 2-3-2. So someone would have to sit next to a stranger. I know it's a small detail but I don't like flying as it is and with how small the seats are in economy it makes me awkward. The upgraded seats are out of my budget. 

Thank you so much for your responses, they are appreciated.😁

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

 

JB 

I'm looking at flights for my BI cruise in Aug but looking for recommendations/opinions on options: I'll be leaving on a Thursday night getting there early Friday, cruise leaves Saturday. Cruise gets back on a Thursday we fly back home Saturday night.

My options are:

JFK (NY) to Heathrow 7:00pm getting in 7:20am on Delta- cheapest about $577pp economy , but a bit more challenging getting to airport in rush hour. Would you head toward London hotels/sites or go to Southampton area? I looked into a few tours (International Friends) going to Stonehenge, Windsor, Salisbury etc. but most of them leave by 9:00am from London area. I don't think I would get out of the airport in time.   

or

JFK to Heathrow 11:00pm-11:20am on Delta -$250pp more right now, no worries about rush hour- Don't know if this kills so much of the day that we could tour?

or

JFK to Gatwick 7:30pm getting in 7:50am on Virgin- $100pp more right now - Airport might be less busy than Heathrow? I think I would try and go toward Southampton, but again most tours start at 9:00 and don't pick up from Gatway.

JFK to Heathrow 10:00pm-10:10am on Virgin-$100 pp more right now

Return

Heathrow to JFK 5:30pm-8:15pm Delta- Will we have enough time to take in some sites in London before the flight or is it just too much? 

Your thoughts and opinions are always so helpful TIA 😁

3 hours ago, Marilyn Johannes said:

We did this last August with a group from our roll call. We did the tour with Exquisite Scotland. (If Kay isn’t available, try George from Great Highland Day Tours. We used George in two different ports and enjoyed his tours. He used to work with Kay from Exquisite Scotland.) The tour started at 8:30 AM and we got back to the ship after midnight. The tour cost £75 not including lunch, dinner or Military Tattoo tickets. We purchased the tickets directly from the Military Tattoo. Not sure if you are part of the Friends of the Military Tattoo, but if you are, you can purchase tickets sooner than the general public. If there are more questions don’t hesitate to ask. 

We did this tour from Glasgow not Edinburgh. 

 I think K and George are booked for this year when I'm going 🙁. I'm looking to do the same tour as you did with Military Tattoo transport.

54 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

This is my understanding of it too. Let's say Delta allows KLM to sell 10 tickets at the Q fare class (just grabbing a random letter) and has 10 of their own Q fares. Delta's 10 Q's may have sold out quicker than KLM's, and then Delta moved to the next highest fare, while KLM still have some of their lower fare Q's available. 

Gotcha! makes a bit more sense now, thank you!

9 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

when I was talking about advance seat assignment fees.  Now you appear to be talking about other fees or charges.

 

The fees I'm referring to are the seat assignment fees.

Just now, styme123 said:

My experience with EZAir (and equivalent programs with other cruise lines) is that the price EZair shows is exactly what I pay +  seat assignment charges (if any) + checked luggage charges (if any). This has been true also on code share flights.

I guess it's the + seat assignment charges that are charged after that is a little deceiving. Meaning, you think your ticket will cost $300 but after $150 seat assignment charge it's now $450.  

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And what do they say the additional $150 in fees are for?

 

My experience with EZAir (and equivalent programs with other cruise lines) is that the price EZair shows is exactly what I pay +  seat assignment charges (if any) + checked luggage charges (if any). This has been true also on code share flights.

The other "fees" are for being able to pick your seat and the seat you picked. $34 for the option to pick it before and $84 for the specific location.

5 minutes ago, rnff2 said:

That's great that you were able to get the location you want.

Have a great cruise the Regal is a beautiful ship!

Thank you! Now that ship cabin is done, I'm on to obsessing/planning the flights, lol  

8 minutes ago, rnff2 said:

 

It looks like you need to be in front of the aft stairs.  If you're not you will still have a covered balcony you just won't have the extra overhang.  Keep checking back I'm sure there will be available cabins especially right around final payment time.  

Lol that's what I did first thing this morning. I'm in front of the steps now. Crisis avoided 🤣 My fair skin will be happy!

8 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

That fee has nothing to do with code share or whether it is an EZAir booking.

I meant that I have seen say a AA code share booking with BA be listed as cheaper for example $350 and then a direct booking through BA for the same flight say for $500. When you go to book the code shared AA flight they tack on the additional fees of $150 and you are at the same $500 as if you booked it directly from BA. Not sure if this is the same with every airline that code shares but it seems to be that way with the ones I have been looking at. As far as the EZAir booking when you are looking at the prices on the Princess website they are not including those fees for economy flights until your ticketed.  So a flight you thought was a great price at say $350 is really $500 once you are ticketed. 

23 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

The only fees they may add are for advance seat assignments. Luggage fees are the same based on the operating carrier.

Yeah those are the ones I was thinking of. I know BA was charging $174pp to pick the seats I wanted. Picking my seat in advance is one of the few things that is a priority for me. We are doing carry-on so I don't even care about luggage.

3 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

I am not the poster you asked this question to :-).  Code sharing is a huge scam.  Generally I try to book a flight using the flight number of the operating carrier.  Booking a code share is no issue.  The reason fares are different is that for most flights/routes there can't be cooperation/collusion so they each price the flights separately.  So AA might price a flight cheaper than BA for the same flight (or v.v.).  Generally, until flight departure time you contact the airline who issued your ticket for changes.   But for seat assignments it is always best to contact the airline operating the flight.  For upgrades, it depends on various factors including if you have status with an airline and how you are trying to upgrade - using status, miles, cash?

I'm concerned that if I used the cheaper price code shared flight, the other airline would tack on fees. So in the end I won't save any money than if I just booked with the operating carrier. I don't fly often so I have no status, FF miles or anything to keep me loyal to one carrier over the other.

4 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

If it is "operated by Delta" you will be on a Delta plane. Codeshare is an agreement between airlines operating in an "alliance" or a group of allied airlines. So this is KLM selling seats on a Delta plane because they are in the same "alliance" of airlines.

 

Someone more knowledgeable than I will explain the reasons for differing prices. But it is very common. Pros and cons to booking one way or the other will vary by airline and frequent flyer program. I am not in Delta/KLM's alliance, so can't speak to those. But in United's alliance (called Star Alliance) there are some benefits to booking through United's website for flights on partner airlines.

 

One big advantage of codeshares and alliances is airlines get to sell tickets to places they don't fly, which pleases their loyal customers. For example, If Delta doesn't fly to, say for example, Brussels from New York, but KLM does, if you are a Delta loyal frequent flyer, you can book that NYC-Brussels flight and stay loyal to Delta for loyalty benefits, both short term and long term.

Thanks for the explanation. I don't fly often so I don't use FF miles. So I guess for me it doesn't matter who I pick to fly on I guess the only other thing that I'm wondering is why the price difference?

29 minutes ago, polmcs said:

Unless you have status BA, they will charge for a seat reservation, unless you are in First Class, or you are booked into a full fare bucket, then no fee applies, though as has been pointed out on this thread, sometimes EZ Air will allow you to pick a seat. If you are on a codeshare flight, marketed by BA, but operated by AA, then there will be a corresponding AA PNR. You can use that PNR on the AA site and select a seat without fee (unless you opt for a main cabin extra (MCE) or premium seat) as AA don’t charge for seat reservations. -If you have the right status on American, then you can also select the MCE, or premium seats without a fee.

 

I had an EZ Air reservation on AA from LAX to YVR (Vancouver) last month. Even before the ticket was fully paid for, I was able to select my seats in MCE and also put in a request for a complimentary upgrade to first class. As we got closer to departure and the flight was fully paid, I opted to switch to a miles and copy upgrade request as the first class cabin was filling up pretty fast, which cleared immediately.

I asked this question on Cruise air forum but since you mentioned the code sharing here maybe you know the answer to this as well. Is there any benefit to using a code shared flight? Sometimes the price is different for the same flight. So for example say a BA stand alone flight at 10:00pm is $550 but a code shared one with AA is $350 with being operate by BA? why the difference in price. If you want to change or upgrade which carrier do you contact?

I'm a flying newbie and am not really understanding the whole code share thing and how effects my flight. I did google it but not really helpful. I'm looking at flights from NY to London this summer. I see a flight for example that says KLM operated by Delta for $350. Which plane am I on a KLM plane or Delta? I see the same flight time that says just Delta for say $500. Why the difference in price when KLM is not involved? Do I have to pay any additional seat selection fees to KLM if I'm on a delta flight? Are there any benefits/drawbacks to using code shared flights?

Can anyone comment on if fees were added on after at the time they were ticketed? Trying to get a sense if that is pretty common or just depends. If they were added what was the average amount? I asked PCP and they said they had no way of knowing what the fees would be. 😏

2 hours ago, rnff2 said:

This photo of the side of the Regal may help you.  If you are wanting to be under the larger overhang you don't want to be too far aft.  We had the last port side aft deluxe balcony cabin on deck 14 and the balcony was covered but not to the extent the cabins would be that are under the large overhang.   

That picture is great! Yeah I can see I'm too far back. I wonder where the bump out starts in aft. I tried to move to middle but rooms are all sold out now

4 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Gotcha -- well my flights are still 10 months away so there's no way I'm going to ticket it right now.  That's the whole appeal of EZAir for me -- being able to keep checking and re-fare if something better pops up.  

I know that's the tricky part. You don't know till then. My cruise is 10 months away as well.

3 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Yes, I ultimately booked economy class, but also did a dummy booking on first class just to compare prices, and it let me select seats for that booking as well.  I went so far as to pull up Google images from the specific plane's first class seating arrangements, as well as SeatGuru.com, to select which configuration would be the best for 2 people flying together.  Maybe it depends on how the flights are code sharing, but my flights reflect BA as the carrier.  

 

 

When I spoke to BA and Princess they said they will charge you when you are ticketed (pay for the flight). Right now you are basically "reserving" the flight and seats. Until you are ticketed they can't tell you how much your seat will cost extra. When I did a sample flight trough their website is when I saw the fees I was talking about before. 

3 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I booked BA flights yesterday using EZAir and was able to select seats for all legs of our trip, no extra charges.

Was it in economy?

34 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

That was not our experience. Ours came with assigned seats.

Was the price you paid the same amount that you booked or was there any additional fees after?

If you are using EZAir and re-fared at a later time, did Princess let you? When I spoke to PCP they said if I booked the ticket under a promo for $ off EZAir and ticketed my flight, I could not take advantage of new promos. So if the overall price of my cruise drops later on I'm out of luck and can't change it. The cruise typically has dropped in Feb/March by at a few hundred dollars.

I called BA about assigning a seat and they said they couldn't assign me a seat until I paid for the ticket in full. The problem is BA charges to pick your seat. So the price of my EZAir is not really the say $330 that I booked it for but more like $600. It was $150 to increase the economy class to just have the option to choose and $34 to pick and $84 to pick the actual seats I wanted in economy. I wish EZAir bundled it all together instead of me thinking that was my end price. Then I can see if it's still a good deal.