6rugrats

I have been sailing on Windstar since 1988 and under several different owners. Unless you happen to get a great agent when you call, they have always been terrible at customer service at their home office when these problems arise. I'm not sure why.

If I wanted an "at home experience" I would stay at home. To each their own.

I guess besides the ten pairs of shoes for a one week trip, people fill up those 50+ inch, 70+ pound bags with bedding. Who’d have thought?

You are asking about Air Tahiti Nui; Air Tahiti is a different airline and just flies between the islands in FP. No, I've never flown them.

I have sailed in FP on Windstar several times and once on Paul Gauguin. Always booked my own flights and hotel. Have always stayed the first day at the Intercontinental. It was less expensive to do myself, and I had more control over it. There is not a lot of choice of airlines flying to PPT. I found seven days to be enough. If I stayed extra days, it would not be on Tahiti, but on one of the other islands, probably Moorea.

You can check in 24 hours before your flight. But, you can't drop your bags off earlier than four hours before your flight. And, you check in at the counter in the lobby, not at the gate.

May is a very long time from now. The schedule will probably change again before this flight.

And, good luck if you have to gate check that bag. If you deplane at your connecting city, the bag is going to the final city, where it's tagged. When you go to the baggage claim office to ask for it, you will be noted as having booked "hidden city ticketing" and reported.

Please do not book through a third party. Their prices aren’t usually live. You may end up with very restrictive tickets. I always recommend you book directly with the airline.

For the airline I work for, that would be NO choice. If your days off don’t fall on a holiday, you will be working.

And, the gate agents, lobby agents and other customer service agents, as well as other employees that are there so you can travel.

Not true. There is a basic lack of understanding illustrated with this comment.

I am not sure what you mean by “special.” Not anything different in my experience. Many people do not celebrate Christmas.

Looking at the seat map, and using it to gauge how many seats are booked is not accurate.

I am not sure what you mean by "dummy" reservations. You have three reservations (award?) that you are holding? You know while you are "holding" these reservations, most of which you have no intention of flying, you are removing them from inventory for other pax. Nice.

The only noise I've heard when I've been in one of these cabins, is if your neighbor is in the habit of slamming their door. You will definately hear that.

I would never advise booking through a third party. Airlines are flying full and they are not selling hugely discounted tickets to any agent such as Cheapoair, Opodo, Kiwi, cheapflights, ovago, Bravofly, Hopper, budgetair, Skylux, flightnetwork, and on and on. I would especially avoid sites that guarantee to book you business class seats at "deep discounts" because of their "special relationship" with airlines. These sites, without exception that I've ever seen, are purchasing frequent flier miles from passengers, using them to book seats which they sell to you. Airlines constantly monitor for this practice, which is against the rules of every frequent flyer program. When they find them, the tickets are canceled, the FF account closed, and you are stuck with buying your own ticket. And, if there's a problem with these tickets, best of luck getting the third party to help you.

Spirit is such a risky airline to use for time sensitive travel, and you are going in February and need eight seats? Using an airline with a limited schedule and no interline agreement with anyone really limits your options. If the flight is delayed or canceled, they won't pay to place you on another carrier. You'll be on your own.

There are so many airports in the world and so many options, it would take pages to answer. Maybe try looking at the airports you are considering and see what's available. Keep in mind that many airline lounges now restrict access for one use or day passes when the clubs get too full, so even if you have a pass, you won't be able to use it. Consider getting a day room at an airport hotel, or at one close to an airport. Five hours is really not that long.

Doesn’t matter what you do. We have a saying that people leave their brain at the airport door. I counted, and last week (I worked five days), I had 12 people come to me for rebooking because they were waiting at the wrong gate. Two add’l people were waiting at the correct gate, but simply failed to board. One actually tried to scan her boarding pass at the gate reader for the wrong flight. They complain, “no one told me,” and are upset because they have to wait until late evening for the next available flight. There are departure boards listing the gates in the terminal, and each gate has its own board with the flight information. The boarding passes clearly say “gates may change.” Announcements are made about the flight number and destination, missing pax are paged, and they still miss the flight. People are easily confused and many pay no attention to anything.

Yes, many major carriers have regularly scheduled flights to/from Gatwick.

No, I don't think fares will go down because there is no reason for them to go down. Easter is 03/31/24 and spring break will start right after President's day and go through Easter week. Many people want to go to Florida at that time. High demand = High price. Today I had to rebook at least eight people who missed their flights (why don't people ever check for gate changes, or prioritize getting to the gate before stopping at Starbucks?), and I couldn't get them where they wanted to go today. Flights are really full. I would not wait to purchase and I certainly would not consider Spirit ever for time sensitive travel. As an aside, today is the first time I have ever heard the phrase, "Travel Tuesday." The airline I work for does not have sales on either one of these days.

I could never recommend anyone connect through EWR if they can possibly avoid it.

Nothing gives you more “guarantee” of retaining the same seats, especially when you book so far in advance.

In the past, I have had two sailings chartered, one changed to a different ship and itinerary, and another change that caused me to cancel. I did not cruise WS after that for many years. I honestly don't think they are "playing games." They have always been pretty slow in the office and they are dealing with an unexpected situation. They ALWAYS want to keep your money; doubt they really want you to cancel.