6rugrats

28 minutes ago, Wayfairers said:

We’ve never sailed with Windstar but have wanted to for several years.  The sailing yachts are so beautiful.  I know there are also Windstar motor yachts, but, for now, we are interested in the those with sails.

 

Does it feel the same as a sailboat when you are under sail?  To me that is a feeling of peacefully and quietly gliding across the water.  The largest boat we have sailed on was around 35-40ft.

 

How often do you sail with the engines off?  Are you more likely to sail with engines off on certain itineraries or yachts?  

Some old info:

What treatment in DEN?  Your flight was canceled, apparently for a reason beyond the airline’s control because they wouldn’t pay for a hotel.  There were no seats available for two days.  O.k., what regulatory recourse improves the weather?  I think you might prefer flying private.

10 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

As we live in Durango CO, we are limited to United through Denver and American through DFW or Phoenix — or one of their code share airlines for destinations beyond. The last three times we, or family members, have gone United through Denver in the past six months, there have been serious problems. In two of these scheduled flights, there were unnecessary flight cancelations that caused an expensive overnight stay.

 

As you do not provide the flight numbers or dates, there is no way anyone can comment about "unnecessary flight cancelations."  I guarantee airlines do not cancel flights just for fun or to inconvenience passengers.  You have have absolutely no idea of the amount of planning that goes into flights and how seriously cancelations and delays are taken.  If you were not given hotel accomodations, and by your post it appears you were not, these delays appear to be beyond UA's control.  There have been many weather or ATC cancelations this year.  No airline controls this.

 

In one of these situations, United could not get us to our destination for two more days!

 

Yes, UA does not remove already booked passengers from flights.  And, if there is no availability, they can't get you on a flight with no seat.  This is no different from any other airline.

 

So we opted to fly back to Durango, and have our air charge refunded. And United refused our claim for the one night if hotel charges.

  

A refund is always your option if a flight is canceled.  Again, if the cancelation is for a reason beyond an airline's control, you are not due reimbursement for any incidental charges you incured, such as meals and hotels.

 

In another incident, the United flight from Bozeman MT was late, causing a missed flight from Denver to Durango, with no flight availability later, thus another forced over night. We are fighting with United over this now.  

 

Not sure what you are fighting about.  Again, if they didn't reimburse or offer a hotel, the reason for the delay is not within the airline's control.  

 

n the third incident, we were prevented from checking in at Vancouver as the only person handling check in’s was trying to take care of United flight cancelation rebooking in a 1/4 mile long line outside the airport.

 

That would be approximately 1,320 people.  Was the line really that long, or is this just more hyperbole?  I feel sorry for the agent, who probably took plenty of abuse and was a contracted employee; not really working for UA directly.  No one should waste time standing in line for cancelations; they should rebook online on UA's webpage, on the UA app or using Agent on Demand.  

 

This almost made us to miss our non-cancelled flight, except that my wife demanded immediate attention, while video recording the whole mess.

 

You know you can check in online, don't you?  How exactly did she "demand immediate attention?"  Honestly.  Just too much.  DYKWIM?

 

All fights, except the  flight from Bozeman, were cruise related.

 

Does this have some type of relevance to the cancelations/delays?

 

And all were booked business/first class. Avoid United until it gets its act together.

 

Sounds like this may work better for you.  Please come back and post the name of the airline that has no delays, cancelations and no lines.  I want to fly them.  This is not a defense of any airline, it's just the facts.  Most people are not sitting on their computers 24/7 to respond to posts.  Ignore duplicates below, not sure what happened.

10 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

 

 

Y

10 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I

AA.  Cheaper and free seat selection.

You did not list any facts in your post; just a video and a complaint.

Yes, I have seen lines where there are no places to sit; every single airport I've been in had no places to sit at immigration and customs.  Last month I went through CDG and waiting at the gate was terrible; no seats, so crowded you couldn't move.  And, people so rude they would not give up their seat to my 85 year old traveling companion.  Unfortunately, this is how it is sometimes.

And, this happens at US airports also.  At the airport where I work, CBP is constantly understaffed at passport control, and almost every day I work arrivals in the facility for those pax with connecting flights, people miss their connections because they are held up waiting to clear immigration.  It's especially bad for non-US citizens.

My airline will rebook you at no fee if you are held up, but most low cost carriers are going to charge you.

Air travel is not for the faint of heart.

19 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I just called AAA...they don't do foreign currency any longer, even though it is listed on their website!

They do, at least where I live, but you must pick it up.  

You aren't "saving" anyone.  People almost always chose what's cheaper, no matter where they connect,  and this happens in many airports everyday.  When I see this, I just feel sympathy for the agents having to deal with all these unhappy pax, many of whom, IME, will be very abusive to someone trying to help them that certainly did not cause their problem.

I'm sorry, but this is really a silly post.  I'm sure many people could have posted videos taken yesterday at the airport where I work, as there were dozens of diversions, cancelations and delays because of the thunderstorms.  I have even better ones I took at my airport this summer.  

I wish more people realized that passively standing in line to solve problems is one of the worst choices they can make.  Stand in line if you like, but take advantage of the airline's webpage, phone center or other options to rebook your flight or solve your problems. 

I can't think of any flight I would take that would connect through Oslo, but that's what you get with cruise air.

Follow their guidelines and you should be fine.  What anyone else “got away” with has no relevance to what your experience may be.

If you have a US address, your card is mailed to you.  If not, you can have it sent to a Global Entry Enrollment Center or to your designated US point of contact.

I like Alaska; one of my favorites.  All their fees are on the webpage.  If it’s in your budget, upgrade.

If you use the luggage valet service in Seattle, I would urge you to have a name tag with you name in very large letters so no one will miss who this bag belongs to.  This summer, I have had over ten mistagged bags arrive where I work for people on Alaska cruises who used a valet service.  I don’t know how this valet service works, but it appears they sometimes don’t pay a lot of attention.  Having your bag sitting in another airport across the county with someone else’s name on it is a pain, and it can take a few days to figure out the correct owner.

I encourage everyone who checks their bags to have identification easily found inside the bag, and throw an AirTag in there.  Also, if you lock your bag, we will not open it, so consider not locking it, or putting this ID in an outside pocket.

Why would that be doing myself a favor?  There are whiners everywhere.  Most people have absolutely no idea how air travel works or baggage and a lot of their complaints are utter nonsense.  If I want to hear this, I just go to work.

I currently work in the baggage services office for my employer.  ALL airlines fail to load every single bag on every fight for a wide variety of reasons.  Most bags are not lost or delayed.  I wouldn’t ever check a bag and I wouldn’t fly AF, but not because of baggage complaints.
If your bag does not arrive on the carousel, go file a delayed baggage claim.  Please be kind to the agent who is trying to help you.  I have never been the brunt of so much hostility and profanity in my life all over a delayed bag.  We have to call the airport police on a weekly basis for totally out-of-control pax.  I thought a pax was going to hit me last week.  I just don’t understand the anger about a bag;

we are just lowly customer service agents who are trying to help you.  

I could tell you stories that would make your jaw drop.  Be nice and stop yelling and blaming us for weather, ATC, your rebooking, etc.
 

Many people break laws or rules and are not caught. 

I can’t think of anything specific to FP.  The above should apply everywhere.

You can’t take food off the ship, except usually prepackaged items, such as crackers.

It’s $79 a bottle at LAX duty free; not much different than regular stores.  It will be much more expensive in Tahiti.

11 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Many?  Other than Southwest, is there any domestic airline that includes a checked bag for pax who do not have an airline branded credit card or status with the airline? 

Sure, if you are in business or first  class.

Unless you purchase a Basic Economy ticket, all three major US airlines will allow one free checked bag for an international flight, status or no status.  I am really not sure what the question is anymore.  Don't rely on third party webpages to give you accurate information.

Westjet does not have online check in and offer mobile boarding passes?

I missed a port stop this summer as a Viking ship was incorrectly docked where my cruise ship was supposed to be.  Maybe there is karma.

And, you may bring a carryon in Basic Economy on UA if you are flying across the Pacific or Atlantic or to South America.  Or, if you are a MileagePlus member with premier status, a star alliance gold member or are the primary cardholder of a qualifying UA branded credit card, and you used that card to purchase your ticket.
If each family member checked one bag on a domestic trip, it’d be about $35 a bag.  Or, just bring less stuff, problem solved.

No passport really limits choices.  And, with the passport backlog, don't think OP could have obtained a passport to travel this summer out-of-the country.  Choices are pretty limited, as most ships leave the Caribbean in the summer.

23 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

My real concern is the tendency of “carry-on” only fliers to exceed reasonable limits - with three or four pieces which hog the available overhead space and block the aisles as they lug them on and off the plane.

 

 

I don't know of any US airlines that allows more than one carry on and one personal item, and most foreign carriers are even more strict.  If pax are bringing on more items, the gate agent failed to do their job.

Working in baggage and dealing with the constant profanity and screaming from pax who did not receive their bags, in addition to seeing what a hassle it is for many pax when their bags do not arrive, I can't recommend traveling with carry ons only enough.  I know I am tired of the childish abuse and if they'd only brought carry on, they would be home sometimes by the time they reached the front of the baggage office line to tell me their life story and complain about the airline.

Most ships have left the Med for the Caribbean that time of year.

Since I currently work in baggage for a major US carrier, I think I have some experience with this.  Arriving three hours early does not give you a better chance of having your bags loaded than if you arrive one hour early.  The bags just go down the chute and are are hopefully grouped together with other bags for your flight, until ramp is ready to load the bags.  And, just because you checked more than one bag together, does not mean they all will be loaded onto the flight; they are not velcroed together.  Your bag is not loaded for an international flight until you actually board the flight.

ALL airlines to my knowledge, at least in the US, close the door to the jetbridge 10-15 minutes before the flight for domestic flights, usually earlier for international.  So, pax who run up to the gate at 13:50 for a flight that leaves at 14:00 are usually out-of-luck.  Pleading for the gate to be opened is a waste of time.  You are late and your seat has probably already been released and assigned to a standby passenger.  It is not a simple issue to "just open the door, I can see the plane is still sitting there." 

The gate agent can see who is arriving on connecting flights, and believe me, this is being tracked.  We don't want to prevent you from boarding, but when you run up to the gate after the jetbridge door has been closed, and I can see your connecting flight arrived 30 min ago, two gates down, and you are loaded down with Starbucks cups, I honestly don't have much sympathy.