Return Flight to UK Check in procedure

[t60]

Hi everyone, we are flying back to UK with BA from Los Angeles on a flight arranged by Princess. Does anyone know if we have to check in 24hr before ourselves via computer, or do Princess do the check in for you?

When we´ve cruised with P&O for the return flights to UK, they sort everything out before hand, give you your boarding pass etc on the ship and we just turn up at security with hand luggage

 

Sandy

[Talisker92]

You can check in 24 hrs prior on the computer and print your boarding pass,or check in at the airport. If you have your boarding pass, you drop your luggage off and head for the gate.

[BARBYDOLL]

Hi everyone, we are flying back to UK with BA from Los Angeles on a flight arranged by Princess. Does anyone know if we have to check in 24hr before ourselves via computer, or do Princess do the check in for you?

When we´ve cruised with P&O for the return flights to UK, they sort everything out before hand, give you your boarding pass etc on the ship and we just turn up at security with hand luggage

 

Sandy

Last September we flew BA from Miami back to Heathrow. We checked in 24 hours before hand whilst on the ship. Be warned .... it was very hectic and difficult to get onto a computer. We had our laptop with us, but needed to print out the boarding passes, so had to use the onboard computers. There were lots of people trying to do the same thing (not all UK passengers) and the printer ran out of paper, then ink. There were quite a few anxious people waiting to log on and no-one from Princess around to sort it out. We did, in the end, manage to check in on-line and get our seats reserved, but not without spending about an hour on the computer.

[Nylsor]

We checked ourselves in 24 hours prior to our flight from Heathrow to Beijing and picked good seats. On returning from Bangkok to Heathrow we didn't check in in advance and we had awful seats - the flight was a nightmare. If you don't check in yourself then you just go to the BA check in desk and they will do it for you but you will be allocated whatever seats are left.

[Floflegs]

No need to worry if you don't manage to checkin on board but as previous poster said no choice of seats at the airport.

[dundalkspur]

We are booked with Princess for our flight home from MIA to LHR .How did you guys manage to book your seats before hand? They will not give us the booking reference beforehand as they said it is a group booking and only Princess can choose the seats?

[konyagiqueen]

Hello Dundalkspur,

I see from looking at the roll call that we are on the same cruise as you. When we got our tickets there was an airline locator code and we were able to get to our booking with that and choose our seats gong to SF - at a price - with BA, although we are actually coming back with Virgin, but the locator numbers got us into both airlines.

We are going out a week early but coming straight back, and all bookings have been made directly with Princess.

Sorry we are just "lurkers" on the roll call - we tend to be a bit anti social!

[dundalkspur]

Hello Dundalkspur,

I see from looking at the roll call that we are on the same cruise as you. When we got our tickets there was an airline locator code and we were able to get to our booking with that and choose our seats gong to SF - at a price - with BA, although we are actually coming back with Virgin, but the locator numbers got us into both airlines.

We are going out a week early but coming straight back, and all bookings have been made directly with Princess.

Sorry we are just "lurkers" on the roll call - we tend to be a bit anti social!

 

Nice to hear from you -I thought we were the only Brits going on this cruise.We are also going earlier with BA and we got a locator for that.But not for the BA flight back .Did you pay extra for your Virgin return flight ?

[konyagiqueen]

Yes, we decided to upghrade for the overnight flight back. Today we also decided to splurge on the outward flight as it is over 10 hours ( you know what they say - travel first class - your children will!). However we had left it too late as the tickets were issued and it was going to cost a whole lot more. So we will be in the back as usual. Are you on a BA flight back - strange we are on Virgin, although BA outward. We will try and say hello on board to our fellow Brits - we are not really that rude!

[Cruisemaid]

Hi Sandy. We flew back from LA last year after a Coral Princess cruise. Princess put us on a coach with our cases (which we picked up inside a shed on the quay after disembarkation) firstly to a hotel for lunch and killing time. We then carried on to the airport where we checked in with our bags as per any other flight. We did not have to check in online - pretty impossible with the number of computers and number of passengers trying to use them! It was all quite easy and everyone was very helpful. We were not impressed with the terminal at LA though. Once you have gone through security there is nothing to look at - no shops and only one very small cafe. So don't go through too quickly, make the most of what you can see in the terminal. Hope you have a really great cruise.

 

Claire - Hampshire

[dundalkspur]

Nice to hear from you -I thought we were the only Brits going on this cruise.We are also going earlier with BA and we got a locator for that.But not for the BA flight back .Did you pay extra for your Virgin return flight ?

 

We were offerred the BA flight at 5.30 pm back as standard.Which hotel are you staying in SF -we are in the MH .

[Globaliser]

We checked in 24 hours before hand whilst on the ship. Be warned .... it was very hectic and difficult to get onto a computer. We had our laptop with us, but needed to print out the boarding passes, so had to use the onboard computers. There were lots of people trying to do the same thing (not all UK passengers) and the printer ran out of paper, then ink.

If you are flying on BA, you may want to note that if you have checked-in online, you do not need to print out your boarding pass. The important thing (IMHO) is to make sure that you do the check-in and pick your seat, and get as far as the check-in summary. You are then checked-in, even if you do not print your boarding pass. The bag drop desk will happily print one for you.

 

I hate carrying a boarding pass with me to the airport. Doing away with carrying important bits of paper was one of the great things about the introduction of e-tickets. So I almost never print my boarding pass even if I have checked-in online.

[vwlady]

If your seats are part of the Princess allocation on a certain flight you should be able to reserve your seats by calling Princess in Southampton four days before flying out (for my recent Friday flight I phoned at 8.30am on the Monday before).

For the return flight you can ask the pursers' office to deal with it for you on the appropriate (4th) day before your departure.

Luckily we were not part of the Princess allocation on our return flight (well, unluckily as we had to pay the upsell), so pre-reserved our seats direct with BA at a charge a few weeks in advance rather than queue at the pursers office.

[dundalkspur]

.

Luckily we were not part of the Princess allocation on our return flight (well, unluckily as we had to pay the upsell), so pre-reserved our seats direct with BA at a charge a few weeks in advance rather than queue at the pursers office.

 

How did you pre-reserve your seats without a locator number?We want to pre-reserve as well -any help will be gratefully recieved!:p

[konyagiqueen]

We were offerred the BA flight at 5.30 pm back as standard.Which hotel are you staying in SF -we are in the MH .

 

We are also in MH for the last night but with our son,who lives in SF, for the previous 6 nights. Our VS flight leaves at 1915 from MIA so you will get back before us; I am surprised that we were not BA both ways as we booked in January.

Hope to meet you in MH although I suspect there will be a VERY large number of cruise passenges there.

[dundalkspur]

I am surprised that we were not BA both ways as we booked in January.

Hope to meet you in MH although I suspect there will be a VERY large number of cruise passenges there.

 

We were only offered BA or American and paid a little to get BA going out.See u in the MH .They said our joining instructions will be on our bed when we arrive?Probably means we are in BUS XX?

[HomelessBear]

If your seats are part of the Princess allocation on a certain flight you should be able to reserve your seats by calling Princess in Southampton four days before flying out (for my recent Friday flight I phoned at 8.30am on the Monday before).

For the return flight you can ask the pursers' office to deal with it for you on the appropriate (4th) day before your departure.

Luckily we were not part of the Princess allocation on our return flight (well, unluckily as we had to pay the upsell), so pre-reserved our seats direct with BA at a charge a few weeks in advance rather than queue at the pursers office.

 

We are going to LA for the Hawaii cruise over xmas and new year and have been told by our TA that we can't reserve seats with BA until 4 days before we are due to leave. They also said that we needed to ring and pre-book return seats 4 days before the end of the cruise, but the cost of ringing from the ship and the fact that it will over the new year bank holiday weekend anyway so no one will be there, is making me a bit apprehensive about how we are going to pre-book our seats coming back. I don't really want to leave it until we get to the airport as there will be no guarentee then that we will even get seats together and they will probably be the ones no one else wants anyway!

 

Have others experienced pre-reserving seats through the purser's desk - where they make the phone calls etc so we don't have that expense and hassle? When I pushed my TA for more info, she rang Princess and the person in customer services said to contact the "Flight Co-ordinator" when onboard the ship. When I asked who this person was and where I would find them, they admitted that they didn't actually know!! I felt like I was being fobbed off.

 

I am looking forward to the cruise, but I am beginning to fret about the return flights seats, so any info would be great thanks.

[caribill]

They also said that we needed to ring and pre-book return seats 4 days before the end of the cruise, but the cost of ringing from the ship and the fact that it will over the new year bank holiday weekend anyway so no one will be there, is making me a bit apprehensive about how we are going to pre-book our seats coming back.

 

Do you have a reliable relative or friend that you can ask to make the call for you?

[Globaliser]

They also said that we needed to ring and pre-book return seats 4 days before the end of the cruise, but the cost of ringing from the ship and the fact that it will over the new year bank holiday weekend anyway so no one will be there, is making me a bit apprehensive about how we are going to pre-book our seats coming back. I don't really want to leave it until we get to the airport as there will be no guarentee then that we will even get seats together and they will probably be the ones no one else wants anyway!

If you can't phone to have seats pre-allocated while you're on the cruise, do you still have enough information to do an online check-in 24 hours before flight departure? If you can do this at that point, you are pretty much assured of getting decent seats. I've never yet had any problems when checking-in family and friends at the -24 hour mark.

[DrivesLikeMario]

One thing I was told about BA at LAX is that they don't have kiosks to check in by yourself. You have to wait in line (the old way) and have a representative check you in. Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX is where your BA flight will leave from and it can be a zoo at times.

[dundalkspur]

[

quote=Globaliser;25938495]If you can't phone to have seats pre-allocated while you're on the cruise, do you still have enough information to do an online check-in 24 hours before flight departure? If you can do this at that point, you are pretty much assured of getting decent seats. I've never yet had any problems when checking-in family and friends at the -24 hour mark.

 

You really are missing the point of this thread? We dont have or dont get enough info to check-in 24 hours before hand on BA. That is the main point you can't check-in -24 hours without a flight locator - so I dont know how you and the rest of people can say that you can book in on line without a BA flight locator? Princess will only provide this if you paid extra for class/+days as it deviates from their standard flights.

[Globaliser]

Um, that's why I asked a question and then started the next sentence with the word "if".

 

If the information that Princess gives you doesn't allow you to check-in online, then I agree that you won't be able to choose your own seat. However, that won't necessarily mean the dregs, as BA has a special seat allocation procedure for group bookings: seats are allocated three days before the flight, well before online check-in opens for anyone on an individual booking.