Reasons to fly in a day early

[treinke]

Reason one... DH forgets bag at home so miss early morning flight. Airline can reschedule you but don't arrive until after ship leaves.

 

Reason two...airline loses a bag and only two flights before cruise leaves for it to make it to you.

 

Reason one happened today to us. Thankfully cruise is tomorrow. Reason two happened to someone at our hotel on the same flight as us. He isn't confident.

[caribill]

Other reasons:

 

It must've been quite a scene on a Iberia flight last week after a man stripped naked and created a ruckus on a Thursday Madrid-to-Frankfurt journey.

 

The flight never made it to Frankfurt, however, as the pilots decided to return to Madrid to have the unidentified man taken off the plane. The incident occurred Thursday and was picked up by media over the weekend.

"A German passenger took all his clothes off on the plane, an Iberia spokeswoman tells AFP. "Staff on board tried to dissuade him but he became aggressive and finally locked himself in the toilet. The pilot then decided to turn around and land in Madrid."

 

She says that once the plane landed at Madrid, police entered the aircraft and "took him away." However, authorities tell AFP that the man was cooperative and was not arrested.

 

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A 37-year-old author of children's books is considering a lawsuit after he was booted off a regional Delta Connection flight for swearing, the Detroit Free Press reports.

 

Robert Sayegh says the incident happened Sunday as he was returning to Brooklyn from a cousin's wedding in Kansas City, Mo. He was flying Delta Air Lines home via Detroit, which is where he claims a flight attendant had him removed from a flight to Newark that was operated by Delta regional subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA).

 

Sayegh says he used the F-word twice while discussing delays affecting the flight, but says the comments were made to a fellow passenger and not directed at the crew.

 

One of those two instances apparently came after the flight had been waiting at the gate for about 45 minutes. According to various news reports, an attendant heard Sayegh say: "What's taking so (expletive) long to close the overhead compartments?"

 

The Detroit News writes "the plane eventually taxied to the runway, but soon returned, where airport police boarded the plane and Sayegh was escorted off."

 

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Passengers on a United flight operated by Continental Airlines made an unexpected stop in San Antonio last night. That came after a man on the flight apparently couldn't make it the whole way to California without a cigarette. The incident delayed the flight's arrival by about two hours.

 

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BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Boise Airport officials say an American Airlines passenger jet traveling from Chicago to Seattle carrying 141 passengers and crew landed in Boise on Saturday after the pilot reported an engine failure. A Boise Airport spokeswoman tells KTVB-TV that the MD-80 landed safely at the Idaho airport. Officials say passengers are being rebooked on other airlines to get them to Seattle.

 

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Delta Air Lines pulled one of its flight attendants off a Buffalo-to-Atlanta flight after a security screener thought the attendant was behaving erratically. The screener reported the attendant because he thought he might not be fit to fly. Passengers hadn't yet boarded the plane. It left three hours late with a replacement for the attendant.

[Matcodixon]

And the most important reason?

 

I trust that the Cruise ship will leave on time, much more than I trust the airlines to arrive on time..:eek:

 

 

Funny though.. I don't feel the same about heading back home after the cruise...:(

[contentsam]

If you live where it snows, and your flight gets cancel on the day of the cruise. We live in NW PA and the weather can get bad with flights being grounded. We fly early the day before the cruise just in case.

[Pam in CA]

There's a new reality TV program called "On the Fly" that's essentially a promo for SWA, but just about every episode, there's a passenger who is intoxicated, has an offensive t-shirt on or something else that creates a customer service issue.

 

Last year, we flew from Orange County (CA) to Newark the day before our Celebrity cruise. Our flight was canceled and we were able to get on the next flight leaving an hour later; we were able to catch our original flight from DFW to NWK, but our bags never left SNA. When we got to Newark, I was told the bags were on the next flight, arriving at about 11:00pm. AA promised to deliver our bags to the hotel. Woke up at 7am, no bags. Called AA and was told the bags had just made it to Chicago but they had no idea when they'd arrive in NWK. As we were leaving for the cruise at about 11:30am and were literally walking out the door to our van, I got a call that the bags were waiting for us in the terminal. The van swung by and it literally took me five minutes out of our way to run in, get the bags and we were on our way. It was a very close call because we had three sea days to Bermuda.

[janetlm]

Don't forget that besides the peace of mind flying in a day early brings; it also allows you to possibility visit a new city or do something that you have not done before.

[ethan1171]

A few years ago as we were sailing out of a wonderfully sunny and warm San Diego in the middle of December for our seven day mexican riviera cruise, our friends flight from JFK was landing 7 hours late due to a snow storm that blanketed the east coast .... They were lucky to even fly on the same day

 

They had to pay in the thousands (parents and two kids) to fly last minute from San Diego to Cabo to meet the boat and they lost two of the seven days :eek:

 

Never ever fly on the same day of your cruise unless you do not mind waving your boat bye bye from the pier

 

--e

[Reina del Mar]

For UK cruisers flying in a day early gives your body a little time to adjust to time difference and also to purchase last minute essentials .....wine which is difficult to transport by plane !

[john_galt]

Several years ago, we arrived in Miami on a 2:00pm flight. We were traveling with an electric scooter (bad idea). Carnival had promised us they could transport the scooter but I had my doubts. Anyway, it was going to be close on making the boat. Just as we arrived, there was a single lightning strike. The ground crews don't work for an hour after such a strike so they had a nice break while I was fuming. We finally got our bags and the scooter. The Carnival rep at baggage claim looked at the scooter and told us we were on our own. I finally convinced the bus driver to help me wrestle the scooter into the cargo hold of the bus. We barely made it!

 

We rented scooters from then on and switched to the earliest available flight on sailing day.

 

I'm not taking any more chances. We will arrive a day early from now on!

[jollyjones]

With limited airlift from Bermuda (ie if today's flight is cancelled, the next flight may be tomorrow ... or the day after ...), I have an absolute rule to fly in two days early for US embarkation ports, and at least three days early if I am going trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific, usually longer as I like to sightsee in these more distant ports.

 

I have often been glad of this generous time cushion - it removes some of the stress when flight connections go awry - and I board the ship relaxed and ready to enjoy my cruise from the first moment.

[Nomsayin]

Like travel insurance, we long ago decided that arriving a day or two early was well worth any additional expense in return for the peace of mind it provides. Similarly, when scheduling air we allow at least one hour between connecting flights (two is even better). Airlines consider touchdown time as arrival time, even though it may take 20 minutes to reach the gate and another 5–10 minutes to deplane. And, of course, connecting flights invariably leave from the farthest terminal/concourse from where you arrived:(

[5326jan]

Another reason to fly in early is to collect provisions for your cruise! :D We don't like to fly with wine, but prefer to pick it up at our embarkation port. The Port of Call forums have good information on the most convenient stores!

 

We missed our sail away in Hawaii because of mechanical problems, so we will never fly in on the same day again!

[FritzG]

There's a big chance you won't enjoy the first day of your cruise because you're stressed out from worrying about the flights being on time.

 

You could be too tired to enjoy the first night of your cruise because you had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch your flight.

 

Even if you get to the ship on time by the skin of your teeth your luggage might not be so lucky. On one of our TA's the people at the table next to ours didn't get their luggage until the eighth day of the cruise.

[davekathy]

We always fly in the day before. For us it's peace of mind and no stress. Checking into the hotel, getting something to eat/drink and relaxing before going to bed. Waking up the next morning refreshed and excited about getting on the ship.

[lexyplexy]

I get so stresses about missing our cruise that we fly in 2 days before our cruise. Living in the Chicago area and flying out of O'Hare there could be all kinds of scheduling and flight cancellations. So I go with the peace of mind and visit my embarkation city.:)

[moonjelly]

And the most important reason?

 

I trust that the Cruise ship will leave on time, much more than I trust the airlines to arrive on time..:eek:

 

 

YES! This sums it up nicely!

[as19111]

On our very first cruise, which was to Alaska, we had a 7 a.m flight from PHL to Toronto and then a connecting flight to Vancouver. With time differences, we should have arrived in Vancouver by 1 pm. The night before, flights were cancelled due to thunderstorms in the region. That morning, our 7am flight was delayed because the flight crew needed a full 8 hours rest (and they were delayed in the previous evenings storms). We missed our connecting flight (10 am) in Toronto(and we had to clear customs) but we were placed on the 11 am flight. The 11 am flight developed mechanical problems and did not leave Toronto until 1 pm. By the time we landed in Vancouver we were filled with anxiety and stress. We had Princess transfers and yet one of the Princess agents suggested that we jump in a cab and hurry! Fortunately, another Princess agent stopped us and put us on a Princess bus with 28 others whose flights were also delayed. When we arrived at the pier, all of us ran to the check-in and received our cards and ran up the ramps onto the ship. Entering the ship is a total blur. We made it up to the lido/sun deck for sailaway. In a conversation with fellow cruisers next to us, they commented "Oh, you are the ones we saw charging onto the ship! They had their umbrella drinks in hand and looked very relaxed. I think we skipped dinner that night and went directly to bed, exhausted and frazzled.

 

Needless to say, we now go out at least one day ahead (earliest flight)except for NY sailings, which we feel confident we can reach somehow, someway in the same day.

[CrusinCyndi]

I get so stresses about missing our cruise that we fly in 2 days before our cruise. Living in the Chicago area and flying out of O'Hare there could be all kinds of scheduling and flight cancellations. So I go with the peace of mind and visit my embarkation city.:)

 

We also do the same thing...in Chicagoland you never know what's going to happen with the weather or airport..LOL

[Gibby]

This year we could not get a flight into FLL the day early, so we went in 2 days early. This time we got to Houston to change planes, but there was no pilots. delay after delay insued, and a veritable gong show including taxiing out to the runway and returning to the terminal because "The Pilot Timed Out".

 

After all of this the flight was cancelled, and we got one the next day that got us into FLL at 1300.

 

First time we booked in 2 days early, and as luck would have it, we needed it. I would have been beside myself if it was the usual day before and coming in just before we set sail.

 

A day early, yes, in all cases! Enough said!

[lcmslady]

Always used to fly in day off until 2010 when some kind of problem at the ticketing counter almost made me miss my flight.....

 

I was so stressed and anxious that when I made it to ATL to switch flights, I upgraded myself to first class so I could relax and drink :rolleyes:

 

Never again!

[sparky-elpaso]

We had a 10 hour layover at LAX on our way to Australia in March - 2 days ahead of our cruise departure. DH was kind of fussing at the long time but I told him although we could have taken a later flight from El Paso to LA I wasn't willing to risk it - with only 1 flight to Sydney per day. I bought passes to the United Club so we had a nice place to relax - turned out great. All flights were on time so we didn't have any worries - but we were ready just in case.

[sjcruiser]

Arriving a day early takes out all the stress (or most of it anyway) of all the issues or situations listed above. But most importantly, it allows you to start vacation a day early!!!

[Warm Breezes]

We had a direct flight from MI to FL. We had a serious problem that caused us to lose cabin pressure and forced us to make an emergency landing in TN. We were there for 5 hours. Luckily we had flown in the day before our cruise. To me it's just an extension of our vacation as we explore our port city.

[rocklinmom]

Thank you all for making me feel a lot better about flying into Seattle the day before our cruise! I thought I was being overly paranoid.

[Keith1010]

Always fly in a day early.

 

Too many things can go wrong with flights plus it makes boarding the ship all the more relaxing.

 

Keith