Flights to River Cruise

[SCHappilyRetired]

Congrats! Exactly how I felt when I got our tickets yesterday for $2281 in Z. I ran to get my credit card! :)

 

Congrats! Must have been an insomnia special. Lol!

[SCHappilyRetired]

I just LOVE when that happens.....makes the insomnia almost worthwhile :D

 

Yes, but I feel like the walking dead today! Well worth it.

[Hydrokitty]

Yes, but I feel like the walking dead today! Well worth it.

 

 

That may be, but I'll bet it's the walking dead with a big fat smile on his face!!!

 

I know one night when I couldn't sleep, I decided to see if my Southwest tickets to FL had changed price. They had and I got a credit of $375 good for one year from the date of purchase so I started checking prices to NC for May, instead of driving. Bottom line: 2 tickets to Charlotte for $379 AND a 1 way 24 hour car rental for the 90 minute drive to Asheville for $75. Sometimes insomnia isn't such a bad thing after all!! :D

[bubbulz]

Good move....sometimes you have to trust your instinct and take the plunge.

We've become so used to flying business on LH that I don't think I'll ever fly anyone else...except KLM...but I have a question for you: beside a separate lounge (in some airports) what's the difference between first and business? Seriously, not just the price. What do you get in first class that I don't get in business.

 

As Mark T said, it's space, service and food (and wine! ;) ). I flew first class to Bangkok on Thai last year and they were pouring the Dom before I had even gotten my carry-on stowed. The food and wine lists are usually expansive. Oh, and PJs ... I've started taking my jammies from my F flights with me and changing into them for sleep on C flights. Oh, and the lounges. Nothing beats the Thai F lounge in Bangkok, nor the Lufthansa F lounge in Frankfurt (at least in my travels.) Oh, and the limo transfer to your plane. Again, it varies by airport and airline, but it pays to research. For our trip next year, I was limiting my search to LH, LX, and OS, preferably the latter two since I'd rather transit via ZRH or VIE. In the end, Austrian won out due to newer/better lie-flat seats, better food, and slightly easier transit in Vienna. Flying in first was wonderful when I could do it for "free," but it's not something I'd be willing to pay for in dollars. I can make my own bed when I'm ready to sleep. ;) All I really want is to fly in relative comfort and arrive rested.

[CPT Trips]

We proles delight in a 2-4-2 aircraft and seats on one of the 2s.

[dan4182]

We flew from Houston to Frankfurt and then on to Prague to begin an Ama cruise last August. We were accompanied by 2 elderly female friends. If I had not made arrangements to be met in Frankfurt by an electric cart we would have missed our connecting flight to Prague. We rode one electric cart at breakneck speed for app 20 minutes to get to the Schengen customs checkpoint, went through that, then rode 2 more electric carts to get to what we thought would be our departure gate. Wrong!

 

We then boarded a bus to drive around the airport tarmac for about 15 minutes before finally arriving at our plane.

 

All this was on Lufthansa who practically owns the Frankfurt airport.

[Hydrokitty]

We flew from Houston to Frankfurt and then on to Prague to begin an Ama cruise last August. We were accompanied by 2 elderly female friends. If I had not made arrangements to be met in Frankfurt by an electric cart we would have missed our connecting flight to Prague. We rode one electric cart at breakneck speed for app 20 minutes to get to the Schengen customs checkpoint, went through that, then rode 2 more electric carts to get to what we thought would be our departure gate. Wrong!

 

We then boarded a bus to drive around the airport tarmac for about 15 minutes before finally arriving at our plane.

 

All this was on Lufthansa who practically owns the Frankfurt airport.

 

As a w/c user in airports, I have to tell you that if you don't tell LH that you cannot climb stairs, they will meet you with a cart. Problem is they do not own or control the cart concession and therefore have no control over when, or IF, they will show up in time to get you to your flight. If you tell them you cannot climb stairs they meet you with a w/c and attendant who takes you to a central location where a special bus picks you up (looks like something out of "Star Wars") that takes you across 2 or 3 countries to the tarmac and then LIFTS you like an elevator to the service door where you step off onto the plane. I'm usually in a state of near panic because they wait until pretty much everyone else is on board and the plane is fully serviced before they bring you to the plane....on the upside, I've never missed my connection. :D

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hydrokitty, we saw that done for the first time at Charles DeGaulle this fall. It looked like quite the process.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Michael Flanders, the British comedian who was wheelchair-bound, mentioned this process in one of their routines. He said they lifted him up to the galley entrance on a fork-lift. "An enormous machine just for lifting forks!"

[Hydrokitty]

Michael Flanders, the British comedian who was wheelchair-bound, mentioned this process in one of their routines. He said they lifted him up to the galley entrance on a fork-lift. "An enormous machine just for lifting forks!"

 

LOL!!!! I guess it is basically a fork lift! But a really big one with seats inside. I prefer to say I board through the service entrance as opposed to the galley, if you don't mind....after all, I am flying business class. :D

 

All joking aside though, it is a very efficient system and easy on the handicapped. And since Frankfort airport seems to be the size of a small country the ride is really welcome!! It does take some getting used to though and looks a lot like something out of the older Star Wars movies!!!

[purduemom1]

LOL!!!! I guess it is basically a fork lift! But a really big one with seats inside. I prefer to say I board through the service entrance as opposed to the galley, if you don't mind....after all, I am flying business class. :D

 

All joking aside though, it is a very efficient system and easy on the handicapped. And since Frankfort airport seems to be the size of a small country the ride is really welcome!! It does take some getting used to though and looks a lot like something out of the older Star Wars movies!!!

 

Just curious about this process. Does the transport include traveling companions or are you separated until you board your flight? I agree, FRA is huge so we always allow plenty of time between flights, even if it means we end up spending time in the airport.

[mmsoko]

Just curious about this process. Does the transport include traveling companions or are you separated until you board your flight? I agree, FRA is huge so we always allow plenty of time between flights, even if it means we end up spending time in the airport.

 

Our flight home has a 1hr 20 minute layover in Frankfort. Am I going to make the connection?

[Hydrokitty]

Just curious about this process. Does the transport include traveling companions or are you separated until you board your flight? I agree, FRA is huge so we always allow plenty of time between flights, even if it means we end up spending time in the airport.

 

I don't know about all companions, but it includes at least one. I think it's probably a function of how many people are on it. It's pretty big. I would say it easily holds 10 people.

[purduemom1]

Our flight home has a 1hr 20 minute layover in Frankfort. Am I going to make the connection?

 

Hard to say because it depends on so many things , some of which are out of your control. If your flight to FRA arrives on time, how long it takes you to get off your incoming flight, how fast or slow you walk, how long it takes to clear passport control and how far you need to walk to your second gate. You didn't give any details so I'm only listing general considerations.

 

On our first trip, we landed late, were left standing on the ground waiting for a bus that never came, had to reboard and exit thru' the jetway. If we had a connection time like yours, we would not have made it. That said, on our second time to FRA, we arrived early, easily got thru' passport control and would have made the earlier flight to our final destination. However, as has been said before, this is a huge airport and even staying with the same airline for both flights can mean a lot of walking.

 

You can take a look at the FRA website and there you will find more information on transiting the airport, in fact they have a guide you can download beforehand.

[purduemom1]

I don't know about all companions, but it includes at least one. I think it's probably a function of how many people are on it. It's pretty big. I would say it easily holds 10 people.

 

Interesting, thanks.

[janetcbl]

Our flight home has a 1hr 20 minute layover in Frankfort. Am I going to make the connection?

 

I would not want to chance it. My experiences at CDG going from a European domestic flight to a USA bound one or the reverse, have all been so miserable and taken so much time, effort and frustration, that I refuse to use CDG. Customs and security can take a very long time, which is reasonable these days. We allowed over 3 hours and still barely made our flight the last time through CDG.

My transfer airports of choice are Copenhagen, Zurich and Amstermdam. All three are user friendly and not bad places to spend a bit of time if you have to.

[janetcbl]

I forgot you meant FRA.....I have had the same experiences in FRA and CDG....avoid both like the plague......

[bubbulz]

I forgot you meant FRA.....I have had the same experiences in FRA and CDG....avoid both like the plague......

 

Same here! I usually choose to go through Zurich. This time around it was either Zurich or Vienna, and I've heard that VIE is even easier than ZRH. We'll see .... (Oh, and the food is supposedly better on OS also.) ;)

[Cyber Kat]

I would not want to chance it. My experiences at CDG going from a European domestic flight to a USA bound one or the reverse, have all been so miserable and taken so much time, effort and frustration, that I refuse to use CDG. Customs and security can take a very long time, which is reasonable these days. We allowed over 3 hours and still barely made our flight the last time through CDG.

My transfer airports of choice are Copenhagen, Zurich and Amstermdam. All three are user friendly and not bad places to spend a bit of time if you have to.

 

 

We had an hour & a half plane change at CDG for our return flight from Zurich. It was giving me nightmares, so I changed the flight for a direct, non-stop from Zurich to JFK instead of our preferred EWR. I'd rather deal with JFK and no time constraints than chance making that connection in CDG - even though I've never been there! I did have to change planes in Atlanta once. That was scary enough and I spoke the language!

[pinotlover]

We have learned the best way to go through CDG is to fly in the night before the transatlantic, and stay at the Marriott Courtyard near the airport. It has free airport transport with a decent restaurant. Makes life much simpler and more pleasant. Additionally, it means one can take a later flight out of the ship disembarkment locale which can both (a) give one more time to sightsee in that town; plus (2) not have to worry about getting up so early to make an early connection flight. The extra night's expense has always been worth the cost to us.

[capriccio]

Same here! I usually choose to go through Zurich. This time around it was either Zurich or Vienna, and I've heard that VIE is even easier than ZRH. We'll see .... (Oh, and the food is supposedly better on OS also.) ;)

 

We transferred through Vienna twice last year on Austrian Air en route to Budapest and returning from Amsterdam. It is a very nice airport and we didn't find it chaotic. If you are in first class on Austrian the food and service is wonderful - they even have a chef on board to explain your meal choices!

[bubbulz]

We transferred through Vienna twice last year on Austrian Air en route to Budapest and returning from Amsterdam. It is a very nice airport and we didn't find it chaotic. If you are in first class on Austrian the food and service is wonderful - they even have a chef on board to explain your meal choices!

 

Thanks! Sounds great!

[Roz]

Add me to the list of those who didn't find the Vienna airport chaotic. This was my first experience with Austrian Air. I was in coach and found the attendants very helpful, and the meal was decent for airline food. They served us the world's smallest salad :D. It was a tiny triangle shaped bowl with a romaine leaf torn into 3 pieces, a kalamata olive, half a cherry tomato, and an entire container of dressing. My 2 seatmates and I got a good laugh out of it.

 

Roz

[bubbulz]

Add me to the list of those who didn't find the Vienna airport chaotic. This was my first experience with Austrian Air. I was in coach and found the attendants very helpful, and the meal was decent for airline food. They served us the world's smallest salad :D. It was a tiny triangle shaped bowl with a romaine leaf torn into 3 pieces, a kalamata olive, half a cherry tomato, and an entire container of dressing. My 2 seatmates and I got a good laugh out of it.

 

Roz

 

LOL re: the salad! I'm hoping that our experience will be more in line with this video since we're not in coach:

[Roz]

Oh, another thing about Austrian Air. Their flight attendants are in red from head to toe, including red tights and pumps.

 

Roz