Flights from UK to Singapore - dismal response from Princess/ poor customer service

[Nylsor]

We booked the 28 day cruise from Singapore to Rome on Sapphire Princess embarking Singapore March 28 2108. This cruise is to celebrate our Golden Wedding Anniversary so it is special. Our booking was made in February 2017 - too early for flights to be booked. We are flying from London Heathrow. The Princess agent who took our booking explained that when flights were released we would be contacted. Fine. I explained that we did not want to fly with British Airways (had horrible flights with them) but with Singapore Airlines and that if need be we would pay extra. That's fine I was told. You can choose anyway and if you are allocated a flight you don't like we'll 'tweak' it to one that you do. Fine.

Weeks passed and we heard nothing despite the flight we wanted being available for booking on the Singapore Airlines site from the end of March.

Contacted Princess. Sorry. No flights for that cruise have been uploaded to our system yet. Try again in a week. OK.

I tried every week from the end of March until June 16. I was told:

- not uploaded on our system yet

- the flights are allocated by computer you'll be sent an e-mail when they are ( we were not)

- please don't worry if you don't like your flight you can choose another one

- it is Princess policy for clients to be able to choose their own flights

I reiterated in every call that we were not interested in BA flights.

On June 16 I looked at our Personalizer to find we had been allocated BA flights departing Heathrow late in the evening (26th) and not arriving in Singapore until the evening of the following day (27th). The cruise leaves the following afternoon (28th). By the time we'd transferred to the hotel there would be just time to eat, fall into bed and climb on to the cruise on the 28th. No time to look around this interesting city ( we've been twice before) have a relaxing evening meal on the Boat Quay. Not exactly the start to our big trip we envisaged.

Never mind I thought. Just a technicality. Phone Princess and they'll do the 'tweaks' I was told about.

You must be joking.

Didn't want to know. I was told by the Princess agent (who sounded bored and couldn't have cared less):

- that's the flight you've been allocated

- we haven't managed to negotiate a contract with Singapore Airlines ( strange - their flights are significantly cheaper than BA's)

- they don't fly to Singapore on a Monday ( they fly four times a day from Heathrow - every day)

- I can move you to another BA flight but it will take you 18 hours as you'll have to change planes

- no, there are no other airlines to choose from

- so the Princess statement re customization is not true then? Hang on I'll speak to my manager.

I had been on the phone for almost twenty minutes by then so while I listened to the piped music I got mad.

This is a big trip for us. The cost was over £9000 without excursions and tips, stateroom charges, etc.

When Ms Bored returned to me I was told ' you can choose another BA flight'.

How about you return our money for that flight and we'll book it ourselves on Singapore Airlines?

I'll have to speak to my manager. Hold the line. More piped music.

OK. we'll let you do that.

Big deal.

They deducted the cost of the Heathrow to Singapore portion of the flights and re-invoiced me.

I booked the flight we wanted myself and saved £300.

We love cruising with Princess but never again will I book flights with them. Dreadful customer service.

[cdngrl]

its silly how the UK way of booking is so different from the north american way. i'm sorry for the time and stress you put in. happy big 5-oh anniversary coming up!!

[Nylsor]

its silly how the UK way of booking is so different from the north american way. i'm sorry for the time and stress you put in. happy big 5-oh anniversary coming up!!

We have cruised several times with Princess but have always booked our own flights. Just thought I'd save myself the bother this time and never envisaged there would be a problem. Will only book cruise in future. And thanks for your good wishes. We are looking forward to this cruise so much. Great ports of call :D

[memoak]

I have cruised over 30 times with Princess and love the ships but never ever let them handle the air portion. I always book on my own usually early and get the times I want.

[jasbo49]

I have cruised over 30 times with Princess and love the ships but never ever let them handle the air portion. I always book on my own usually early and get the times I want.

For routine bookings here in the U.S., I find Princess EZair is far better than anything else.

 

For one thing, I can book a flight and not pay for it until final payment for the cruise itself, it remains fluid. For another thing, Princess is responsible if anything goes wrong with the flights and assumes responsibilty for getting us to the port. And I can get our airline of choice, along with the flight times we want. I haven't found a down-side yet, again from the perspective of U.S. departures.

 

Jim

[jimpod]

We had a totally different experience. Flight allocated to Miami was via Munich. Our TA phoned and it was changed immediately to a direct flight from Heathrow without any hassle. I had priced the flight myself in case we had to do it ourselves and found the one way flight was around £1200 each on the BA site, Princess charged us that for the two of us.

[Reina del Mar]

We have also found Princess to be helpful with flight requirements.

 

We check online to find flights we want before phoning to speak to an agent, then tell them the exact cabin and flights we require.

 

On all international/ transatlantic flights and cruises so far, we have managed to have Princess book exactly what we want.

 

We prefer to book air with Princess to ensure they help us out in case of delay etc. ( volcanic ash cloud , BA strike,) ensuring we arrived in time for embarkation.

[Cruise Raider]

I knew exactly where you were going with this half way through the post. So sorry they gave you so much trouble and for such a special trip, at that.

Glad it all worked out in the long run. I have never used EZ Air ...mostly because many of the cruises I take with Princess leave out of the port that is in our backyard.

When we fly to another port, we usually travel on Celebrity and so far, haven't had the best of luck with Choice Air either (Celebrity's version of EZ Air). And people wonder why we only want to sail out of San Francisco?? :D

 

Happy 50th anniversary to you both! Have a wonderful flight and a wonderful cruise!!

[rdsqrl]

If they don't have a contract with Singapore Air, they can't put you on an SQ flight. Princess Air is a consolidator, i.e. a reseller -- they can only sell you a ticket on the flights on which they have contracted seats. And it's a no-brainer that those are not necessarily going to be the "best" flights, as the airlines have no trouble filling up non-stops and brief layover flights with full-fare passengers. Cruise Air is what it is: a limited option that occasionally can save you money and occasionally provide you with an excellent choice of flights, but rarely do both.

[Tina G]

I never, ever let a cruise line book my airfare. I like to be the one in control.The one time I trusted Princess was over the Christmas holidays, and the connections were so close, we almost missed the flights! That was 20 cruises ago, You KNOW that Princess is taking a cut somewhere, especially when you book a hotel through them. Ridiculous prices! It takes time and effort on my part, but I've never been sorry that I stayed in control of our travel schedule.

[caribill]

I never, ever let a cruise line book my airfare. I like to be the one in control.

 

Princess used to select the flights although you could pay estra to work with them to find acceptable flights.

 

Does not work that way anymore.

 

Now you are presented with a list of flights and you pick the ones you want. So if the flights have a poor schedule, you will have selected them, not Princess.

[Nylsor]

We had a totally different experience. Flight allocated to Miami was via Munich. Our TA phoned and it was changed immediately to a direct flight from Heathrow without any hassle. I had priced the flight myself in case we had to do it ourselves and found the one way flight was around £1200 each on the BA site, Princess charged us that for the two of us.

We booked directly with Princess so we didn't have a TA to negotiate for us. The flights to Singapore on the BA site on March 26 are £1333 each ( single - we are flying back from Rome). The flight allocated to us by Princess doesn't leave until almost 10.00pm on Monday night. The flights we've booked with Singapore Airlines cost £500.47 each and leave London Heathrow at 11.25am. Princess reduced our invoice by £1300. Obviously Princess have a contract with BA so won't pay the same cost per seat as a private individual.

Our problem was that we were told so many different versions of being able to choose which airline. etc. This is also stated on the Flight page of the Cruise Personalizer where it says;

- no customisation fee - Choose your desired airline and flight options with no additional fees

If it hadn't said that we would have booked our own flights as we have in the past. If this is not the case, and it certainly wasn't with us, then it shouldn't be stated.

All's well that ends well but we could have done without the hassle.

[geoherb]

My experience booking our flights to London from North Carolina was great. One of the benefits of booking our cruise late was that the flights were available immediately. We had a choice of several flights both ways. We're flying in four days ahead of time to spend in London before the cruise. I researched getting flights on my own, and going through Princess ended up being very affordable--half the price.