Arvia Antigua flights – the wait continues

[Cozzyleicester]

I am one of many people that has booked on Arvia for the Caribbean season in winter 22/23 and waiting (still waiting) for details of flights to / from Antigua (in our case the return flight on 11th February, from K303B)

 

There are many posts on Fbook groups asking the same question so it doesn’t seem a case of it just not being my turn - instead there is just no information being provided to anyone by P&O

 

In case you’re not familiar with the situation:

 

For those flying out and back from Barbados for a “traditional” two-week cruise on Arvia, it seems the usual charter flights are all confirmed on TUI as per previous years and guests can book their seats, etc.

 

However, if like me, one or more legs of your journey to / from Arvia is from Antigua, NONE of your flights are confirmed. All I know is that I have flights booked from “London”, but don’t even know which airport (LHR or LGW) nor whether I might even have to fly out from one and back to the other

 

Does anyone on here have any intel, at least regarding WHEN the Antigua flights will be confirmed?

 

I found a press release from Antigua Cruise Port online stating an estimated 800 passengers will be handled during each homeport visit for Arvia. My hunch (and it is just that, I have no information to back this up) is P&O must therefore be negotiating with airline(s) to provide dedicated charter flights to mirror those already contracted with TUI out to Barbados

 

The rationale being that whilst there are 2 scheduled flights a day to ANU from the UK (Virgin from LHR and BA from LGW), between them they would only offer 350-odd Economy / PE seats in total and that’s assuming P&O were able to book the whole a/c, which is highly unlikely seeing it’s peak winter season. Also, flights from Manchester are being offered by P&O and there is no scheduled option there.

 

Will be interesting to see which airline P&O end up with since I’m not sure TUI have the additional 2 or 3 787s spare on a winter Saturday that would be needed (Premium seats are being sold by P&O so whichever carrier they use will need to be able to offer some kind of “premium” cabin). Flightmapper is usually a good source for info on any type of passenger flight (all this seasons’ P&O TUI charters are on there) but as of now nothing showing for Antigua apart from the above BA & Virgin

[davecttr]

It could be that a single return leg from Antigua is the problem. For example TUI Dreamliner flights to the Caribbean are on the 9th and 12th. The airline would not want to fly an aircraft there empty.

 

Can you board the ship in Antigua?

[tesni]

Thanks for posting about this - it's so frustrating having to wait (especially when one of the 'legs' is already bookable by some passengers).

[Cozzyleicester]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

It could be that a single return leg from Antigua is the problem. For example TUI Dreamliner flights to the Caribbean are on the 9th and 12th. The airline would not want to fly an aircraft there empty.

 

Can you board the ship in Antigua?

Yes, you can, cruises are on sale starting and ending in Antigua on Arvia

[sueandphil]

Just looked and there are return flights on BA on the Sunday for $699pp.  Saturday return is more expensive.  Might have an extra night in Antigua but I don't expect that P&O will give us a flight refund, probably just cancel our 22 night cruise

 

[Cathygh]

There was a similar issue on the fly cruises to and from Tenerife on Azura that began in October.  P&O chartered jet2 from LGW (jet2 does not usually fly from there) so I guess they are still negotiating this. 

[Well boy 91]

We are Manchester on 28/01.  Quite frankly,this is turning into a farce..Let’s  book parking ,hotel etc.  What time is your flight ?   I’ve no idea . Parking gets dearer the nearer the flight date. Faced with a long drive to Manchester,I’ve no idea about timings . Or will P and O pull a rabbit out the hat  and say sorry,your flying from London now .  The P and O response is waiting on flight operator to confirm timings.  Considering these cruises have likely been on sale for over two years now,it’s very poor from P and O 

[terrierjohn]

55 minutes ago, Well boy 91 said:

We are Manchester on 28/01.  Quite frankly,this is turning into a farce..Let’s  book parking ,hotel etc.  What time is your flight ?   I’ve no idea . Parking gets dearer the nearer the flight date. Faced with a long drive to Manchester,I’ve no idea about timings . Or will P and O pull a rabbit out the hat  and say sorry,your flying from London now .  The P and O response is waiting on flight operator to confirm timings.  Considering these cruises have likely been on sale for over two years now,it’s very poor from P and O 

The pandemic played havoc with airline flight schedules as well as charters, and I don't believe they are back to pre covid operations just yet. So it's no surprise that P&O have still to receive the final data from the charter Airlines.

[cheshire]

10 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The pandemic played havoc with airline flight schedules as well as charters, and I don't believe they are back to pre covid operations just yet. So it's no surprise that P&O have still to receive the final data from the charter Airlines.

It doesn’t work that way. Aircraft schedules are planned months sometimes years ahead especially charter programmes to fit in with a cruise.   The specific aircraft from a fleet may not be planned until a few months out.  Crewing is normally 4-6 weeks out.  
 

p&o had a contract for the Barbados flights as usual with Tui.   There are Then the flights Tui have for their own Cruise programme or beach stay holidays there.  This means the outbound flight crew have a day or at most two before flying home.  
 

I think the Antigua problem is crewing. They don’t have the flights so crew could be there much longer or need to be flown in/out of another island adding to cost/logistics.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Wamos air got involved.  I don’t expect Tui as it would be a 787 8 or 9 series.

[Well boy 91]

And TUI have Just re positioned a 787 from Manchester to its Nordic fleet. It’s not Covid causing these problems,just poor organisation from P and O alongside their partners.  I am sick and tired of hearing the C word used as an excuse for poor service.

Mis management more like.

[Well boy 91]

6 hours ago, cheshire said:

It doesn’t work that way. Aircraft schedules are planned months sometimes years ahead especially charter programmes to fit in with a cruise.   The specific aircraft from a fleet may not be planned until a few months out.  Crewing is normally 4-6 weeks out.  
 

p&o had a contract for the Barbados flights as usual with Tui.   There are Then the flights Tui have for their own Cruise programme or beach stay holidays there.  This means the outbound flight crew have a day or at most two before flying home.  
 

I think the Antigua problem is crewing. They don’t have the flights so crew could be there much longer or need to be flown in/out of another island adding to cost/logistics.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Wamos air got involved.  I don’t expect Tui as it would be a 787 8 or 9 series.

Wamos have the aircraft A330.  Though one is leased to Air New Zealand. Those that have paid for PE will be disappointed. As a lot of their 330s are set for economy only. They also have a poor reputation for service provision. Many complaints about the lack of their on board offering. 
Just need to wait and see what transpires 

[molecrochip]

They also use Titan Airways for Charters. I think its Titan who also have government contracts which might give the government first preference over use of the planes.

[ElmaLee]

9 hours ago, molecrochip said:

They also use Titan Airways for Charters. I think its Titan who also have government contracts which might give the government first preference over use of the planes.

One of Titan’s A330s has a big Union Flag on the tail.  Maybe P&O could “borrow “ it?😀

[Well boy 91]

Just to keep this live.  The exec team at P and O say the Antigua flight details are,in their words,being finalised. 
How long they take to appear,I have no idea

[Cruise 4ever]

Good luck if it’s a TUI Dreamliner, I have just returned from a holiday to Jamaica. The Dreamliner had no IFE on the way out on 12 November and still no IFE (same aircraft) on 23 November. I returned on an A330 owned by AirTanker and it was much better than the Dreamliner. 

[tesni]

2 hours ago, Cruise 4ever said:

Good luck if it’s a TUI Dreamliner, I have just returned from a holiday to Jamaica. The Dreamliner had no IFE on the way out on 12 November and still no IFE (same aircraft) on 23 November. I returned on an A330 owned by AirTanker and it was much better than the Dreamliner. 

Omg, I would be so disappointed to have no in-flight entertainment 😨

 

[Happy afloat]

On 11/25/2022 at 7:32 PM, tesni said:

Omg, I would be so disappointed to have no in-flight entertainment 😨

 

What,no cabaret?!! We had a pianist last time we flew. Baby grand piano was at the front when we took off, at the rear when we landed😉

[bbtablet]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:14 PM, Happy afloat said:

What,no cabaret?!! We had a pianist last time we flew. Baby grand piano was at the front when we took off, at the rear when we landed😉

I think that's called glissando.

[Cozzyleicester]

OK so based upon the latest email I received from P&O inviting me to upgrade to Virgin Upper class (£995 pp each way 😲), I think it is a safe bet now on who they will be using to operate the Arvia Antigua flights.

 

Bottom of the email does say "flight details on their way..." so still no details yet on which London departure airport, how to book your seats, etc.

[molecrochip]

I would expect the flights to be from Heathrow as Virgin don’t have ground or flight operations out of Gatwick anymore.

[howmuch!]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:14 PM, Happy afloat said:

What,no cabaret?!! We had a pianist last time we flew. Baby grand piano was at the front when we took off, at the rear when we landed😉

If it had been a TUi Dreamliner, they would have decreased the seat spacing in order to to get the grand piano onboard, avoid losing passenger income, and pay for the pianist 😂

Edited November 29, 2022 by howmuch!

[Windsurfboy]

2 hours ago, Cozzyleicester said:

OK so based upon the latest email I received from P&O inviting me to upgrade to Virgin Upper class (£995 pp each way 😲),

 

A Bargain

[galeforce9]

4 hours ago, Cozzyleicester said:

OK so based upon the latest email I received from P&O inviting me to upgrade to Virgin Upper class (£995 pp each way 😲), I think it is a safe bet now on who they will be using to operate the Arvia Antigua flights.

 

Bottom of the email does say "flight details on their way..." so still no details yet on which London departure airport, how to book your seats, etc.

Sounds like a bargain 

[galeforce9]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

A Bargain

Beat me to it

[Well boy 91]

Looks like Antigua flights showing up now. Though in true P and O fashion,ours is shown as 0850 from MAN in itinerary,and 1100 on the flight section 🙄