Quick word of warning

[tetleytea]

We just lost our cruise and have to claim travel insurance because the airlines (namely, United airlines) are cancelling flights.  Of course, you should always try not to fly in the day-of, for precisely that reason.   Except in our case, we even did the right thing:  our scheduled flight was supposed to arrive 3 days before--and even then, United STILL could not get us to Anchorage on time.   They got us to our first connecting flight, but they could not get us out.  So my word of warning is:   don't schedule your flight for day-of, AND don't do United right now.   They are a mess.    Alaskan Airlines seemed fine.  And Seattle has overall more flights, so that will be a better situation than Anchorage.   Also, if you're flying United, I highly suggest not checking in any baggage.   I know, you can't afford to go on an Alaskan cruise without checking in bags, but right now odds are pretty good your bags won't make it there, anyway.   If you must, be absolutely SURE you have as much critical stuff as you can in your carry-on.   The United baggage carousels had absolutely insane amounts of unclaimed luggage.

 

All the airlines are cancelling when there's weather, but...not like United.  They don't have their stuff together right now.

 

[Aquahound]

Thank you for the heads up.  For flights into and out of Alaska, I always recommend trying to book Alaska Airlines first. 

[cruiselvr04]

With 3 days prior,  I’m so sorry you weren’t able to book a flight on another airline and make your cruise.  

[kayehall]

Could you have driven somewhere to catch another flight?  Could you rebook on another airline?  Even with a 3 day buffer, it is a holiday weekend and I understand the Canadian smoke has returned.  I have a friend who couldn't make it from Seattle to NY due to cancellations and is missing a family reunion.  

[kayehall]

I am trying to wrap my head around this scenerio.  When was your planned flight scheduled for?  From RDU?  When was the cruise leaving?  This only affected your outbound flight so your return flight on United could have remained intact, correct?  Sounds to me like United didn't go above and beyond to secure you on another airline or from another departure point.  I am not pointing fingers, I am just curious.  I am a former travel agent and things like this intrigue me.  I am thinking that maybe departing from Charlotte or Washington DC could have been explored.  Probably would have included renting a one way car but at least you could make the ship departure.  How were you getting from ANC to the ship, which I assume was either Whittier or Seward for a southbound cruise?  Was there a land portion prior to the cruise?  If you care to share, I am curious.....thanks, Kaye

[tetleytea]

To Seattle that might have been possible, but not Anchorage.  Where I was, all the hotels and rental cars were sold out.  It was THAT bad.  The level of badness was something I didn't think possible, short of a natural disaster.  

 

Now I can vouch for the people who put iTags on their bags, and can see exactly where their bags are, but United can't.   They were literally down the stairs and 50 feet away from us, and United wouldn't let us pick them up.   And now, they are in Anchorage (our bags got there on time).   But even if we had made it to Anchorage on time, we very likely still would not have our bags on time for the cruise because United cannot locate them.  I can see on my cell phone where they are right now.

 

I read the stories about the cancellations before my flight, but I dismissed them as "that's life".  People on the news were saying, "Don't check your bags", and I was like, "Well you HAVE to check your bags.  That's how airlines work."  No no, they meant it.   The other airlines faced the same weather United did, and that was "life".  This was on a whole level.

[tetleytea]

5 minutes ago, kayehall said:

I am trying to wrap my head around this scenerio.  When was your planned flight scheduled for?  From RDU?  When was the cruise leaving?  This only affected your outbound flight so your return flight on United could have remained intact, correct?  Sounds to me like United didn't go above and beyond to secure you on another airline or from another departure point.  I am not pointing fingers, I am just curious.  I am a former travel agent and things like this intrigue me.  I am thinking that maybe departing from Charlotte or Washington DC could have been explored.  Probably would have included renting a one way car but at least you could make the ship departure.  How were you getting from ANC to the ship, which I assume was either Whittier or Seward for a southbound cruise?  Was there a land portion prior to the cruise?  If you care to share, I am curious.....thanks, Kaye

 

 

The connection from RDU was not the problem for me--although I was East Coast, and East Coast is where it is the worst.  The problem was Denver.  United was able to fly us into Denver, and then our connection to Anchorage was cancelled.   From there, United was missing-in-action.   6-hour wait times to customer service, the United phone/email/chat lines were unresponsive.   The only way out of Denver was on other airlines, and they were all sold out because everyone else was in the same situation.   But even though we were able to get back home (not to Anchorage) on another airline, our bags didn't--because--you know--United.  Unresponsive.   We did, in spite of that, manage to work with a gate agent, but that gate agent told us there were no flights available until after our cruise time.  We could have departed about the time the cruise boards.  United does have some kind of partnership with Alaska Airlines, but they said no seats were available through that partnership.  I think we could have worked directly with Alaska Airlines, spent $1500 per seat more, and walked into another already-oversold situation.

 

 

 

[wreckem2013]

There have been a lot of delayed and canceled flights since Wednesday. delays can lead to alot of cascading delays then cascading cancellations. United has suffered the worst. It is supposed to be a record air travel holiday travel period and it’s clear the airlines and FAA cannot handle it. United is also one of the airlines that hasn’t updated all their altimeters for the 5G transition so they have 180 or so planes that cannot fly any bad weather as of July 1.
 

 

I’m currently on Radiance and it seems like there are probably quite a few who missed the ship. There were also a lot of people who were talking about barley making it.
 

if you are flying day off you have to be very strategic. And that’s essentially, only fly non stop and try to get first flight out as the plane should already be there from the night before. That’s not possible for everyone and holiday travel is even more iffy.

Edited July 1, 2023 by wreckem2013

[slidergirl]

Really sorry to hear this.  I know SFO was having mega issues with United with 2-3 days until next available flight.  
I wish you could have gone DEN to SLC and then ANC.  Not many flights but I wonder if it was available.  It’s why I always have my plethora of travel apps on my phone - I’ll start working on solutions myself and be politely assertive when I give my choices to the agent.  
 

good on you with the insurance!   Hope you make excellent lemonade out of this ton of lemons United handed you!

[tetleytea]

I was looking in terms of Vancouver and Victoria, instead of Salt Lake.  It was a chaotic scene at the airport--sometimes you had the entire six hours in line to make decisions, and other times you had seconds--with just your cell phone in hand.   That's why you have customer service.  Except we didn't.

[Coral]

My friend had the same thing happen on a flight to London (with United). It was bad weather in Newark and their flight was cancelled. They were leaving Wednesday afternoon for a Saturday cruise.

 

United couldn't get them to London until noon the day the cruise was going to leave. They would have missed their ship.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Coral

[tetleytea]

Maybe I should blog my life back at home.   Getting to tell my boss, "Hey, in fact I won't be on vacation.  All that coverage for me we set up at work, we don't have to do that.  However you might not want to talk to me right now."  Waiting 2.5 hours on the phone for a United rep to find out what's going to happen to our bags, then have him transfer us to another 1 hour wait to reservations department for a refund, only for the reservations guy to say there's a refund department that's separate from reservations.   All the excursion companies and Airbnb who say our prepays are nonrefundable, and are actually refunding it when they hear our situation.

 

[tetleytea]

Have to vent.   United is DENYING us a refund.   They flew us to our first connection, then left us stranded and unable to reach Anchorage 72 hours later for the cruise, forcing us to book tickets on Southwest just to fly back home.  Our bags are still in Anchorage (and we are not...).  i really, really hope our travel insurance doesn't try the same thing.   Completely unacceptable.

 

[vampiress]

oh wow, what a nightmare.  i am so sorry. i hope your insurance works its way out.

[kayehall]

13 hours ago, tetleytea said:

Have to vent.   United is DENYING us a refund.   They flew us to our first connection, then left us stranded and unable to reach Anchorage 72 hours later for the cruise, forcing us to book tickets on Southwest just to fly back home.  Our bags are still in Anchorage (and we are not...).  i really, really hope our travel insurance doesn't try the same thing.   Completely unacceptable.

 

Totally unacceptable in so many ways

[Max and Ruby]

I'm so sorry to read about your story.  We were burned at Christmas time with Southwest and their fiasco. Missed our Christmas cruise.  At least our bags never left either.  In your case, at least your excursions and Airbnb are being reasonable and giving you refunds! 

 

Just make sure you have screen shots of the cancelled flights, and all documentation that you can.  I did get partial cruise money back (a long story that involved the cruise line), but depending on your brand of  Travel Insurance, some are easier to deal with than others.

[katmu]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:58 PM, Aquahound said:

Thank you for the heads up.  For flights into and out of Alaska, I always recommend trying to book Alaska Airlines first. 

What are your thoughts on 1 stop on Alaska vs. a nonstop on Delta?  Getting ready to book our flights for 2024 in a few days.

[Aquahound]

4 hours ago, katmu said:

What are your thoughts on 1 stop on Alaska vs. a nonstop on Delta?  Getting ready to book our flights for 2024 in a few days.

One stop on Alaska. Their reliability for getting into AK is unrivaled. 
 

But I’m only saying that by a slim margin. Delta is excellent. 

[tetleytea]

5 hours ago, Max and Ruby said:

I'm so sorry to read about your story.  We were burned at Christmas time with Southwest and their fiasco. Missed our Christmas cruise.  At least our bags never left either.  In your case, at least your excursions and Airbnb are being reasonable and giving you refunds! 

 

Just make sure you have screen shots of the cancelled flights, and all documentation that you can.  I did get partial cruise money back (a long story that involved the cruise line), but depending on your brand of  Travel Insurance, some are easier to deal with than others.

 

Were you Princess?   Our terms of insurance clearly say refund of our cruise fare for covered circumstances (flight cancellations being one); or full refund of our cruise fare in the form of a future cruise credit in the event of a trip cancellation for reasons not covered.   But that doesn't mean they will actually do it. 

 

The Federal Department of Transportation guidelines clearly say airlines are required to issue refunds for cancelled flights, too, regardless of the reason (it says that right on their website), but apparently that doesn't stop United from denying the refund.   Doesn't stop me from filing a compliant with the DOT, either.  Or disputing the charge.

Edited July 6, 2023 by tetleytea

[Max and Ruby]

8 hours ago, tetleytea said:

 

Were you Princess?   Our terms of insurance clearly say refund of our cruise fare for covered circumstances (flight cancellations being one); or full refund of our cruise fare in the form of a future cruise credit in the event of a trip cancellation for reasons not covered.   But that doesn't mean they will actually do it. 

 

The Federal Department of Transportation guidelines clearly say airlines are required to issue refunds for cancelled flights, too, regardless of the reason (it says that right on their website), but apparently that doesn't stop United from denying the refund.   Doesn't stop me from filing a compliant with the DOT, either.  Or disputing the charge.

 No,Royal Caribbean. I got back what Royal claimed was the non refundable portion, but their math and my invoice appeared to have a $500 some discrepancy. The ship knew we were not on the cruise, but somehow corporate thought we WERE. It took a slew of phone calls ( my TA was a big box store and I had to stay online each time they called Royal!). In the end I submitted an email note from Royal to the Insurance about the amount Royal called “ non refundable “. Augh because of this I changed travel agents. They can keep their % back on travel. I just want my agent to do all this type of work! It’s bad enough we half to submit the travel insurance ourselves anyway. 
 

Good luck!

[Coral]

9 hours ago, tetleytea said:

 

Were you Princess?   Our terms of insurance clearly say refund of our cruise fare for covered circumstances (flight cancellations being one); or full refund of our cruise fare in the form of a future cruise credit in the event of a trip cancellation for reasons not covered.   But that doesn't mean they will actually do it. 

 

The Federal Department of Transportation guidelines clearly say airlines are required to issue refunds for cancelled flights, too, regardless of the reason (it says that right on their website), but apparently that doesn't stop United from denying the refund.   Doesn't stop me from filing a compliant with the DOT, either.  Or disputing the charge.

What insurance are you dealing with? I have friends who had to cancel a European cruise due to a United flight situation about 2 weeks before yours. They are filing a claim with AON (Princess's insurance).

[tetleytea]

Yes, Aon.   People buy travel insurance thinking they're "protected", but then this.  

[Kat915]

Can you dispute the credit card charge?

[tetleytea]

Of course you can dispute it--after all, the merchant did not provide the service.  In fact, we would have been better off had we never incurred the charge.   The question is, can we win the dispute?   That remains to be seen.   But we have a whole reddit board disputing the charges from United, so I'm feeling good.

 

Disputing the charge if the travel insurance denies us, I'm not so sure.  I think we would have to pursue different recourse there.  But I'm feeling good that the travel insurance is going to make good on it.  Either way, I plan on letting CruiseCritic know what happens, since that is the Princess travel insurance.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by tetleytea

[Coral]

4 hours ago, tetleytea said:

Of course you can dispute it--after all, the merchant did not provide the service.  In fact, we would have been better off had we never incurred the charge.   The question is, can we win the dispute?   That remains to be seen.   But we have a whole reddit board disputing the charges from United, so I'm feeling good.

 

Disputing the charge if the travel insurance denies us, I'm not so sure.  I think we would have to pursue different recourse there.  But I'm feeling good that the travel insurance is going to make good on it.  Either way, I plan on letting CruiseCritic know what happens, since that is the Princess travel insurance.

 

I will let you know how my friends do with their claim as well.