QV charter flight

[tiggis]

We are flying to Rome for a QV Med cruise this summer on a TUI charter.  Does anyone know if we get breakfast?  (The plane leaves LHR at 7.30am). I did the same journey a few years ago on a BA charter, and we were surprisingly well fed. Presumably Cunard specify the food to be provided, if any.

[durante]

Even BA only provided an unhealthy snack and a little bottle of water between UK and Rome so doubt Tui would provide anything more than that. This was late May.

Edited June 5 by durante

[Bell Boy]

2 hours ago, tiggis said:

We are flying to Rome for a QV Med cruise this summer on a TUI charter.  Does anyone know if we get breakfast?  (The plane leaves LHR at 7.30am). I did the same journey a few years ago on a BA charter, and we were surprisingly well fed. Presumably Cunard specify the food to be provided, if any.

We are hearing more and more of these TUI 'Cunard' charter flights . I'm wondering if the new lady president who came from TUI ( just under a year ago) has had her finger in this. 😅 

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Bell Boy said:

We are hearing more and more of these TUI 'Cunard' charter flights . I'm wondering if the new lady president who came from TUI ( just under a year ago) has had her finger in this. 😅 

Would that be good or bad? And how is her sex relevant?

[King Amo]

TUI are fine as an airline if only going to Europe. I'm expecting there to be nothing included on the flight this summer, but if there is a cup of coffee it will be a nice bonus. 

[Bell Boy]

57 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Would that be good or bad? And how is her sex relevant?

Her sex is not relevant only you appear to have a problem with the post .  I referred to her as the 'new lady president'  to make a clear distinction from the two previous male presidents who appeared to move on very quickly in just two and half/three years and hardly made any impact at all.  At least this lady president has been visible during the last few months.       

[mahasamatman]

Cunard will specify the food choices available on the charter. Whatever Tui provides on their own flights is irrelevant.

[Big N]

.....and the outbound flight is from Gatwick (TUI) and the return flight is to Heathrow (BA). Thanks a bunch Cunard!

So don't plan on using your car to get to and from the airport for the flights. 

[Host Hattie]

6 minutes ago, Big N said:

.....and the outbound flight is from Gatwick (TUI) and the return flight is to Heathrow (BA). Thanks a bunch Cunard!

So don't plan on using your car to get to and from the airport for the flights. 

Which sailing is this for ?

[tiggis]

1 hour ago, Big N said:

.....and the outbound flight is from Gatwick (TUI) and the return flight is to Heathrow (BA). Thanks a bunch Cunard!

So don't plan on using your car to get to and from the airport for the flights. 

I was wrong on the airport in my initial post (confusing with another cruise). Our flights - TU charter outbound and EasyJet scheduled return- are from/to Gatwick. This cruise starts on 16 September. 

[Poole Boy]

2 hours ago, Big N said:

.....and the outbound flight is from Gatwick (TUI) and the return flight is to Heathrow (BA). Thanks a bunch Cunard!

So don't plan on using your car to get to and from the airport for the flights. 

There could be any number of reasons for this including, No flight on that day to LGW, no availability of charter aircraft, flight timings etc. 

[Big N]

This is for QV from and to “Rome” on 8th to 22nd July.

I appreciate Poole Boy’s reasoning for the departure and arrival airports being different but I expect an organisation the size of Cunard to be able to organise these things rather better. There are a number of flights from Rome to Gatwick after 11:00am on 22nd July ( at least 15). I suspect the reason they have not been used is cost pure and simple.

So, lesson learned for those of us who don’t live near London (I’m in Warwickshire) - never again; I’ll make my own flight arrangements next time.

[Pushpit]

10 hours ago, Big N said:

There are a number of flights from Rome to Gatwick after 11:00am on 22nd July ( at least 15). I suspect the reason they have not been used is cost pure and simple.

So, lesson learned for those of us who don’t live near London (I’m in Warwickshire) - never again; I’ll make my own flight arrangements next time.

I am sure it will be cost related. TUI does not operate in or out of LHR, BA has only a relatively small operation out of LGW via a subsidiary company. The main carriers on the London to FCO route  are Vueling, Wizz and easyJet, who avoid the charter / bulk buy / Inclusive Tour market. I'm not sure the stance of ITA, as a supposedly new company, but they only have one flight to LGW, mostly they are LHR.

 

[rog747]

Cunard have only just this summer ramped up and restarted Fly/Cruises again to the Med.

Starting points to join the ship (QV) are flying out to Rome Barcelona Istanbul and Trieste IIRC (no longer Venice Airport is used) 
It seems they have now again laid on some whole plane charter flights for the QV pax with TUI.
TUI are fine, their catering for short haul is Buy on Board.
They have a good range of stuff hot and cold.
If you are on an early flight then perhaps grab a cooked breakfast in the departure lounge first.
You may find they will also use Titan Airways as well as TUI who are good too. Again BoB for drinks/grub.

In the past Cunard used to charter BA using whole planes from LHR (the 252 seat Boeing 767) for the Med Fly/Cruises but BA sold those a/c off a few years ago nd Cunard no longer charter from BA sadly.
At that time Cunard charters were also sold from MAN BHX and Bournemouth, using TUI and Titan.

[exlondoner]

17 minutes ago, rog747 said:

Cunard have only just this summer ramped up and restarted Fly/Cruises again to the Med.

Starting points to join the ship (QV) are flying out to Rome Barcelona Istanbul and Trieste IIRC (no longer Venice Airport is used) 
It seems they have now again laid on some whole plane charter flights for the QV pax with TUI.
TUI are fine, their catering for short haul is Buy on Board.
They have a good range of stuff hot and cold.
If you are on an early flight then perhaps grab a cooked breakfast in the departure lounge first.
You may find they will also use Titan Airways as well as TUI who are good too. Again BoB for drinks/grub.

In the past Cunard used to charter BA using whole planes from LHR (the 252 seat Boeing 767) for the Med Fly/Cruises but BA sold those a/c off a few years ago nd Cunard no longer charter from BA sadly.
At that time Cunard charters were also sold from MAN BHX and Bournemouth, using TUI and Titan.

If Cunard are chartering a whole aircraft, can they not specify what catering arrangements they require?

[rog747]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

If Cunard are chartering a whole aircraft, can they not specify what catering arrangements they require?

Yes indeed they can and could, but today costs £££ are the common denominator here.

No longer do any charter airlines on short haul provide catering free on board like the good old days of Britannia, Air 2000, Monarch, Air Europe and even Dan Air.
You might get the odd small Tour Operator who may specify catering on a charter but that's very rare today.
Sadly we lost those heady inflight meal days and they went off in to the sunset.

If Cunard were every again operating charter flights to join the ships in the Caribbean, then yes they would supply free hot meals and drinks as they did in the past.

You do often get a small snack in Economy and a free water/drink on BA which is back again nowadays and they have the Buy on Board and pre-order menu too.
 

[Big N]

I'm sure they can/could, but why would they, given catering costs money and if you're too penny pinching to even fly your passengers back to the same airport they started from, you're certainly not going to pay for them to have some sort of light meal on board the aircraft?

[Host Hattie]

1 hour ago, Big N said:

I'm sure they can/could, but why would they, given catering costs money and if you're too penny pinching to even fly your passengers back to the same airport they started from, you're certainly not going to pay for them to have some sort of light meal on board the aircraft?

Did you book direct or via a TA ? It's probably too late now but when I booked a fly cruise the option just said London. I checked with the TA and only booked once it was confirmed that flights were to/from Heathrow. 

[Big N]

48 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Did you book direct or via a TA ? It's probably too late now but when I booked a fly cruise the option just said London. I checked with the TA and only booked once it was confirmed that flights were to/from Heathrow. 

I booked through a TA about three months ago, but at the time details of the flights were not available; just “London”. First the outbound flight with TUI from LGW appeared about three weeks later and then the inbound leg with BA to LHR about three weeks after that.

Obviously, I understood that “London” meant some  travelling  for us in Warwickshire, and I duly booked a room at the Sofitel for the day before our 7:30am flight on 8th July from LGW, never dreaming Cunard would be returning us to a different airport some 40 miles away!
Either Gatwick to Gatwick or Heathrow to Heathrow would have been fine; but one to the other is irritating to say the least and has caused some logistical problems, as one might imagine.

[Host Hattie]

Have you requested a change?

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, Big N said:

I booked through a TA about three months ago, but at the time details of the flights were not available; just “London”. First the outbound flight with TUI from LGW appeared about three weeks later and then the inbound leg with BA to LHR about three weeks after that.

Obviously, I understood that “London” meant some  travelling  for us in Warwickshire, and I duly booked a room at the Sofitel for the day before our 7:30am flight on 8th July from LGW, never dreaming Cunard would be returning us to a different airport some 40 miles away!
Either Gatwick to Gatwick or Heathrow to Heathrow would have been fine; but one to the other is irritating to say the least and has caused some logistical problems, as one might imagine.

They do warn about this possibility in the brochure. Perhaps your travel agent should get to work.

[Big N]

1 minute ago, Host Hattie said:

Have you requested a change?

 

1 minute ago, Host Hattie said:

Have you requested a change?

No - it never crossed my mind they would entertain it! I told my TA and made my displeasure known but he never replied!

Perhaps I should ask him to check with Cunard and see if this is possible. (I won’t hold my breath but many thanks for the suggestion. Why didn’t I think of that?!)

[Host Hattie]

5 minutes ago, Big N said:

 

No - it never crossed my mind they would entertain it! I told my TA and made my displeasure known but he never replied!

Perhaps I should ask him to check with Cunard and see if this is possible. (I won’t hold my breath but many thanks for the suggestion. Why didn’t I think of that?!)

I don't want to get your hopes up but there's certainly no harm in asking. 

[Big N]

[rog747]

In the past my dealings with Cunard's flights Dept has always been positive.

If you have paid extra for flights from London (I noticed the flight add-on was around £450 on some fly-cruises this summer) then just tell your TA the flight options are not acceptable to you and for them to go back to Cunard for them to seek a better option...

Let them know you already have booked HOTAC at LHR the night before your departure so you are happy to stick with that flight (in case you may incur Hotel change/cancel fees) and hope they can get a flight back in to LHR.

Perhaps they may be able to get you something flying from BHX with Jet2 >?

Trouble is on ''cruise ship'' days flights are often chock block to & from Rome FCO, and Barcelona BCN....