Flights to Our River Cruises

[Venturagirl]

I have been reporting back to my DH all the experiences of those of you who have returned from Rhine and or Danube River cruises. He hates to fly and has been asking whether the flights have been turbulent or smooth. Since no one has mentioned their flights, I thought I would start a new thread and ask about that. We have a 10 hour flight from LAX to Heathrow, a short layover (too short, I think) and then 1 1/2 hours to Amsterdam on British Airways. We will come back from Budapest to Heathrow and then Heathrow to LAX.

 

Could you respond with whether your flights were smooth or bumpy and anything about your layovers? I'm not as concerned about turbulence as I am getting from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 at Heathrow in 1 1/2 hours for our connecting flight to Amsterdam, but for my husband it is all about the ride. :-)

[BJS]

Haven't taken our river cruise yet but have flown to Europe and back several times. Twice over to Heathrow flights were great - very smooth and also once returning also very smooth. That was our final destination so can't comment on layovers.

 

Flew back from Paris and that was also a smooth flight.

 

Flew to Venice- smooth flight but the layover in Frankfort was a nightmare. We had several hours but there was a distance to go, passport control, and very long lines at both passport control and to check in.

 

Flew back from Rome and also a smooth flight.

 

Tell DH we had 6 of the smoothest flights ever crossing the Atlantic. I'm sure he is well aware that the weather could change that.

 

From what I'm told ... that terminal change at Heathrow can be tricky. Hopefully someone with experience will post.

[jgnova]

Our flights were Washington Dulles to Munich and return from Salzburg to Frankfurt to Washington Dulles via Lufthansa (or a feeder/related line -- Austrian Air, I think it was) from Salzburg to Frankfurt. Flights were mostly smooth. Video regularly showed where we were, altitude, speed, etc. -- made it interesting. Return wasn't the expected route -- was much farther south than usual. We didn't have any problems in Frankfurt, though I could see there could be delays in the lines (but we didn't have any). Guess we were lucky.

 

Generally, I think they route away or above turbulence as much as possible. We were fine on ours and J is not a happy flyer either, so your DH can rest easy on this one.

 

S

[Bill S]

In April, we flew from Vegas to O'Hare and on to Heathrow on American Airlines and then on BA from Heathrow to Amsterdam. Smooth air all the way, but transiting Heathrow was a nightmare for us. Be assertive when you get off the arrival flight and seek out someone who has accurate flight info for your flight to Amsterdam! We barely made our connection due the incorrect information given by the flight attendant while taxiing in.

On the flight home, from Gatwick to DFW (10 hours), we had a few minor bumps. Gatwick was a dream compared to Heathrow. It is hard to predict what kind of in-flight conditions you will encounter, but suffice it to say, the flight crew wants to avoid/minimize turbulence as much as the passengers do!

[steamboats]

Venturagirl,

 

This is like the weather forecast! You can´t really say whether a a flight will be bumpy or not. It all depends on the weather and winds outside. Usually the pilots do avoid severe weathers and choose another route. Turbulences can occur at any time. I had very smooth flights and I also had flight were the seat belt sign was on most of the time (although those flights haven´t been too bumpy anyway).

 

Heathrow is a mess and an airport I´d avoid if I can. Usually gates aren´t on the information boards until 30 min prior to departure. And as soon as you can see your gate you have to run to get there in time. And those information boards are quite rare. DH nearly missed his flight once when he did some shopping and wasn´t able to see any information board. 90 min can be very tight. Bill S gave a good advice: Ask the airport staff for your gate and way as soon as you have left the plane.

 

steamboats

[AWED23]

Heathrow is to be avoided at all costs if you need to connect !!!..Switch to KLM...LAX/AMS non-stop. AT Schipol [AMS] you can literally connect to anyplace in the world. KLM is the oldest continually operating airline in the world and I have made many flights on them from LAX to AMS....Never a hitch !!!

[skandls]

Hi Venturagirl - we are neighbors from TO.

We did the opposite trip last Sep. Budapest to Amsterdam on the Poetry. We booked American Airlines and flew the same route in reverse. The flights were very smooth. Just watch the amount of carryon you take because they are much stricter on the short flights. The warnings about Heathrow are justified. Keep a close eye on the boards for your gate and be prepared to move quickly as you may be quite far from where you will be taking off. We stayed overnight in Budapest so we had some wiggle room if something happened to the flights or luggage. Had we known how nice Budapest was we would have spent an extra day so we could have seen more of the city.

DH also hates to fly but when you want to travel you usually need to fly.

[Pam in CA]

I agree that Heathrow is horrible. I was flying back from Rome last year and had a flight from Rome to Heathrow and from Heathrow to Boston, both on BA. There was a 90-minute layover between the flights and I thought, "No problem!" Little did I know. The flight from Rome was an hour late landing. Then I discovered that my flight to Boston, even though it was BA, was two terminals over AND I had to go through security again. All in 20 minutes. I freaking RAN! When I got to the gate for my Boston flight, I then discovered that the plane was actually out on the far edge of the tarmac and they were closing the gate as I got there. I got on the transfer bus with one other gentleman, both of us completely out of breath. We waited there for almost 10 minutes before the bus finally started moving. THEN, when we got to the plane, we found the door closed and the stairs being moved away. It took some argument by the other guy on the bus but they did move the stairs back and allowed us to board. Literally, as soon as we got to the top of the stairs, they closed the door and started moving. Overall, it was a horrible experience and extremely stressful.

[Venturagirl]

Thanks to all who responded to this topic. We are back from our 2 week cruise Amsterdam to Budapest. The flights were the smoothest and easiest we have ever experienced. DH had no problem at all, thank goodness. Regarding Heathrow, it turned out we were lucky that our flight from LAX landed almost an hour early, so we had over 2 hours to go through security for the connection, which took 45 minutes because of the lines, and then find our way to the bus that takes you from terminal 1 to 3 and then on another bus that drives out to the tarmac, as described by Pam in MA. We weren't running, but we didn't have any time to spare either because of the long lines at security. Coming home for some reason we landed at terminal 1 from Budapest and didn't have to change terminals for our connection to LAX. But we still had to go through security again -- only 15 minutes that time. It seems strange to me that even though you are flying British Airways on both legs, they make you go through security between flights. As an aside, security at the Budapest airport included army officers surveying the check-in terminal from a balcony carrying very serious-looking automatic weapons! :eek: