American Airlines Bag Check from the Ship?

[Rumncoke]

I've been hearing inklings about this service. How do you sign up for it and how does it work. Has it been successful for you -- or not?

 

Going on Empress in April and would like to try it, if it works well.

 

Thanks!

[tezbear]

This service use to be FREE but now they charge 5.00 per bag. We were a family of 5 w/ 7 bags so opted to do it ourselves. We did however do it w/ DCL when it was still FREE and it was very convenient. The AA staff are at the Port and you can just ask them to check your bags. I also heard that you can only use this service if your flight is leaving in the afternoon (I think after 1:30 or 2pm). Having said all that...I think next time we would pay the money as it was a nightmare to check into the Miami Airport. People and lines everywhere. You just never know sometimes.

 

Good Luck!

[Pumbaamd]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=383266

[Nanatravel]

We just used it in Miami after disembarking from the Freedom of the Seas (4000+ passengers) on 11/12.

 

RCI will send forms to your stateroom early in the week asking for return Flight information and if you wish to take advantage of the Airline Valet Service. American, Delta and a few other airlines are participating out of Miami. The charge was $10 per person for 2 pieces of checked luggage max. This is charged to your Sign & Sale card. On Friday or Saturday, we received several sealed envelopes containing pre-printed adhesive luggage tags with our names and flight numbers pre-printedplus boarding passes with our seat assignments which were exactly as had been confirmed. We also received our colored ship luggage tags for disembarkation. The envelope included copies of the luggage tag numbers and instructions for disembarkation. Basically its almost the same as if You are taking your luggage to the airport or into your vehicle. You follow the lines, go through customs, go to the carousel for your color luggage tag and find your luggage. Porters are there to assist you. We got one and it took us directly to the Airline personnel whom are inside the terminal. He then escorted us to the curb to hail a taxi for us to the airport. The next time we saw our luggage was on the carousel in Boston! Our flight was at 1:30 p.m. I believe flights must be after noon time to qualify for this service. It's well worth the money as tips would have been spent and at AA, its $2 per bag to curb check-in anyway. Also, no worries about the bags being over weight.

Bon Voyage