Preparing for Our Northern Lights Flights

Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.

Honoré de Balzac

It is the DH here.  In preparation for our Northern Lights cruise next week, I spent the afternoon  yesterday making sure that there will be no problem boarding our flights.  

The last thing we want is to have a mad rush to the airport only to be told that we can't get on the airplane!  I thought it might be informative to let you know what is involved in this process, plus I can document what I had to do for reference on our next flights.

First of all, Viking booked all of our flights for us.  Not only can they get better rates on the international flights, but they will also guarantee that we get to the ship before it sails.  From St. Louis to Bergen we are traveling on Delta Airlines.  On the return trip from London we are flying on American Airlines.  However the fact that Viking did the booking does not relieve me of the duty to check with the airline to make sure that everything is correct.  

First I went to the airline websites to verify the passenger information.  The first thing I noticed was that our Known Traveler, passport and Frequent Flyer information weren't in the airline reservation, so I went back to MyVikingJourney.com to make sure that all of the information was correctly entered there.  It takes a little while for any updates in MyVikingJourney to get to the airlines, but eventually I was able to see all our passenger information correctly reflected in the airline reservations on both Delta.com and AA.com.  I also updated both websites with emergency contact and day-of-travel contact information.

As most of you know, the DW travels with a Portable Oxygen Concentrator (POC), and she uses it while we are in flight.  This is especially true of longer/international flights.  So my next step was to ensure that we won't have any problems boarding with her POC's in tow.  

I first went to the reservation on Delta.com.  Our outbound trip starts in St. Louis (STL) to Atlanta (ATL).  We have a 5 hour layover in ATL before we fly to Amsterdam (AMS).  After a 2.5 hour layover in AMS we will head to Bergen (BGO).  The first 2 segments are operated by Delta Airlines, but the third flight is operated by KLM.

We have had trouble boarding Delta flights in the past, so I knew that there were a few hoops to jump through to get approval.  It took a while to find, but I finally searched the Delta website for "POC", and it took me to a page for Medical Devices.  I learned that we needed approval for the POC from a company called OxygenToGo.  On the top of the main page of the OxygenToGo website there is a tab for the Delta forms that need to be submitted.  It took about 5 minutes to fill the form out and submit it.  We received a call from OxygenToGo about 15 minutes after that, and DW was able to give them all the information they needed, and get approval for her POC.  They sent this approval in an email which I printed.

However since the last segment is operated by KLM, they couldn't give me approval for that segment.  I called the general KLM reservation phone number, but after waiting on hold for about 5 minutes they couldn't help me.  I was instructed to send an email to mail.saphir.medicaldesk@airfrance.fr (note that KLM and Air France are managed by the same support office).  I explained the situation to them, and gave them our itinerary and record locator.  They got back to me the next day via email with approval to carry and use the POC on the flight from AMS to BGO.  I also printed this email.

Our return flights are on American Airlines from London Heathrow (LHR) to Chicago (ORD) and on to STL.  I again started on the AA.com website by searching for POC.  According to their website, AA's only requirement is that they be notified in advance.  I called the general American Airlines reservation number.  They had a call-back option which I took, and about 15 minutes later they called me back.  The reservation agent couldn't help me, but they forwarded me on the Special Services desk. After another 5 minute wait, the agent came on the line, and was able to put the appropriate information into the reservation.  

With waiting for call-backs, searching websites, filling out forms and answering questions, that all took the better part of 3 hours!  But if it means that we have less hassle at the airport during the boarding process, it will be worth the time it took.  We are really excited to head off to the airport next Wednesday!  

It is such an honor and joy to travel with my DW.  I hope that we are able to continue traveling together for years to come.  Her POC's enable us to do this type of travel, and I am glad to jump through a few, minor hoops in order to make sure that we have a smooth trip.  

One final step that I am going to be doing over the next 5 days is to check each of the flights to see their on-time performance.  This along with watching the weather will let me know what to expect when we get to the airport.  

Then when we check in I need to make sure that our boarding passes indicate that we can go through the Pre-Check TSA line.  That is a lot faster and simpler way to do the TSA screening.  I also want to see if there is a chance we can get on the upgrade list, especially for the international portion of the trip.  Fingers crossed for a smooth boarding process!

Stay tuned for more updates on our Search for the Northern Lights adventure!