Info Regarding Documents, Flights, Arrival, & Travel
Final Documents:
Your final documents will be available four weeks before departure. Most of them (hotel confirmations, emergency contacts, general trip information, etc.) will be included. Airline E-Tickets will be sent to you electronically, and a copy will be available.
- You will receive a final passenger list before ordering an e-ticket. Please review the list to ensure your name is correct, and notify us if there are any discrepancies.
- There is a service fee for changing incorrectly ordered E-tickets that you are responsible for.
- Review your tickets to ensure your name matches that of your passport.
- Make a note if the name field on your tickets is correct. It will be 19 characters long. Names exceeding this length will be cut off (this is not a problem, as your actual reservation contains your full name).
- Review the itinerary to ensure all dates, departure, and destination cities are correct.
- If you find any discrepancies, notify us immediately.
- Late paymenst/bookings can cause delays in coordinating everyone’s final documents.
International Flights:
- Check in for your international flight 3-4 hours before your scheduled departure time.
- Passengers must personally check their luggage at the airline counter.
- Upon check-in, advise the airline representative of your final destination so that you will not need to claim your baggage and re-check it during flight connections.
- Our pilgrims travel from all across the United States. You will be traveling independently for all flights until your arrival at your final destination.
- A tour guide will not join you during your flights. They will meet you at your final destination.
- Nativity Pilgrimage attempts to centralize as many pilgrims as possible on the same flights.
Airline Connections:
- Nativity Pilgrimage must book your airline reservations based on routes provided to us by the airlines, including connection times, connection cities, and partner carriers.
- Airlines determine the standard for the required minimum connecting time to transfer from one gate to another for each specific airport.
- At times, the connection times provided by the airlines may be tight (i.e., 45-60 minutes) and require passengers to make haste during their connections.
- There are times when connections are long due to the flight availability at the time of booking.
- We are subject to the rules, regulations, and availability of the carriers we work with.
- We also must ensure that all reservations correspond so that each pilgrim can meet the group transfer to/from the airport and hotels.
Airline Tickets:
Your ticket is purchased at a group rate, which is lower than regular economy. It is issued to you about 15-25 days before you leave. Unfortunately, all airlines process group tickets this way. There are no exceptions.
Some airlines now require that we provide e-tickets in place of paper tickets.
- At check-in, you should be ready to provide the agent with your flight itinerary and passport.
- Paper tickets and boarding passes must be present to check in and board the plane.
- Your tickets will be e-mailed to you.
- If you don’t have an e-mail, it will be mailed to you.
- Your seat assignments will be random.
- Review the airline website for information on seat changes and upgrades.
- For international flights, arriving 3 hours before check-in is recommended.
- Your Passport must not expire within six months of your return date.
- Passports expiring six months or less need to be reissued.
- You are responsible for any necessary Visas.
- Review the airline’s policy on luggage and carry-ons.
Airline Mileage Accounts:
- Contact the airline you are traveling directly to open a mileage account and to obtain credit for the miles flown on your pilgrimage.
- Remember each airline will have different rules and regulations for their mileage accounts.
- You must contact the airline directly for these mileage accounts and any upgrades you may request.
- Airlines offer upgrades to Economy Plus, Premium Plus, Business Class, and First-Class seating for additional fees or Mileage Plus points.
- Nativity Pilgrimage is not responsible for any upgrade and cannot guarantee upgrades or changes in seating arrangements.