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Royals Air2Sea Program


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How is this possible, and is it for real? I have a transatlantic cruise booked in the spring of 2018, so I am researching one way tickets back to the USA. Looking at every airline search engine I know of, the price for business class flights back home are outrageous. Then I check on Royals Air2Sea site, the price is $6,300.00 cheaper then any other site for the exact same non stop flight. I have priced out this flight on Air2Sea site 5 or 6 times, checking everything, to make sure I am comparing apples to apples. Has anyone had any problems/issues going through Royals Air2Sea program? Thanks in advance for your responses.

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We've used Air2Sea 4 times, and are booked for another flight this coming November. We've had no problems so far. However, the type of ticket they purchase may not be the same as what you would purchase direct from the airline. There may be restrictions on how they can accomodate changes if there are issues like weather or equipment problems that would require flight changes. You may have to deal with Air2Sea directly to accomodate changes as opposed to the airline.

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Air2sea can and usually is a great bargain. More importantly, if there are issues with flight delays and changes, they will do the leg work for you to get you to the ship or home. Our daughter and granddaughter had a flight cancelled on her return trip. Called the help desk and within 10 minutes had another flight for them. They are the real deal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Ok, I was looking for some kind of confirmation. You know the old adage..'if it's to good to be true, it probably is'

Don't get me wrong, I'm still buying one-way international flights with Air2Sea. I just want to be sure you know that there may be differences. For us, we are willing to deal with the potential differences because the price is so good.

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We got fabulous prices for one-way tickets from Pittsburgh to Barcelona using Air2Sea. The same tickets were a fortune booking direct with the airline.

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Not a TA, but we booked our recent Alaska cruise travel through Air2sea and found the price to be very reasonable. It was also nice to know that someone was there to "hold our hand" and point us in the right direction each step of the way.

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We have used air2sea many times for getting to Europe for a west bound TA. Have never had a issue except for.... Our flight on American airlines was cancelled the morning of our flight due to hurricane Sandy hitting New York. We were notified that we would be rescheduled in 2-3 days, that would be 1 day after the ship left Civitavecchia. Several hours on the phone with American airlines led nowhere because NY was considered a gateway city on our Lax to Rome flight and we had to leave from NY. One phone call to what is now air2sea and within 10 minutes we were re booked on a Air France 380 jumbo leaving that same evening, were given back the cost of using American Airlines Captains Lounge, and not charged extra for being upstairs in economy plus.. Air2sea is fantastic in my opinion, and yes to your question as to it being a great price..happy cruising

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When we went to book our TA flight, it was cheaper to book both segments as a one way flight. The prices were very reasonable and we even upgraded to Business class and it was still much cheaper than through the airlines.

 

Nancy

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Used Air2Sea in May for British Airways Copenhagen to DC flight. Had no issues thank goodness. Paid half the published fare for Economy Plus. By the way, Economy Plus on that BA 787 Dreamliner was better than any First Class I have experienced. Would not hesitate to use Air2Sea again for an international flight.

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How is this possible, and is it for real? I have a transatlantic cruise booked in the spring of 2018, so I am researching one way tickets back to the USA. Looking at every airline search engine I know of, the price for business class flights back home are outrageous. Then I check on Royals Air2Sea site, the price is $6,300.00 cheaper then any other site for the exact same non stop flight. I have priced out this flight on Air2Sea site 5 or 6 times, checking everything, to make sure I am comparing apples to apples. Has anyone had any problems/issues going through Royals Air2Sea program? Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

 

I have booked many business class ow tickets to and from Europe. The most I have ever paid from Los Angeles was $1,630 to Athens on British Air last October. Next month I am flying business class LAX to CPH on Air France business class for $1,013. This is on the new 777-300ER. The price through Air France is over $7,000. So yes, you can definitely get phenomenal fares through air2sea. I have never had a problem as of yet but I always check the airlines web page just to make sure my reservation is there. And I have always gotten the bonus miles for traveling business class.

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We also used Air2Sea to purchase our one way flight home from Copenhagen on SAS for next month, was about half of what we could buy it from elsewhere. We used miles to buy Business Class on United for the flight over.

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the type of ticket they purchase may not be the same as what you would purchase direct from the airline. There may be restrictions on how they can accomodate changes if there are issues like weather or equipment problems that would require flight changes. You may have to deal with Air2Sea directly to accomodate changes as opposed to the airline.

 

What he said. Usually you won't experience a problem, so you won't generally have any idea of how different your ticket MIGHT be. But occasionally there's a horror story from someone who had a horrendous time getting re-booked due to restrictions on their cruise-purchased airline ticket. Note: Don't confuse having the same flight time and flight number, getting a record locator number to look up your flight on the airline website to select a seat, or things like that for "getting the SAME ticket." Those things mean nothing when it comes to the hidden rules and restrictions than may govern things like changes, cancellations, rebookings due to delays/cancellations etc.

 

 

It was also nice to know that someone was there to "hold our hand" and point us in the right direction each step of the way.

 

Anecdotal reports vary greatly. Many have posted about how wonderful Air2Sea (or whatever other cruiseline air program) was when something happened. Many others have posted that they were no help at all.... everything from not answering the phone on a weekend day of travel when time was of the essence, to essentially shrugging their shoulders and saying "I don't know, call the airline and ask THEM."

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The tale of two different Air2Seas bookings:

 

The good trip: a OW from Europe back to the US- a great price, like clockwork.

 

The not so good trip: OW to Europe from US- great price, but then Superstorm Sandy kicked in. Air2Seas would not change my flight to an earlier one because my flight had not been cancelled. I stayed on the phone for an hour and they finally gave me the okay to talk to AA directly. After another 2 hours, they agreed to book me on an earlier connecting flight. If I had been so proactive, I would have missed my flight to Rome.

 

Remember: they only "guarantee" that you will make it to the ship on time. The four days I had planned to tour in Rome would have been "not their problem".

 

Take away: I will only book Air2Seas for the return home from Europe (spring TA's) . At that point, a day or two more in Europe is fine with me!

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Another aspect of dealing with Air2Sea. We booked business class round trip air San Diego to Rome for our August cruises. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the cruise due to some health issues. I called Air2Sea, and after deducting the $175 per person cancellation fee, which we had agreed on when we booked, we received our entire $5000 plus airfare back within a matter of days, and without any questions asked. I have a suspicion things might not have gone as well if dealing with Delta direct. Obviously there are different terms and restrictions for different types of fares, but I can't tell you how relieved we are not to have lost the entire amount, and the whole transaction was painless (unless you count losing probably our only chance at flying first class to Europe).

 

Pat

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We've used Air2Sea (ChoiceAir) for 2 of our 3 Royal cruises thus far, and will likely use them again for the one we have booked next year. We've been quite happy with their prices and service.

 

For our cruise last fall, we booked Delta Comfort+ for about $100 less than what I could find elsewhere. How or why it was less that day, I don't know. When our ship was going to be delayed 4 hours returning to Galveston, our 12:30 flights home were rebooked automatically. When I got our new reservation, it was for standard economy. Called from the ship, and they rebooked us again, for Delta Comfort+, without question. The rep suggested I confirm the reservation and stayed on the phone while I logged onto Delta's site. She was very helpful.

 

Your mileage may vary, of course.

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We have used Celebrity Choiceair (serviced by the same company that does Air2Sea) many times. They are almost always cheaper for international flights. Strangely enough on an upcoming round trip to Dublin, two one way tickers are cheaper than a round trip. Price is all ways before you decide.

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Remember: they only "guarantee" that you will make it to the ship on time. The four days I had planned to tour in Rome would have been "not their problem".

 

They actually don't guarantee that at all. They don't control the airlines or the weather so it would be impossible for them to make such a guarantee. What they do is tell you they'll work with the airlines if something goes wrong to get you to the ship as early as it's feasible to do so, depending on the rebooking restrictions (if any) of your particular ticket, available seats on other flights, etc. This could mean flying you to a subsequent port of call to catch up to the ship after it has sailed.

 

after deducting the $175 per person cancellation fee, which we had agreed on when we booked, we received our entire $5000 plus airfare back within a matter of days, and without any questions asked. I have a suspicion things might not have gone as well if dealing with Delta direct....I can't tell you how relieved we are not to have lost the entire amount

 

Most likely, unless you had booked an "E" fare with Delta, you would not have lost the entire amount. They would have deducted the change/cancellation fee (I believe it's $300 for international flights) and you'd be given the rest as a credit to use within the following year.

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On a related note, how far in advance is it best to book flights through Air2Sea? We have a TA cruise booked in May 2018 and the one way business class return fare is by far the lowest I've seen anywhere. Like 20% of the usual airline website prices. Is there any reason to wait a few months?

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On a related note, how far in advance is it best to book flights through Air2Sea? We have a TA cruise booked in May 2018 and the one way business class return fare is by far the lowest I've seen anywhere. Like 20% of the usual airline website prices. Is there any reason to wait a few months?

Price trends are not predictable. I'd purchase when you see a price you can live with.

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We have had good luck and big savings with air2sea so far. This fall we are booked from Arkansas to Barcelona Spain for 221 each on Delta. We called Delta and moved from coach to Comfort Plus for 90 each on the Transatlantic segment. Win/win.

 

We did check carefully last fall when we booked Vueling from Venice to Barcelona as some of V's flight don't include checking a bag. It was Optima fare which does include a bag. Just always check the fare. Economy doesn't mean the same thing many times on several airlines.

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We just returned from a trip where we used Air2Sea. I watched airfares closely for a couple of months and it was clear that round-trip from Chicago to London wasn't going to get below $1000 per person. With 5 people that is a big chunk of change! My TA suggested I check Air2Sea (the TA I use doesn't do air which is usually fine as I'd normally just book it myself - usually Southwest within the USA). I was shocked to find reasonable flights for around $625 per person. Since we were unable to fly in early for this cruise, there was also some extra comfort in the idea that Air2Sea would get us to the ship somehow if there were problems. Fortunately, there were no problems at all - I've probably used up years worth of karma with how smoothly our flights went. We flew ORD (Chicago) to JFK (New York), JFK to Heathrow and the return was Heathrow to MSP (Minneapolis), MSP to ORD. We had at least 1.5 hours for the connections and since flights came in early, we actually had even more time. 3 of the segments were Delta, 1 was Virgin Air. We had 1 free bag per person. We upgraded the Virgin Air seats to have more room & to get assigned seats (Virgin charges to do them in advance - taking the "extra space" seats was only about $10 more each than the cost just to get an assigned seat. I think that added about $45 per person, but we still flew round trip for under $700 per person.

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