Same day fight arrangements

Nope haven’t bought tickets yet so have all my marbles to still play with...lol

 

Interesting point was made that going with choiceair vs direct with our airline is really a disadvantage. Choice may get you there but may not have as good of options as your airline you book direct with.

 

Just for fun I am gonna see just how many airlines service Barcelona from the states...if it’s even possible to do

 

Thanks for all of your inputs

CA may not show online the flights you want, yet call them and see what is in inventory and pricing.

bon voyage

We have booked the Transatlantic from Barcelona in November and are looking at flying out from USA on the afternoon on November 22 and arrrive at 9:00 am on November 23 in Barcelona. Ship leaves at 5:00pm.

 

Choice air says no worries traveling same day.....really don’t wish to spend a night in Barcelona even though we love that city. Were planning to extend our stay in Argentina instead.

 

We have always arrived at least 1 day before departing cruise.

Instead, it turns out that you will actually have a buffer zone of 4 extra days to catch up with the ship, if necessary, before the Transatlantic portion of the cruise begins.

Of course it will still be better if you can fly out a few days earlier to ensure that you will get to enjoy the entire cruise.

But if you can't, then even if you should miss the boarding in Barcelona, at least you can have peace of mind knowing that Cruise Air will cover the arrangements for getting you to the ship at one of the downline ports before the actual crossing begins.

In any case, it would still be a good idea to check out and know all your backup options for catching up with the ship yourself, just in case.

If I were in your position, I would travel with only carry-on luggage, to eliminate the possibility of being separated from checked luggage at any point along the way.

It would also eliminate the hassles of waiting in suspense to see if your luggage arrives at baggage claim, and then waiting in line to file missing luggage reports if it doesn't show up.

But if you absolutely must check some luggage, at least pack all your essentials and enough clothing for 4 or 5 days in your carry-ons, putting only the extra, non-essentials in checked luggage.

Good luck!

Nope haven’t bought tickets yet so have all my marbles to still play with...lol

 

Interesting point was made that going with choiceair vs direct with our airline is really a disadvantage. Choice may get you there but may not have as good of options as your airline you book direct with.

 

Just for fun I am gonna see just how many airlines service Barcelona from the states...if it’s even possible to do

 

Thanks for all of your inputs

How is using Choice Air a disadvantage with you airline?

If you book directly with an airline they will try to get you to Barcelona (using their own airline or an affiliated one.)

If you book with Choice Air and there is a problem on day of travel they are much more willing to book you on ANY airline.

Definitely would fly in at least a day early. Too many possibilities of delay.

Got that right

New York could have snow in November and delay the flight.

Just for fun I am gonna see just how many airlines service Barcelona from the states...if it’s even possible to do

Just go to Google Flights, they'll show you pretty much everything that is available. You can then check Choice Air for specific flights.

As others have said, if you miss the ship you can always catch up before it starts the crossing.

We would never fly in the day of the sailing, even if we knew we could catch the ship a day later. The stress, lack of sleep, etc are just not worth it. This is a vacation, not a work trip. I want to start a vacation a little relaxed. But that's us, some people wouldn't worry and if they miss it, they miss it, no worries.

Have a great time regardless of what you choose.

How is using Choice Air a disadvantage with you airline?

 

I

If the tickets are the greatly reduced price one-way fares Choice Air sells, they are essentially consolidator tickets and often heavily restricted (i.e. cannot be rerouted or endorsed to another airline and bottom priority for standby on other flights within the same airline and routing). One may be at the mercy of Choice Air to splurge for very expensive same day tickets for another flight, rather than being able to deal directly with the airline when purchasing published-fare tickets and having a wider range of means with which the airline can re-accommodate you (getting you there via an alternate route or endorsing the ticket to another airline). Anecdotal reports on Cruise Critic from people who used Choice Air and had a flight delay/cancellation that impacted making it to pork in time for debarkation have had a range of reports over the years with how much (if any) assistance Choice Air provided - from they worked wonders to they said to call back Monday and did nothing. Last time I looked the rules & regulations for Choice Air had sketchy phrasing such as they provide assistance "when feasible" (or something to that effect), so the Assured Arrival may be as much a marketing ploy as a guarantee.

I am not anti-Choice Air; I have used them before and would use them again if it could save me significant $$$. However I realize that deeply discounted fares are not the same tickets as the higher priced fares sold directly from the airline. They work the same when things go smoothly (the vast majority of the time) but in the case of missed connections or flight cancellations the differences can be striking. I find it important to weigh the pros and cons of the savings Choice Air can offer versus the nature of consolidator tickets. When using Choice Air I ensure that I build in MORE wiggle room than normal; it is not the time to have minimal wiggle room for connections and arriving in port in time for debarkation - while Choice Air may help if something goes awry, it is not something I would want to be in the position of needing to rely upon.

If the tickets are the greatly reduced price one-way fares Choice Air sells, they are essentially consolidator tickets and often heavily restricted (i.e. cannot be rerouted or endorsed to another airline and bottom priority for standby on other flights within the same airline and routing). One may be at the mercy of Choice Air to splurge for very expensive same day tickets for another flight, rather than being able to deal directly with the airline when purchasing published-fare tickets and having a wider range of means with which the airline can re-accommodate you (getting you there via an alternate route or endorsing the ticket to another airline). Anecdotal reports on Cruise Critic from people who used Choice Air and had a flight delay/cancellation that impacted making it to pork in time for debarkation have had a range of reports over the years with how much (if any) assistance Choice Air provided - from they worked wonders to they said to call back Monday and did nothing. Last time I looked the rules & regulations for Choice Air had sketchy phrasing such as they provide assistance "when feasible" (or something to that effect), so the Assured Arrival may be as much a marketing ploy as a guarantee.

 

I am not anti-Choice Air; I have used them before and would use them again if it could save me significant $$$. However I realize that deeply discounted fares are not the same tickets as the higher priced fares sold directly from the airline. They work the same when things go smoothly (the vast majority of the time) but in the case of missed connections or flight cancellations the differences can be striking. I find it important to weigh the pros and cons of the savings Choice Air can offer versus the nature of consolidator tickets. When using Choice Air I ensure that I build in MORE wiggle room than normal; it is not the time to have minimal wiggle room for connections and arriving in port in time for debarkation - while Choice Air may help if something goes awry, it is not something I would want to be in the position of needing to rely upon.

If you buy directly with the airline (of course not 100% but close) you are either buying first class ticket or the cheapest economy ticket (non refundable). I would say there are very few tickets purchased that aren't those 2 types.

That ticket will get you from usa to Barcelona on that airline (or an affiliate).

If you use Choice Air, they will get the exact same ticket OR possibly (and we can argue the percentages...again I would say it is a low percenetage) a "consolidator type" ticket.

On travel day if there is problem the "direct airline purchased" ticket airline will get you to Barcelona as soon as they can on using there own planes or affiliated ones...and that is it!

If you buy with Choice Air they will do same but will go further and get you to the ship where ever it happens to be when they can actually get you there.

The TA throws a little wrench into the picture, but in this case at least there is a stop before it heads out to sea.

A direct bought ticket will never (again shouldn't use absolutes, maybe should say "almost never") get you to a different city because of a delay (without paying for it anyway)

Choice air can and will use any airline to try to get you to ship...at least you have a fighting chance.

If you use Choice Air, they will get the exact same ticket OR possibly (and we can argue the percentages...again I would say it is a low percenetage) a "consolidator type" ticket.

 

On travel day if there is problem the "direct airline purchased" ticket airline will get you to Barcelona as soon as they can on using there own planes or affiliated ones...and that is it!

 

Disagree with some of what you say:

*The deeply discounted tickets people purchase for one-way international flights are almost always (if not always) consolidator type tickets. There is a reason these tickets are often 20%-25% the cost of the tickets in the same class the airline is selling directly, they are specially negotiated tickets and often come with significantly more restrictions.

*On travel day while an airline is certainly not required to help you catch the ship at a different port if you are going to miss embarkation because of a missed connection or canceled flight, at their discretion they may elect to help and alter the route. If there is a fee for this, if one has travel insurance all or some likely would be covered (assuming the delay was at least the requisite number of hours for insurance to provide relief). If they do not help, again insurance may very well provide some relief if one has to purchase a new ticket.

*On travel day if a missed connection or canceled flight results in missing embarkation Choice Air may or may not splurge for a new ticket. Anecdotal reports on Cruise Critic are very mixed on how helpful Choice Air was when this occurred. At a minimum it would be an extremely stressful start to one's vacation and (even if Choice Air came through) would still result in delaying the start of one's vacation if you have to catch the ship in another port.

If it were a non-stop flight, MAYBE! A flight with a connection in Newark, NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have booked the Transatlantic from Barcelona in November and are looking at flying out from USA on the afternoon on November 22 and arrrive at 9:00 am on November 23 in Barcelona. Ship leaves at 5:00pm.

 

Choice air says no worries traveling same day.....really don’t wish to spend a night in Barcelona even though we love that city. Were planning to extend our stay in Argentina instead.

 

We have always arrived at least 1 day before departing cruise.

 

Thoughts and experiences with choice air services would be appreciated

 

Thank you

the one big piece of advice I got from Cruise Critic members when asking questions about our cruise on Solstice from Sydney in March was to ALWAYS arrive at your embarkation port the day before.

As others have said if you arrive on the day it will be rushed.... and what happens if you arrive in Barcelona but your luggage arrives in Belfast? what if your flight is delayed 2-3 hours?

we flew to Sydney the day before and had a night in a hotel close to the cruise terminal - we woke up refreshed the next day and leisurely walked to the cruise terminal

Why or why take the risk. Just not worth it. Go a day earlier book a hotel and relax. Not worth the chance. We booked a hotel in Dublin after the T/A Iceland cruise this month because of the talk of lack of taxi cabs at the port. And they were right. Not many taxis available. We stayed overnight relaxed and left the next day. And of course our flight was late, we missed our connection in JFK, tried to fly out of LGA same day, that plane had maintenance problems, so we just stayed over at LGA until the next day. Just goes to show how bad it can go wrong.

We fly Nashville to Newark and Newark to Barcelona

Flight is November 22 and arrives the next morning. Cruise leaves that afternoon. Thanks

That is Thanksgiving Day. There 'could' be a lot of issues flying that day.

Nope haven’t bought tickets yet so have all my marbles to still play with...lol

 

Interesting point was made that going with choiceair vs direct with our airline is really a disadvantage. Choice may get you there but may not have as good of options as your airline you book direct with.

 

Just for fun I am gonna see just how many airlines service Barcelona from the states...if it’s even possible to do

 

Thanks for all of your inputs

We had a non stop flight on Delta from JFK...night flight to BCN..good price...we arrived in the am and stayed 2 days to adjust to time,,,

Not familiar with choice air program but if you could do Choice Air a day or two early that might work..we would also get ins to cover flights..

DELTA was fine with services, etc but they change schedules frequently so you have to monitor flights very carefully!