Air Fare rip off !

[janina]

For this reason we always book our own air.

[donna5]

I don't think that's out of line. On Air Tahit Nui, isn't it over $600 one way to upgrade to business class(not even first class)?

[dundalkspur]

I agree with Shogun. We also had 3 flight (different flights) to our last cruise but we were able, via Princess UK to say what seats we wanted months before the cruise, except for the last flight which was a 37 seater, Montreal to Quebec.

 

It is always easy to spot the people on cruise critic who have links to Princess? I am an ELITE member of Princess , Princess UK have refused to let me choose my seats on every cruise I have taken !

[dundalkspur]

I agree with OP as we've had same experience.

Which is the same price as the value of the economy flights hence to OP saying that they charge you the full value of the flight rather than the difference in fare...

 

:confused:

 

Thankyou at long last someone who agrees with me ! It really is a disgrace what the markup is and does not encourage brand loyalty or goodwill !

[Shogun]

Hi dundlakspur,

 

When you get your air confirmed there is a booking reference on it,

 

all you do is log onto the airline web site, often only 24 hours before you fly and you pick your seat, you do not go through Princess to book a seat.

 

Some times you need to call the airline direct as the Princess reference is ablock booking,

 

but have picked my seat ever time.

 

If Princess want to give me a job I would be very happy, and as you are elite you should be giving me advice.

 

yours Shogun

[dundalkspur]

Hi dundlakspur,

 

When you get your air confirmed there is a booking reference on it,

 

all you do is log onto the airline web site, often only 24 hours before you fly and you pick your seat, you do not go through Princess to book a seat.

 

Some times you need to call the airline direct as the Princess reference is ablock booking,

 

but have picked my seat ever time.

 

 

yours Shogun

 

 

On 14 May 2010, at 14:33, Flights Princess wrote:

We can book seats on our groups, but only 4 days before the flight, the best bet would be to ask the ships flight desk to e-mail us 4 days before you disemark, we cannot split you from the group for you to book your seats.

 

 

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Princess Air Desk

 

 

 

I rest my case !!!!!!!!!!:)

[Globaliser]

Some prices to illustate the OPs point - prices per person:

Typical cruise £1300 (inc flights)

Princess charge £850 extra to move flights up to premium and £2200 extra to club

 

Get Princess to do the package with premium flights

Premium - £2150

Club - £3700

 

to book seperately:

Cruise only £600

Hotel & transfer £100

Econ return LHR-MIA £650

Premium return LHR-MIA £900

Club return LHR-MIA £2400

 

So - Cruise plus book your own premium flights = £1550

Cruise plus book your own club flights = £3100

I think you have to be a bit careful with some of the numbers, as they can make a difference.

 

For example, in the current BA sale, in round numbers the fares to MIA are about £400 in economy and £800 in premium economy. If you book outside the sale period, they're about £500 and £1000.

 

So the extra cost of premium economy if you book it yourself (taking the difference between lowest theoretical fare in each cabin) is about £200 each way in the sale, and about £250 each way when there is no sale. Your figures suggest a difference of £250 total or £125 each way - that's a figure which I don't think I've ever seen on MIA, and which you might get once in a blue moon on the New York route alone.

 

The Club sale is now over, so I can't get access to what the sale fares were. But the non-sale fare is about £2,500. So that's about £1,000 each way extra on top of non-sale economy.

 

Having said all that, if Princess are charging £425 each way for premium economy over normal scheduled economy, and £1,100 each way for Club over normal scheduled economy, then that does look to me like it's a bit steep.

 

But dundalkspur's experience of having to pay extra just to fly BA suggests to me that there is something else at work here too: I suspect that when you pay extra for flying premium economy, that's the difference on top of flying the nastiest cheapest indirect economy itinerary that Princess would otherwise put you on. It's not just the price difference between flying BA economy and BA premium economy.

[FLACRUISER99]

On 14 May 2010, at 14:33, Flights Princess wrote:

We can book seats on our groups, but only 4 days before the flight, the best bet would be to ask the ships flight desk to e-mail us 4 days before you disemark, we cannot split you from the group for you to book your seats.

 

 

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Princess Air Desk

 

 

 

I rest my case !!!!!!!!!!:)

One example is not a case. I have found seat selection on cruise line air depends on the carrier. Lufthansa is one airline that would not let me reserve a seat. However I have found this not to be a problem with Delta and several other airlines.

[Globaliser]

I have found seat selection on cruise line air depends on the carrier. Lufthansa is one airline that would not let me reserve a seat. However I have found this not to be a problem with Delta and several other airlines.

But it can also depend on the way that the booking is made.

 

The cruise line (not Princess) whose air arrangements I usually use also books their passengers as a group. That means that on my preferred airline, I would not be able to select my own seats in advance, even though I am entitled to do so. However, my TA has always been able to get the cruise line to split me off from the group so that I have a standalone booking which I can manage separately in the same way as any conventional booking.

 

If Princess is unwilling to do this for their passengers, that can stand in the way of getting seats allocated in advance, even if the airline is normally willing to do it. But some airlines aren't. For example, for some years BA did not pre-allocate seats for most passengers; but recently this has been introduced as a fee-paying extra service.

[spongerob]

One aspect that no one has mentioned is that when the OP books his airfare through Princess, they become the Tour Organizer under EU law and are therefore responsible for all costs resulting from delays regardless of the cause. There are no Force Majeure provisions.

 

Essentially, the law requires that Princess assume all risk for the OP in case of sea or air delays. Since the potential costs associated with that risk that are not limited in any way by the law (according the German lawyer who posts incessantly about this on another board) that risk has to be balanced by higher fees.

 

That's probably why Princess has chosen to drop their cruise/flight packages from the UK as soon as possible.

[long cruiser]

I just tried to use miles to rome on delta for business class and they wanted a ridiculous 275,000 per person.Those are amex miles.

long cruiser

[6rugrats]

I just tried to use miles to rome on delta for business class and they wanted a ridiculous 275,000 per person.Those are amex miles.

long cruiser

 

This has nothing to do with this thread topic; if you wanted a response, it may have been best to start a new thread. If you wanted help, you need to add more details. Is this from a "regular" AMEX card or must you use this only on DL? There are other airlines that fly to FCO that you could use instead of DL.

 

DL is notorious for difficulty in award booking. You must be trying to book during a popular travel time?

[greatam]

But dundalkspur's experience of having to pay extra just to fly BA suggests to me that there is something else at work here too: I suspect that when you pay extra for flying premium economy, that's the difference on top of flying the nastiest cheapest indirect economy itinerary that Princess would otherwise put you on. It's not just the price difference between flying BA economy and BA premium economy.

 

This is the crux of this particular problem. REQUESTING a particular airline or REQUESTING particular seating instead of taking whatever the cruise line offers always costs more. It does in the US also. While some people with air deviation (REQUESTING a particular airline OR flight) MAY get the same price as "regular" cruise air, very often, IN ADDITION to the air deviation fee, you are required to pay the difference between "regular" cruise air prices and whatever it costs the cruise line to get you seats on your chosen flight and airline.

 

Same thing with upgrades. While Princess MAY have coach seats booked with BA under their bulk purchase contracts, they MAY NOT have E+ or business booked under their bulk purchase contract or the premium seats booked under the bulk purchase contracts are sold out by the time you book. So the difference between fare classes is FAR more just the difference between the cruise line discount bulk booked tickets and an "upgrade" (such as sold on the BA website).

 

Just as an aside, the cruise lines DO NOT book tickets specifically for you. Visualize stacks of tickets sitting on a shelf (these are the bulk booked tickets purchased on contract). When you, a pax, needs a ticket, it comes "off the shelf" and your name is attached to it. The cruise line DOES NOT book an individual ticket for you UNLESS there are no tickets on the shelf. Then the pricing changes UNLESS the airline decides to release more heavily discounted tickets (doubtful in most cases). This should address the large difference in pricing posted in #24 and #25

 

In addition, cruise lines, by virtue of their cruise contract, can charge ANYTHING they want. They certainly intend to make a profit booking air for passengers. It's right in the contract. Pay particular attention to Section 15, Subsection F, specifically the second sentence.

 

http://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/faq_answer_legal/Passage_Contract.pdf

 

Lots of misinformation in this thread.

 

Post #9 touts using an airline consolidator. DOES NOT point out the heavy, heavy restrictions and downsides of using such airfare.

 

Post #12 is partially correct EXCEPT the implication is the cruise line buys seats INDIVIDUALLY. NO they do not. They buy them in bulk on contracts often a year or slightly more in advance. IF the cruise line does not offer the airline/flight you particularly want, THEN and only then do they go to the airline and request "special" pricing, which may or may not be special at all.

 

IF the airline has already sold the number of deeply discounted tickets to the cruise line that was planned for, there is no more deep discount pricing. And cruise lines tend to use US airlines for US departing international passengers, so your chances of flying on LAN, BA, Cathay, Singapore, etc. etc at cruise line deeply discounted fares is very slim.

 

Post #27-if you are getting upgrades to business class on ANY international flight for $600, GRAB IT with both hands and don't let go. That is a VERY decent upgrade price. $600 is the average co-pay price on AA for an international upgrade. You have to throw a bunch of miles in on top of that.

 

Post #35 is absolutely correct. UK/European cruise passengers have a LOT more protections when things go bottoms up with cruise line booked air. Hence, some of the additional costs.

[biker1972]

Greatam continues to have a 100% rating on explaining cruise air consolidator tickets. First thing I did when I discovered this forum was to read her sticky at the top of the page. Learned more and became so wary of cruise air that I doubt if I will ever again let the cruise line book my air.

[Globaliser]

That's probably why Princess has chosen to drop their cruise/flight packages from the UK as soon as possible.

Can this really be true?

 

I suspect that the vast majority of the UK market for cruises not sailing from the UK consists of fly/cruise packages. If Princess stop selling them, they'll be gutting a great chunk of their own business.

 

In any case, the package travel regulations have nothing to do with the OP's complaint. He's not complaining about the amount that Princess is charging for packaging air travel together with the cruise. He's only complaining about the extra amount being charged for air travel in non-economy cabins, when compared to the cost of normal fly/cruise packages based on the economy cabin. Princess is responisble under the package travel regulations in either case. So the amount being charged by Princess for the flight upgrade doesn't stem from acquiring responsibility under the package travel regulations.

[dundalkspur]

Can this really be true?

 

 

 

In any case, the package travel regulations have nothing to do with the OP's complaint. He's not complaining about the amount that Princess is charging for packaging air travel together with the cruise. He's only complaining about the extra amount being charged for air travel in non-economy cabins, when compared to the cost of normal fly/cruise packages based on the economy cabin. Princess is responisble under the package travel regulations in either case. So the amount being charged by Princess for the flight upgrade doesn't stem from acquiring responsibility under the package travel regulations.

 

Thankyou -that is all I am complaining about -the price of the upgrade .At the moment due to the Volcano in Iceland it is better to take a package with Princess( from the UK )and they know it and take advantage of their customers rather than help them with upgrades. Who ever is reading this from Carnival/Princess you should be ashamed of yourselves -if you tried to be fair to your passengers you might find that they actually would use Princess more often to book cruises.

[greatam]

Thankyou -that is all I am complaining about -the price of the upgrade .At the moment due to the Volcano in Iceland it is better to take a package with Princess( from the UK )and they know it and take advantage of their customers rather than help them with upgrades. Who ever is reading this from Carnival/Princess you should be ashamed of yourselves -if you tried to be fair to your passengers you might find that they actually would use Princess more often to book cruises.

 

As I posted previously, to get a "good deal" on an upgrade to E+ or business, Princess has to buy the tickets on their yearly contracts IN BULK. Princess MAY NOT purchase ANY upgraded tickets on their yearly bulk purchase buys, may only purchase SOME upgrades (maybe into JFK but NOT into MIA for example) or the airline MAY NOT sell any heavily discounted E+ or business class tickets on the yearly bulk purchase contracts. THIS makes the most sense in airline speak, as business/first tickets are the airline profit.

 

To make this easier (totally hypothetical figures)-let's say you pick BA-LHR to JFK Cruise line air- coach ticket- is $500 each way. Upgrade to E+ per the BA website is $300 each way. So what you are expecting to see is $1600 RT LHR-JFK from the cruise line.

 

BUT, due to the nature of the coach cruise line tickets (most are non upgradeable), the BASE fare for an upgradeable coach ticket AVAILABLE to the cruise line is $800 on BA PLUS $300 for the upgrade. A SIX HUNDRED DOLLAR DIFFERENCE!!!

[spongerob]

I just checked BA LHR-SFO for October and the difference between Economy and Premium Economy is just shy of $600 ($691 vs $1264). That's somewhere around 400 quid, no?

[Globaliser]

Actual conomy fares in October are all over the place because availability in the lowest economy booking classes is patchy.

 

At the moment, the theoretical lowest economy fare is £179 + about £242 in taxes etc = about £421 (priced by ITA). The theoretical lowest premium economy fare is £500 + about £324 in taxes etc = about £824.

 

So the differential there is indeed about £400 round-trip, which is now pretty typical for a sale period like at present.

[spongerob]

Looks like about the same pricing I posted, after conversion. It's close enough for government work.

 

I can understand the OP's frustration, though. It's why a very long time ago I learned that I'm far better off booking my own air. I'll take my chances on volcanos. Thunderstorms are a far bigger worry in my world since a ground halt in Chicago or Atlanta can throw the entire schedule into chaos now that airlines are much more apt to cancel flights if there are possible departure delays.