Barelona - Dubai cruise flight options

[smtcan]

We have put a deposit on a Celebrity cruise from Barcelona to Dubai, and before final payment date we are trying to find reasonably priced flights from Toronto. We would ideally like to stop over in UK on either the outward or return journey, but this is not essential. Does anyone have any ideas of the best way to find flights? I have checked airline sites and also the Expedia/Travelocity type sites, but think I might be missing something.

Sheila

[Gardyloo]

Look at ITA for basic price/timing alternatives, then if you see something you like that involves just one airline, go to that airline's site and book the tickets. (You can't book through ITA.) If it involves multiple airlines (or airlines from different alliances) then try to duplicate it using Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity.

 

Note that the above link shows YYZ-LHR//DXB-YYZ. If you want to see prices straight to Barcelona, just type in "BCN" instead of LHR, and off you go.

 

Also you'll probably see that this link will have "timed out" between my posting it and when you look at it. That's because ITA is very reactive to changes in pricing and availability, so you need to refresh the screen - hit "modify search" - to get the current pricing and availability information. (ITA is the "engine" behind many travel sites like Orbitz and Kayak - getting familiar with ITA is a real benefit for frequent travelers.)

 

If you want to stop in London, do so on the outbound leg, otherwise you'll be whacked with very high UK departure taxes if you fly from London to Canada having stopped over. Short flights (for example if you buy a separate London - Barcelona ticket, around $100) don't incur nearly as big a tax bite as longhaul flights. Or, if you're just connecting in the UK (less than 24h between flights) you're exempt of the passenger duty as a transit passenger. That wouldn't work if you stopped coming home.

[smtcan]

Thanks for the advice. The fares look better than I expected.

Sheila

[Michidoeme]

Sheila, try also on the Choice Air site. They usually give the best prices for open jaw tickets. We are on the same cruise and just booked our flights hrough them.

 

Just google Choice Air. Then open Air Travel Program Royal Caribean site - on this page click on Choice Air in 2nd paragraph. You can then do a quick flight search only, without cruise reservation ID. On the 2nd page you can change dates of flight).

The trick is to give the departure and the return flights in separately as 2 one-way flights. Then you get best results. (Multidestinations usually brings a lot more expensive options.) You will get lots of flight options, a few nonstop, most with stops in different places. Conditions and fare rules can also be looked at.

 

They will also give you assistance in case you have to reschedule flights due to strikes, cancellations, delays, etc. If you want to book, you can only do one leg on-line, other via phone, or you can phone for all bookings.

 

Please be aware that on the ITA site they give all fares, available or no longer available. Therefore sometimes slightly misleading as we found out.

[greatam]

They usually give the best prices for open jaw tickets. We are on the same cruise and just booked our flights hrough them.

 

Don't know where you got that idea. They may or may NOT have the best price. But very, very often, the low prices on Choice Air are "specially negotiated fares"-ie bulk purchase on contract tickets. They DO NOT have the same benefits or perks as airline purchased tickets. It even states that very premise on the Choice Air website: "Airline tickets we issue are highly restrictive and you may find that your ticket cannot be exchanged, reissued or revalidated for another carrier or routing."

 

Conditions and fare rules can also be looked at.

 

The ENTIRE fare rules are NOT available on most of the Choice Air tickets. You have no idea what you are REALLY buying. Very, very rarely are the fare rules for inexpensive Choice Air tickets EXACT duplicates of airline purchased published fare tickets.

 

They will also give you assistance in case you have to reschedule flights due to strikes, cancellations, delays, etc. If you want to book, you can only do one leg on-line, other via phone, or you can phone for all bookings.

 

What kind of assistance can you expect if the RULES of the ticket PROHIBIT endorsement to another airline or rerouting the ticket? ABSOLUTELY NONE

 

And why would you pay MORE than you can find 95% of the time on your own?

 

 

Please be aware that on the ITA site they give all fares, available or no longer available. Therefore sometimes slightly misleading as we found out.

 

You obviously don't know how to use ITA very well. As Gardyloo posted, ITA is VERY, VERY reactive to pricing and availability. It is the engine BEHIND quite a few large travel sites. ITA doesn't post "no longer available" fares. BUT you absolutely have to match schedule, fare code and any other special features to get the same fare. AND you have to do it IMMEDIATELY at the airline website when you are searching on ITA because of the dynamic pricing/availability nature.

[Michidoeme]

Don't know where you got that idea. They may or may NOT have the best price. But very, very often, the low prices on Choice Air are "specially negotiated fares"-ie bulk purchase on contract tickets. They DO NOT have the same benefits or perks as airline purchased tickets. It even states that very premise on the Choice Air website: "Airline tickets we issue are highly restrictive and you may find that your ticket cannot be exchanged, reissued or revalidated for another carrier or routing."

 

 

 

The ENTIRE fare rules are NOT available on most of the Choice Air tickets. You have no idea what you are REALLY buying. Very, very rarely are the fare rules for inexpensive Choice Air tickets EXACT duplicates of airline purchased published fare tickets.

 

 

 

What kind of assistance can you expect if the RULES of the ticket PROHIBIT endorsement to another airline or rerouting the ticket? ABSOLUTELY NONE

 

And why would you pay MORE than you can find 95% of the time on your own?

 

 

 

 

You obviously don't know how to use ITA very well. As Gardyloo posted, ITA is VERY, VERY reactive to pricing and availability. It is the engine BEHIND quite a few large travel sites. ITA doesn't post "no longer available" fares. BUT you absolutely have to match schedule, fare code and any other special features to get the same fare. AND you have to do it IMMEDIATELY at the airline website when you are searching on ITA because of the dynamic pricing/availability nature.

 

Don't understand why you get so aggressive about this issue. I just talked about the experience I made with Choice Air, ITA and other booking sites. And trust me I have booked a lot of International flights on my own and only recently found out that for TA and repo cruises Choice Air was the best.

Are you talking about the new Choice Air, or the old Cruise Air for which your comments may have been valid ?

 

The assistance from Choice Air I expect is that they can direct my to alternatives if necessary and assist/facilitate rebooking. I assume that for any additional cost I will have to come up, same as when I book my special fare tickets directly from airline or thru other websites.

 

Just 4 days ago I had the experience with the ITA site for a Iberia flight where there were no seats available at the rate quoted since quite some time. And ITA is still giving that rate today.

[greatam]

Don't understand why you get so aggressive about this issue. I just talked about the experience I made with Choice Air, ITA and other booking sites. And trust me I have booked a lot of International flights on my own and only recently found out that for TA and repo cruises Choice Air was the best.

Are you talking about the new Choice Air, or the old Cruise Air for which your comments may have been valid ?

 

You are giving out mis-information. You posted almost the same thing on the Celebrity forum. And what is BEST??? Price??? There is a lot more to an airline ticket than just the price. Can you read the ENTIRE fare rules? No, in most cases you can't. You can generally see what FARE BUCKET you are in. That is all. The numbers and letters BEHIND the first letter contain the very SPECIFIC RULES for your particular ticket. So if you don't know what ALL the rules are, how do you know what you are buying??

 

Choice Air (for the cheapest tickets) is merely "old cruise air" in a new face. The cruise lines took their bulk purchased/contract/consolidator tickets (with ALL the restrictions) and dumped them into a fancy website. YOU get to pick.

 

In picking your own tickets, YOU saved the cruise line 1000's of dollars in labor trying to match up tickets that had been purchased a year or so in advance on contract and were essentially "sitting on the shelf". The software originally used by Choice Air (this may have changed very recently) was the back end of Travelocity's software. NO, it wasn't Travelocity nor the way Travelocity sells tickets. But it was a portion of the software.

 

 

 

The assistance from Choice Air I expect is that they can direct my to alternatives if necessary and assist/facilitate rebooking. I assume that for any additional cost I will have to come up, same as when I book my special fare tickets directly from airline or thru other websites.

 

If you are as experienced in international flights as you post, why would you involve a third party? Why would you WAIT to get their input? Why would you depend on them for alternatives? You need to have your own alternatives in mind BEFORE there is a problem. You need to be on the phone DIRECT to the airline (very often when you are still on the plane waiting to get off) BEFORE you ever think about getting in line to rebook. Very, very often, the seats you need are being given away to saavy travelers while you are waiting in line. Being proactive, having alternatives flights already picked out and NOT involving a third party is the fastest, easiest way to accomplish whatever you need to involving airlines.

 

 

Just 4 days ago I had the experience with the ITA site for a Iberia flight where there were no seats available at the rate quoted since quite some time. And ITA is still giving that rate today.

 

Did you drill down far enough to match EXACTLY the fare class, EXACT connections, EXACT dates and times? My newest admin had the same problem-saw the price, went to the airline website and COULD NOT get that price. My personal assistant showed her how ALL must match (which means printing out the DETAILS page on ITA) and matching every little bit of that, piece by piece.

 

If there truly is an unavailable fare, then you should be kind enough to the owners, programmers and customers of ITA to notify them.

[Michidoeme]

Greatam,

I am not going into further arguments with you anymore here, this will be my last post on this subject. I am not giving out misinformation - I am taking about the experience I really made and also very recently.

You obviously are talking from your experience with the old Cruise Air.

With the new Cruise Air bookings, you see EXACTLY which flights, times, etc you book, it enables you to pick YOUR choice. I constantly refer back to other websites to compare and see what is best. I never said that Choice Air always gets rates which are cheaper than others, but the best rates available on other websites you can also book here and for one way tickets - open jaws for TA and repo cruises, it sometimes gives options not available elsewhere. I have booked the best rate this Spring, not available thru airline, or other engines - and believe me I checked numerous sites.

 

And if I am travelling and experience problems with flights, I might not be able to be constantly on internet to find availabilities and in the airport there might be hundreds of people standing in line - have you never had this awful experience yet ?

[Zach1213]

Greatam,

I am not going into further arguments with you anymore here, this will be my last post on this subject. I am not giving out misinformation - I am taking about the experience I really made and also very recently.

You obviously are talking from your experience with the old Cruise Air.

With the new Cruise Air bookings, you see EXACTLY which flights, times, etc you book, it enables you to pick YOUR choice. I constantly refer back to other websites to compare and see what is best. I never said that Choice Air always gets rates which are cheaper than others, but the best rates available on other websites you can also book here and for one way tickets - open jaws for TA and repo cruises, it sometimes gives options not available elsewhere. I have booked the best rate this Spring, not available thru airline, or other engines - and believe me I checked numerous sites.

 

And if I am travelling and experience problems with flights, I might not be able to be constantly on internet to find availabilities and in the airport there might be hundreds of people standing in line - have you never had this awful experience yet ?

 

I do see where Greatam is coming from. Sure, you can see exactly the flights, the times, whatever...but you cannot always see the detailed fare information behind that. Even if it says the fare is "K", there is a difference between K12 fare and K18 fare (just making that all up, letter/number wise), and that booking a fare on the same exact flight may end up with wildly different restrictions depending on where you book (through the cruiseline versus directly through the airline, for example).'

 

It's just something additional for people to keep in mind. Not all fares are created equal, and it's often tough to find all of the details unless you're really, really looking for them (and even then, it can be tricky).

[greatam]

Greatam,

I am not going into further arguments with you anymore here, this will be my last post on this subject. I am not giving out misinformation - I am taking about the experience I really made and also very recently.

You obviously are talking from your experience with the old Cruise Air.

With the new Cruise Air bookings, you see EXACTLY which flights, times, etc you book, it enables you to pick YOUR choice. I constantly refer back to other websites to compare and see what is best. I never said that Choice Air always gets rates which are cheaper than others, but the best rates available on other websites you can also book here and for one way tickets - open jaws for TA and repo cruises, it sometimes gives options not available elsewhere. I have booked the best rate this Spring, not available thru airline, or other engines - and believe me I checked numerous sites.

 

And if I am travelling and experience problems with flights, I might not be able to be constantly on internet to find availabilities and in the airport there might be hundreds of people standing in line - have you never had this awful experience yet ?

 

I see-the BEST ticket in you mind is the BEST price. You don't want to even hear that you are VERY, VERY often NOT booking the same ticket with the SAME RULES that could impact your travel plans as you would direct from an airline website. Sure, it may be the same flight, same time, same plane type, you get a PRN, you get to pick your seats. But the UNDERLYING FARE RULES on a lot of the Choice Air tickets DO NOT allow them to be used on another airline, DO NOT allow them to be re-routed.

 

Read through this lady's recent horror story to see the difference between how people were treated with airline published fare tickets and Choice Air tickets. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398770&highlight=choice+air+omaha

 

The RULES for Choice Air tickets and airline published fare tickets were very different and DID NOT allow her and her family to be placed on another plane NOR be re-routed so she could make her cruise. Those RULES are what you keep missing by focusing ONLY on price.

 

I do this airline stuff for a living-day in and day out. I own an international logistics company and we move people and freight daily around the world. And I fly myself well over 100,000 miles per year.

 

When you get into a bind due to a missed connection, cancelled flight, etc, searching for an internet connection at the airport or standing in line HOPING for some help is NOT the way to handle it.

 

You did the research to get the original flight. Why didn't you print out some of the other flights that met your parameters except for maybe the price??? Then you can say-"I missed my connection to ZZZ. Can you please put me on airline YYY, flight XXX??". Works a whole lot better than HOPING someone has the time to explore a few more options than just putting you on the next flight on THEIR airline. But with Choice Air tickets, you very well MAY NOT have the option of another airline. So you are essentially stuck.

 

Keep believing that PRICE is the be all, end all for air travel. There is a LOT more to an airline ticket than just price!!!

[Gardyloo]

Thanks for the advice. The fares look better than I expected.

Sheila

Yeah, they're not bad. Notice however that while the fare table suggests there are comparable fares from, say, American, British Airways and Iberia, or Air Canada and Lufthansa, these are often "codeshare" fares - one airline using its flight number and selling the ticket for a seat on another airline's flight. Be careful to see if it says something like "operated by British Airways" in small print under the flights. There might not be as many cheap seats as the tables would suggest.

[smtcan]

Yeah, they're not bad. Notice however that while the fare table suggests there are comparable fares from, say, American, British Airways and Iberia, or Air Canada and Lufthansa, these are often "codeshare" fares - one airline using its flight number and selling the ticket for a seat on another airline's flight. Be careful to see if it says something like "operated by British Airways" in small print under the flights. There might not be as many cheap seats as the tables would suggest.

 

Thanks again. Yes we are familiar with code shares, so will book very soon.

Sheila

[iancal]

When we fly, have a hub stop, and a tight schedule at our end point we always make a list of alternate flights and times just in case we have an issue. Once in a while, on check-in, we have asked and been granted a better routing when flying on economy or restricted tickets. If you don't ask, the CSR never has a chance to say YES. It is like asking for an upgrade....they can only say no.