Choice Air

[Nana57]

We are thinking of using Choice Air. We usually transfer the booking of the cruise to the travel agent so we can get airfare through the Travel Agent. But now we are thinking of using Choice Air. The cruise line told me that if there is bad weather (Dec.1) they notify you and put you on another flight. Is this true?

[Orator]

We are thinking of using Choice Air. We usually transfer the booking of the cruise to the travel agent so we can get airfare through the Travel Agent. But now we are thinking of using Choice Air. The cruise line told me that if there is bad weather (Dec.1) they notify you and put you on another flight. Is this true?

 

You might want to read the Choice Air Sticky on this page. It's the Sticky started by Host Andy and is right before the first general thread.

[Lsimon]

...The cruise line told me that if there is bad weather (Dec.1) they notify you and put you on another flight. Is this true?

 

Based only on posts I've read I'd say: Maybe. Reported experiances seem to vary. But don't expect miracles, especially if bad weather causes large scale delays effecting thousands of cruisers. If you have a delay you might do best working proactively on your travel arrangements than waiting for choice air to take care of it - and I'd still get travel insurance with good travel delay and missed connection coverage if you're not willing to cover expenses yourself.

[rucruisn2]

A good idea when flying to meet a cruise is to fly in a day or two early. Then you can relax, and not worry about bad weather delays.

[USVI-4-me]

Read the Choice Air fine print. It says the cruiseline has the right to put you on a charter.

 

If there is any problem at the airport the charters are usually bumped back for take-offs.

 

We've had cruiselines book our air. Too many times there were problems.

Last time we flew home from Rome and were bumped from three flights though we'd booked ChoiceAir with Celebrity.

 

And there are the flight cancellations..... more inconvenience.

 

In Alaska, we were off the ship at 6:30am, transported to Anchorage and waited in a conference room for transport to the airport that evening for a flight booked by the cruiseline that left after 9pm.

 

Now days, we book our own flights and arrive at least a day, if not two days, early.

 

-Marisa

[Christine Frances]

Read the Choice Air fine print. It says the cruiseline has the right to put you on a charter.

 

If there is any problem at the airport the charters are usually bumped back for take-offs.

 

We've had cruiselines book our air. Too many times there were problems.

Last time we flew home from Rome and were bumped from three flights though we'd booked ChoiceAir with Celebrity.

 

And there are the flight cancellations..... more inconvenience.

 

In Alaska, we were off the ship at 6:30am, transported to Anchorage and waited in a conference room for transport to the airport that evening for a flight booked by the cruiseline that left after 9pm.

 

Now days, we book our own flights and arrive at least a day, if not two days, early.

 

-Marisa

 

Sounds like you had the pkgd "cruise air" With Choice air you can arrive a week earlier or stay a week after your cruise if you wish and you can pick your own schedules/airlines

[Lsimon]

Read the Choice Air fine print. It says the cruiseline has the right to put you on a charter. ...

 

I'm not disputing this is in the fine print (I haven't looked at it) but based on practice either this doesn't apply to Choice Air, or there are more than one Choice Air program. Years ago Celebrity offered "cruise air" where the airline picked your flights and you were subject to whatever airline, departure date and time and connections they assigned to you - although you had the option to request custom air or a deviation at an additional cost. I think this still exists for certain "air included" bookings and at times charter flights were used on high demand itineraries.

 

But for the most part they've done away with the old system in favor of the newer Choice Air system. From my experience the new Cruise Air system is more like any on-line airfare booking site. You enter the dates you want to fly out and return, and other preferences, and you're presented with a list of specific scheduled flights on regular airlines with a price for each specific flight. Once booked you can go to the airline's own site and view your reservation and get seat assignments as you could for a flight booked any other way. The one time we actually booked with cruise air the fare code was identical, on the same flight, as we were considering with American Airlines but at a small discount from American's own website.

 

We've found that the prices for Choice Air are similar to the airline's price and the price on other booking sites and are generally the same or higher with some rare instances where the cost is lower. The exception is overseas travel, especially one way travel for transatlantic cruises, where the discount from the airline's regular prices can be very substantial for the same flights. We've seen one way flights for TA cruises that were more like half of a discount round trip ticket than the outrageously high one way fares offered by most airlines for such flights.

 

Choice air has a small service charge for the service and adds options for cruise line transfers and a slightly more expensive airfare where payment isn't due until the final payment date of the cruise and there are no penalties for cancelling your flight prior to that time. This is in addition to the basic Choice Air rates where the flights must be paid for immediately on booking them and have the same, or similar, cancellation fees and restrictions as normal airline tickets do.

[Alg63]

There used to be 2 choice air programs, the one that gave you gtd flights airlines times etc at the time of booking, and another where your flights were assigned x number of days or weeks before cruise, arriving only on day of cruise and departing last day of cruise. They don't offer 2nd option any more or or so they told me. Their system will have built in security that the flights you pick will not be too close to missing your cruise BARRING UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES like unscheduled delays for whatever reason.

 

You still need insurance but I have to say that I got the Delta lights I wanted at less or equal to Delta website AND the flights were refundable with a fee as opposed to directly with Delta which were non refundable. I did have to give the Choice air agents some guidance as their systems were not auto picking up the flights I wanted unless I gave them specific flight numbers.

 

In addition I got the $200 cruise credit promo for booking with Choice air. The last time I cruised I booked direct with Delta. We had plenty of time to make the cruise but the flight never took off, the next flight was too late and we missed 4 days of the cruise as we could only pick up the ship in PR. Delta flew us to PR instead of NJ after much haggling and only because my friend was A VERY freq flyer AND Amex platinum, and one night in Atlanta. It ost us 4 nights of the cruise and all our expenses in PR which were 3 nights hotel, meals, transfers etc as we had no insurance. Lesson learned.

[Merriem]

I called choice air for business class tickets for our Galapagos trip next year, and they were actually higher than Delta I must add they were very nice, but since we are going early and coming back later, I just booked them with delta directly.

[Lsimon]

I called choice air for business class tickets for our Galapagos trip next year, and they were actually higher than Delta I must add they were very nice, but since we are going early and coming back later, I just booked them with delta directly.

 

We've found that Cruise Air only occasionally has prices better than the airlines or other booking sources. The exception is flights for transatlantic cruises which involve a one way flight overseas where Choice Air is almost always the best deal. But since their price is sometimes the best we always included them as part of our airfare shopping. It pays to shop around.

[kettlitz]

Like others have mentioned, I found Choice Air significantly cheaper for booking an open jaw (arrive in one location, cruise, then depart from another location) trip to South America. For a business class ticket from Toronto to Santiago, returning from Buenos Aires, Choice Air booked me on LAN for roughly 50% less than the same itinerary would cost on Delta or Air Canada, and about 25% less than the same itinerary booked directly from LAN.

 

Yet, I was able to pick the date and flights I wanted.

 

All in all, a very good deal.

Nick

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Merriem]

I had hoped it would have been better, but like I said it was the same, plus their fee. I can see where an open jaw could save money as they are always expensive

[kettlitz]

Just a quick warning with Choice Air, I just experienced an issue as I was making my final payment for cruise and air.

 

Before you pay, double check the flights you are scheduled on - they might have changed from the reservation you originally made if you picked the flex fare option.

 

In my case, without warning or notice, Choice Air changed my departing flight from a 2:10pm flight to a 10:00am flight, which would have given me an 8hours plus layover in Miami. I repeat, this happened without notice. I realized it only when I checked the reservation online.

 

After three phone calls, I was told the airline had done the change due to a schedule change (not true schedule had changed) and I was eventually rescheduled on the original flight, albeit with a slightly higher fare.

 

They told me that once payment is made and the ticket is issued, this cannot happen.

 

So, the moral of the story, before paying, double check.

 

http://www.checkmytrip.com is a good site to see your reservation using the locator choice air gives you.

Cheers.

Nick

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Glendakayself]

Just a quick warning with Choice Air, I just experienced an issue as I was making my final payment for cruise and air.

 

Before you pay, double check the flights you are scheduled on - they might have changed from the reservation you originally made if you picked the flex fare option.

 

In my case, without warning or notice, Choice Air changed my departing flight from a 2:10pm flight to a 10:00am flight, which would have given me an 8hours plus layover in Miami. I repeat, this happened without notice. I realized it only when I checked the reservation online.

 

After three phone calls, I was told the airline had done the change due to a schedule change (not true schedule had changed) and I was eventually rescheduled on the original flight, albeit with a slightly higher fare.

 

They told me that once payment is made and the ticket is issued, this cannot happen.

 

So, the moral of the story, before paying, double check.

 

http://www.checkmytrip.com is a good site to see your reservation using the locator choice air gives you.

Cheers.

Nick

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

It is good advise to keep a frequent check on booked airline tickets even when they are booked directly with the airlines. We have twice had our return flight from Europe cancelled by the airlines with no notification and no rescheduled flights until we noticed and called. In our case the route from that particular city was dropped. I suspect that if we had waited to the last minute the choices for rescheduling would have been limited. Again, this WAS NOT CHOICE AIR but flights booked directly with airline.

[ORV]

Just a quick warning with Choice Air, I just experienced an issue as I was making my final payment for cruise and air.

 

Before you pay, double check the flights you are scheduled on - they might have changed from the reservation you originally made if you picked the flex fare option.

 

In my case, without warning or notice, Choice Air changed my departing flight from a 2:10pm flight to a 10:00am flight, which would have given me an 8hours plus layover in Miami. I repeat, this happened without notice. I realized it only when I checked the reservation online.

 

After three phone calls, I was told the airline had done the change due to a schedule change (not true schedule had changed) and I was eventually rescheduled on the original flight, albeit with a slightly higher fare.

 

They told me that once payment is made and the ticket is issued, this cannot happen.

 

So, the moral of the story, before paying, double check.

 

http://www.checkmytrip.com is a good site to see your reservation using the locator choice air gives you.

Cheers.

Nick

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

That's a good site, you must use the locator that Choice Air gives you though, I first put in the the one I got from the airline and it didn't work.

[Florida Fan]

Just a quick warning with Choice Air, I just experienced an issue as I was making my final payment for cruise and air.

 

Before you pay, double check the flights you are scheduled on - they might have changed from the reservation you originally made if you picked the flex fare option.

 

In my case, without warning or notice, Choice Air changed my departing flight from a 2:10pm flight to a 10:00am flight, which would have given me an 8hours plus layover in Miami. I repeat, this happened without notice. I realized it only when I checked the reservation online.

 

After three phone calls, I was told the airline had done the change due to a schedule change (not true schedule had changed) and I was eventually rescheduled on the original flight, albeit with a slightly higher fare.

 

They told me that once payment is made and the ticket is issued, this cannot happen.

 

So, the moral of the story, before paying, double check.

 

http://www.checkmytrip.com is a good site to see your reservation using the locator choice air gives you.

Cheers.

Nick

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

 

The same thing just happened to me. At first I couldn't find our reservation. I called ChoiceAir and was told they had changed my reservation: (1) the airline was changed; (2) a 2-leg trip was changed to a 3-leg trip; and (3) our 12-hour trip was now stretched to an 18-hour trip. All without notice.

 

I have called Choice Air twice now. They told me someone would call back, but nobody has called so far. My advice: Do not book FlexFare, and read the fine print when booking through ChoiceAir.