When to book Choice Air ?

[SOPOME]

With our next cruise May, 2014 we are thinking we will use Choice Air. I have a few questions though.... I understand the reservation schedule won't open up until late June of this year. Should I expect the "best" prices and schedule choices then, or do they change throughout the year? We will want to fly from Boston to Barcelona, and putting in a "mock" reservation for May, 2013 all I get is a Delta choice from Boston to Atlanta (long layover!) and then on to Barcelona....I am hoping I will find some direct flight choices from Boston to Barcelona for next year. (have all the "good ones" been taken for May, 2013??) Any insight is greatly appreciated!

[Clarea]

I've only used Choice Air 4 times so far. I booked the fights early, a couple of weeks after the majority of them were posted. I have never seen the prices go down after I booked.

 

I also noticed that some flight options (very high priced) showed up before the 330 day mark, but most showed up right about 330 days. I waited another couple of weeks and saw a few more choices, but not many.

[paulsimm]

We used Choice Air last year from Boston to Barcelona and it worked out great - no problems. We did it by phone and RCI's agent could not have been more helpful. I could be wrong, but I believe their prices may change during the year similar to flight charges changing for everyone. They quoted us a better price than we were able to get on our own and the piece of mind "just in case something happened with flight delays" was what I wanted. Good luck.

[orville99]

What airlines does Choice Air book? I.e., can I book on Southwest through them?

[Clarea]

What airlines does Choice Air book? I.e., can I book on Southwest through them?

Most of the major airlines are available, though I've never seen Southwest available to book on Choice Air.

[SLCfirsttimer]

Most of the major airlines are available, though I've never seen Southwest available to book on Choice Air.

 

I seem to recall SW having some sort of set up where only they sell their tickets, they can't be purchased via third parties like Orbitz, Travelocity, and I would assume Choice Air.

[dagored]

I have used Choice Air, however it is like using a TA for a cruise.

 

AirTran changed the flight times, not Choice Airs fault. I had to call Choice Air to change flights and was told I could not. Since Air Tran changed the times, actually cancelled it and moved us to another time, I could change flights without a fee.

 

Took a few phone calls to do this. A lady at Choice Air did give me a hard time on this, but i did get it changed. If I had made the res, I could have changed the flight in a few keystrokes on line.

 

Hope this made sense.

[CAT GIRL]

Most of the major airlines are available, though I've never seen Southwest available to book on Choice Air.

 

I believe I saw that you could book Southwest by calling

Choice Air.

[Clarea]

I believe I saw that you could book Southwest by calling

Choice Air.

Now that you mention it, I believe I saw that too.

[SOPOME]

We used Choice Air last year from Boston to Barcelona and it worked out great - no problems. We did it by phone and RCI's agent could not have been more helpful. I could be wrong, but I believe their prices may change during the year similar to flight charges changing for everyone. They quoted us a better price than we were able to get on our own and the piece of mind "just in case something happened with flight delays" was what I wanted. Good luck.

 

 

Was your flight direct from Boston? What airline did you fly?

[Markanddonna]

I have had only one experience with Choice Air and that was for a flight right before Hurricane Sandy. The airline had changed the flight times making my connection way too tight and Choice Air was hard to reach and then gave me inaccurate advice on the procedures to change. Then, when the path of the Hurricane put all flights in jeopardy, my hour long wait for Choice Air showed that they had no influence or desire to advocate for me.

 

Fast forward: a three hour wait with my call to United eventually lead to a quick change for my first flight. If I had followed choiceair's suggestions, I would have missed 2-3 days in Rome before my TA. Their only issue was "will I make the cruise with my five days in Rome?". Yes, but Rome was my big precruise destination.

 

So, I would be very hesitant in selecting Choiceair. They did have a low one way fare, but it comes at a cost if there are any issues or problems and their customer service is not very good.

[orville99]

I believe I saw that you could book Southwest by calling

Choice Air.

 

Thanks. Now that Southwest is flying to San Juan, we've started looking at southern caribbean routes. :)

[paulsimm]

Was your flight direct from Boston? What airline did you fly?

 

I'll have to look back. I know we had a very short layover, but it was around 1 hr. The agent at choice air gave us many choices because we wanted to fly out early and return later - no problem.

[blonde1981]

I would book on your own. I used ChoiceAir once for a trip to Europe and ended up paying $2k more than if I had booked on my own. I have never used choice air since that happened.