Choice Air - Arrival guarantee fee

[shipsoul]

Hello All,

 

We just booked our flights with Choice Air for October 2014. My TA was told there is a $25 pp fee for Choice Air's guarantee for arrival for ship departure, This is particularly annoying as we are arriving TWO DAYS before the cruise departure. Anyone else had this charge? I can find no reference in the Choice Choice Air site.

[munch1]

Hello All,

 

We just booked our flights with Choice Air for October 2014. My TA was told there is a $25 pp fee for Choice Air's guarantee for arrival for ship departure, This is particularly annoying as we are arriving TWO DAYS before the cruise departure. Anyone else had this charge? I can find no reference in the Choice Choice Air site.

 

We have used choice air 3 different times , latest being 3weeks ago and never had a fee for guarantee arrival

Give choice air a call or email them and see if there has been a change

[Redtravel]

I booked with choice air because Azamara was offering a reduction on the cruise fare if you booked choice air. At $500 pp off the cruise fare was a great incentive to use choice air. The prices on choice air are $25 higher than any fare that I found on an airline site. It is written in the fine print on their website. It does not guarantee anything. Some people claim that they found cheaper fares on choice air. Many people have the opposite experience. I found the fares put together combinations that may you may not be able to do especially in multi destination tickets. By the way, I am flying in 3days prior to my cruise. In the future I will shop airline fares. Fares change constantly. Find a decent fare, book it. $25 fee may seem unusual. It is not a lot. I hope that the planes arrive and depart as scheduled. If not, maybe choice air will help. Hope I do not need their help. Good luck.

[marinaro44]

From the ChoiceAir web site:

 

 

• NEW - Guaranteed Lowest Airfare.* Pricing reflects competitive, real-time fares. After booking, if a guest finds a lower fare within 24 hours, we'll credit 110% of the difference in an onboard spending credit.
  
• Assured arrival. ChoiceAir reservations include day-of-travel support, flight monitoring, 24/7 on-call assistance, and hotel and transportation costs if flights are delayed or cancelled. No one matches our commitment to get guests to their ship!
  

*Azamara's ChoiceAir® Low Airfare Guarantee ensures guests will enjoy the lowest advertised rate on airfare when booking with ChoiceAir. Guests will have 24 hours after booking air through ChoiceAir to find a lower price. If a lower price is found, guests will receive 110% of the difference applied to the voyage booking as an onboard credit. The lower price must be advertised and available for purchase on a web site open to the general public. Program terms and conditions apply. For full terms & conditions, please visit CruisingPower.com

[riandei]

Hello All,

 

We just booked our flights with Choice Air for October 2014. My TA was told there is a $25 pp fee for Choice Air's guarantee for arrival for ship departure, This is particularly annoying as we are arriving TWO DAYS before the cruise departure. Anyone else had this charge? I can find no reference in the Choice Choice Air site.

 

We paid a 25$ fee...but it was never mentioned that it was for on time arrival assurance

 

We checked usairs website and choice air was the EXACT same price....plus 25 bucks...

[Keystonetraveler]

My experience with Choice Air.

 

The deal I got with Azamara included a credit against the cruise cost of airfare up to $2,000, but only if I used Choice Air. When I checked United's website, the fare was $1,675.24. When by TA booked the ticket with Choice Air (and got exactly what I requested), the cost was $1,700.24. So, there was an extra $25 charge, but it was not shown as being explicitly for anything in particular. My travel agent questioned it and was told the extra cost was a Choice Air fee, but she could get no explaination of exactly what it was for. As she indicated to me, the person she spoke with did not really seem to know or make any effort to find out. In addition, she was told that I would only get a credit for the United ticket cost of $1,675.24 and would have to pay the $25. HOWEVER, when the credit was applied to my account, it was for the full cost of $1,700.24. So, I really have nothing to complain about in this regard.

 

My very savy and experienced TA did mention one possibility for the charge. She indicated that many of the cruise companies have negotioated fares that may be very good, but that they often are for the day of arrival or the day before. Like the OP, I am arriving earlier than that, and she felt the extra fee might be for this "deviation."

[marinaro44]

The ChoiceAir FAQs make clear there's a $15 fee for domestic flights and $25 for international flights. There is no designated reason given other than it's a service fee. So the question is whether it's worth the fee to get the services you get from ChoiceAir, with Assured Arrival being probably the most significant. Your money, your choice.

[2fromTO]

I believe the $25 charge is a service fee for calling ChoiceAir to book your flight. It you book it yourself online, there is no extra charge.

 

Last year we had to call Choice Air to book our flights because the online system would not allow us to book a return flight after a back to back cruise. In this case, the $25 charge was waived by ChoiceAir.

 

We have used Choice Air twice and in both circumstances found their prices substantially less than booking directly with various airlines. We have found however, that if you book 2 one-way tickets, rather than a round trip, the fare can be substantially less.

[riandei]

I believe the $25 charge is a service fee for calling ChoiceAir to book your flight. It you book it yourself online, there is no extra charge.

 

Last year we had to call Choice Air to book our flights because the online system would not allow us to book a return flight after a back to back cruise. In this case, the $25 charge was waived by ChoiceAir.

 

We have used Choice Air twice and in both circumstances found their prices substantially less than booking directly with various airlines. We have found however, that if you book 2 one-way tickets, rather than a round trip, the fare can be substantially less.

 

We booked ourselves on choice air website

 

We were charged 25$

[Redtravel]

The fee online is $25pp. If you call in and talk to a rep, the fee is $75.

[Kellie Poodle]

The fee online is $25pp. If you call in and talk to a rep, the fee is $75.

 

There is always a $25 fee for choice air. I think it's just a booking fee.

 

If you are above a certain level in the RCI, Celebrity or Azamara loyalty program, the extra $50 is waived when you book on the phone.

 

I've used them a few times for open jaw flights, that is when you leave from air port and return from another. They are usually cheaper than finding flights on one's own

 

I also used them RT to Venice as they were cheaper than anyone else. We missed the connection from CDG and were put on the very next plane.

 

i usually find my own air fare, but there are occasions when Choice Air is cheaper even with the $25 fee.

 

They are, however, useless when you need to get to the major gateway from a small local airport.

[marinaro44]

I've used them a few times for open jaw flights, that is when you leave from air port and return from another. They are usually cheaper than finding flights on one's own

I booked open jaw tickets (ChoiceAir calls it "multi-city") today. Looked for flights on the web site and, when I tried to book on-line, was given a message to call ChoiceAir as we were on back-to-back cruises. Booked the flights over the phone with the agent and paid exactly the amount shown on the web site, with no service fee.

[Sanatee]

We got a great price last year with Choice Air, one way from DC to Barcelona on Lufthansa --- several hundred less than we could book directly with United or Lufthansa. We booked the cruise and flight within about a month of embarkation on the Choice Air web site, with the $25 fee. But the tickets were in a group (or consolidator) class, and Lufthansa would give us no Star Alliance mileage credit nor allow FF upgrades at that price (even though I was United 1K/Alliance Gold at the time). The price was so good, though, that I gladly gave up the FF perks for that trip.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Sanatee

[marinaro44]

We got a great price last year with Choice Air, one way from DC to Barcelona on Lufthansa --- several hundred less than we could book directly with United or Lufthansa. We booked the cruise and flight within about a month of embarkation on the Choice Air web site, with the $25 fee. But the tickets were in a group (or consolidator) class, and Lufthansa would give us no Star Alliance mileage credit nor allow FF upgrades at that price (even though I was United 1K/Alliance Gold at the time). The price was so good, though, that I gladly gave up the FF perks for that trip.

This may depend on the airline. We received Delta miles for our recent Alitalia flight to Rome to start our November cruises and the Delta flights from Miami back home.

[Host Jazzbeau]

We got a great price last year with Choice Air, one way from DC to Barcelona on Lufthansa --- several hundred less than we could book directly with United or Lufthansa. We booked the cruise and flight within about a month of embarkation on the Choice Air web site, with the $25 fee. But the tickets were in a group (or consolidator) class, and Lufthansa would give us no Star Alliance mileage credit nor allow FF upgrades at that price (even though I was United 1K/Alliance Gold at the time). The price was so good, though, that I gladly gave up the FF perks for that trip.

 

Would they let you pay for Economy Plus?

[Sanatee]

Would they let you pay for Economy Plus?

 

As marino44 suggests, different airlines may have other policies for discounted fares. Lufthansa would have given us Star Alliance points if we'd payed for a non-group fare. They did honor my Alliance status and gave us their equivalent of Econ Plus. I don't know if they would allow you to buy an upgrade to Econ Plus.

[marinaro44]

As marino44 suggests, different airlines may have other policies for discounted fares. Lufthansa would have given us Star Alliance points if we'd payed for a non-group fare. They did honor my Alliance status and gave us their equivalent of Econ Plus. I don't know if they would allow you to buy an upgrade to Econ Plus.

 

We called United within an hour of booking through ChoiceAir and upgraded to economy plus seats at the published upcharge rate. Lufthansa's 747-400 apparently is not configured for economy plus according to seatguru, but I did not call to check.

[azevedan]

I was able to change my Choice Air flight seats on DL's website to Economy Plus (free for me because I'm Platinum with them)