Airfare Prices & Choice Air

[green eyed lady]

OMG the airfares are unreal...Newark to FLL...almost $600! Really??? And there are a ton of seats available on the flights I'm looking at.

 

Who has experience with Choice Air? I have no idea how it works. Can you see prices before you book the cruise? And do they generally have better pricing than if I book on my own? Or is it hit or miss? Any info appreciated :D Thanks

[Globaliser]

OMG the airfares are unreal...Newark to FLL...almost $600! Really???

No, of course not really. They're totally unreal, as you first thought. Fictitious. Totally made up by the airlines, who are asking for that sort of money because they don't actually have any tickets to sell.

 

Why do you think that these prices are being asked for? How much do you think the airlines ought to sell tickets for on this route? Do you think you should be able to buy tickets cheaper than the price paid by everyone else on the flight? And how much do you think you ought to be paying?

[6rugrats]

Hard to comment, as you don't list your travel dates. However, looking at a seat map will not give you a reliable indicator of how full the plane is. Perhaps a lot of people want to visit Florida.

 

I can't imagine you'd find better airfare for this domestic flight using Choice Air, but unless you look, you won't know.

Edited March 19, 2015 by 6rugrats

[FlyerTalker]

Also, is that $600 per person or for a couple? To echo above, without more details, it's tough to make an intelligent comment.

 

As noted, just what do you THINK you should be paying for this flight, per person?

 

As for cruiseline provided air, I highly recommend you read the sticky at the top of this forum for some crucial information you might want to know before you blindly purchase solely on price, which it seems you are wont to do.

[green eyed lady]

No, of course not really. They're totally unreal, as you first thought. Fictitious. Totally made up by the airlines, who are asking for that sort of money because they don't actually have any tickets to sell.

 

Why do you think that these prices are being asked for? How much do you think the airlines ought to sell tickets for on this route? Do you think you should be able to buy tickets cheaper than the price paid by everyone else on the flight? And how much do you think you ought to be paying?

 

Wow...no need to be rude. I was just asking for advice since I have never used choice air before. Since I have paid $300 or less for this same trip not that long ago, I was very surprised at the $600 fare. And no I never said I should pay less than everyone else.

 

Not sure what your problem is that you feel the need to answer in a sarcastic manner :rolleyes:

[green eyed lady]

Also, is that $600 per person or for a couple? To echo above, without more details, it's tough to make an intelligent comment.

 

As noted, just what do you THINK you should be paying for this flight, per person?

 

As for cruiseline provided air, I highly recommend you read the sticky at the top of this forum for some crucial information you might want to know before you blindly purchase solely on price, which it seems you are wont to do.

 

It was $600 pp. I expected to pay that per couple, that's why I was surprised at the price. I've flown this route many times and never paid more than $300 pp, so it was kinda shocking to me. :eek:

[green eyed lady]

Hard to comment, as you don't list your travel dates. However, looking at a seat map will not give you a reliable indicator of how full the plane is. Perhaps a lot of people want to visit Florida.

 

I can't imagine you'd find better airfare for this domestic flight using Choice Air, but unless you look, you won't know.

 

If most of the seats show available for me to choose when I go to book the flight, I think that's a pretty good indicator that the flight is not nearly close to selling out.

 

I agree about not knowing until I look regarding choice air, but since I never used it before I was just looking for some advice.

 

Looks like I'm sorry I asked by all the snooty comments. :(

[ducklite]

Have you looked at alternate travel dates and airports? ABE can sometimes be surprisingly low. SWF can be downright cheap. PHL opens many options. Look at WPI and MIA in Florida as well. Play around, I'm sure you'll find something less expensive. Also when do you need to fly?

[live2vayk]

Hi Green Eyed Lady,

 

I recently checked flights on choice air. It was easy. You can go to their website, and it will let you check rates. I checked rates from Northeast to Florida. Choice air priced out pretty much the same as the airlines but they did not have good flight time options. I ended up booking on my own. The choice air rates included "assured arrival" so that is why their rates were about $15 more.

 

You may find that the fare for the flight you are looking at May go down some if your date is several months out.

 

In any event good luck in your search and happy sailing!

[CruiserBruce]

The choice air rates included "assured arrival" so that is why their rates were about $15 more.

 

 

What does "assured arrival" mean? Choice air guarantees the flight will get there? How do they do that? Don't Choice Air customers fly on regular airlines where I may have paid $15 less? And I am not guaranteed to get there? What does that mean?

 

OP, you led off with a statement flooded with hyperbole- "airfares are unreal" "really" and then didn't give any specifics- routes, dates, nothing. So, without those specifics, we can't help you.

 

So you got replies loaded with hyperbole. Many of the people here are extremely experienced flyers. We know that what you paid 6 months ago has absolutely nothing to do with what you might pay today. So many variables come into play. Had you simply said " what are fares from XXX to YYY in this month", you would have gotten so much more helpful info.

[FlyerTalker]

If most of the seats show available for me to choose when I go to book the flight, I think that's a pretty good indicator that the flight is not nearly close to selling out.

Wrong.

 

Two things. First, seat maps do NOT indicate actual inventory available. You could easily see many seats for assignment, but that does NOT mean that they are available for sale. Second, even if there are many "seats", that does NOT mean that there is inventory in the lower fare buckets. It is entirely possible that only high buckets are left. Plus, just because a flight is not "selling out" doesn't mean that you can get tickets at the price you desire. The myriad of fare levels directly challenges such types of thinking.

 

Looks like I'm sorry I asked by all the snooty comments. :(

Ask indefinite questions without specifics and you get back indefinite.

 

Finally, I note that you STILL have not said when you were looking to travel so that an intelligent answer can be given to you. Even though you've responded to posts that suggested that data to be important.

 

GIGO

[alcpa1]

You have so many alternate airports in the greater New York-Philly corridor. Some may entail a little road travel but the savings might be valuable. There are also three airports in south Florida with arrival options.

Are you flying down the day of the cruise..whenever it might be? Is it near a holiday or major event in south Florida?

Please return to the forum and give us a few particulars and we will try to help.

 

As for any cruise air program there are potential pitfalls that could affect your travel. Domestic air travel is generally not such a bargain. Overseas and one way transoceanic flights are a totally different story. Since you have asked about domestic travel, you are far better off booking directly with the airline of your choice and avoiding the third party. In this case the third party is any cruise air program. You would have total control of your air arrangements. Schedule changes, delayed flights, cancellations etc. are better controlled under your own power.

Adding a frequent flyer number to your airline account may not seem like much but every airline takes care of their own members first. You probably have already done this since you have flown before and may have a preferred carrier.

Just a few things to think about, so please post again.............

[6rugrats]

If most of the seats show available for me to choose when I go to book the flight, I think that's a pretty good indicator that the flight is not nearly close to selling out.

 

Looks like I'm sorry I asked by all the snooty comments. :(

 

No, it's not a good indicator. If you don't provide any information, no one can help you. I think you saw frustrated comments, not "snooty". No one here gets paid to answer questions.

[waterbug123]

It was $600 pp. I expected to pay that per couple, that's why I was surprised at the price. I've flown this route many times and never paid more than $300 pp, so it was kinda shocking to me. :eek:

 

Airfare changes all the time. Maybe you got a heck of a deal last time. Or maybe at the time you bought tickets weren't selling well so lower fare bucket tickets were still available. Or maybe you were traveling at a time of year that wasn't a peak time.

Either way, prices are largely the result of supply and demand. Maybe it's as simple as more people are flying the day you want to for whatever reason. Can you post your flight dates? Someone really might be able to give you more info if you do that.

 

If most of the seats show available for me to choose when I go to book the flight, I think that's a pretty good indicator that the flight is not nearly close to selling out.

 

No, the seat map is NOT necessariy a good indicator of how many seats are sold. Sometimes seats are sold without an option to select a particular seat until check in time. So tickets are sold but seats aren't selected so a disproportionate number of seats appear to be available.

 

In answer to one of your original questions, most people find that there are no deals through CA when looking at strictly domestic flights, only for international ones.

Edited March 20, 2015 by waterbug123

[waterbug123]

The choice air rates included "assured arrival" so that is why their rates were about $15 more.

 

 

Please don't fool yourself into believing that "assured arrival" is some sort of guarantee. It's not.

[live2vayk]

Please don't fool yourself into believing that "assured arrival" is some sort of guarantee. It's not.

 

I do realize this, thanks.

[Globaliser]

Not sure what your problem is that you feel the need to answer in a sarcastic manner

You seemed to think that you were in a position to be able to judge that a perfectly legitimate air fare was "unreal". It wasn't.

[FlyerTalker]

No, it's not a good indicator. If you don't provide any information, no one can help you. I think you saw frustrated comments, not "snooty". No one here gets paid to answer questions.

True, but I like the concept!!

 

I can see it now...send funds to the paypal account of cruiseairquestions@emailxxx.xxx. Now to figure out the pricing structure. Two possible starting points: $1 for incorrectly guessing the details of a vague question but $50 for correctly guessing. And Alex Trebek can moderate.

Edited March 20, 2015 by FlyerTalker

[Zach1213]

True, but I like the concept!!

 

I can see it now...send funds to the paypal account of cruiseairquestions@emailxxx.xxx. Now to figure out the pricing structure. Two possible starting points: $1 for incorrectly guessing the details of a vague question but $50 for correctly guessing. And Alex Trebek can moderate.

 

 

By no means am I a huge expert here, but I'd like to think I could supplement my income with a few extra dollars each year from this ;)

 

But Trebek just signed a fat new contract until 2018. We need someone cheaper. What's Louie Anderson doing these days?

Edited March 20, 2015 by Zach1213

[greatam]

If most of the seats show available for me to choose when I go to book the flight, I think that's a pretty good indicator that the flight is not nearly close to selling out.

 

 

No, the seat map is NOT necessariy a good indicator of how many seats are sold. Sometimes seats are sold without an option to select a particular seat until check in time. So tickets are sold but seats aren't selected so a disproportionate number of seats appear to be available.

 

 

This is the real biggie in today's airfare world. With all the "pay extra" seating, seat maps look like the planes are totally MT while very often they are sold out.

 

One of my admin's from the NY office and her friend are flying to Vegas tomorrow. I wanted them to go tonight-they at least would get a little bit of rest without getting up at 3AM tomorrow morning to get on a plane. They will be beat when they arrive Vegas tomorrow-no fun for them tomorrow night (other than the fact they are 25 years old).

 

They kept arguing with me that the Saturday plane had a LOT of seats while Friday night's plane had few. I think they thought they were going to be able to stretch out and sleep on two or three seats. They were comparing Jet Blue to United which charges extra for certain seats. So United's seat map looked pretty MT mainly because the 6AM flight is a nonstop to LAX and is probably used by a lot of students going for Spring Break/home for Easter and they aren't paying extra to pick seats.

 

I finally told them to speak to Sarah who does a lot of our air freight and has all the "special" tools. They missed the decent price on JetBlue for a nonstop JFK/LAS during all the arguing. Now they are STUCK on a 6AM United flight which is basically oversold (JFK/LAX/LAS). And all due to their insistence of using an airline seat map to find out which plane had seats.

 

Airline seat maps NEVER WERE a good indicator of how full a plane was. With all the "extra pay" seats now offered by a lot of airlines, seat maps are even more unreliable.

Edited March 20, 2015 by greatam

[renroc13]

Many of the East Coast Domestic routes are high especially this time of year. However they have been running higher than usual the past 2 the summers as well. I have always suggested people look to book their own flights as there are usually many alternatives. We would drive up to 2-3 hours at times from PA to get Direct NS International Flights. And if someone was flying RT to Europe I would suggest they check their own options out as one can get a real tight connection when using Choice Air or any other "agent" added fare..

 

When looking for one way tickets overseas Choice Air offers the best rates I can find...other than booking FF Tickets through United, Hawaiian Air and a few other airlines that allow a one way ticket without having to book a RT ticket and use extra miles.

 

I have been surprised with some of the rates I am seeing domestically (a big change in the last 5 years) but they can charge them as people are traveling more. I used to book tickets BWI to FLL the second they opened up...since we are back living in Florida I have not had to look at those routes often but when I do I have been ticket shocked at times too. Precruise days and post cruise days will usually be higher.

 

Continue to post on these boards...you will always find some information that will help.

 

Karen

[navybankerteacher]

Did OP specify dates? I just did a bit of scanning - non-stops EWR-FLL this coming weekend run about $550-$600, connecting flights about $450. But in June they run about $250 non stop. Season, day of week, lead time, willingness to have a connection are variables with major price impact. Often flying in one or more days early will more than save the cost of a hotel room.

 

The only approach is to consider planning the flight as carefully - and as much in advance - as the cruise itself.

[TruckerDave]

Did OP specify dates? .

 

 

Of course not. She just came went on a rant, didn't get people to side with here and got mad and has not returned since. :roll eyes:

 

She was just another in the long line of folks who come on here and post about the "outrageous airfares" and "I only paid $Y last time i flew there, why is it $Yx2 this time" etc etc etc.

[hun]

So let me throw my two cents in as I am also hoping to learn something about "Cruise air" on this forum and as I have also only booked my own air, am curious about choice air.

 

The use of the term snooty is spot on. I'm amazed at the condescending comments, I don't care how "experienced" a traveler someone is. There's no need, really, to be so negative and pick on someone's choice of words (unreal) when someone is looking for informative advice.

[6rugrats]

So let me throw my two cents in as I am also hoping to learn something about "Cruise air" on this forum and as I have also only booked my own air, am curious about choice air.

 

The use of the term snooty is spot on. I'm amazed at the condescending comments, I don't care how "experienced" a traveler someone is. There's no need, really, to be so negative and pick on someone's choice of words (unreal) when someone is looking for informative advice.

 

If you don't like a post, don't read it. You've been a member of CC for 13 years, so you must know that. Or, you have the ability to block users so you never see what they post. Have you tried that?

 

I usually don't feel the need to lecture adults about their behavior, but since you opened the door, I will comment that to any casual reader, your post is pretty negative and is picking on people's words.

Edited April 15, 2015 by 6rugrats