Buying a Ticket for a Transatlantic Cruise

[iancal]

My son and G/F did Condor last summer. Return trip. He has had several TA trips on airlines like AC, Lufthansa.

 

His comment was that Condor was just fine. No better, no worse than any other airline he has made the trip on. The big difference was price. Condor happened to be cheaper when they booked.

[SelectSys]

Well, I finally made my decision on this today and I was happy with the result. I ended up spending 40k miles and $292.00 for 2 people one way from FCO to LAX.

 

What tipped the scale on this trip was the fact that I was able to get on AA metal from LHR to LAX. This lowered my out of pocket somewhat and, more importantly, I was able to reserve "main cabin extra" seats for my long flight due to frequent flyer status. I'll take AA with 36" seat pitch over BA with 31" any day.

 

I also looked at 50k mile business class seats (100k total) - which is a great deal - but just couldn't get the times/flights to work out.

 

Now I just need to get my cruise and domestic flight finalized...

[Gardyloo]

I also looked at 50k mile business class seats (100k total) - which is a great deal - but just couldn't get the times/flights to work out.

Keep looking, especially closer to the flight date; business award seats open up throughout the booking period. AA doesn't add a fee if you move from a coach award to a business class one.

[SelectSys]

Keep looking, especially closer to the flight date; business award seats open up throughout the booking period. AA doesn't add a fee if you move from a coach award to a business class one.

 

Thanks, I had never heard of this ability to change award levels. Is this true even with the plan ahead awards?

 

I have 2 more days to decide whether or not to go for the cruise. It's funny, or perhaps not, that I look to make sure I can get airfare before booking the cruise.

[knittinggirl]

We did a TA FLL to Copenhagen, and flew SAS back booked through our former TA w/ Choice Air. She didn't look very hard, and we booked it. The next day, we found something that was about a third the price. And she wouldn't fix it.

 

We flew Southwest to FLL (booked by us). If we fly from Europe again, we'll fly from Europe to a gateway city in the US, spend the night, then fly the rest of the way home. If we use ChoiceAir, it's only for the international flight. We would have had three flights that day, the international flight, one to our nearby hub, then one home. But United Airlines said the crew had timed out, and they put us up in a hotel and got us out the next day. I read crew will often get a late start, hoping they can time out on their next flight.

Edited December 5, 2015 by knittinggirl

[6rugrats]

We did a TA FLL to Copenhagen, and flew SAS back booked through our former TA w/ Choice Air. She didn't look very hard, and we booked it. The next day, we found something that was about a third the price. And she wouldn't fix it.

Well, if it was 24 hours after you'd booked, you can't cancel and get your money back. Is that what you mean?

 

But United Airlines said the crew had timed out, and they put us up in a hotel and got us out the next day. I read crew will often get a late start, hoping they can time out on their next flight.

 

I have read the best time to purchase plane tickets is Tuesdays at midnight, or that you'll get a free upgrade to first if you dress nicely and tell the gate agent it's your birthday. But, I don't believe every crazy thing I read online.

 

How exactly does the crew get "a late start"?

[sippican]

Please read the sticky about cruise air. You are not buying the same product as you would be directly from an airline. The same counts for consolidators.

 

The sticky at the top of this forum promotes a great deal of negativity about cruiseair programs, and little to say on the positives of booking such tickets. I do completely agree that passengers should know the terms of their ticketing. Not all tickets sold through cruiseair programs are consolidator tickets.

Thousands and thousands of passengers book through their cruiselines and have wonderful experiences. If you are one of the small percentage of people that experience a travel nightmare, you may feel differently. I do not see much posted about those horrible experiences. I can say that we have had a travel nightmare with flights booked directly through the airline and they were of no help whatsoever.

Saving hundreds and even thousands of dollars for a seat is a huge bonus!

[SelectSys]

Keep looking, especially closer to the flight date; business award seats open up throughout the booking period. AA doesn't add a fee if you move from a coach award to a business class one.

 

I also learned that the date and time can change from your original flights. You can also change any intermediate stops as long as the departing and arriving airports don't change.

 

Thanks again for the tip. It makes sense to lock in something acceptable and then continue to pursue a higher class of service.