Celebrity ChoiceAir

[Cop Chef]

Hello Members,

My DW and I will be on the Reflection for the first time out of Port of Civitavecchia, Italy for the September 29, 2017 cruising. We will be booking airfare from Florida to get there a day before the cruise and most probably stay a few days afterwards when we disembark. I know we can book 300 days prior from the date of the cruise and we have plenty of time between now and then, but I would like to know if it would be better to book these flights using the Celebrity ChoiceAir or if you have better results booking airfare on your own. Is their airfare really the better price? Has anyone experience any difficulty with ChoiceAir flight changes due to an issue. Thanks in advance.

[silkismom]

I booked ChoiceAir for next cruise, UA had schedule changes (of course) I went directly to them to get the flts we wanted. I got an email from CAir several days ago FINALLY noticing the changes I made months ago. You have to keep up with the actual airline.

[Bruin Steve]

Hello Members,

My DW and I will be on the Reflection for the first time out of Port of Civitavecchia, Italy for the September 29, 2017 cruising. We will be booking airfare from Florida to get there a day before the cruise and most probably stay a few days afterwards when we disembark. I know we can book 300 days prior from the date of the cruise and we have plenty of time between now and then, but I would like to know if it would be better to book these flights using the Celebrity ChoiceAir or if you have better results booking airfare on your own. Is their airfare really the better price? Has anyone experience any difficulty with ChoiceAir flight changes due to an issue. Thanks in advance.

 

I've now used the "ChoiceAir" on a couple of cruises...

What I've found is that it pretty much works like any other search engine. Comparing it to using Travelocity or Kayak, I found, pretty much, same flights, same prices...Booked with ChoiceAir just to have it all going through Celebrity so we can have the advantage of their service and support...

 

My recommendation is to check the flights on a couple of other websites first, then compare what you can get on ChoiceAir...If it's roughly similar, go with ChoiceAir. Sometimes, however, you may find some flights on your own that do not come up on the ChioceAir web page...If that happens, try calling them...

[jelayne]

We have used choice air a number of times. For R/T flights the prices are the same or close to the same as booking with the airlines. However for 1 way flights to Europe the fares are significantly lower that booking with the airline.

 

I find the flight I want and then go to Choice Air to book. Last year we saved $400+ each on 1 way flights to Amsterdam.

[2theship]

I don't know if this recent experience was a special promotion or the standard procedure with Celebrity but here it is. After pricing around, we booked air for our Europe cruise (to Venice, back from Rome) through Choice Air. For some reason, we had delayed on buying insurance and bought it through Celebrity at final payment time. Since our flights were through Choice Air, that cost was not included in the insurance price calculation. We paid the amount of the insurance for cruise only, but the flights are also covered. On top of that, we got a great deal on the flights!

[Clarea]

We have used choice air a number of times. For R/T flights the prices are the same or close to the same as booking with the airlines. However for 1 way flights to Europe the fares are significantly lower that booking with the airline.

 

I find the flight I want and then go to Choice Air to book. Last year we saved $400+ each on 1 way flights to Amsterdam.

This has been our experience too, much better prices with Choice Air for one-way international flights.

[Xport]

ChoiceAir tends to be extremely competitive [by thousands of dollars; I shop!]--either one way or round trip--for Business Class airfares on international flights... I've used them several times to/from Europe [am doing so again later this year], to South America, to/from Asia, and to New Zealand and, while I've never had occasion to test their assistance promise as a result of having encountered flight problems along the way, it's always worked great and I've been very satisfied...

[Jiminy1955]

Do you have to be taking a Celebrity cruise in order to book Choiceair? Or can anyone book with them?

[Bruin Steve]

Do you have to be taking a Celebrity cruise in order to book Choiceair? Or can anyone book with them?

 

Celebrity, Azamara or Royal Caribbean...

You first input your cruise/sail date...

[Jiminy1955]

Celebrity, Azamara or Royal Caribbean...

You first input your cruise/sail date...

 

 

Thanks.

[Cop Chef]

Celebrity, Azamara or Royal Caribbean...

You first input your cruise/sail date...

 

I booked my cruise through a Big Bulk TA. Do I have to book the flights with them or can I use ChoiceAir with Celebrity.

[Bruin Steve]

I booked my cruise through a Big Bulk TA. Do I have to book the flights with them or can I use ChoiceAir with Celebrity.

 

I believe that, as long as you have your booking number, you can go directly to the ChoiceAir page...

[Clarea]

I believe that, as long as you have your booking number, you can go directly to the ChoiceAir page...

Correct, you can still use Choice Air, even if booked with a travel agent.

[Cop Chef]

Correct, you can still use Choice Air, even if booked with a travel agent.

 

Thank You Bruin Steve & Clarea

[Hydrokitty]

This is very good news..I'm on TA from Rome on Silhouette and one way fares from NY to Rome were off the wall. I now it's too soon, but I will definitely use choice Air.

[bayareacruiser6]

We booked through Choice Air for roundtrip to Rome for our October cruise. We'd looked at the airline prices directly before looking at the Choice Air site. The CA site showed business class fares at half the airline's pricing. We ended up booking business class seats for just a few hundred more than the airline wanted for coach. Very happy :)

[Hydrokitty]

We booked through Choice Air for roundtrip to Rome for our October cruise. We'd looked at the airline prices directly before looking at the Choice Air site. The CA site showed business class fares at half the airline's pricing. We ended up booking business class seats for just a few hundred more than the airline wanted for coach. Very happy :)

 

It's too early for me to book, but I checked fares based on flying to Rome Nov, 2016.....I was amazed. When I went to the airlines, including Expedia and others like it, I was quoted business at $7000+ per person...when I went to Choice Air I got a quote of $4300 +/-. Incredible!!!! :D

[waterbug123]

I would like to know if it would be better to book these flights using the Celebrity ChoiceAir or if you have better results booking airfare on your own. Is their airfare really the better price? Has anyone experience any difficulty with ChoiceAir flight changes due to an issue. Thanks in advance.

 

It depends an awful lot on what you mean by "better." If you mean "cheaper" and that is your main concern, you may well find a better price with Choice Air. Your ticket may also have different rules and restrictions than the one you'd purchase directly through the airline, but if there are no issues on flight day, any such differences will likely be a non-issue. There's a sticky on the Cruise Air forum where you can learn more.

 

As for difficulties, there have been plenty of anecdotal reports of folks using Choice Air and all went fine. There have also been plenty of anecdotal reports of folks using Choice Air, having problems (of all kinds) and Choice Air being little to no help at solving the problems.

[Mr. Click]

Choice Air can indeed have some great prices but sometimes there are little "surprises". We booked out flights for our Sept 3 cruise from AMS with them. Great price on biz class on American but one flight is a code share with BA. During the booking process I was told to choose our seats and I did just that, also took time to join AA's frequent flyer club. A month later I am checking things again for schedule changes and the like and I find our seats on the AA portion are mess up but I fixed it so I went to check on the BA portion only to find out that it would cost me an additional pile of money (about $300) to get advance seat assignments. Had I known this when I was booking I would have had the chance to avoid the AA/BA code share segment. When I complained to Choice Air they reply was too bad...well that is the short version. So, when we get to 6:25 EDT on August 31, 2016 I will be dashing to get us checked in and get our seats confirmed.....Lesson learned. Always compare, always ask questions. Always get names of the people giving the answers.

[emileg]

Choice Air can indeed have some great prices but sometimes there are little "surprises". We booked out flights for our Sept 3 cruise from AMS with them. Great price on biz class on American but one flight is a code share with BA. During the booking process I was told to choose our seats and I did just that, also took time to join AA's frequent flyer club. A month later I am checking things again for schedule changes and the like and I find our seats on the AA portion are mess up but I fixed it so I went to check on the BA portion only to find out that it would cost me an additional pile of money (about $300) to get advance seat assignments. Had I known this when I was booking I would have had the chance to avoid the AA/BA code share segment. When I complained to Choice Air they reply was too bad...well that is the short version. So, when we get to 6:25 EDT on August 31, 2016 I will be dashing to get us checked in and get our seats confirmed.....Lesson learned. Always compare, always ask questions. Always get names of the people giving the answers.

Even if you book directly with British Airways on business class, nowadays they make you pay big money for advanced seat assignments, unless you are a high up the food chain in their rewards program.

[royalcruz]

Choice Air can indeed have some great prices but sometimes there are little "surprises". We booked out flights for our Sept 3 cruise from AMS with them. Great price on biz class on American but one flight is a code share with BA. During the booking process I was told to choose our seats and I did just that, also took time to join AA's frequent flyer club. A month later I am checking things again for schedule changes and the like and I find our seats on the AA portion are mess up but I fixed it so I went to check on the BA portion only to find out that it would cost me an additional pile of money (about $300) to get advance seat assignments. Had I known this when I was booking I would have had the chance to avoid the AA/BA code share segment. When I complained to Choice Air they reply was too bad...well that is the short version. So, when we get to 6:25 EDT on August 31, 2016 I will be dashing to get us checked in and get our seats confirmed.....Lesson learned. Always compare, always ask questions. Always get names of the people giving the answers.

 

BA charges for seats whether you book through ChoiceAir or not. My DH and I pay the charge for long flights so we can sit together, and take the chance with shorter flights. Also be careful with these code share flights that you get FF miles assigned to the loyalty club of your choosing.

[bogofman]

Has anyone used the choice air booking, when wanting to customize the start and end of cruise stays?

 

when i was booking our cruises, the options (on line) did not extend to the dates we wanted.

 

i assume you would need to phone up for that?

 

We booked our flights independent as a result.

 

inquiring about one way flights we found choice air to be approx twice the price of a single fair ( if booking a two way)

 

i.e return from London to Miami is about £520

Choice air wanted over £600 for a one way.

 

In the end we decided to book a return and take the opportunity to do two Ta's 7 months apart :)

[Mr. Click]

I am now well aware of BA's seating policy. My real question for Choice Air is why didn't you tell me this when I was booking? Why did you ask me to pick my seats if I could not get then now without paying extra? If I need to roll the dice on seats I can go to Spirit or Southwest and be really miserable. I decided to just chance it on this one. We are in Biz class, it is an overnight flight so mostly it will be eating and sleeping. If we were in the back I would worry more about sitting together. Choice Air did save me a lot of money on this trip and on our Australia/New Zealand trip too. I just wish they were more forthcoming with real information on this one. I put our new AA FF numbers in so we should get the miles there. I have not flown on AA in 15 years. We would have preferred United but the pricing said no....

[Clarea]

Has anyone used the choice air booking, when wanting to customize the start and end of cruise stays? ...

Yes, the website allows us to vary the start and end days of the trip. I don't know the limits, but we have booked a week before the cruise once.

[emelle]

Booked with Choice air via "travel agent" for upcoming cruise in europe. Prices were some better than regular airlines, but not understanding the AA/BA shared ticketing and planes has caused problems when one of them changes a route and does not communicate etc....however our biggest concern was when AA has changed a route back home that BA has ticketed--it leaves us with less time to connect with our transatlantic leg that BA itself recommends online for Heathrow terminal 3 (was 2 hours now less than one hour).

My "travel agent," my husband and I have all tried to change this to a ticket, still available on Choice air website, even willing to pay more for the new tickets with the now better connection and the answer has been "too bad, BA thinks it's enough time, and if you miss the transatlantic leg (which is the last flight from Heathrow to Miami that day), we will route you to Germany for a 10 hour layover which will get you home a day later than planned."

 

Wish us luck on the connecting flight! I am hoping not to have to try the 24 hour help line!

 

All to say, could have happened with a regular airline, but Choice air has been anything but "choice" so far.