Carnival Fly2Fun

[FloridaGirlLovesToCruise]

We tried this new program for our upcoming July 9 cruise on the Vista. We booked the cruise back in October and the air portion in November. We had to pay our final payment on April 1 and there were several seat options at that time. We are now 41 days away from flying ( we are going to Barcelona early) and Carnival still has not paid Delta for our flights. We are unable to confirm our seats and it appears the only way we can all sit together with our grand daughter is if we pay for premium seats since almost all the seats are gone. Carnival lied to our travel agent and swore we were ticketed yesterday, but we were not. This has been a nightmare and I would not recommend this program to anyone.

[klfrodo]

Didn't educate yourself on consolidator tickets first huh?

[FlyerTalker]

Did you buy on the basis of price, deferred payment or both?

[cruises42]

We tried this new program for our upcoming July 9 cruise on the Vista. We booked the cruise back in October and the air portion in November. We had to pay our final payment on April 1 and there were several seat options at that time. We are now 41 days away from flying ( we are going to Barcelona early) and Carnival still has not paid Delta for our flights. We are unable to confirm our seats and it appears the only way we can all sit together with our grand daughter is if we pay for premium seats since almost all the seats are gone. Carnival lied to our travel agent and swore we were ticketed yesterday, but we were not. This has been a nightmare and I would not recommend this program to anyone.

 

We used the program from DC to Orlando last month and had no trouble. We had access to our booking and picked seats the day after we booked the air through Carnival. We booked directly through our Carnival PVP, maybe the travel agent messed up.

[cocacola86]

From what I heard is the fly2fun is better at domestic than international we plan on using them for our upcoming Magic cruise in April. We used them before but under the old program

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[waterbug123]

We used the program from DC to Orlando last month and had no trouble. We had access to our booking and picked seats the day after we booked the air through Carnival. We booked directly through our Carnival PVP, maybe the travel agent messed up.

 

Or maybe the OP was simply unaware that sometimes a cruise line will sell you consolidator tickets (likely in her case) and sometimes they sell "regular" tickets (more likely in your case).

[cocacola86]

Sorry what do you mean consolidated tickets

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[waterbug123]

Sorry what do you mean consolidated tickets

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

In a nutshell, ticket consolidators buy bulk quantities of tickets at a specially negotiated price from the airline and then resell them to actual passengers. Very often, these tickets have different rules and restrictions attached to them. For example, you might not be able to choose a seat in advance, you might not be able to change the ticket (even for a fee), you might not be able to be rerouted if your flight is delayed or canceled (even if rerouting is the only way to get to your destination on time), and many more.

 

If you buy a ticket from a 3rd party (i.e. not directly from the airline itself) and it is significantly cheaper than what the airline is charging, it may well be a consolidator ticket, although the seller will likely not tell you that outright.

 

If you have such a ticket and all goes according to plan, you may never know your ticket was any different. But if things go awry, well, you may or may not be affected drastically. It will depend on exactly what the rules and restrictions that govern your ticket are, and you probably won't be able to find out in advance what those are.

 

There are some online travel agencies that sell such tickets, and some of the tickets sold by cruise lines or as part of other vacation "packages" are consolidator (or similar) tickets.

 

Is the cost savings worth the risk? That depends on you, your priorities, your own individual level or risk tolerance, whether or not your plans are flexible etc.

 

Caveat emptor.

[klfrodo]

Sorry what do you mean consolidated tickets

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

 

Long read, original post is from a couple of years ago but the information provided is still true today.

 

When finished reading, you will know more about air travel, airline industry, and behind the scenes than you ever wanted to know.

 

You'll be much wiser though.

[FlyerTalker]

From what I heard is

Words that should make anyone stop and reassess.

 

Where, when, from whom. Relevance to MY situation. Assessment of veracity and timeliness.

 

AKA "due dilligence".