Choice Air With American Airlines

[angelhelly]

Anybody has experience booking with Choice Air for American Airlines? Can do you your seat assignment after booking? Any good or bad experience?

 

I'm debating between booking on choice air or directly on aa.com. Trying to figure out the pros and cons. I have seens some about British airlines and Delta, but nothing for American airlines.

 

Thanks,

[cjcruiser27]

I picked my seats and this is the 1st time using them with choice air and it's not until Dec that I fly. Way better rate for me, we shall see [emoji4]good luck!

 

 

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[wrk2cruise]

I did a one way for a transatlantic cruise with choice air on American. Once I made my booking I went directly to the AA site and selected seats.

 

For domestic flights wouldn't involve Choice Air unless the fare was quite a bit less.

[ghstudio]

For transatlantics we always use choice air and book on American. Choice Air will give you an American Airlines booking number and you can access your tickets on the AA site which includes setting up and/or moving your seats. No problems on many of these flights and we always get Aadvantage miles as well.

[angelhelly]

I did a one way for a transatlantic cruise with choice air on American. Once I made my booking I went directly to the AA site and selected seats.For domestic flights wouldn't involve Choice Air unless the fare was quite a bit less.

 

The only reason I am considering Choice air is because I am on a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Summit... which have a tendency to get chartered, canceled or what not... I've read that if it is the case, Choice air would refund flight even if they are non-refundable. Is that accurate?

[Mr. Click]

The only reason I am considering Choice air is because I am on a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Summit... which have a tendency to get chartered, canceled or what not... I've read that if it is the case, Choice air would refund flight even if they are non-refundable. Is that accurate?

We booked AA through Choice Air for our Med cruise last September. Our flight across the Atlantic, EWR to LHR to AMS was an AA code share on BA and we were NOT allowed to pick our seats without paying an extra fee. It was implied during the booking process that we could pick them but when I went to the BA web site and checked, no seat assignments. Our return from Barcelona was a regular AA flight and we were able to pick out seats in advance without an extra fee. So, watch out for code shares.

[silkismom]

ChoiceAir gets a lot of bad press on here, one good thing is if you get Celebrity insurance, it covers the Choice Air as well, not sure if anyone has needed to collect on both or not.

[Luvcrusn]

Anybody has experience booking with Choice Air for American Airlines? Can do you your seat assignment after booking? Any good or bad experience?I'm debating between booking on choice air or directly on aa.com. Trying to figure out the pros and cons. I have seens some about British airlines and Delta, but nothing for American airlines.

 

Thanks,

 

 

We've booked American Airlines through Choice Air many times. Yes, you can go on AA website after booking and select seat assignments. We've also given Choice Air our frequent flyer numbers and TSA PreCheck info, then gone on AA website to check all was right. Never have had a problem except some weather related issues that were out of Choice Air and American Airline control.

[eddiethekub]

We used ChoiceAir for a one way TA cruise from Civitavecchia. Selected United because I have "status" with them. When booking, entered my Mileage Plus number. I was able to use the UA web site to change seats and do on line check in.....just as if I booked directly with UA......but at a considerable savings over UA's one way fare. And I received mileage credits. Round trips, particularly domestic, usually do not save any money. Pays to check both ways.

[angelhelly]

Thank you all for the help. I finally booked directly with AA because for some reason, the flight at choice air I wanted was not available. I hope it will not come bit me in the ... if there is a problem!

[cruisecookie]

Did you try to book online with Choice Air or on the telephone? When I tried to book online, I couldn't find the AA flight that I wanted. Then I called and spoke to a representative at Choice Air. The representative informed me that she couldn't sell me the flight that I wanted because it did not arrive within their guidelines. They would not guarantee that we would make it to the ship on time. With that in mind we changed our flight plans so that we could book with Choice Air.

[angelhelly]

Did you try to book online with Choice Air or on the telephone? When I tried to book online, I couldn't find the AA flight that I wanted. Then I called and spoke to a representative at Choice Air. The representative informed me that she couldn't sell me the flight that I wanted because it did not arrive within their guidelines. They would not guarantee that we would make it to the ship on time. With that in mind we changed our flight plans so that we could book with Choice Air.

 

I tried on the phone. The flight was well withing their parameter... Arriving on Friday, Cruise on Saturday-Saturday and leaving at 3:55pm Saturday. The airline was not releasing it for booking for some reason. The flight I wanted was on their website, but I couldn't book it online because I needed an extra seat for my husband.

 

Southwest is SOOOO much easier for that.

[IHateSnow!]

It sounds like choice air just acts like a giant TA then, booking the flights? No issues with them counting toward elite status, or using elite perks (seat assignments etc?)

 

 

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[waterbug123]

It sounds like choice air just acts like a giant TA then, booking the flights? No issues with them counting toward elite status, or using elite perks (seat assignments etc?)

 

It depends. Sometimes they sell you regular, published fares and thus just act as a travel agent, selling you the exact same ticket you could buy from the airline website. Sometimes they sell you tickets for which they've negotiated specially with the airline to get a bargain price. These may or may not have additional restrictions, may or may not allow you to earn miles/status, etc.

 

Also, I don't recall the details, but AA and UA have both announced that they'll be introducing some basic economy fares that are more highly restricted than regular economy fares. Delta already does this on some routes, and one of the restrictions is that there is NO advance seat selection, even if one has status with them. It's entirely possible that one could end up with one of these fares on any of these airlines if booking through the cruiseline.

[bottomfeeder]

It depends. Sometimes they sell you regular, published fares and thus just act as a travel agent, selling you the exact same ticket you could buy from the airline website. Sometimes they sell you tickets for which they've negotiated specially with the airline to get a bargain price. These may or may not have additional restrictions, may or may not allow you to earn miles/status, etc.

 

Also, I don't recall the details, but AA and UA have both announced that they'll be introducing some basic economy fares that are more highly restricted than regular economy fares. Delta already does this on some routes, and one of the restrictions is that there is NO advance seat selection, even if one has status with them. It's entirely possible that one could end up with one of these fares on any of these airlines if booking through the cruiseline.

 

 

I would think that if you spoke with ChoiceAir on the phone and asked the question about what fare class the ticket was, you could clear up that question before purchase. I've only used them for Transatlantic one-way fares and their prices are great for that (far less than any other source I checked) and I've always gotten frequent flier miles for them--though with Delta I don't believe I've gotten $ credit towards status for the fare.

 

I discovered after purchasing my ticket for my upcoming cruise, though that since it was ticketed as Delta but actually was a Virgin Atlantic flight, I could not select my seat on the Delta site but had to go to Virgin Atlantic's site and pay about $40 additional to book a specific seat. (Of course I was guaranteed to have a seat of some kind, but I didn't want to end up in a middle seat!) That was unwelcome but I'd still choose that flight even knowing in advance that I'd pay that $40.

[Lastdance]

I am booked with a return flight from Rome to Reno via Dallas on Choice Air when American canceled one of my flights and added at flight that would make my DH and I have to fly on two different planes at once. Neither American or CA caught it...Really? Thank goodness I did. Then we ended up with a double booking...honestly? After at least 8 phone calls, I was able to talk with a supervisor from American who straightened everything else. He put us on much better flights and seats in Business/First, so I hope all is good. With the airlines nowadays, one never knows what will happen...Oh, I forgot to mention that originally we were with British Airways and American..., our price is fantastic!

 

 

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[waterbug123]

I would think that if you spoke with ChoiceAir on the phone and asked the question about what fare class the ticket was, you could clear up that question before purchase.

 

That would be nice, but anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. There's a sticky on the cruise air forum that really has a lot of detail about fare codes, and rules and restrictions attached to tickets, and there's more to it than just the single letter fare class. People have found that it's virtually impossible to get the full ticket code with all the fine print ahead of time from Choice Air.