Air2Sea vs. British Airways

[johnjen]

Supposedly, Air2Sea touts "lowest airfare guarantee" but I'm showing a $470 price increase for both of us on r/t flights on Air2Sea over British Airways - same flight, class, etc. What's the actual true benefits of going Air2Sea vs just flying out via the airline you choose in both cases?

Edited November 21, 2018 by johnjen

[CruiserBruce]

The key here is sometimes the cruise line airfares are better, cheaper, or fit your schedule. But also sometimes they aren't cheaper, better or more convenient. Each case is different. You just have to do the research.

[klfrodo]

absolutely no way is everything the same.

Flight number may be the same. Class of seat may be the same. Airplane may be the same. Flight times may be the same.

The terms and conditions and restrictions are Guaranteed to be different.

[waterbug123]

17 hours ago, johnjen said:

Supposedly, Air2Sea touts "lowest airfare guarantee" but I'm showing a $470 price increase for both of us on r/t flights on Air2Sea over British Airways - same flight, class, etc. What's the actual true benefits of going Air2Sea vs just flying out via the airline you choose in both cases?

 

The fact that both are offering a seat on the same flight in the same class (economy, business, whatever) doesn't mean you're buying the same ticket.  At the very least, economy tickets are usually available in at least 9 or 10 different fare categories, each having slightly different rules and restrictions.  Air2Sea may have additional non-published fares as well.

[sumiandkage]

My experience with BA is that sometimes the company keeps its cheap fare buckets only available on its own web site directly. (An airline will have as many as 20 different ticket types, known as fare buckets, that they make available for different types of ticket in each cabin they sell. The airline's revenue management has gotten pretty sophisticated in figuring out how many different tickets in each fare bucket are offered on each flight or for each routing to maximize the amount the plane earns each time it goes up in the sky.) 

[em-sk]

On 11/21/2018 at 11:03 AM, johnjen said:

Supposedly, Air2Sea touts "lowest airfare guarantee" but I'm showing a $470 price increase for both of us on r/t flights on Air2Sea over British Airways - same flight, class, etc. What's the actual true benefits of going Air2Sea vs just flying out via the airline you choose in both cases?

 

I don't know Air2Sea.  If somewhere they say they guarantee the lowest fare and you want to be with them then phone them and send them a printout of the BA website and they should beat it.

 

The difference is going to be fine-print on the ticket (e.g. change fees etc.).   There is no guarantee that the lowest priced ticket will have the best fine print.  Usually that is the case but not always.   

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

And to further on the "lowest airfare guarantee".  Often those types of "guarantees", be it for air or hotel or whatever, specify that every detail must be the same.  With air, that could mean exactly the same type of fare bucket - and if A2S doesn't have access to the same buckets as BA, you have NO chance of it being "the same".

 

Caveat Emptor.

[cruising cockroach]

You might want to check what the fares include.  To throw in a wrinkle, BA has joined the basic fare club, which means you only get a carry-on (no checked bag allowance), have no selection no seats at all, and are last to board.  A sample outbound segment on BA.com for a IAD-LHR r/t indicated a (outbound) fare of $126 for basic and $216 for the next fare which does include checked baggage allowance and some degree of seat selection.

[johnjen]

Oddly enough, fares changed, but still seeing them cheaper on the airline site over air2sea. It's a gamble. We're not leaving for the cruise until July anyway, might just wait until well after the first of the year. Prices dropping on the independent airline sites; no budge at all on air2sea.