Flights by Celebrity payment

[blackshirt]

I made a flight reservation the other day for our return from Venice in May on the Constellation.  Previously, reservations through Flights By Celebrity/Air2Sea required payment at the time of the reservation. I was surprised the reservation was made and no payment information requested. The subsequent reservation confirmation email says nothing about when or how to pay and the status of the reservation on the airline site is “unknown”, so I presume it does not change to “ticketed” until paid for. I’m still a month out from final payment for the cruise and it is through a TA. Does the airfare get added to the cruise reservation and paid at final payment or should I be calling Celebrity to submit payment?

[Devo1459]

After I booked my airfare that amount and my cruise price showed as a total when I logged in.  When I go to manage my reservation it shows the breakdown.

my flight reservations had to be paid in full when I booked them and non refundable.  Our cruise is in June. I’d call. Hope that helps. 

[cruisestitch]

This is a new promotion by Celebrity. Whereais in the past you had to pay for the flight at the time of booking, now you do not have to pay for the flight until you make Cruise final payment. Of course you can choose to pay for it earlier if you wish. There has been a thread about it here on Cruise critic in the past few days. Do a search and I’m sure you will find it.

[RICCruisers]

Do you have seat assignments?  If not I’d check into that. 

[KikisDad]

Hmm, i think if it is not ticketed, the cost may change. You may want to contact your TA. 

[blackshirt]

19 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

This is a new promotion by Celebrity. Where as in the past you had to pay for the flight at the time of booking, now you do not have to pay for the flight until you make Cruise final payment. Of course you can choose to pay for it earlier if you wish. There has been a thread about it here on Cruise critic in the past few days. Do a search and I’m sure you will find it.

 

That was it. Called this morning to pay for the flight. The reservation has now turned to "ticketed" and I can select seats.

[Aralim]

23 hours ago, blackshirt said:

 

That was it. Called this morning to pay for the flight. The reservation has now turned to "ticketed" and I can select seats.

 

So you had a reservation for the flight that basically guaranteed a seat, but until you called and actually made payment you could not select the seats?

[blackshirt]

1 hour ago, Aralim said:

 

So you had a reservation for the flight that basically guaranteed a seat, but until you called and actually made payment you could not select the seats?

 

That is correct. I’m glad I did not wait. Many seats were already gone.

[Aralim]

Thanks, @blackshirt! I already saw the advice on a separate thread to make the airline reservations through Flights by Celebrity 9-10 months out as that's when the lowest prices are to be had, so I'll be sure to budget in that time period for the full flight payment.

[Travelbug750]

I spoke to Celebrity this morning and during the course of the conversation, the agent mentioned that they have some new options regarding air bookings.  The one that applies here is that they now have the option of using a refundable air fare instead of just nonrefundable.  A refundable fare does not have to be ticketed immediately but I would assume be subject to change until ticketed.  Once ticketed, the fare is locked in.  A nonrefundable fare needs to be ticketed immediately.  In days past, the nonrefundable fare is usually less expensive.

[Aralim]

@Travelbug750, does that mean that if you take the non-refundable fare it gets ticketed immediately, but you still don't have to pay until final payment? I'm going to assume the answer to this is "no" and that non-refundable also means pay immediately, at least until you pleasantly surprise me. 

[Travelbug750]

I wish I could surprise you! A nonrefundable fare means payment and ticketing immediately. 

 

[Aralim]

On 1/22/2019 at 3:56 PM, Travelbug750 said:

I wish I could surprise you! A nonrefundable fare means payment and ticketing immediately. 

 

That's fine. I had gone into this figuring that I would be booking the flight at the earliest opportunity since that seems to be when the lowest fares for transatlantic flights are available anyway. I've got the reminder on my calendar for September, will just be ready for some temporary pain in the wallet that month! 🤑