air to sea costs very high

[dakacz]

Looking for air fare for our may 2020 european cruise. Surprised by the prices.  Double what we have paid in the past.  Does anyone know why?

[WestLakeGirl]

Without knowing where you are flying to and from, and the dates, it’s impossible to speculate

[Bruin Steve]

1 hour ago, dakacz said:

Looking for air fare for our may 2020 european cruise. Surprised by the prices.  Double what we have paid in the past.  Does anyone know why?

Depending on the exact dates you are looking at, you are right on the edge of the "330 day" period when the airlines first release their flights for booking.  Sometimes, when they first post these, the fares are artificially high...When all of the airlines are on the board, those fares usually start coming down.  Just take a deep breath and wait.  Check back using a website like kayak or cheapoair and see what comes up...and be aware, even those rates will change,  Patience!

[Jim_Iain]

The Max 9 grounding have affected many airlines and they have had to cancel many flights and jack up the prices.  

 

One strategy depending on origin and destinations is to check other cities.   I had a hard time finding a good business class fare from London to SFO.  I eventually found a good fare from Frankfurt.   Even with the flight from LHR to FRA the fare was substantially less expensive.  

[cruisestitch]

I just looked at flights to Fort Lauderdale for next winter and had sticker shock. Then I remembered that the super bowl will be in Miami.  Is it possible that there is some special event where you are going?

[Lastdance]

If you are flying R/T to Rome from SFO the rate for business is 2,300...  However for RNO(Reno) it is 4,900.  For coach, SFO is 600+ and from Reno 1,600.  Of course, I do not blame Celebrity, as they have no control over the airlines, even though their sale says 20% off.  When I checked to see if they could also book the Reno to SFO R/T added on, there were no flights available for the respective carrier.  The best thing to do is always be patient and check often...I was on the phone forever trying to find flight that we both could do together, but we may end up on separate flights if need be...

 

I am traveling with a friend instead of my DH due to family obligations.  She wants to fly coach and I fly business.  We could not even get on the same flights because the prices were skewed in favor of either business or coach, so one of us would be paying way more...Okay, so game on!!!

Edited June 23, 2019 by Lastdance

[Cruzinram]

This is why I always try to match up whenever possible Queen Mary 2 for either coming or going. I have had some luck. I.E. We are planning on taking the April 2020 T/A to Southampton. Arrival date May 1., Queen Mary return to NYC May 6. Price on QM 2 is almost always less than flying. We are retired had have the time so for many that can be an issue. Many time's a Balcony Cabin will run about 800.00 PP. And if you take an inside I have seen them as low 399.00 PP.  Seven days at sea beats flying anytime.  Also I hear Norwegian Air, a low cost in'tl airline has very good pricing.

[tfred]

it is way too early to book airfare to europe.  wait a while, but check once a week or so to check trends

 

Norwegian is an option but they are on the edge of being financially unstable.  I would book close in, but i would be leery of far out bookings.  also, the real pricing on Norwegian is closer to mainline carriers once you get baggage and seat selection priced in 

[phoenix_dream]

I agree with waiting a bit.  IMHO airline prices in general are ridiculously high this year.  For example, we have taken a trip to Las Vegas (from Chicago) every August for the last 5 or 6 years.  We generally pay in the neighborhood of $250 as that is not one of their peak travel times, and book several months ahead.  This year, we haven't yet booked.  Prices for non-stops are in the low to mid $400's,  about a 175% increase.   My cynical mind suspects this is more due to airlines trying to take advantage of people thinking prices are high because of the Max9 groundings, than actual need.  Why do I say that?  One thing I do when I look at prices is I check how many seats are still available.  For our flights, the planes are still wide open, so we are waiting.  That tells me this is not a Max9 problem, but a greed problem.  If it were a Max9 problem the capacity would be less and the planes would be almost full.  End of airline fare rant😉

[jelayne]

We looked for 1 way air from Italy after a TA next spring.  Business Class was $4000+ pp. Premium Economy was $2800😮.  We decided to use miles.

[grandgeezer]

2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I agree with waiting a bit.  IMHO airline prices in general are ridiculously high this year.  For example, we have taken a trip to Las Vegas (from Chicago) every August for the last 5 or 6 years.  We generally pay in the neighborhood of $250 as that is not one of their peak travel times, and book several months ahead.  This year, we haven't yet booked.  Prices for non-stops are in the low to mid $400's,  about a 175% increase.   My cynical mind suspects this is more due to airlines trying to take advantage of people thinking prices are high because of the Max9 groundings, than actual need.  Why do I say that?  One thing I do when I look at prices is I check how many seats are still available.  For our flights, the planes are still wide open, so we are waiting.  That tells me this is not a Max9 problem, but a greed problem.  If it were a Max9 problem the capacity would be less and the planes would be almost full.  End of airline fare rant😉

 

They probably learned this from the cruise lines.

[ECCruise]

Have used Choice Air/Flights by Celebrity like 2 dozen times in the last 10 years.  No way the fares have EVER been as high as now.  And as for timing, this is both for cruises 300 days out and cruises 100 days out. The days of snagging a decent deal on cruise air are over.  

Celebrity is acting as a consolidator for these fares.  My guess is that they have tapped another revenue stream.

What we've paid in the past to Europe, one way, anywhere from $600 to $800 PP, 2 hops.  Many times.

Fares for this November, $1,757.50, 3 hops.

[Lastdance]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

We looked for 1 way air from Italy after a TA next spring.  Business Class was $4000+ pp. Premium Economy was $2800😮.  We decided to use miles.

 

Excellent choice! 

[KruznKimmie]

Set up fare alert at google flights so you receive an email with price drops.

Edited July 9, 2019 by aly7859

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On June 23, 2019 at 12:40 PM, Jim_Iain said:

The Max 9 grounding have affected many airlines and they have had to cancel many flights and jack up the prices.  

 

Have to agree with you about Max grounding has push up prices 

[cruzzzinma]

On 6/23/2019 at 4:57 PM, ECCruise said:

Celebrity is acting as a consolidator for these fares.  My guess is that they have tapped another revenue stream..

 

 

I think Celebrity just contracted for it this way. We are getting much better air deals with Cunard and Viking.

 

We went to Southampton on the QM2 and arrived two days before our Baltics cruise on the Silhouette departed. We bought return business class air from Cunard because it was discounted. Choice air and the airline rates were identical.

[Denny01]

We looked about 300+ days prior and flights from ATL to Heathrow was about $1,500 Main cabin. It’s now $750. Wait.

 

And airline tickets get funny. We are flying to Heathrow on 17 Oct and returning via Celebrity TA. The round trip tickets were what you see above and the One-Way was $2,800 and the One-Way still is about that. Crazy. We are using Miles. 

 

I’d check with Celebrity Air to see what they have available. Our last few Euro trips have been River Cruises which had set costs for their flights which we used. Good deals. 

 

Den

[ptrpanpens]

I am paying $726 to fly one way NS CDG to LAX NS business class on Air France in November. So there are still deals depending on where you go. I have found fares going through CDG to LAX to be better deals especially through Air France and Delta. But I had to look hard to find decent business class RT fares for next spring. Also returning from CDG. And open jaw from LAX to Copenhagen and back from CDG in May is costing me $2,500 in business class on Air France.

 

i think the days of cheap upper class fares via choice air may be coming to an end. 

[Covepointcruiser]

If you can make it work date wise definitely book the QM2 transatlantic.   If you really can’t dress for dinner there is always the buffet.   We were able to sail on the QM2 twice to meet Celebrity ships.   One time there were about 24 of us moving on to Celebrity.

We were also upgraded, no cost, both times.

[jan-n-john]

As always it all depends.  We are planning the Apex Norway trip next May 3 - 10 and then B2B to Barcelona arriving the 20th.  So I was looking for a trip MIA - LON around April 20 and return BCN - MIA on May 21.  Right now you can do that (cheapest fare) for $420 rt, non-stop both ways.  BA outbound and AA back.  Even paying for some extras that's not bad.

[Hlitner]

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 12:40 PM, Jim_Iain said:

The Max 9 grounding have affected many airlines and they have had to cancel many flights and jack up the prices.  

 

One strategy depending on origin and destinations is to check other cities.   I had a hard time finding a good business class fare from London to SFO.  I eventually found a good fare from Frankfurt.   Even with the flight from LHR to FRA the fare was substantially less expensive.  

The OP is talking about flights to Europe (from North America).  The 737 MAX 9 has little bearing on transatlantic flights.  Longer range flights are impacted by other issues such as supply/demand and fuel price futures.  International fares are all over the place...and this is even more true for longer range bookings.   Our only advice to the OP is do some comparison pricing between the cruise line offerings vs what you can find online.  Also price out flight options from NYC airports, Dulles and PHL.  When it comes to International we are not big fans of BWI...which seems to be "International" in name only.

 

Hank

[waterbug123]

On 6/23/2019 at 12:41 PM, cruisestitch said:

I just looked at flights to Fort Lauderdale for next winter and had sticker shock. Then I remembered that the super bowl will be in Miami.  Is it possible that there is some special event where you are going?

 

That would really only affect prices over the course of a single weekend, or a few days either side of the weekend.  It would not affect prices all winter.

 

On 6/23/2019 at 2:27 PM, phoenix_dream said:

  My cynical mind suspects this is more due to airlines trying to take advantage of people thinking prices are high because of the Max9 groundings, than actual need. 

 

Actually it's just econ 101...supply and demand.  The economy is doing very well, people are traveling, i.e. demand for flights is high and the airlines know it!