Choice Air-- what should I know?

[Doh15]

We have always arranged our own air travel, but we also usually don't plan cruises very far in advance.  We are looking at a cruise for next summer and I assumed I'd start shopping airfare this winter but then I decided to check out Choice Air just to see what was on offer.  

 

There is an economy ticket which is slightly cheaper than what I can get now, and not unreasonably priced based on my past experience ($850 RT US-Europe). It is marked with a green star as "refundable, fees may apply", which I understand means that it is fully refundable up until final payment, and then refundable with $175 fee after that.

 

Am I right about that refund policy? I was thinking about  booking those flights and then doing my shopping in the winter and if I find something better I could cancel the Choice Air, and if not then I could keep it.

 

Other questions--

 

We might want to fly business class if cheaper fares or award tickets become available-- can I upgrade tickets bought through Choice Air?  (Or will they let me buy two one way tickets?)

 

How easy is it to change dates before final payment on a "refundable fare" (does it require canceling and rebooking based on current pricing, or is it a change fee to move by a day)? 

 

Any idea how common it is for Choice Air flights to be changed after purchase (absent a change in airline schedules)? 

 

Am I right to think that if the price is close between Choice Air and the airline I should just book directly with the airline (especially if we are planning to come in a day or two early)?

 

If my cruise is booked through a TA, do I need to (or should I) go through that TA to book Choice Air?  I was thinking if I am considering not keeping the flights it might be better to do it all myself on their website if I can. 

 

If you have any other advice about or experience with Choice Air to share, I'd love to hear it.

 

Thanks!

[dabear]

first, you probably should call choice air to answer all of your questions. Second, my understanding is that you can refund up to the final payment date but with the refund fee. Afterwords, I don't think you can get a refund. Once you pay for the air, you can get your seats. I was able to upgrade directly with the airline. 

[marinaro44]

I've booked two one-way tickets through ChoiceAir.  Surprisingly, saved a lot of money doing so.

[nordski]

On 8/4/2019 at 11:14 AM, Doh15 said:

 

 

Any idea how common it is for Choice Air flights to be changed after purchase (absent a change in airline schedules)? 

 

Am I right to think that if the price is close between Choice Air and the airline I should just book directly with the airline (especially if we are planning to come in a day or two early)?

 

If my cruise is booked through a TA, do I need to (or should I) go through that TA to book Choice Air?  I was thinking if I am considering not keeping the flights it might be better to do it all myself on their website if I can. 

 

If you have any other advice about or experience with Choice Air to share, I'd love to hear it.

 

Thanks!

 

Always a challenge to answer questions about flight arrangements since the answers reflect anecdotal experience and evidence.

 

1/ In our experience there have been no serious changes in booked Choice Air flights. Indeed, they have been limited to minor changes in flight times initiated by the air lines.

 

2/ If the price is close we would use Choice Air. They have an emergency number to call if a flight is cancelled at the last minute or a connection missed. In theory that number should help you alter your plans to reach your objective. However, we have never had to use that service so can’t comment it’s utility.

 

3/ If you booked a cruise through a TA, you do not need to involve them in reserving flights through Choice Air. That service will automatically notify your agent of the air reservation for your cruise.

 

We have had good luck with using CA. We begin our search there as the results provide some parameters for the flights we are researching. In using it, we always arrange to fly in at least 1day before embarkation.

[uktog]

A question, I have a cruise booked through a US agent priced in dollars.  I will need a one way business class ticket home from South Africa to the UK.  Should I be exploring Choice Air and how do I access it?

 

Sorry I am ignorant on this one and am probably asking some basic questions

Edited August 5, 2019 by uktog

[Werangels]

53 minutes ago, uktog said:

A question, I have a cruise booked through a US agent priced in dollars.  I will need a one way business class ticket home from South Africa to the UK.  Should I be exploring Choice Air and how do I access it?

 

Sorry I am ignorant on this one and am probably asking some basic questions

 

Ann, apologies if I’m not supposed to ask this.  Is this because the price is more favourable through a US agent?  Thank you.

[hiccups]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

A question, I have a cruise booked through a US agent priced in dollars.  I will need a one way business class ticket home from South Africa to the UK.  Should I be exploring Choice Air and how do I access it?

 

Sorry I am ignorant on this one and am probably asking some basic questions

Under "Plan" on the Azamara home page, there's a link for ChoiceAir.  Click on "Book your ChoiceAir flights" and it should take you to the booking engine.  You can put in your reservation number, etc., or for a quick check, there's a tab that lets you search by cruise line, ship and sailing date.

[uktog]

22 minutes ago, Werangels said:

 

Ann, apologies if I’m not supposed to ask this.  Is this because the price is more favourable through a US agent?  Thank you.

Yes, it is a cruise that was priced high so I can access better cancellation and rebook terms through the USA

The risk I am taking is where will the £ be in a year - when we booked the price in the USA was also better

[nordski]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

A question, I have a cruise booked through a US agent priced in dollars.  I will need a one way business class ticket home from South Africa to the UK.  Should I be exploring Choice Air and how do I access it?

 

Sorry I am ignorant on this one and am probably asking some basic questions

 

That’s a great question!

 

Certainly I would try to access through the steps Hiccups suggests, particularly in the case of a one way flight.

 

However, I think the issue of you living in a different market with different rules may come into play here, rather than the location of the agent. 

 

Obviously you will have to use the North American web site for booking the flights.

 

If you decide to attempt this, I am looking forward to hearing the results.

[uktog]

13 minutes ago, hiccups said:

Under "Plan" on the Azamara home page, there's a link for ChoiceAir.  Click on "Book your ChoiceAir flights" and it should take you to the booking engine.  You can put in your reservation number, etc., or for a quick check, there's a tab that lets you search by cruise line, ship and sailing date.

Thanks so much - I am in an unknown with this 🙂

 

[Travels with Lisa]

Several years ago, we had a problem with Choice Air.  I'll try to make a long story short - we booked our flights and we needed a connection.  After we booked, the airline decided that it was an "illegal flight"- our connection time was too short.  So, they rebooked us connected through a different airport.  My TA notified us and we decided we didn't want to connect in the Midwest in the middle of winter, so we rebooked again.  Turns out flight A and flight B now have different confirmation numbers.  Despite all the assurances from Delta and Choice Air that we could check our bags all the way through to Rome, that was not the case. We had to pick them up in JFK, recheck in and go through security again.  Needless to say this was extremely stressful.   Choice Air was no help and held no responsibility.  We were on a Delta flight, operated by someone else with another airlines seats.  It was a nightmare and no one wanted to claim responsibility for us...My TA could do nothing on her end after I woke her up at 5 am.

 

But, we decided to give them another try and  we got an amazing deal on a business class flight in October.  I hope we have better luck.

 

Everything is a crap shoot...

[Doh15]

Could someone tell me, if you book Choice Air before final payment is due on the cruise, do they just add the cost of the flights to final payment, or do you pay for them at the time of booking (or something in between)?

[nordski]

In our experience, you pay at the time of booking

[hiccups]

3 hours ago, Doh15 said:

Could someone tell me, if you book Choice Air before final payment is due on the cruise, do they just add the cost of the flights to final payment, or do you pay for them at the time of booking (or something in between)?

You pay at the time of booking.  I'll be curious to see if Azamara eventually adapts Celebrity's model, where you can book your flights and be locked in with the price, but if the price drops, you can call and get the lower price.  We have a November cruise booked on X and received two price drops. 

 

Meanwhile, with the flights for our Azamara cruise on Saturday, we paid in full at the time of booking, but Azamara then charged us an extra $275 when we made our final cruise payment because they said the price changed while they were processing our air tickets.  We're STILL trying to get our money back!

[Doh15]

35 minutes ago, hiccups said:

You pay at the time of booking.  I'll be curious to see if Azamara eventually adapts Celebrity's model, where you can book your flights and be locked in with the price, but if the price drops, you can call and get the lower price.  We have a November cruise booked on X and received two price drops. 

 

Meanwhile, with the flights for our Azamara cruise on Saturday, we paid in full at the time of booking, but Azamara then charged us an extra $275 when we made our final cruise payment because they said the price changed while they were processing our air tickets.  We're STILL trying to get our money back!

 

 

Thanks for the reply, and sorry to hear about that price bump-- that would be frustrating.

 

I had posted because I saw a flight that seemed like a good deal (cheaper than what I could get), so I booked on their website but it never asked me for a credit card.  Wondering if I had missed something (since when have you ever been able to book an airline ticket without giving someone a credit card number) I called them but was put on hold for a while and decided it might be easier to ask here. After seeing your post (and others suggesting things don't always go smoothly) I started to wonder if something had gone wrong for me so I called back and this time waited on hold.

 

The very nice person at ChoiceAir told me that my booking was a "book now pay later" booking where I would not be charged until final cruise payment.  I knew it was a refundable fare but she made clear I could change or cancel it at any time before final payment, which suggests to me if the price does drop you could call and rebook at the lower price.  She did say that not every fare falls in this category, but it wasn't clear to me if every refundable fare does or not.

[dabear]

4 hours ago, Doh15 said:

Could someone tell me, if you book Choice Air before final payment is due on the cruise, do they just add the cost of the flights to final payment, or do you pay for them at the time of booking (or something in between)?

We booked CA about 9 months before our cruise. we were able to add the costs to our cruise fare and payment was not due until final payment. 

 

A word of caution. About 2 months before the cruise and after final payment we noticed the airfare on the airlines website dropped about $800. We called CA for a price adjustment. Their price had not dropped as much so they gave me a reduced credit, of course less with a higher than the airline's change fee.They also charged a $35 reissue fee that was not disclosed to me during the transaction. Untimate credit only $360. I'm disappointed.