Flights via Cunard - or not!

[RJChatsworth]

23 hours ago, Scotraveller said:

I usually book my own flights, but the deal on T/A including flights out to NYC is very good but my question is, do they give options on airlines? I have Gold status with BA and would get to use lounge etc etc and am happy to travel economy this once out to New York due to short flight etc. I wouldn't use Cunard's fares if they weren't with BA so is it a risk to just include flights with them? My flight for next October are obviously not on sale yet - hence the question about including the flight now and not knowing flight details.

The short answer to your BA question is 'Yes'.  Whenever we book flights through Cunard we always request BA for the Avios points.  I call the Cunard flight department direct and tell them which day we want to fly, the actual flight we want to go on and the class of travel.  If, for argument, you are boarding a ship in New York and want to travel anywhere else in the USA, like LA first, they will provide those BA flights as well.  In this case it is easy to book your own one-way flights from LA to NY to catch the ship.

 

The only time we failed was when we wanted to fly from London to Bermuda one-way on BA to spend a few days there before travelling on our own booked one-way AA flight from Bermuda to NY to pick-up QM-2.  It was surprising that Cunard's contract with BA for one-way flights did not include Bermuda particularly as Cunard's fleet is registered in Bermuda.

 

Another point with Cunard arranged BA flights is that you can't normally book actual seats until you have made full payment to Cunard some 12 weeks out.  To some destinations that can be a bit late to get seats together on the flight to certain busy destinations if in Premium Economy or Business Class.  Cunard recognise this and it is possible to pay for the flight portion of the total cruise costs prior to the full payment date.  Under this arrangement Cunard will release the flight tickets early so that you can book actual seats direct with BA.

[Scotraveller]

4 minutes ago, RJChatsworth said:

The short answer to your BA question is 'Yes'.  Whenever we book flights through Cunard we always request BA for the Avios points.  I call the Cunard flight department direct and tell them which day we want to fly, the actual flight we want to go on and the class of travel.  If, for argument, you are boarding a ship in New York and want to travel anywhere else in the USA, like LA first, they will provide those BA flights as well.  In this case it is easy to book your own one-way flights from LA to NY to catch the ship.

 

The only time we failed was when we wanted to fly from London to Bermuda one-way on BA to spend a few days there before travelling on our own booked one-way AA flight from Bermuda to NY to pick-up QM-2.  It was surprising that Cunard's contract with BA for one-way flights did not include Bermuda particularly as Cunard's fleet is registered in Bermuda.

 

Another point with Cunard arranged BA flights is that you can't normally book actual seats until you have made full payment to Cunard some 12 weeks out.  To some destinations that can be a bit late to get seats together on the flight to certain busy destinations if in Premium Economy or Business Class.  Cunard recognise this and it is possible to pay for the flight portion of the total cruise costs prior to the full payment date.  Under this arrangement Cunard will release the flight tickets early so that you can book actual seats direct with BA.

Very helpful, thank you so much for the tips! I hate not being in control of my flights - I'm such a geek - so these answer really help. I've decided to take the Cunard flights which are valued at £200 and my travel agent says that they are usually on the same day as the ship departs from New York - I've decided not to extend my stay in New York for various reasons this time. Is this true that the included flights are on the same day as the sailing? I think I might stick it out in economy too - I managed Miami a couple of years ago so I'll be fine! How snooty does that sound eh? Happy to be fit enough to be flying and cruising so nothing to grumble about.

[RJChatsworth]

12 minutes ago, Scotraveller said:

Very helpful, thank you so much for the tips! I hate not being in control of my flights - I'm such a geek - so these answer really help. I've decided to take the Cunard flights which are valued at £200 and my travel agent says that they are usually on the same day as the ship departs from New York - I've decided not to extend my stay in New York for various reasons this time. Is this true that the included flights are on the same day as the sailing? I think I might stick it out in economy too - I managed Miami a couple of years ago so I'll be fine! How snooty does that sound eh? Happy to be fit enough to be flying and cruising so nothing to grumble about.

If you are not staying in NY at a Cunard arranged or independently arranged hotel prior to boarding, then Cunard will book you on an early morning flight to board the ship on the same day.  In our experience this is has in the past been the 0830 BA flight from LHR T5 to JFK.  Cunard is usually in a position to book the flights about 48 weeks in advance.

[fabnfortysomething]

we are on QM2 sailing Southampton to New York next July

plan to deviate once flights are released to allow spending week with friends in USA

so at present because booked so early our booking includes air back to London same day arrive in New York

am assuming that will be either on BA or virgin

[Neuhoftraveler]

12 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

If you are sailing from home then just book flight in opposite direction.

 

You can then not use return.  The airlines frown upon this,  so don't do it to often.

 

 

Four comments:

1.  I believe that buying an RT ticket and not using the return is viewed by the airlines as fraud, i.e., the RT ticket is sold under specific contract terms that include the obligation of the passenger to use the ticket for the return trip (as opposed to, e.g., QM2).  I don''t have any information on how often the airlines enforce this, but if they have your credit card number they can easily do so if you don't show up for the return flight, simply by charging your card for the difference between one-way and RT.  (If you don't show up for what was booked as the outbound, they simply cancel the entire ticket, leaving you high and dry for the inbound.)

2.  I'm not sure if a US  resident can book a US/Europe RT that commences in Europe.

3.  If you have frequent-flyer miles on the airline in question, you can use them for a one-way for 1/2 the number of miles for an RT.

4.  Cunard quoted us a price for a London-Washington business class seat that was only a little more than 1/2 the same airline's RT for business class.

[Windsurfboy]

The EU has declared that airlines cannot charge passengers who do not use their return tickets. 

[Neuhoftraveler]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

The EU has declared that airlines cannot charge passengers who do not use their return tickets. 

Interesting.  I wonder if the EU rule protects US residents who buy a RT ticket EU-US-EU in order to return home from a cruise (assuming the airlines will sell a US resident such a RT ticket in the first place).

 

The US once had enforceable legal protections for airline passengers against "unfair and deceptive practices" (Section 411 of the Federal Aviation Act, for those who are curious).  Too bad those days are gone now.

[Windsurfboy]

Enforcement of this rule is spotty. Strangely the Italians enforce this rule after a court case.  I don't think it's been tested in court in the UK, so be careful of  doing it with BA or Virgin

[Solent Richard]

On 8/12/2019 at 3:51 PM, cruiseluvva said:

We need to book one way flights to Singapore.

 

Booking direct Business flights from LHR to SIN via Singapore Air £2213pp. Cunard quoted us £2620pp for exactly the same flights, some airline, same time, I don’t mind them making a bit of a profit, but that’s far too much. And no transfers because we are booking our own hotel.

 

We’ll be booking direct needless to say!

 

Aha, I have been considering a similar thread as I recorded the whole procedure for our recent Queen Victoria Singapore to Cape Town cruise.

 

What we saved by booking 'Cruise Only' and DIYing the two air fares was amazing and paid for our hotel accommodation in both Singapore (Club Room) and Cape Town (Studio)

 

 

So for the moment I shall hold my experience in abeyance and just agree with you whole heartedly on your ploy.

 

And yes, we flew with Singapore Airlines on the outward leg...

 

[njpln]

I wanted to post my experience with my recent booking because I learned something about Cunard airfares. (We flew one way this year, next year we fly from the Florida to the UK and back.) I was definitely impressed with this past year’s business class pricing for the one way from UKto Fl.

 

I called to get flights through Cunard, and they booked us two one-way business class fares.  Not sure why they don’t do round trip, I questioned it but he just said that’s how they do it.   After getting the prices, I went on the airlines website to compare.

 

If I book a round trip, Cunard's total price of the two one-way fares is about a 13% discount from the carrier’s round trip fare, which is good but not great.  However, if I booked two one-way fares with the carrier, the numbers come out as a whopping 77% discount, because the one-way fares don’t get discounted the way a round trip fare does when booking with the carrier.  So in comparing the one-way fares Cunard has a great fare, and if you’re only going one way, it’s definitely worth it...

 

In the end, we’ll take the 13% discount because it’s still a sizeable chunk of money.  😊

 

Clearly this is a huge discount if when you’re flying one-way internationally.  

[Solent Richard]

11 minutes ago, njpln said:

I wanted to post my experience with my recent booking because I learned something about Cunard airfares. (We flew one way this year, next year we fly from the Florida to the UK and back.) I was definitely impressed with this past year’s business class pricing for the one way from UKto Fl.

 

I called to get flights through Cunard, and they booked us two one-way business class fares.  Not sure why they don’t do round trip, I questioned it but he just said that’s how they do it.   After getting the prices, I went on the airlines website to compare.

 

If I book a round trip, Cunard's total price of the two one-way fares is about a 13% discount from the carrier’s round trip fare, which is good but not great.  However, if I booked two one-way fares with the carrier, the numbers come out as a whopping 77% discount, because the one-way fares don’t get discounted the way a round trip fare does when booking with the carrier.  So in comparing the one-way fares Cunard has a great fare, and if you’re only going one way, it’s definitely worth it...

 

In the end, we’ll take the 13% discount because it’s still a sizeable chunk of money.  😊

 

Clearly this is a huge discount if when you’re flying one-way internationally.  

 

Hi Njpin.

 

You make an interesting comparison of fares.

 

However, in my example at Comment # 34 I booked both flights though sky scanner. One of those flights was then allocated to an agency and the second, Emirates, went direct to the airline.

 

 

[cruiseluvva]

The one way flights to and from the US are usually worth booking via Cunard, as Atlantic one way fares can be astronomical, but Asia fares are a completely different matter. Each time we have flown to or from Asia  when cruising, it has been far, far better to arrange our own flights.

 

In the end we cancelled our reward flight home from HKG and booked multi city flights with Qatar LHR-DOH-SIN and HKG-DOH-LHR which were even cheaper still. And we still have the VS miles to spend!

 

A win win situation for us!

[3rdGenCunarder]

I just booked my NY to London flight for next spring through Cunard. I did some research online to check prices. I was gobsmacked! I'm sure I booked my one-way on my own last fall and it wasn't bad. But this time it's outrageous. And it isn't as though the flights are full, either. One way economy started at $1200. One way Premium Economy started at $3200 and went over $4000, depending on the day and the airline I looked at. 

 

Going through Cunard, which airline you can have and which flight and which price seem to vary from day to day. I like the day flights, and there aren't a lot of them. I thought the carrier would be Virgin, since that's who they put us on when we've used Cunard air in the past. But this time my best price was American, actually a codeshare on a BA flight. $480 for Premium Economy. It's out of JFK, but the only other day flight on the date I wanted was United out of Newark and that was over $1400 for Premium Economy. A different day and that United flight would have been around $600. 

 

So unless you're absolutely set on the date you want to fly (assuming you're flying early, not arriving on embarkation day), ask them to check alternate dates and flights.