Experience with Seabourn airfare?

[cruiseej]

4 hours ago, lydiamight said:

British Airways Premium Economy London to Miami, limo transfer to hotel in Miami, bed and breakfast overnight. Limo transfer to ship the following day.

On arrival in Barcelona mimi bus for a tour of Barcelona before being dropped at the airport for a 14:50 departure. British Airways Business class back to London.

Total cost for the above package was an unbelievable £300.22. per person

 

£300 really sounds like a mistake. If it includes all you say, consider yourself incredibly lucky! No matter what sort of contracts Seabourn has with airlines, £300 just has to be a mistake. Just the hotel and transfers at both ends should run £300. With two flights -- one premium economy, the other business class -- I can't imagine that costing less than £3000. Can you make final payment today to lock it in? 😉

[Isklaar]

3 hours ago, Colgal said:

We tried to book with both Seabourn and Silversea and found their business class fares to be higher with inconvenient itineraries.

 

When we inquired about the availability of routes we had identified as being more convenient or less expensive, the response was that the airlines had a certain allocation of seats at a specific fare and there was no flexibility.

 

i must add, however, that we were always booking within four months of our cruises which may have influenced the fares and as a result we usually found better prices on our own, even with perks of hotel transfers and accommodations. 

 

Always best to do your research before a booking and then make an inquiry.

 

Two very good points that you make here, both applicable to our situation when booking our flights.

First is we always require business class longhaul, second we invariably are unable to book our cruise and air until just a few months before departure. Often we only have a lead-in time of around 6 weeks.

 

Also, like you, we have been offered some extremely convoluted routings as well as high quotes! The vast majority of our Seabourn cruises have involved departure from a port that is at least 9 hours flight time on a non-stop flight so the convoluted SB routes end up taking much more time.

 

I will continue to ask for a quote from Seabourn and will be sure to post here if ever successful! 

 

[hoosier74]

I have had great luck with Seabourn air.  The first time I used it was for a mid winter flight to South American and when the date date arrived, so did very bad weather across the Eastern US.  Although our flights happened to encounter no issues,  I felt very confident because Seabourn was responsible for getting us to the ship.  I heard horror stories from other passengers who spent hours trying to rebook their flights.  The transfers are convenient but we usually like to go several days in advance anyway so paying for the transport to the ship has never been an issue.  

 

I have also used it for transatlantics when it was so much less expensive than anything I could get.  It seems to be a great benefit when you have to use several different airlines to go to and from the destinations.  Our next cruise it was thousands less than I could have booked on our own.  And yes, you can get miles for your Seabourn booked flights.  Just give them your Frequent Flier numbers.   And I have found no difficulty using the airline websites to change seats,  if need be.  I did have an issue when I tried to upgrade a Seabourn domestic flight to first/business and the airline wouldn't let me, but then we did it at the airport for very little money and no problems. 

[lydiamight]

Further to my "amazing deal" with Seabourn----I think that at the time of my booking Seabourn were offering some "air credits" so the charge for my flights was probably just the excess over the air credit.

[dalliowner]

5 minutes ago, lydiamight said:

Further to my "amazing deal" with Seabourn----I think that at the time of my booking Seabourn were offering some "air credits" so the charge for my flights was probably just the excess over the air credit.

 I think this is often the case, they sometimes have an air credit without publishing it ,  it also does not show on your account as an air credit just the final amount.

[JenBelle]

Has anyone used the seabourn flight ease lately? I’m considering using it, as we start and stop our cruise in completely different continents. I know this is an old thread, but just thought I would give it a chance. 

[MBP&O2/O]

Looked at SB flights and they were charging me £1000 more than booking direct with the airline. That was for 2 x pax,  UK to YVR with KLM via AMS. Biz Class, fully flexible fares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flamin_June]

Research your flights yourself, find the best route with the most convenient departure/arrival times, and best price you can find, possibly with different airlines rather than a round trip (or as a multi-city sequence). Once you have times/airlines etc., contact Seabourn Air direct, or through you TA and ask them to quote you for the flights you want. Sometimes they will come in at a better price, other times they will be more expensive. Then book your flights direct or with SB. As it is 'safer' to book with SB rather than independently, as they will be duty bound to find you alternative flights in the event of airline cancellations, you may want to go with a more expensive and/or less convenient SB booking, if the price differential is not too much.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Flamin_June

[MBP&O2/O]

Whichever option you choose you may wish to consider keeping a close eye on your booking. So far, since I booked, the aircraft designation has changed from A330 to B77/300 to B777/200.

No great issue in this instance, but American once did the same to me, but they left the pre-booked seats the same and when I checked the seat plan on of the two seats didn't even exist! Had I not been monitoring the booking it would have been an interesting experience at check in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, Flamin_June said:

As it is 'safer' to book with SB rather than independently, as they will be duty bound to find you alternative flights in the event of airline cancellations, you may want to go with a more expensive and/or less convenient SB booking, if the price differential is not too much

 

Really?  And you would not get that directly from an airline?

 

Please be sure to recognize the difference between a "cancellation" and a "schedule change".  Two very different animals, with the cancellation being a day of flight incident (or perhaps day before) and a schedule change happening weeks to months before the date of flight.

 

Every major airline will do what they can to re-accommodate you. But they are more directly involved with tickets purchased from them.  Further, you do not have a middle man which can delay a resolution in case of a flight cancellation.  One other consideration is that cruiseline tickets are different than what you would get from an airline directly, with different fare rules.  Plus, the cruiseline is the airline's customer, not the passenger.

 

But if you feel that you are "safer", who am I to say otherwise.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

11 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Looked at SB flights and they were charging me £1000 more than booking direct with the airline. That was for 2 x pax,  UK to YVR with KLM via AMS. Biz Class, fully flexible fares.

 

Because you are paying for tickets that are covered by a bulk ticket contract, not tickets available to the general public.

[fdnycruiser]

We just used Seabourn Air to book our return flight from London in April.  Business class for the 2 of us, nonstop to Orlando on Virgin Atlantic for a total of $3400. Very pleased with the price and the airline 

[Flamin_June]

Silly me!

I didn't realise that all those flight cancellations, sometimes at less than 24 hours notice, that people in the UK had been facing over the summer and continue to face, were simply schedule changes and nothing to be concerned about. My bad.

[nancygp]

2 hours ago, fdnycruiser said:

We just used Seabourn Air to book our return flight from London in April.  Business class for the 2 of us, nonstop to Orlando on Virgin Atlantic for a total of $3400. Very pleased with the price and the airline 

Also got a great business class fare for our return flight from london…..thousands less than booking direct

 

Nancy

 

[FlyerTalker]

16 hours ago, Flamin_June said:

Silly me!

I didn't realise that all those flight cancellations, sometimes at less than 24 hours notice, that people in the UK had been facing over the summer and continue to face, were simply schedule changes and nothing to be concerned about. My bad.

 

Don't twist my words.

 

I specifically drew the distinction between a cancellation and a schedule change.

 

Glad you feel "safer".

 

 

[jdk-atlga]

I have been using Flight Ease for several trips now and I constantly check the FE fare against going direct. One aspect of Flight Ease is that it is generally Flexible and I can change/revise it almost up to ticketing. This allows me to "game" various airline/flight options for a significant timeframe, plus it makes (sometimes) cross-airline flights possible, which is otherwise difficult. It also allows me to react when fares might drop, while locking in a topline rate that I can control. I've been pleased so far with the results.

Best, jdk

[FlyerTalker]

20 minutes ago, jdk-atlga said:

I have been using Flight Ease for several trips now and I constantly check the FE fare against going direct. One aspect of Flight Ease is that it is generally Flexible and I can change/revise it almost up to ticketing. This allows me to "game" various airline/flight options for a significant timeframe, plus it makes (sometimes) cross-airline flights possible, which is otherwise difficult. It also allows me to react when fares might drop, while locking in a topline rate that I can control. I've been pleased so far with the results.

Best, jdk

 

As long as you are aware that you have a different ticket than one that you would buy directly from the airline.  The fare rules are different, and you may have significant differences if you end up in in irregular operations (irops) situation.

 

There's more to airline travel and ticketing than just the price of the ticket.

 

Caveat Emptor.

 

 

[Isklaar]

UK based, use only business or first class for flights longer  than five hours. Have never had a better quote from Seabourn than I've been able to find myself.

[Covepointcruiser]

Just booked a return flight to IAD ( Washington Dulles) in December.   Booking with United directly was $500 cheaper and it’s a non stop flight.    With the savings we can get our own car to the Barbados airport.   You need to check the prices before booking with Seabourn Flightease.   The price with United also included insurance.

[PSahoy]

The only times I used a ship’s air package was Seabourn and each time they saved me hundreds in biz class with access to airline’s site for seat selection etc. Also, having the assurance of Seabourn’s backup in case of a hiccup (like the time we were thrown off a ship by the Australian government at the Covid outbreak there) was worth its weight in gold. They saved me $$ again on a forthcoming cruise to Scandinavia.