Strange website malfunction--Celebrity Air

[Bruin Steve]

Checked this morning...then called...

There was a set of flights on my route that was all on Air Canada...with the flight there arriving at 10:40 am...for $57 pp less than I currently have booked...

Problem is that the layover in Toronto on the way there is only 1 hour 10 minutes...which has me concerned about its adequacy.  The agent with whom I spoke  told me that 1 hour is considered the minimum plane change time...but, not to worry since Celebrity Air "guarantees" arrival at the destination.  I asked what that meant and was told that if I missed the connecting flight, they would guarantee I get on the next flight.  Fine...when is that.  She looked it up...next flight from Toronto to Milan would be the following day.  I'd rather keep my later 4:30 arrival time with Lufthansa than risk the slightly over an hour change time and possibility of being stranded in Toronto for a night while I'm charged with my hotel night in Lugano and lose a day of my pre-paid rental car.

I asked about one of the earlier flights on Lufthansa--there's one very similar to mine that lands in Milan at 1:40 pm--which would be perfect.  She told me that the current rates on that one would add over $400 pp to my fare...

[luv2travel90266]

On 10/27/2019 at 3:45 PM, Bruin Steve said:

We a re booked on back-to-back cruises this coming July .  When fights started becoming available for our dates, we used Celebrity Air to book our flights, LAX to Milan on June 25 and Rome to LAX on July 21.  Since we are flying in so far in advance of the cruise, we decided to fly into Milan, rent a car and take our time making it down to Civitavecchia.  I checked out the prices on Celebrity Air as well as on other sites like kayak.com and expedia.com.  Celebrity Air's prices were competitive, plus they offered us the flexibility of being refundable and not payable until the cruise full payment date.  We called Celebrity Air directly on the phone to make the reservation.  The agent noted that we could book the reservations, then continue to monitor the website for lower fares or better flight times.  And, if those came up, we could change them...so we booked.

 

Our flights are fine, the prices are good...but, just in case we could get on a slightly earlier flight there or find one going home with a better layover, I figured I'd keep checking.

 

 

 

Anyway, here is where the problem lies:  Whenever  I go to the Celebrity Air web page, and try to look up flights, while inputting the info into the form, I have been unable to get the form to recognize "MXP" or "Milan"...so, I cannot get any pricing on these routes.  It worked perfectly fine when I first booked...it just hasn't for the past couple of months.  I called Celebrity Air twice, each time telling the agent about the website malfunction.  But thus far, it hasn't been fixed. 

 

I then emailed Celebrity about the problem...and, a few days later, got a response telling me to call Celebrity Air about the issue.  Circular frustration.

 

I assume that, with all the cruises to and from both Rome and Venice, that MXP would be a popular option for many passengers--especially those like me who fly in or out early or late.  And, clearly, the system was designed to allow that.  You can type in any other three-letter airport code...and it will pop up on the form.

 

As I am also flying a similar route make sure you look at Air Italy which has non stops only on certain days from Rome and Milan to/from  LAX. We are going in 1 day earlier at a better price and saving an air port connection and hours. Also staying an extra day in Rome as won't make the morning flight to LAX.  Hope you have a great trip. 

 

 

 

 

[Bruin Steve]

55 minutes ago, luv2travel90266 said:

 

As I am also flying a similar route make sure you look at Air Italy which has non stops only on certain days from Rome and Milan to/from  LAX. We are going in 1 day earlier at a better price and saving an air port connection and hours. Also staying an extra day in Rome as won't make the morning flight to LAX.  Hope you have a great trip.

Thanks...

I checked them out...since I like the idea of nonstops...

BUT, their website is a bit screwy--it doesn't seem to allow for a muilti-city itinerary...

Plugging in two one-way flights, the fares actually come out to higher than what we're paying... To get a slightly lower cost, we'd have to vary our itinerary by 2 days...and that savings wouldn't come close to paying for the hotels...And, since we are already spending nine nights pre-cruise, then back to back cruises and 2 nights post-cruise, I figure we don't have to extend the trip any further than that...Plus, most of the non-stops say "sold out"...and the trip is still 8 months out.

 

I also checked out some of there reviews on the internet--and it didn't look good.  After horrible experiences with Air Berlin a couple of years ago, I think I'll stick with Lufthansa/Air Canada...

 

And, I actually came up with a bit of good news...Using choiceair.com, I was able to find that 3:00 pm flight out of LAX on Lufthansa, landing at MXP at 1:50 pm (change in Frankfurt)...paired with a slightly later 1:30 pm flight home on Air Canada...for $963 per person--$20 less than what I previously had.  The 1:50 pm arrival allows us to pick up our rental car and drive to Lugano and get there with plenty of time to check into our hotel, relax a bit and head to dinner...and the 1:30 departure from FCO is great since we'll be staying in Rome and that will allow us to leisurely have breakfast, check out of the hotel and catch some sort of transport to FCO with time to spare...and, it's a refundable booking with no need to pay until cruise final payment date...

 

The bizarre part is that, when I found that fare and flights on the choiceair site, I called Celebrity Air directly ...and they agent told me she could not find that fare.  I said, since I'm looking at it right on my screen, should I just click on it?  She said to go ahead...which I did and got it with no problem...

[luv2travel90266]

You are correct that Air Italia has a horrible website. I actually tried the Italian version and no better. Their website doesn't allow for a multiple destination. I guess they couldn't afford the website developer to create it? I use https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ which is actually owned by google. I was able to go LAX to Milan and Rome to LAX on Air Italy non-stop both ways  but am staying an extra day in Rome which is preferable to us to a 3 hour layover. In any case I wish you an easy flight, smooth sailing , and a fabulous trip.

 

Ron

[tromvest]

I am currently looking for fares on Flights By Celebrity and Choice Air for a cruise in May from DFW to BCN and then VCE to DFW.  I was told by the representative from Celebrity Choice Air that Flights By Celebrity is the new site to use for booking airline flights and that Choice Air is not a functioning site and can only be used to view fares and can not be used for booking. Has anyone booked through Choice Air online?

 

Thanks!!