Using Celebrity Air

[wendyp247]

What are the chances of upgrading to Comfort Plus. And getting an aisle seat using air booked through Celebrity?  We’ve always booked our own air but ourTA is offering a package with hotels , transfer and air on a cruise from Singapore to Japan.  My husband will only go if he can get Economy Plus on an aisle. What are the chances of getting his seat on the flight.  The cruise isn’t until 2021. TIA 

[ShawninFL]

It really depends on the air that is being packaged.  Flights for 2021 aren't even available for booking yet.  You'll have to ask the TA if the air included allows you to select your seats and upgrade if desired when they become available or if these are guaranteed rates where seats will be assigned in the weeks before departure by Celebrity's air department.  Personally, if your husband will only go in Economy Plus in an aisle seat, I say don't take the package and book your own air.

[NantahalaCruiser]

The Celebrity Air website allows you to select Premium Economy/Comfort Plus.  When we booked it, you could also select the airline (Delta in our case) and seats.

[waterbug123]

7 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

The Celebrity Air website allows you to select Premium Economy/Comfort Plus.  When we booked it, you could also select the airline (Delta in our case) and seats.

 

Be careful with that.  Premium economy and Comfort Plus/Economy Plus/Economy Comfort are completely different things! 

[TeeRick]

Celebrity Air is best if you call an agent and tell them exactly what you want.  Too many folks here have stories of booking just through the web site and not getting what they wanted or having some type of issue.  

[39august]

I have used this several times now and always call. If what you want is available, the agents will get it for you. But of course you have to pay the price quoted. But you do NOT have to pay for the flight until cruise final pay date. Also you can  change or cancel at any time prior to that date. 

[NantahalaCruiser]

14 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Be careful with that.  Premium economy and Comfort Plus/Economy Plus/Economy Comfort are completely different things! 

Yes; when you are looking at Delta flights on Celebrity Air, Celebrity Air shows it as Premium Economy regardless of the flight - you have to check the flight itself to see whether it is Premium Economy or Comfort Plus

[RICCruisers]

We just booked our flights through Celebrity Air on United to Europe. They did not have Premium Economy available as one of the options so we booked Regular Economy and selected our seats. We then went on the United site to upgrade to Premium Economy. I was able to select the seats we wanted, but when I went to make payment, I could not complete the transaction. 

 

I called Celebrity Air and was told that because I had not paid for my flights I could make the upgrade. Until payment is made all I have is a reservation/hold on my seats. Once payment is made I will be able to do the upgrade to Premium  Economy. 

 

The cruise is is not until September 2020 so there is still a lot of time before final payment is due. I can make payment anytime for the flights separately from the cruise which will give me the option of making the upgrade for the seat upgrade.  I’m going to wait a while and keep an eye on how the flights are selling before I pay for the flights. 

 

Other airlines may may have different rules or Celebrity Air may have a different contract with other airlines. 

[Wine-O]

We booked choice air flight to Venice on Swiss Air.  Tried to get seats assigned, and Swiss Air would not let me select seats until flight paid, so I went ahead and paid instead of waiting until final payment.  🍷

[JOVERNITE]

When flights were opened up for Feb 2020, Celebrity Air offered several airline choices and variety of times. Their site offered the airline we preferred and the preferred time. Checked directly with the airline and it was the same price. We decided to book through the airline so we would have more control over the reservation (like seat selection, getting emails of changes to the flight).  However, if you got a great pkg deal, stick with that. ^.^

[Michidoeme]

As Wendy is talking about a package deal, she might not be so free in selecting airlines, etc. as is referred to in various previous posts.

 

On 11/10/2019 at 2:51 PM, wendyp247 said:

What are the chances of upgrading to Comfort Plus. And getting an aisle seat using air booked through Celebrity?  We’ve always booked our own air but ourTA is offering a package with hotels , transfer and air on a cruise from Singapore to Japan.  My husband will only go if he can get Economy Plus on an aisle. What are the chances of getting his seat on the flight.  The cruise isn’t until 2021. TIA 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Michidoeme

[southernbreezes]

6 hours ago, RICCruisers said:

We just booked our flights through Celebrity Air on United to Europe. They did not have Premium Economy available as one of the options so we booked Regular Economy and selected our seats. We then went on the United site to upgrade to Premium Economy. I was able to select the seats we wanted, but when I went to make payment, I could not complete the transaction. 

 

I called Celebrity Air and was told that because I had not paid for my flights I could make the upgrade. Until payment is made all I have is a reservation/hold on my seats. Once payment is made I will be able to do the upgrade to Premium  Economy. 

 

The cruise is is not until September 2020 so there is still a lot of time before final payment is due. I can make payment anytime for the flights separately from the cruise which will give me the option of making the upgrade for the seat upgrade.  I’m going to wait a while and keep an eye on how the flights are selling before I pay for the flights. 

 

Other airlines may may have different rules or Celebrity Air may have a different contract with other airlines. 

Exactly the same for me Celebrity Air on Delta to Europe, I picked my seats but cannot upgrade until final payment is made by me. Love the program of not having to make payment for Air until final cruise payment is due. We will wait and and worst case we do not upgrade and keep the great coach seats (location) I have reserved. Plus you have full control better service they have taken my calls and picked up within two minutes unlike the airlines 15-20 minutes. You get a email from them of any flight time change just like the airlines do.

BUT...Flying to Singapore is 27.5 hour flight for us we are going in February we paid paid in full when we made the reservation and are taken Business Class.

Edited November 12, 2019 by southernbreezes

[waterbug123]

17 hours ago, southernbreezes said:

 Plus you have full control better service they have taken my calls and picked up within two minutes unlike the airlines 15-20 minutes. You get a email from them of any flight time change just like the airlines do.

 

 

Unfortunately, there have been reports of others who couldn't even get through to the cruise line air dept when they had major disruptions to the itinerary on travel day.  As for calling airlines, it really depends.  I have status with my preferred airline, so when I call, my cell #  (which is linked to my frequent flyer account/status) is recognized and I get booted to near the top of the queue, and as such, I have never waited much more than a minute or two.  YMMV

[ShawninFL]

On 11/11/2019 at 9:30 AM, 39august said:

I have used this several times now and always call. If what you want is available, the agents will get it for you. But of course you have to pay the price quoted. But you do NOT have to pay for the flight until cruise final pay date. Also you can  change or cancel at any time prior to that date. 

 

But if you do not pay for the ticket in full, you cannot select your seats.  The flight has to be ticketed before a seat can be selected and it cannot be ticketed until paid in full.  

[ShawninFL]

On 11/12/2019 at 6:31 AM, Wine-O said:

We booked choice air flight to Venice on Swiss Air.  Tried to get seats assigned, and Swiss Air would not let me select seats until flight paid, so I went ahead and paid instead of waiting until final payment.  🍷

 

We did the same thing on our recent flights to Asia.  We wanted to upgrade our seats to extra left room at the emergency exit in front of us that gave us some 4' of leg roof.  I gladly paid for our tickets immediately so we could upgrade to those seats.  That made all the difference on our flights and was worth the $129 each way per seat.  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

On 11/12/2019 at 6:31 AM, Wine-O said:

We booked choice air flight to Venice on Swiss Air.  Tried to get seats assigned, and Swiss Air would not let me select seats until flight paid, so I went ahead and paid instead of waiting until final payment.  🍷

 

So did you just call and say that you wanted to pay for the flights or did you pay the total due cruise and flights?

 

I usually do my own flights, but with my Feb 2021 cruise being out of San Juan with limited flights, I feel a little better (I think) having Celebrity (via my TA) do it. But I would really like to select my seats.

[ShawninFL]

19 hours ago, southernbreezes said:

Exactly the same for me Celebrity Air on Delta to Europe, I picked my seats but cannot upgrade until final payment is made by me. Love the program of not having to make payment for Air until final cruise payment is due. We will wait and and worst case we do not upgrade and keep the great coach seats (location) I have reserved. Plus you have full control better service they have taken my calls and picked up within two minutes unlike the airlines 15-20 minutes. You get a email from them of any flight time change just like the airlines do.

BUT...Flying to Singapore is 27.5 hour flight for us we are going in February we paid paid in full when we made the reservation and are taken Business Class.

 

I'm with you on this.  If I can get the same price booking directly with the airline, I book direct.  My experience is it's been about 50/50.  It's usually when I'm booking 1-way fares that Celebrity Air is way cheaper.

 

Also, in regards to paying for your flight immediately or at final payment, for us it depends on where we're going and what seats are available.  If there a great seats available with super extra legroom, well pay in full to grab those seats, but otherwise we can wait to make final payment later.

[ShawninFL]

4 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

So did you just call and say that you wanted to pay for the flights or did you pay the total due cruise and flights?

 

I usually do my own flights, but with my Feb 2021 cruise being out of San Juan with limited flights, I feel a little better (I think) having Celebrity (via my TA) do it. But I would really like to select my seats.

 

When we booked our Asia flights at the beginning of the year, I booked our tickets on Celebrity Air's website and then went to the airline's website to verify the reservation was there, which it was.  I then tried to upgrade our seats, but the airlines website wouldn't allow me to do that.  So I called Celebrity Air and that's when I learned if I wanted to select my seats I had to pay for the ticket so it could move from a reservation to a ticketed sale.  Celebrity Air took my payment over the phone right then.  As soon as I did that, I was able to go back on American's website and upgrade all of our seats.  Other than time, it was pretty easy.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

8 minutes ago, ShawninFL said:

 

When we booked our Asia flights at the beginning of the year, I booked our tickets on Celebrity Air's website and then went to the airline's website to verify the reservation was there, which it was.  I then tried to upgrade our seats, but the airlines website wouldn't allow me to do that.  So I called Celebrity Air and that's when I learned if I wanted to select my seats I had to pay for the ticket so it could move from a reservation to a ticketed sale.  Celebrity Air took my payment over the phone right then.  As soon as I did that, I was able to go back on American's website and upgrade all of our seats.  Other than time, it was pretty easy.

 

Thanks! I'll make a note to have my TA let them know I want to pay for the air portion at booking. 

[southernbreezes]

1 hour ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Unfortunately, there have been reports of others who couldn't even get through to the cruise line air dept when they had major disruptions to the itinerary on travel day.  As for calling airlines, it really depends.  I have status with my preferred airline, so when I call, my cell #  (which is linked to my frequent flyer account/status) is recognized and I get booted to near the top of the queue, and as such, I have never waited much more than a minute or two.  YMMV

First when there is a major storm and 1,000's are calling it's going to be hard to get anyone Celebrity or the airline. Celebrity Air is a travel company when I had my flights cancelled because of a storm I called the Airline direct but had the backup of Celebrity Air if needed. Both updated me with text messages.  Sometimes I can not fly my preferred Airline (United) so it does me little good having "status" with them when flying Delta. Flying long distance I take the airline who has the shortest most direct flight and best arrival time. Once you book with Celebrity Air you can just deal with the airline by phone or online if you want go ahead pick your seats but you can not upgrade until you pay in full for the flights.  Sometimes I do pay in advance sometimes I do not want to pay 6 months in advance.

[hiccups]

1 hour ago, ShawninFL said:

 

But if you do not pay for the ticket in full, you cannot select your seats.  The flight has to be ticketed before a seat can be selected and it cannot be ticketed until paid in full.  

I had always assumed this to be the case, but with the flights to SJU for our cruise next week, we were able to get seats as soon as we made the reservation even thought we hadn't paid.  I was very surprised.

[waterbug123]

56 minutes ago, southernbreezes said:

First when there is a major storm and 1,000's are calling it's going to be hard to get anyone Celebrity or the airline. Celebrity Air is a travel company when I had my flights cancelled because of a storm I called the Airline direct but had the backup of Celebrity Air if needed. Both updated me with text messages.  Sometimes I can not fly my preferred Airline (United) so it does me little good having "status" with them when flying Delta.

 

I'm not talking about major storm situations.  There have simply been issues when a particular flight had an extreme delay, mechanical issue, whatever, and it was on a weekend, and was reported that the pax couldn't get through to the airline company.  I've read of this issue multiple times.  Will it always be that way?  I highly doubt it, but am pointing out the possibility since it has actually occurred and wasn't an isolated incident. 

As to airline status- I am well aware that not everyone has status, nor will those who do always be able to fly their preferred airline.  I'm simply responding to what sounded like a point blank statement that one can always expect to wait on hold for 20 minutes to speak to an airline rep. Just as above, circumstances vary so that isn't always true.  Again, YMMV

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, ShawninFL said:

 

But if you do not pay for the ticket in full, you cannot select your seats.  The flight has to be ticketed before a seat can be selected and it cannot be ticketed until paid in full.  

I don't quite understand this.  We used Celebrity Air and booked our flights and got our seats reserved on the day of booking.  This was long before we made final payment.

[RICCruisers]

20 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I don't quite understand this.  We used Celebrity Air and booked our flights and got our seats reserved on the day of booking.  This was long before we made final payment.

 

I agree with you about getting your seats reserved/assigned  when you book with Celebrity Air. What I cannot do is upgrade my seats until I pay for them and the reservation is officially ticketed. 

Edited November 13, 2019 by RICCruisers

[TeeRick]

Just now, RICCruisers said:

 

I agree with you about getting your seats reserved when you book with Celebrity Air. What I cannot do is upgrade my seats until I pay for them and the reservation is officially ticketed. 

Ok now I get it.