Air Fare booked through cruiseline advice

[canuckatsea]

Looking for advice on booking air through the cruise line.  We have been offered through NCL's promo for discounted flights an amazing price.  $499 USD from Atlanta to Tahiti and return from Honolulu to Atlanta, plus taxes etc.  I have researched and found the approximate price is $1800 USD per person.  I understand that once I book the airfare through NCL I cannot take advantage of any price drop in the cruise cost.  Am I missing something??  Is it beneficial to book through NCL in case there are flight delays?  Does anyone have experience with this?  Will we suffer through many stop-overs?  Or will it be a reasonable flight plan.  Our travel agent friend had in the past advised that you can always get a better price on flights than what the cruise line offers.

[Bizmark'sMom]

Open jawed flights are where the cruise airfares really shine.  I would jump on that quote in a heartbeat.

[ger_77]

14 minutes ago, canuckatsea said:

 Our travel agent friend had in the past advised that you can always get a better price on flights than what the cruise line offers.

Your travel agent is incorrect - especially on one way flights.  We've always had much better prices when booking our air through the cruise line.  I'd go for it; you're not going to find a lower price.  Check to see if you can select your route and airline - do some research online before booking and you should be happy.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, canuckatsea said:

Looking for advice on booking air through the cruise line.  We have been offered through NCL's promo for discounted flights an amazing price.  $499 USD from Atlanta to Tahiti and return from Honolulu to Atlanta, plus taxes etc.  I have researched and found the approximate price is $1800 USD per person.  I understand that once I book the airfare through NCL I cannot take advantage of any price drop in the cruise cost.  Am I missing something??  Is it beneficial to book through NCL in case there are flight delays?  Does anyone have experience with this?  Will we suffer through many stop-overs?  Or will it be a reasonable flight plan.  Our travel agent friend had in the past advised that you can always get a better price on flights than what the cruise line offers.

The devil is in the detail:

 

Your post says $499 plus taxes, etc. So, question number 1 is "what is the total airfare?" BTW, airfare quoted in the US is required to be inclusive.

 

Question number 2 is whether you have to pay NCL a "deviation fee" if your intent is to fly in day(s) earlier to Papeete and/or stay longer in Honolulu (both of which would be crazy NOT to do!!!) instead of accepting the standard "days of embarkation/disembarkation" for the airline routing. That fee could be  $250+ per person plus any airfare difference.

 

Question number 3 regards airplane cabin selection and upgrading. If you're a geezer like me, there is no way I'd fly your routing in anything less than bizclass (or, perhaps the newer service called Premium Plus or equivalent). The coding of NCL's economy airfare may prohibit using airline FF points for an upgrade (and possibly point accrual). And buying  bizclass/premium plus tix directly from NCL may be more expensive than DIY.

 

I just did a random February 2020 search on the ITA Matrix website for your routing and United's multi-city round trip economy fare through SFO (both ways) is approx $1150 for your choice of pre/post cruise dates.

 

So, to your $499 NCL price, add the "taxes," deviation fee and ticket price difference for your preferred times/dates/carrier and it may not be quite the "deal" some posters here think it is.

 

Our preferred line, Oceania, includes RT economy air in its regular cabin pricing. And to the best of my knowledge, has the same office for air arrangements as NCL (and Regent). On Oceania, you can take an air credit instead of the included airfare, which is pretty much always what we do. Then we take the air credit plus some of our own dollars and FF points and purchase bizclass (or premium plus) tix for any intercontinental flights. 

 

FWIW, I just did a mock Oceania booking for an 18 day Papeete/SF route in March 2020 (there was no Papeete/Honolulu choice) and the air credit is $1100/person (which would make the usual $6400 fare for a balcony cabin $5300. Of course, that "w/o air" fare is for 18 days on a premium line and includes beverages, internet, specialty restaurants, $800 per cabin SBC and far better food/service/etc than NCL. Add complimentary gratuities and additional refundable SBC from the right TA and there's VALUE.

 

But, in the context of your original question, it all boils down to:

 

DO THE REAL MATH!

Edited December 13, 2019 by Flatbush Flyer

[FlyerTalker]

A couple things to remember:  There are limited flights into PPT from North America.  You have United and French Bee from SFO, Air France and Air Tahiti Nui from LAX and Hawaiian from HNL.  That's it, and not all of those services run daily.  So you can have high demand and limited supply - especially on "cruise days".  Further, those flights tend to carry lots of codeshares, so what can seem like a lot of choice really isn't.

 

The good news is that UA is working to break into the PPT market, so they have been doing aggressive pricing - I recently found several hundred dollar differences flying through SFO on UA vs LAX and a TN codeshare.

 

As noted above, crunch the numbers.  In addition, double check if this offer is for scheduled flights or is NCL going to operate a charter or two to move the thousand+ people on/off of Tahiti.

[canuckatsea]

On 12/13/2019 at 9:55 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

The devil is in the detail:

 

Your post says $499 plus taxes, etc. So, question number 1 is "what is the total airfare?" BTW, airfare quoted in the US is required to be inclusive.

 

Question number 2 is whether you have to pay NCL a "deviation fee" if your intent is to fly in day(s) earlier to Papeete and/or stay longer in Honolulu (both of which would be crazy NOT to do!!!) instead of accepting the standard "days of embarkation/disembarkation" for the airline routing. That fee could be  $250+ per person plus any airfare difference.

 

Question number 3 regards airplane cabin selection and upgrading. If you're a geezer like me, there is no way I'd fly your routing in anything less than bizclass (or, perhaps the newer service called Premium Plus or equivalent). The coding of NCL's economy airfare may prohibit using airline FF points for an upgrade (and possibly point accrual). And buying  bizclass/premium plus tix directly from NCL may be more expensive than DIY.

 

I just did a random February 2020 search on the ITA Matrix website for your routing and United's multi-city round trip economy fare through SFO (both ways) is approx $1150 for your choice of pre/post cruise dates.

 

So, to your $499 NCL price, add the "taxes," deviation fee and ticket price difference for your preferred times/dates/carrier and it may not be quite the "deal" some posters here think it is.

 

Our preferred line, Oceania, includes RT economy air in its regular cabin pricing. And to the best of my knowledge, has the same office for air arrangements as NCL (and Regent). On Oceania, you can take an air credit instead of the included airfare, which is pretty much always what we do. Then we take the air credit plus some of our own dollars and FF points and purchase bizclass (or premium plus) tix for any intercontinental flights. 

 

FWIW, I just did a mock Oceania booking for an 18 day Papeete/SF route in March 2020 (there was no Papeete/Honolulu choice) and the air credit is $1100/person (which would make the usual $6400 fare for a balcony cabin $5300. Of course, that "w/o air" fare is for 18 days on a premium line and includes beverages, internet, specialty restaurants, $800 per cabin SBC and far better food/service/etc than NCL. Add complimentary gratuities and additional refundable SBC from the right TA and there's VALUE.

 

But, in the context of your original question, it all boils down to:

 

DO THE REAL MATH!

Thanks for all the info.  After calling back to NCL, turns out they don't even offer flights to PPT.  Not sure how the other agent was able to quote me.  Whatever, $499 seemed to good to be true.  I will start looking and hope for a good price.  Thanks again for the info, certainly things I wouldn't have thought of.

[canuckatsea]

On 12/13/2019 at 11:31 AM, FlyerTalker said:

A couple things to remember:  There are limited flights into PPT from North America.  You have United and French Bee from SFO, Air France and Air Tahiti Nui from LAX and Hawaiian from HNL.  That's it, and not all of those services run daily.  So you can have high demand and limited supply - especially on "cruise days".  Further, those flights tend to carry lots of codeshares, so what can seem like a lot of choice really isn't.

 

The good news is that UA is working to break into the PPT market, so they have been doing aggressive pricing - I recently found several hundred dollar differences flying through SFO on UA vs LAX and a TN codeshare.

 

As noted above, crunch the numbers.  In addition, double check if this offer is for scheduled flights or is NCL going to operate a charter or two to move the thousand+ people on/off of Tahiti.

Thanks for the info.  I will definitely have to crunch numbers.

[canuckatsea]

On 12/13/2019 at 9:11 AM, ger_77 said:

Your travel agent is incorrect - especially on one way flights.  We've always had much better prices when booking our air through the cruise line.  I'd go for it; you're not going to find a lower price.  Check to see if you can select your route and airline - do some research online before booking and you should be happy.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Thanks!

[Hlitner]

Sounds like a simple question but it is NOT!  As has been suggested, you need to look at the total cost of the entire package (cruise, tips, air, transfers, etc) vs other options.  It does some like the NCL offering is a good deal but we do not know all the other parameters.   The concept of "non-refundable,"  no getting future price drops (if they happen), etc, is not new and you should look at risk vs gain.   Understand that no matter what you decide or do you might be wrong...and this is just part of travel.  We do a lot of International travel and make many of these decisions every year.  Sometimes we are right, sometimes wrong.  Fortunately, are correct decisions have vastly outweighed the bad decisions.   But even with 50+ years of extensive travel experience we make mistakes or miscalculate.  It is part of the "game."  So make your decision, live with it, learn from it, and if you do screw up just buy a few more drinks :).  

 

Hank

[canuckatsea]

14 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Sounds like a simple question but it is NOT!  As has been suggested, you need to look at the total cost of the entire package (cruise, tips, air, transfers, etc) vs other options.  It does some like the NCL offering is a good deal but we do not know all the other parameters.   The concept of "non-refundable,"  no getting future price drops (if they happen), etc, is not new and you should look at risk vs gain.   Understand that no matter what you decide or do you might be wrong...and this is just part of travel.  We do a lot of International travel and make many of these decisions every year.  Sometimes we are right, sometimes wrong.  Fortunately, are correct decisions have vastly outweighed the bad decisions.   But even with 50+ years of extensive travel experience we make mistakes or miscalculate.  It is part of the "game."  So make your decision, live with it, learn from it, and if you do screw up just buy a few more drinks :).  

 

Hank

Yes Hank, you are absolutely right.  First world problems!!  In looking at flight options, one takes us from Toronto, to Vancouver, to Auckland (!!!), then Tahiti.  So now my husband is suggesting we take several days in New Zealand before heading over to Tahiti.  We have also made some very good decisions, and a few failures.  Thanks for your comments - it puts it in perspective!

 

[iancal]

Our only yardstick is to price both.   Know your pricing and decide what you think is a good fare/routing.   When you see it, hit the buy button.   Cruise air and independent.  We have had good one way fares on both over the years.  Direct with the airline but more often through third party booking agencies or cruise lines.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by iancal

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, canuckatsea said:

Yes Hank, you are absolutely right.  First world problems!!  In looking at flight options, one takes us from Toronto, to Vancouver, to Auckland (!!!), then Tahiti.  So now my husband is suggesting we take several days in New Zealand before heading over to Tahiti.  We have also made some very good decisions, and a few failures.  Thanks for your comments - it puts it in perspective!

 

I agree with your husband :).  DW and I have traveled all over the world (stopped counting after the first 100 countries) and New Zealand is my favorite place to visit and the only country (other then the USA) where I would consider living (likely in Queenstown).  Spending a few weeks driving around South Island was a true highlight of more than 50 years or extensive travel.  As to Tahiti, it is not one of our favorites except that we appreciate that its a gateway to get to Bora Bora and/or Moorea...both very charming islands.  

 

Hank

[AveSaloon]

10 hours ago, canuckatsea said:

Yes Hank, you are absolutely right.  First world problems!!  In looking at flight options, one takes us from Toronto, to Vancouver, to Auckland (!!!), then Tahiti.  So now my husband is suggesting we take several days in New Zealand before heading over to Tahiti.  We have also made some very good decisions, and a few failures.  Thanks for your comments - it puts it in perspective!

 

Taking a few days in NZ may result in a much higher airfare.  Can't just stop anywhere you want.

[waterbug123]

On 12/13/2019 at 8:54 AM, canuckatsea said:

 Is it beneficial to book through NCL in case there are flight delays? 

 

Maybe, maybe not.  Cruise lines generally make some kind of statement if you book air through them that might sound like a "guarantee" to get you to the ship, but it's not as cut and dried as it may sound.  They can't manufacture flights, and they can't manufacture empty seats on a given flight.  They might work with the airline on your behalf, but often it's nothing more than you would accomplish on your own....if the airline cancels a flight for instance, they will work to rebook you.  People have reported mixed responses from cruise lines in these situations; some great, some horrific, and some in between the two.

[canuckatsea]

4 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Maybe, maybe not.  Cruise lines generally make some kind of statement if you book air through them that might sound like a "guarantee" to get you to the ship, but it's not as cut and dried as it may sound.  They can't manufacture flights, and they can't manufacture empty seats on a given flight.  They might work with the airline on your behalf, but often it's nothing more than you would accomplish on your own....if the airline cancels a flight for instance, they will work to rebook you.  People have reported mixed responses from cruise lines in these situations; some great, some horrific, and some in between the two.

Thanks for the info - as someone else said, it's a game!

[canuckatsea]

13 hours ago, AveSaloon said:

 

Taking a few days in NZ may result in a much higher airfare.  Can't just stop anywhere you want.

Actually it didn't result in a much higher airfare, but thanks for your concern.

[donmittag]

On 12/13/2019 at 8:55 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

The devil is in the detail:

 

Your post says $499 plus taxes, etc. So, question number 1 is "what is the total airfare?" BTW, airfare quoted in the US is required to be inclusive.

 

Question number 2 is whether you have to pay NCL a "deviation fee" if your intent is to fly in day(s) earlier to Papeete and/or stay longer in Honolulu (both of which would be crazy NOT to do!!!) instead of accepting the standard "days of embarkation/disembarkation" for the airline routing. That fee could be  $250+ per person plus any airfare difference.

 

Question number 3 regards airplane cabin selection and upgrading. If you're a geezer like me, there is no way I'd fly your routing in anything less than bizclass (or, perhaps the newer service called Premium Plus or equivalent). The coding of NCL's economy airfare may prohibit using airline FF points for an upgrade (and possibly point accrual). And buying  bizclass/premium plus tix directly from NCL may be more expensive than DIY.

 

I just did a random February 2020 search on the ITA Matrix website for your routing and United's multi-city round trip economy fare through SFO (both ways) is approx $1150 for your choice of pre/post cruise dates.

 

So, to your $499 NCL price, add the "taxes," deviation fee and ticket price difference for your preferred times/dates/carrier and it may not be quite the "deal" some posters here think it is.

 

Our preferred line, Oceania, includes RT economy air in its regular cabin pricing. And to the best of my knowledge, has the same office for air arrangements as NCL (and Regent). On Oceania, you can take an air credit instead of the included airfare, which is pretty much always what we do. Then we take the air credit plus some of our own dollars and FF points and purchase bizclass (or premium plus) tix for any intercontinental flights. 

 

FWIW, I just did a mock Oceania booking for an 18 day Papeete/SF route in March 2020 (there was no Papeete/Honolulu choice) and the air credit is $1100/person (which would make the usual $6400 fare for a balcony cabin $5300. Of course, that "w/o air" fare is for 18 days on a premium line and includes beverages, internet, specialty restaurants, $800 per cabin SBC and far better food/service/etc than NCL. Add complimentary gratuities and additional refundable SBC from the right TA and there's VALUE.

 

But, in the context of your original question, it all boils down to:

 

DO THE REAL MATH!

We just  did a air deviation with NCL  it was $25. Once you get your air information  you can  go to the airline and  purchase different  seats and  upgrades. It also was cheaper than the airline website due to a discount from NCL.

After doing the math with the taxes included it's  way cheaper with the cruise line. Even with the taxes which could be a couple hundred dollars.

We also added our ff info so we can get our airline bennies.

So yeah do the real math. 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, donmittag said:

We just  did a air deviation with NCL  it was $25.

 

It won't always be that price.  Some cruiselines charge several hundred dollars if you wish to do a "deviation".  Plus any difference in the price of the ticket.

 

1 hour ago, donmittag said:

Once you get your air information  you can  go to the airline and  purchase different  seats and  upgrades.

 

Completely depends on the fare basis of the ticket you have (and that doesn't just mean "coach").  Seating and upgrades are governed by those rules and there is no blanket answer for all cruiseline tickets.

 

1 hour ago, donmittag said:

After doing the math with the taxes included it's  way cheaper with the cruise line. Even with the taxes which could be a couple hundred dollars.

 

It's not always "way cheaper".  And remember that your tickets may have varying fare rules that may impact you during irregular operations.

 

1 hour ago, donmittag said:

So yeah do the real math. 

 

Absolutely.  For there is no one constant, correct answer to highly variable situations.

.