Custom Air through HAL

[gallerygirl]

My husband and I are going to be taking the transatlantic cruise sept 06. We are booking flights through HAL. We have cruised with X many times, but this will be our first through HAL. How accomidating are they regarding specific airline requests and flights? Any advice appreciated!:o

[Krazy Kruizers]

The only time we have used HAL's air is when we are embarking in one city and disembarking in another. Then we have our TA tell HAL which airline and which flights we want. This is called air deviation and there is a fee for that - international is more. Otherwise HAL would make air arrangements that is the cheapest for them which may or may not be the best schedule for you.

[jhannah]

Paying the air deviation fee allows you to specify which airline and time, as KK mentioned. Also be aware that if your chosen arrangements cost more than what HAL gets with their bulk deals that you could also be charged the difference. Good luck.

[blue whale]

If we take the cruise line air, we usually use the deviation feature, which allows you for a fee to pick your airline and flight. We are working on such an arrangement on our 46 night Taste of Two Continents cruise in the fall. In the brochure, there is a paragraph that says that there will be no fee for segments longer than 41 days. HAL has told our agent that the fee will be 75 dollars per person for the deviation. She is checking for us as to why that will be so, given the statement in the cruise brochure; we shall see what the outcome is. However, in general, we pay the fee, just to be sure we don't go by a circuitous route. You also get your reservation early and can thus choose your seating early when good seats are more likely to be available.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That fee might be because you are flying international - have paid that several times.

 

But do have your TA check it out. Rules keep changing.

[Onbec]

When ever we fly from Montreal to Florida in Feb or March, we like to give ourselves an extra day to get there, in case of bad weather, so we always pay the deviation. We can then demand a non-stop flight and, if available, which flight time we want to travel at.

This year, HAL did not include a transfer voucher from the ship back to the airport even though it was on the last day of the cruise like everyone else. HAL is claiming that we took the deviation and we are not eligible for the transfer. First time that has ever happened. We have the TA looking into it.

[Bill S]

HAL has an optional service, I believe it costs $75pp, and as I understand from my TA, it allows you to give HAL a list of flights, dates and itineraries that you would prefer, and if one of them is available through HAL resources and within their air fare, you get what you want. I stress that this is my understanding from speaking with our TA, so I cannot say for sure this is the way it actually works. We are going to try it for our next HAL cruise, which involves flying to Rome and then home from NYC.

 

gallerygirl: are you going to be on the Noordam Sept 28 cruise?

[blue whale]

We just got an email from our TA indicating that HAL has said that, yes, if you are on a cruise longer than 41 nights, you can get custom air without the 75 dollar charge. The 150 for the two of us is being removed from our invoice.

 

I guess that proves it pays to read the fine print and double check each charge. We did give HAL the flights we prefer and the air line—a direct, nonstop flight, which we got. We can now call the airline and be sure we have the seating we want while the flight is still relatively empty. We could have been routed through London to get to Lisbon, so this is wonderful.