TA Airfare guess. How accurate?

[FTCouple]

Hi,

 

We are looking at booking a cruise for our honeymoon in April 2022. Currently there are no flight available but TAs are still offering prices including air travel.  When I asked "Do you get the air fares earlier than the general public?" the answer boiled down to "no we guess".  This sounds very much like I am betting that the price will be more than they are currently offering when it's actually released and they are betting it will be less, with them being the people who set the wager.  If I was the TA I would add a couple of pounds on the wager for good measure.  Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong.

 

Based on this am I best to book cruise only for now and wait until the flights are released before getting the TA to add them on?

 

All help very much gratefully appreciated.

[flossie009]

I assume you are based in the UK and are booking through a UK based TA.

If so, my opinion would be to make your booking as a "package" i.e. including flights; for the following reasons:

1. Booking a "package" means that you are better protected both legally & financially should something go amiss before or during your holiday. See ABTA  or WHICH advice.
2. TAs usually obtain better deals with the airlines; and will be able to forecast the likely future fares based on previous experience.
3. The inclusion of air fares with a cruise often includes the cost of transfers between the airport and the ship.
4. With the pent up demand for travel, and the reduction in aircraft fleets due to the pandemic, there is a strong possibility that air fares may start rising when international travel recommences (later this year?) 

Before booking, make sure your TA is a member of ABTA and that an ATOL certificate will be issued for your booking.

If you are worried that a TA is going to "fleece" you then I suggest you make the booking with a TA with a better reputation. 

 

Also make sure that all or part of your payment for your holiday is made using a credit card so that you have the further financial protection offered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

 

Sorry to offer such cautious advice but, IMO, with the perilous state of the travel industry it is even more important to pay attention to the basics at the moment.

 

Hope your wedding goes well and that you have a fabulous cruise for your honeymoon 😎 🍾

 

 

 

[John Bull]

Excellent response from Flossie - especially re

- booking with an ABTA (or IATA) member, which guarantees refunds (and repatriation if necessary). A cruise-specialist T/A is your best bet. (An all-sorts high street T/A isn't going to know all the ins & outs.)

- using a CREDIT card, at least for the deposit.

- booking as a cruise plus air package. If booked separately, and the cruise line cancels they will refund your cruise fare but you'll be stuck with flight tickets that you probably won't want, and vice-versa if the airline cancels.  (Simply booking the air and cruise from the same agency doesn't count, it needs to be one contract for the two halves). And if your independently-booked outbound flight is delayed & you miss the sailing, that's YOUR problem.

- Yes, packages usually include transfers between airport & ship. Depending on distance, etc, that might be trivial or significant.

 

But one factor can muddy the water.

Cruise lines have their "preferred air partners" (pet airlines), who give them discounted deals - but usually that deal isn't passed on to the customer.

Because they try to work with only those few airlines they will often provide complicated indirect flights, even tho' there may be direct flights from your home airport to the cruise port. For example, we booked air & cruise separately for a RCI cruise out of Istanbul - our direct BA flight from LHR took about 3.5 hours & we were there before lunchtime, those who booked cruise-air with RCI went via a change in Amsterdam with a l--o-o-o-o-n-g stopover and arrived Istanbul early evening. And friends who booked cruise-air with NCL out of New Orleans went via two changes in the USA, even though several airlines offer direct flights.

If your nearest home airport is in London and the cruise port is Miami or LA or San Francisco, prospects are that cruise-air will be direct because so many airlines operate those routes. If not, try to find out which airlines the cruise line works with.

BTW, similar problems with hotels booked as part of a cruise package. Hotels selected by cruise lines are good quality - but locations are often very very inconvenient for sight-seeing.

 

Bear in mind that for the Caribbean or Med. , P&O (and Thomson and Fred Olsen) offer cruise-air packages using chartered aircraft, with a lot of advantages.....

- because they charter complete aircraft, prices are very good value

- direct flights from various UK airports to the cruise port + transfers to the ship

- everyone on the flight is on your cruise, so your holiday/honeymoon really does start at the airport.

- If the flight is late, the ship will wait (can't leave 300 people behind)

- transfers at the airport are super-easy - no immigration, no baggage carousel, no customs. You don't even go into the airport terminal - your aircraft taxi's to a corner of the apron and you walk 20 to 30 yards to your transfer bus. Your luggage, which you last saw at your UK airport, follows in a truck and you'll next see it outside your cabin. 

- on your last day, you have to vacate your cabin by about 8.30am, but you have the run of the ship (pool, eats, drinks etc) until your transfer is called, usually mid-afternoon. Similar super-easy airport formalities. On US-based ships you have to vacate the ship by about 9am, and with US to UK flights mainly mid-evening that can be a pain with all your luggage.

Well worth considering.

 

Usually we book our own flights, and use cruise-air only for those chartered-aircraft options.

But with the uncertainty of both cruises & flights due to Covid-19, we'd seriously consider only cruise-air packages.

 

JB 🙂

[Reina del Mar]

I would use a search engine such as Skyscanner to get an idea of flight prices. We have booked flights through the cruise line but have also booked them separately depending on the price we have been offered. I f going to somewhere new for us, more likely to use Cruiseline package even if it is more expensive. We fly in a few days prior to cruise to allow for any delays.

 

You don’t have to accept the first suggestion the cruiseline offers..do your research and tell them what you want and request a pice for that.

 

With life as it is due to Covid, we would be more likely to book cruise and flights as package through the cruiseline, as well as looking into their insurance plan which is not something we usually do.

 

[John Bull]

7 hours ago, Reina del Mar said:

I would use a search engine such as Skyscanner to get an idea of flight prices. We have booked flights through the cruise line but have also booked them separately depending on the price we have been offered. I f going to somewhere new for us, more likely to use Cruiseline package even if it is more expensive. We fly in a few days prior to cruise to allow for any delays.

 

You don’t have to accept the first suggestion the cruiseline offers..do your research and tell them what you want and request a pice for that.

 

With life as it is due to Covid, we would be more likely to book cruise and flights as package through the cruiseline, as well as looking into their insurance plan which is not something we usually do.

 

 

For DIY flights I second the use of Skyscanner. Very user-friendly, very comprehensive. 

 

JB 🙂

[FTCouple]

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for the help on this, we have now gone with a travel agent and are cruising on The MSC Seashore in april.

 

Thank you again