Flights frustration

[Kimboriffic]

Thanks for the information. I also have a 2023 cruise to Galapagos and thought the flights by Celebrity would be trouble free. How aggravating.

[RichYak]

16 minutes ago, Kimboriffic said:

Thanks for the information. I also have a 2023 cruise to Galapagos and thought the flights by Celebrity would be trouble free. How aggravating.

Here's the Celebrity Air guarantee from their terms & conditions (emphasis mine):

 

Provides Assured Arrival as our guarantee to assist guests when they encounter any flight disruptions that occur through no fault of their own.

 

"Assured Arrival" sounds a lot like "Always Included" doesn't it? I love Celebrity, but they're really good at marketing terms that make you think you're getting something that you're not.

Edited January 30, 2022 by RichYak

[sippican]

11 hours ago, RichYak said:

Here's the Celebrity Air guarantee from their terms & conditions (emphasis mine):

 

Provides Assured Arrival as our guarantee to assist guests when they encounter any flight disruptions that occur through no fault of their own.

 

"Assured Arrival" sounds a lot like "Always Included" doesn't it? I love Celebrity, but they're really good at marketing terms that make you think you're getting something that you're not.

 

They denied our flight was cancelled despite two inquiries from us despite this language:  We also proactively monitor flights and offer an around the clock specialist that is available throughout your travel and acts as a liaison between our guest, the carriers and our ships.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Good idea to monitor your flights regularly.    I just got another flight change from Flights By Celebrity for a Delta Flight.    This is the 5th change and not bad.   2 Flight Number changes and one rescheduled by 15 minutes.   Not bad as we originally only had a 50 minute connection in ATL.   

[Arizona Wildcat]

12 hours ago, RichYak said:

Here's the Celebrity Air guarantee from their terms & conditions (emphasis mine):

 

Provides Assured Arrival as our guarantee to assist guests when they encounter any flight disruptions that occur through no fault of their own.

 

"Assured Arrival" sounds a lot like "Always Included" doesn't it? I love Celebrity, but they're really good at marketing terms that make you think you're getting something that you're not.

Celebrity Air is not an airline. It is not technically even a travel agent.  It is a consolidator who buys and resells tickets.

 

Celebrity Air promises to assist.  What else do you think they could do?

 

You will arrive at your destination.  Celebrity Air often, like yesterday, has little ability to change the time.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Arizona Wildcat

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 1/28/2022 at 5:35 AM, CruiseNYC said:

I think I’m done with Celebrity Air.  I do like the idea of not having to pay up front but when the flights keep changing and you attempt to make changes, the change fees add up and you may or may not receive a response from Celebrity Air.  
This past cruise, they rescheduled us to a flight that would have had us waiting at the airport for about 5 hours until out flight home.  I tried numerous times pre-cruise to change the flight without any satisfaction from Celebrity. When I asked on board with the Retreat Concierge, they quoted a change fee which was more than if I had bought a new ticket.  When we got to the airport, I was able to get the earlier flight for a $75 fee per person - which was fine with me!

As I have said over and over.  Celebrity Air books flights.  They are not an airline.  They will "assist" you, but airline fares and schedules change.

A really simple guideline is to make sure your fare has NO CHANGE FEES.  Celebrity Air doesn't charge the fees.  The airlines do.  All the complaints here are because you did not understand what you were buying.  There's almost always a reason for the cheaper fare - the restrictive fine print.

Also a heads up that airlines domestically pay mostly zero or $10 commissions.   

[Lastdance]

I have been frustrated with the ability of all Celebrity Air agents to book flights for Europe, as all that is available at this point is the back of the plane; no business class at all, yet when I check with the carrier, there are tons of seats open.  One Celebrity agent told me that the airlines want to fill the planes with their own customers first.  So, I am just aiting until I find flights that make sense(no pun intended) and book those with the carrier or Celebrity.  I continually look at the mileage flights too, as I have found a better deal than what I actually have..I keep telling myself to have patience, but it's difficult when you are a planner.  I feel your frustration and know this will have lots of ups and downs going forward.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Lastdance

[georgiaguy]

I feel exactly the same way. I was looking at some flights earlier today and there were only 3 seats reserved in premium economy on one of them. Plenty of open seating available. 

[Missymo]

18 hours ago, bloomcruisers said:

I am only booking cruises out of Florida right now so I can drive to the port.

 I just don’t want to deal with that flight uncertainty stress. It’s a long drive from PA but I am in control. So I have limited my cruise options but feel much more relaxed about my trips.

I live in Florida and have booked a few cruises for 2022.  All are out of Miami /Ft Lauderdale except one, at the end of Sept 2022.  I booked my cruise, flight, hotel,and car servce and fingers crossed no changes . (😌 sigh)

Edited January 30, 2022 by Missymo

[cruisequeen4ever]

I know your frustration currently is with Celebrity’s flights dept, not the airlines, but I think you could have had frustration if you had booked directly with the airlines, too. Flights are changing so frequently during the pandemic, and I feel like you can’t count on your flights staying the same until you actually board. A friend of mine found out 4 days before her big vacation that their flights had been canceled by the airline, and the airline didn’t even bother to notify them!! I read an article that referenced a bunch of canceled flights on her airlines and suggested she check hers; if that hadn’t happened, she would have shown up with her family for flights that didn’t exist! When she got a call back 3 hours later from the airline, they couldn’t even get them on flights for the original date; they had to fly out a day early to be able to go on vaca. Another friend had hers canceled a week in advance, and then the airline split up her group of 6 onto 2 separate flights and weren’t able to accommodate the premium seating they had previously booked. Things are just crazy these days. 
 

I hope that in the coming months, your flights will change in a good way, and you can go back to Premium Economy, and stay there.

[C-Dragons]

On 1/30/2022 at 12:50 PM, Lastdance said:

I have been frustrated with the ability of all Celebrity Air agents to book flights for Europe, as all that is available at this point is the back of the plane; no business class at all, yet when I check with the carrier, there are tons of seats open.  One Celebrity agent told me that the airlines want to fill the planes with their own customers first.  So, I am just aiting until I find flights that make sense(no pun intended) and book those with the carrier or Celebrity.  I continually look at the mileage flights too, as I have found a better deal than what I actually have..I keep telling myself to have patience, but it's difficult when you are a planner.  I feel your frustration and know this will have lots of ups and downs going forward.

I have only used Flights by X twice. The last and most recent time was for an upcoming European cruise.

We are frequent flyers with AA and last July as soon as AA opened flights for booking, I called and gave all the details for our flights to a Celebrity agent. He confirmed verbally on the phone that he had booked the requested flights.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I went online to AA's website to check and everything was correct and still the same except that the return flight number had changed. A week later I got an email from Flights by X saying that there had been a schedule change. The final destination for the return flight had been changed to a totally airport in a neighboring state!

I called Flights by X twice. The first agent told me she couldn’t make the change because the fare had to be fully refundable and there weren’t any available. I told her that as we were talking I was looking at the inventory on the airline's website and could see refundable fares showing in Business class which is what we originally had. I called back a second time shortly after and spoke to a different agent. He started off by telling me that the schedule change notification that I received did NOT come from X, that “those only came from the airlines directly”. But the header on the email clearly said “Flights by Celebrity”. He then insisted that I had booked the wrong city on the return. As I pointed out to him, I did not actually  book the flights and I never received an email showing the flights that were booked by the X agent. If I had, the mistake would have been caught 6 months ago. What was so aggravating was that the original, correct flight connection, and our previously booked seats were still available, but they wouldn’t reinstate them.

I had no idea that they were a consolidator, now it makes sense.I will never book with them again.

[wrk2cruise]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:08 AM, Arizona Wildcat said:

A really simple guideline is to make sure your fare has NO CHANGE FEES.  Celebrity Air doesn't charge the fees.

 

Not in my experience.  Once ticketed they (Celebrity Air) charges a $200 pp change/cancel fee regardless of the airlines change fee policy.   They were very clear explaining this when we were making the booking.

 

[Lastdance]

50 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

I have only used Flights by X twice. The last and most recent time was for an upcoming European cruise.

We are frequent flyers with AA and last July as soon as AA opened flights for booking, I called and gave all the details for our flights to a Celebrity agent. He confirmed verbally on the phone that he had booked the requested flights.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I went online to AA's website to check and everything was correct and still the same except that the return flight number had changed. A week later I got an email from Flights by X saying that there had been a schedule change. The final destination for the return flight had been changed to a totally airport in a neighboring state!

I called Flights by X twice. The first agent told me she couldn’t make the change because the fare had to be fully refundable and there weren’t any available. I told her that as we were talking I was looking at the inventory on the airline's website and could see refundable fares showing in Business class which is what we originally had. I called back a second time shortly after and spoke to a different agent. He started off by telling me that the schedule change notification that I received did NOT come from X, that “those only came from the airlines directly”. But the header on the email clearly said “Flights by Celebrity”. He then insisted that I had booked the wrong city on the return. As I pointed out to him, I did not actually  book the flights and I never received an email showing the flights that were booked by the X agent. If I had, the mistake would have been caught 6 months ago. What was so aggravating was that the original, correct flight connection, and our previously booked seats were still available, but they wouldn’t reinstate them.

I had no idea that they were a consolidator, now it makes sense.I will never book with them again.

OMgosh, that is absolutely ridiculous!  I have never had an issue with them until Covid, but I will have my eyes wide open...thank you so much for replying!  Hope to see you in October!

[Lastdance]

37 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Not in my experience.  Once ticketed they (Celebrity Air) charges a $200 pp change/cancel fee regardless of the airlines change fee policy.   They were very clear explaining this when we were making the booking.

 

[RichYak]

25 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

FYI you quoted the prior post and wrote nothing in your reply.

[sippican]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:08 AM, Arizona Wildcat said:

As I have said over and over.  Celebrity Air books flights.  They are not an airline.  They will "assist" you, but airline fares and schedules change.

A really simple guideline is to make sure your fare has NO CHANGE FEES.  Celebrity Air doesn't charge the fees.  The airlines do.  All the complaints here are because you did not understand what you were buying.  There's almost always a reason for the cheaper fare - the restrictive fine print.

Also a heads up that airlines domestically pay mostly zero or $10 commissions.   

 

They may not "assist" you at all. Our complaint has nothing whatsoever with knowing what we were buying!

They did nothing, absolutely nothing, when we were twice notified of a cancelled flight. No acknowledgement of cancellation, no support in rebooking.

[C-Dragons]

5 hours ago, Lastdance said:

OMgosh, that is absolutely ridiculous!  I have never had an issue with them until Covid, but I will have my eyes wide open...thank you so much for replying!  Hope to see you in October!

We will be there with bells on… 😊

[southernbreezes]

On 1/31/2022 at 2:26 PM, wrk2cruise said:

 

Not in my experience.  Once ticketed they (Celebrity Air) charges a $200 pp change/cancel fee regardless of the airlines change fee policy.   They were very clear explaining this when we were making the booking.

 

You can cancel or make all the changes you want no charge up until the time full payment is made to the airlines.  My experience has been the best. My upcoming July 22 cruise to Europe business class was over $2,500pp cheaper with Flights by Celebrity vs United, America and over $3,000 less than Delta. I saved over $5,000.00 not sure how they do it but they do. I receive an email from them on any flight changes along the way. My connecting flight home was changed by 1 hour and I worried we could miss the second leg of our flight so I called to change. Flights by Celebrity asked if I could fly home to Miami instead of PBI as they had a non-stop for less money. I said yes and now have a 9-hour nonstop business class flight (the drive home from Miami is an extra 35 minutes. My flights are on United... Miami to Milan then AA... Barcelona to Miami $5,394.16 for both of us what a deal.