Voluntary no-show for Flight by Celebrity outbound flight

[*twinkle*]

We have booked Flights by Celebrity to Rome via Frankfurt.  I have realised the connection is a bit tight, and their on-time ratings are awful at the moment anyway.  I called Celebrity and Lufthansa to try to change to the day before the cruise, but nobody could help.  Celebrity couldn't find any flights the day before, and didn't seem interested that I thought there was a good chance we would miss the cruise.  

 

Lufthansa could see flights the day before, but couldn't make any changes.  They needed my TA (Celebrity) to request the change.  

 

So, we decided to just book our own direct flights (at extra cost, obviously) with Ryanair. 

 

I won't be calling FbC again, it took in excess of one hour for them to answer the phone last time, and weren't exactly helpful.  We are in the UK, and our call centre is even worse than this!  Was quoted a cancellation fee of $200 USD per person as well. 

 

We will just leave the Frankfurt flights booked in case of any unforseen  difficulties, Ryanair might let us down too, so Lufthansa will remain our back-up plan.  Where does this leave us with Flights by Celebrity?  We will likely be a no-show - will this cause any problems?  I'm imagining that FbC might actually do some form of tracking to make sure all their passengers/flights are all running to schedule?  

Edited June 8, 2022 by *twinkle*
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[cruisestitch]

Often when you are a no-show for an outbound flight the airlines  will cancel the return.  It may end up costing you a lot more than you think😱

[Mark_T]

15 minutes ago, *twinkle* said:

Where does this leave us with Flights by Celebrity?  We will likely be a no-show - will this cause any problems?

Airline industry standard is to cancel all subsequent flights on the same ticket after a no-show.

 

A very bad idea to plan to no-show unless it is the final ticketed flight on the itinerary.

 

Even then there can be consequences due to the 'hidden city' rules.

[the penguins]

38 minutes ago, *twinkle* said:

We have booked Flights by Celebrity to Rome via Frankfurt.  I have realised the connection is a bit tight, and their on-time ratings are awful at the moment anyway.  I called Celebrity and Lufthansa to try to change to the day before the cruise, but nobody could help.  Celebrity couldn't find any flights the day before, and didn't seem interested that I thought there was a good chance we would miss the cruise.  

 

Lufthansa could see flights the day before, but couldn't make any changes.  They needed my TA (Celebrity) to request the change.  

 

So, we decided to just book our own direct flights (at extra cost, obviously) with Ryanair. 

 

I won't be calling FbC again, it took in excess of one hour for them to answer the phone last time, and weren't exactly helpful.  We are in the UK, and our call centre is even worse than this!  Was quoted a cancellation fee of $200 USD per person as well. 

 

We will just leave the Frankfurt flights booked in case of any unforseen  difficulties, Ryanair might let us down too, so Lufthansa will remain our back-up plan.  Where does this leave us with Flights by Celebrity?  We will likely be a no-show - will this cause any problems?  I'm imagining that FbC might actually do some form of tracking to make sure all their passengers/flights are all running to schedule?  

If you have booked a return ticket the return segment will automatically be cancelled if you are a no show on the outward.

Try calling X early in the morning that usually works for me. Also try 01932 834300.

[rslrhu]

I just had a similar conversation with a Celebrity rep.  We've got packaged flights from a flights offer with Easyjet Manchester to Barcelona on the same day the cruise departs, and Jet2 back from Rome.  We checked to see if we could move the outbound flight a couple days earlier to mitigate the chance of a missed departure.  Even though they are different airlines Celebrity wouldn't allow us to cancel the outbound or change it.  She checked and said we could no-show for the outbound to keep the inbound, and book a new outbound for ourselves.  She just asked that if we did plan on no-showing that we let them know. 

 

I personally wouldn't book a deal like this again because I prefer to fly earlier, but doing our own flights at the time was ridiculously expensive.

[Mark_T]

7 minutes ago, rslrhu said:

She checked and said we could no-show for the outbound to keep the inbound, and book a new outbound for ourselves.  She just asked that if we did plan on no-showing that we let them know.

If you are 100% sure the flights are on different unconnected ticket numbers then it can work, but I still regard no-show on an outbound as 'high-risk'

 

 

[doktor71]

There is a service called gate to gate in Frankfurt.  It is awesome when you have a tight connection.  We have used it.  They use private elevators, rum cars on tarmac, and take you to the front of lines.  They pick you up at arrival gate and make sure you get to the next gate. I believe we were through immigration and check in to our next flight in less than 15 minutes after our arrival.

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, rslrhu said:

I just had a similar conversation with a Celebrity rep.  We've got packaged flights from a flights offer with Easyjet Manchester to Barcelona on the same day the cruise departs, and Jet2 back from Rome.  We checked to see if we could move the outbound flight a couple days earlier to mitigate the chance of a missed departure.  Even though they are different airlines Celebrity wouldn't allow us to cancel the outbound or change it.  She checked and said we could no-show for the outbound to keep the inbound, and book a new outbound for ourselves.  She just asked that if we did plan on no-showing that we let them know. 

 

I personally wouldn't book a deal like this again because I prefer to fly earlier, but doing our own flights at the time was ridiculously expensive.

Sounds very unlikely. Before even considering this I would want.

1) written confirmation 

2) confirmation that the price would be the same.

For the future one alternative is to book your "flights" as a holiday not simply as flights. All you need to add is one night hotel (the cheapest the airline has not even necessarily at the destination you are flying to if you don't intend to use it) or 1 days car rental (cheapest as you won't be using it). You will pay less, won't need to pay the whole amount upfront and have full ATOL protection. Easy to do with BA Holidays and other airlines holiday departments. 

 

 

 

 

[*twinkle*]

Thanks everyone.  Our return flight is from Barcelona with Vueling.  They are under different booking references, so completely separate.  We have already checked in for our Vueling flight.  We can't check in for Lufthansa until Sunday.  So I think we will be OK there....

 

I'm just concerned that FbC will be "worried" about us not showing up, and assuming we have missed the flight.  Incidentally, we have received zero confirmations of our flights from Celebrity.  I have emailed their flight department, but got absolutely nada.  Thankfully, I noted the booking references when I made payment.

 

@rslrhu How are we supposed to let them know on the day?  They take over an hour to answer the phone!  A complete time-waste!

 

@doktor71 Yes, we have been through Frankfurt for a previous cruise, but booked flights ourselves for the day before.  We missed the connecting flight to Rome, so stayed in Frankfurt overnight.  No problem really, just had a super early flight to Rome the next morning.  I would have been happy to change this flight, as I just feel it's too risky.  Our itinerary means that we would likely miss the first 4 days of the cruise, and it's just not worth the worry.  I'm happy with the Ryanair flights, and if there are any problems, our Plan B is still the Lufthansa option.

Edited June 8, 2022 by *twinkle*