Booking Airlines

[frenchCow]

Hi,

I'm a first time cruiser...is it better to book your own flights and hotel to arrive at the port, let the travel agent do it, or through the cruise line?  We are cruising with Princess and leaving out of Vancouver.  We will be arriving the day before our cruise is set to depart as I've read that this is really the best way to go. How about the  port hotel/flight packages offered by agents and Princess, are they worth it?  Thanks.

[CruiserBruce]

First of all, the better place for your research is the Cruise Air board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/

 

Secondly, there is no one answer that fits every situation flying to a port. Sometimes airfare is better through the cruise lines, sometimes not.

 

Hotel and transport packages are usually marked up tremendously...99.9% of the time you can do better arranging these on your own.

 

The only way to know if air fare is better booked through the cruise line or on your own is to do the shopping research, and see what the numbers are.

 

Yes...it definitely is best to come in the day before.

[ldubs]

CruiserBruce pretty much covers it.  Do some quick and dirty comparison shopping both bundled and unbundled.   Enjoy.  

[horseymike]

Well said

[Joebucks]

One of the biggest mistakes people make is booking air asap. There is a misguided sense of peace of mind when you book your flight 1+ year out so it "doesn't sell out." Not only is the price usually inflated, but so much can change in that time.

[CruiserBruce]

23 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

One of the biggest mistakes people make is booking air asap. There is a misguided sense of peace of mind when you book your flight 1+ year out so it "doesn't sell out." Not only is the price usually inflated, but so much can change in that time.

Where can you book airfare more than a year old?

[nini]

I think flights are available about 9 months out. To the OP, we often book through the cruise line for various reasons, unless it is domestic, then we book with Alaska Airlines.

 

frenchCow: Since it looks like you are flying from Arizona to Vancouver, you may look at domestic flights on your own. You can check out the prices on EZAir (you do not say when your cruise is) and then compare to what you usually like to fly on. We have found that the rates are best when they first are issued, so we book then and we follow them in case they decrease because we can get a reduction with EZAir.

[mikebsxm]

Concerning pre-cruise hotels, I generally agree with CruiserBruce.  Hotels booked through the cruise line are usually priced per-person, while if you book it yourself, the room is generally priced per night, for 2 people.  So, you are paying almost double.

Domestic airfares are usually close to the same cost,  booked through the cruise line or directly through the airline.  But international flights, especially premium economy and business class are much cheaper booked through the cruise line.  And if you need a one-way or open-jaw international ticket, you can't beat the cruise line prices.  Plus, the ability to reserve your flights and select seats, but not pay for the tickets until final cruise payment date, is a big plus, just in case you need to cancel.

Edited February 25, 2023 by mikebsxm

[CruiserBruce]

44 minutes ago, nini said:

I think flights are available about 9 months out. To the OP, we often book through the cruise line for various reasons, unless it is domestic, then we book with Alaska Airlines.

Depends on the airline. Most standard US airlines the fares are available 330 days out. A couple of the low cost carriers, like Southwest, its usually 6 or 7 months. Not aware of any airline that any airline that does it more than 365 days out, but some international carriers do sell at 365 days.

[d9704011]

4 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Depends on the airline. Most standard US airlines the fares are available 330 days out. A couple of the low cost carriers, like Southwest, its usually 6 or 7 months. Not aware of any airline that any airline that does it more than 365 days out, but some international carriers do sell at 365 days.

Just as a point of interest... Air Transat offers some bookings (ie. YUL-CDG) more than 365 days in advance... of course, that won't help much for an Alaska cruise!!

[Fairgarth]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Depends on the airline. Most standard US airlines the fares are available 330 days out. A couple of the low cost carriers, like Southwest, its usually 6 or 7 months. Not aware of any airline that any airline that does it more than 365 days out, but some international carriers do sell at 365 days.

 

I think it goes back to the early days of computers where data storage had to be minimized.  So if you called and wanted a flight to Venice on 4th June, there was only one 4th June in the system and you did not have to specify the year.  It also makes a lot of sense and prevents major errors.  If 4th June 2023 and 4th June 2024 were both in the res system you can quickly see what happens next.  Big ooops!

[Bo1953]

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

One of the biggest mistakes people make is booking air asap. There is a misguided sense of peace of mind when you book your flight 1+ year out so it "doesn't sell out." Not only is the price usually inflated, but so much can change in that time.

While I Am not sure where one can purchase airfare more than one (1) year out, yet I do know that I did book My airfare exactly at one (1) year from my return date and now airfares have more than doubled.

 

I must add that I do have refundable airfare, so if the pricing does go down I can take advantage of it.

 

This is for international flights, as well.

 

bon voyage

[Fishboy1947]

22 hours ago, Joebucks said:

One of the biggest mistakes people make is booking air asap. There is a misguided sense of peace of mind when you book your flight 1+ year out so it "doesn't sell out." Not only is the price usually inflated, but so much can change in that time.

I do not find this true in my recent experiences. My flights have been significantly less far in advance of my trips. I’ve seen increases of up to 50%. Also the cancellation benefit of booking air along with the cruise is definitely worth something

[mikebsxm]

Airlines ticket prices are based on supply and demand.  330 days out, they post fares based on research and history.  Also, its based on the number of seats available across all airlines going to specific destinations.  Lots of seats going from JFK/EWR to LHR or CDG results in lower fares.   Similar destinations from PHL or CLT might cost more due to fewer seats available.   As time progresses, if demand is low on a specific route, fares may drop.  Conversely, if demand is high, then prices rise as inventory gets booked up.

[Ashland]

I usually get some great first class air booked a few months after the booking dates open.

[FlyerTalker]

Let me put this as clearly as possible.

 

There is no magic date or time for booking the "best" pricing.

 

Any "analysis" of "best times" is merely a compilation and averaging of many flights and have no direct correlation to your particular city-pair and dates.

 

Trying to out think an airline's yield management system is a fool's errand.  They pay lots of very intelligent people a ton of money to develop sophisticated algorithms for ticket pricing.  Are you saying you can out-wit them?

 

Your best process is to research and gain general knowledge.  Then decide your specific purchasing strategy and run with it.

 

Finally....don't look back.  As Satchel Paige used to say, they may be gaining on you.

 

 

[Fishboy1947]

Big advantage with booking through airlines is your ability to rebook airlines if price drops. You can also usually cancel flights at final payment if you can do better on your own

[CruiserBruce]

11 minutes ago, Fishboy1947 said:

Big advantage with booking through airlines is your ability to rebook airlines if price drops. You can also usually cancel flights at final payment if you can do better on your own

You mean booking through the cruise line?

[Fishboy1947]

51 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

You mean booking through the cruise line?

Yes, thank you 

[FlyerTalker]

7 hours ago, Fishboy1947 said:

Big advantage with booking through airlines is your ability to rebook airlines if price drops. You can also usually cancel flights at final payment if you can do better on your own

 

If price is your overriding concern.

 

For most tickets on USA carriers, with the exception of basic economy (which is a bad purchase to make for a number of reasons), you can cancel and rebook at a lower price - getting the difference back in a flight credit and without a cancellation fee.

 

So it's not that big of an advantage after all.  (plus you are likely to be buying bulk tickets rather than published fare tickets - and likely with more restrictive fare rules)

 

 

 

[cruiseaholic78]

On 2/25/2023 at 6:45 PM, Joebucks said:

One of the biggest mistakes people make is booking air asap. There is a misguided sense of peace of mind when you book your flight 1+ year out so it "doesn't sell out." Not only is the price usually inflated, but so much can change in that time.

I am afraid I beg to differ, in most cases we try to book as soon as flights are available!

Two examples bear in mind these are flights from Europe.

Last February booked for December Amsterdam-Tokyo(to see family)-Sydney return again via Tokyo abt € 8000 business two people return.Later prices increased to nearly double.

Last month booked for October Amsterdam-Tokyo Singapore-Amsterdam abt €7300 refundable business two people. Now same flight abt €13000 non refundable and same or similar via Easy Air.

Each flight has different letters available when the first one is filled they go on to the next one each time more expensive but all for exactly the same flight. Weird I know but thats how it seems to work.

Happy planning 

Rosalyn

[FlyerTalker]

54 minutes ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Each flight has different letters available when the first one is filled they go on to the next one each time more expensive but all for exactly the same flight. Weird I know but thats how it seems to work.

 

I am assuming that by "letters" you are referring to fare buckets.

 

It is not true that once a fare bucket is sold out, all pricing automatically moves to the higher buckets.  Airlines dynamically adjust inventory across the various buckets, both adding AND subtracting from buckets through the use of very sophisticated algorithms.

 

So, sometimes additional inventory is moved into lower buckets as we move from the time when a flight is loaded into the GDS.  And sometimes a bucket is allowed to stay empty if there is strong demand for that flight.  But it is never just a matter of "load inventory and forget" - the systems are continually monitoring and adjusting inventories.

 

You may have had flights in higher demand periods, when inventory isn't replaced into lower buckets. Further, you were apparently booking fully-refundable tickets, which start out in some of the highest priced fare buckets, so there is usually little downward motion in their pricing.  Much much different then the tickets most people are purchasing, which are not fully refundable.   So you are comparing apples with oranges.

 

I can tell you of hundreds of my own flights over the years where prices have moved both up and down as time progresses.  It's sophisticated supply and demand analysis, without any simple absolutes.

 

 

[cruiseaholic78]

I stand corrected, now I know the expression is buckets, in our case the first flights were not refundable only changeable. In the second case we did indeed book refundable, will follow them to see if they ever become cheaper but I don’t think from 13000 to below 7300 is likely to happen.

In this case our only option was KLM, after our last flights from Sydney with long waits between flights we said only direct if possible.

 

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

In this case our only option was KLM, after our last flights from Sydney with long waits between flights we said only direct if possible.

 

It is not your only option.  It is the only option that you wish to consider.  Further, by limiting yourself to a single airline, you severely restrict any possible comparison shopping.

 

You may have a direct flight, but you don't have a non-stop.  You will be stopping somewhere between SYD and AMS, yet you still chose to not make a connection.

 

Tough for your set of choices to readily translate into the purchasing process for the mass of people.  But I'm glad that you feel that it works out well for you.

 

 

[Zach1213]

3 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

only direct if possible.

 

As mentioned, there are no nonstops between Amsterdam and anywhere in Australia. I don't even think there are any directs (same plane and/or flight number but with a stop or stops)...so you will be changing planes somewhere, be it Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Singapore, KL, Hong Kong... There are a lot of options between AMS and SYD, but none of them are on KLM.