FLIGHTS BY CELEBRITY SCREWUP

[PAllinson]

We booked a cruise 1/21/23 on the Infinity, leaving Barcelona on 12/9/23 and used Flights by Celebrity to provide our air on KLM. Today at 1PM I received notification from KLM that our flight from IAD to Barcelona was cancelled, Flights by celebrity was unable to find any flights to take the place of the cancelled flight. I then called KLM and they found a connection flight from DCA to JFK to Barcellona and booked the 4 of us on the flights. When I wnet tto the airline website to fill in the passport information and obtain seats, I could only get 3 of the 4 seats  on the DCA to JFK portion as the flightg was oversold by 2 people. I am trying to drive to JFK and lose the DCA to JFK portion but so far no luck, being told that we have to fly out of the washington area airorts and not JFK since our initial ticket was out of IAD.  Any help and suggestions appreciated

[hasentreelake]

Not sure this is a Celebrity Screwup - particular IN CAPS.
Seems more an airline SNAFU that just happens to effect you (and others).
Good Luck getting it all worked out!

 

[tjunmin]

When you look at Flights by Celebrity value proposition, they state that in case of cancellations, they will work with the airline to get passengers to their destination. In that regard, Flights by Celebrity failed OP.

From their website: "When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

[Shiba_Lover]

I would call and have air by celebrity book you on other flights.

[dlh015]

10 minutes ago, tjunmin said:

When you look at Flights by Celebrity value proposition, they state that in case of cancellations, they will work with the airline to get passengers to their destination. In that regard, Flights by Celebrity failed OP.

From their website: "When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

Agreed. Thank goodness you didn't put this in all CAPS...(if you know what I mean...) I would if I was the OP and wanted to attract some attention...

 

I wish I had some useful advice for the OP!

 

@PAllinson Have you looked at any other airline to see if they can get you there one way or another??   I know it's an extra expense but could get you there on time!

 

Good luck and let us know...and perhaps others here may have some better advice!  

Edited December 6, 2023 by dlh015

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, PAllinson said:

We booked a cruise 1/21/23 on the Infinity, leaving Barcelona on 12/9/23 and used Flights by Celebrity to provide our air on KLM. Today at 1PM I received notification from KLM that our flight from IAD to Barcelona was cancelled, Flights by celebrity was unable to find any flights to take the place of the cancelled flight. I then called KLM and they found a connection flight from DCA to JFK to Barcellona and booked the 4 of us on the flights. When I wnet tto the airline website to fill in the passport information and obtain seats, I could only get 3 of the 4 seats  on the DCA to JFK portion as the flightg was oversold by 2 people. I am trying to drive to JFK and lose the DCA to JFK portion but so far no luck, being told that we have to fly out of the washington area airorts and not JFK since our initial ticket was out of IAD.  Any help and suggestions appreciated

 

I don't know all their T&Cs, wouldn't they just refund you if a flight doesn't exist and then you can just rebook with FBC or whomever?

[1Virgo]

21 minutes ago, tjunmin said:

When you look at Flights by Celebrity value proposition, they state that in case of cancellations, they will work with the airline to get passengers to their destination. In that regard, Flights by Celebrity failed OP.

From their website: "When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

100% agree. FBC should have your back on this.   Call FBC.  

 

keep in mind this is no excuse, but Celeb and FBC have a lot of new employees so you need to persist. Their responsibility and headache.      

[ldubs]

Gee whiz.  Celebrity booked your original flights then when a leg was cancelled just washed their hands and said you are on your own?  That is pretty bad.  Were they prepared to give you a full refund on the cruise I wonder.  

[Tierun]

United should be your best option. Nonstop from IAD

[mrgabriel]

2 hours ago, PAllinson said:

We booked a cruise 1/21/23 on the Infinity, leaving Barcelona on 12/9/23 and used Flights by Celebrity to provide our air on KLM. Today at 1PM I received notification from KLM that our flight from IAD to Barcelona was cancelled, Flights by celebrity was unable to find any flights to take the place of the cancelled flight. I then called KLM and they found a connection flight from DCA to JFK to Barcellona and booked the 4 of us on the flights. When I wnet tto the airline website to fill in the passport information and obtain seats, I could only get 3 of the 4 seats  on the DCA to JFK portion as the flightg was oversold by 2 people. I am trying to drive to JFK and lose the DCA to JFK portion but so far no luck, being told that we have to fly out of the washington area airorts and not JFK since our initial ticket was out of IAD.  Any help and suggestions appreciated

Since you aren’t getting help from FBC,

Twitter/X is your friend for rescheduling flights. Much faster than waiting on hold & you have what they’ve said in writing. 

[SFCAcruiser]

4 hours ago, PAllinson said:

...  Any help and suggestions appreciated

Over my decades of frequent flying, whenever I have had flight delays or cancellations, I searched for alternative flights myself and then verbally fed my preferred itineraries to the airline agents. I did NOT rely upon airline staff to generate my alternative plans. This strategy might work with Flights by Celebrity. The less work and time the FBC agents have to do, the more likely you are to get your desired results.

 

Their agents allegedly looked and could not find any other flights!!!! There are numerous ways to get from IAD to BCN, best of which is the non-stop on United. Obviously the issue is $$$. That should not matter to you given the published verbiage about FBC having your back.

 

As others have stated, FBC owes you alternative flights. Persist and escalate with them as needed. It would help if you can remain calm when speaking with the FBC agents and try to get them to sympathized with you. 

 

I will add that you might ask for assistance in the Cruise Air forum. Your problem is related to Celebrity, but some of the participants in Cruise Air forum are very knowledgeable. And as others here have suggested, avoid using upper case letters in your post title in that forum; that will be a distraction.

Edited December 6, 2023 by SFCAcruiser
more info added

[PAllinson]

Yesterday, we were placed on a flight from DCA that connects to a flight from JFK to Barcellona, when I got up this morning nothing had changed. The DCA to JFK flight we are still standby, we had asked to drop the ov ersold flight out of DCA and would drive to JFK . We thought everything was fixed yesterday and we would take the nonstop flight out of JFK and lose the oversold DCA to JFK connection. This morning nothing changed. Still showed we were leaving from DCA. KLM sas flights by celebrity has control of the tickets and Flights by Celebrity claims that KLM has control of the tickets. FUBR

[KEN31VA]

I believe that your proposed option to drive to NY is confusing your problem.  (Unless you were considering a rental car, you would complicate your return back to IAD.)  I found dozens of options to get from DCA or IAD to JFK and adding to that, there is the option of flying into LGA and taking the shuttle to JFK.  My suggestion would be to figure out what you want and get on the phone with Celebrity Air to make it happen. You might also want to consider setting up a conference call between the airline, Celebrity and yourself to work it out.

[PAllinson]

WE do not have control of the ticket, Flights by celebrity now claims that KLM took control of the ticket when KLM automatically rebooked us on the DCA to JFK to BCN flights, KLM claims Celebrity has control. FUBAR due to the KLM cancellation

[kayehall]

I just did a quick look at Orbitz.

There are flights tonite from IAD to BCN on Air France.

 

Tomorrow:

IAD to BCN.... 615p/820a nonstop on UA

IAD to BCN....440p/1050a via Rome on ITA

IAD to BCN....1243p/900a via Newark on UA

 

DCA to BCN....1140a/900a via PHL on AA

DCA to BCN....300p/900a via EWR (Newark) on UA

 

I did not look closely at cost or seat availability.  I just know they all were available to book.

[Shiba_Lover]

Yeah, similar happened to me a few years ago and I just had  flights by celebrity cancel the air ( which they can do since the airline's changes were not ok with me ( ie it would have been impossible to get to the cruise with the new times) .  I got a refund, ( it took a month or so) and I rebooked new tickets on my own.  I did have to go an extra day earlier so I also had to get a hotel for an extra night 

[bikerunner]

My ta advises and my experience from working in the travel industry, is to never book with a 3rd party vendor    Yes much more convient most of time but when situations like this happens its a nightmare.  Since like mentioned not sure who has ckntrol of the ricket now.  Hopefully it gets worked out but does take lots of patience and time from the one time i did it, to good of a deal to pas up but took me many hours to sort out air after changes were made and all flights not available thru the 3rd party vendor.  Good luck with getting it sorted out.  

[sanger727]

18 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

My ta advises and my experience from working in the travel industry, is to never book with a 3rd party vendor    Yes much more convient most of time but when situations like this happens its a nightmare.  Since like mentioned not sure who has ckntrol of the ricket now.  Hopefully it gets worked out but does take lots of patience and time from the one time i did it, to good of a deal to pas up but took me many hours to sort out air after changes were made and all flights not available thru the 3rd party vendor.  Good luck with getting it sorted out.  

I agree with this. Not quite the same situation, but we booked a hotel/airfare package through a TA. On the day of the flight, it was cancelled. The airline didn't offer any substitutions besides flying out a day later. We found another airline with a flight that we could make. We confirmed with our original airline that since they cancelled the flight, we could get the first leg refunded. That was where the problems started. The airline offered us a ridiculously small refund. What they kept referring back to was the low class and price of the ticket our TA bought. And there was absolutely no way to determine how much of our package price went to airline tickets. 

[D. B.]

16 hours ago, tjunmin said:

When you look at Flights by Celebrity value proposition, they state that in case of cancellations, they will work with the airline to get passengers to their destination. In that regard, Flights by Celebrity failed OP.

From their website: "When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

FBC has (Twice) gotten me to my Cruise when the Airlines Cancelled my flights at the last minute.

 One of those got us on a Flight was listed as overbooked.

 Sorry it didn't work for you.

 

[tjunmin]

48 minutes ago, D. B. said:

FBC has (Twice) gotten me to my Cruise when the Airlines Cancelled my flights at the last minute.

 One of those got us on a Flight was listed as overbooked.

 Sorry it didn't work for you.

I'm not the OP.

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, bikerunner said:

My ta advises and my experience from working in the travel industry, is to never book with a 3rd party vendor    Yes much more convient most of time but when situations like this happens its a nightmare.  Since like mentioned not sure who has ckntrol of the ricket now.  Hopefully it gets worked out but does take lots of patience and time from the one time i did it, to good of a deal to pas up but took me many hours to sort out air after changes were made and all flights not available thru the 3rd party vendor.  Good luck with getting it sorted out.  

 

What's surprising to me is the OP is claiming FBC is forcing them to fly out of the originally booked airport despite the entire flight being canceled.  Very strange rule especially since FBC claims they'll get you to the ship.  The original reservation should be refunded and if the OP wishes, they could book a new reservation with FBC or directly

[paulh84]

7 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

What's surprising to me is the OP is claiming FBC is forcing them to fly out of the originally booked airport despite the entire flight being canceled.  Very strange rule especially since FBC claims they'll get you to the ship.  The original reservation should be refunded and if the OP wishes, they could book a new reservation with FBC or directly

 

I'm confused on part of this. I don't think there is an alliance airline that would ticket through KLM that would get from IAD to Barcelona without a connection in Europe. United (Star Alliance) is the only nonstop and KLM is SkyTeam. United hasn't canceled all week. Seems there are more layers to this than OP is providing and seems to provide some explanation to why they wouldn't let them skip the first leg. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by paulh84

[NutsAboutGolf]

13 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

 

I'm confused on part of this. I don't think there is an alliance airline that would ticket through KLM that would get from IAD to Barcelona without a connection in Europe. United (Star Alliance) is the only nonstop and KLM is SkyTeam. United hasn't canceled all week. Seems there are more layers to this than OP is providing and seems to provide some explanation to why they wouldn't let them skip the first leg. 

 

100%.  I'm also wondering what exactly they're telling the OP to do, are they saying something like "Sorry we couldn't help you on this sailing, is there another sailing we can help you book?" (lol)

[jerseygirl3]

15 hours ago, PAllinson said:

We booked a cruise 1/21/23 on the Infinity, leaving Barcelona on 12/9/23 and used Flights by Celebrity to provide our air on KLM. Today at 1PM I received notification from KLM that our flight from IAD to Barcelona was cancelled, Flights by celebrity was unable to find any flights to take the place of the cancelled flight. I then called KLM and they found a connection flight from DCA to JFK to Barcellona and booked the 4 of us on the flights. When I wnet tto the airline website to fill in the passport information and obtain seats, I could only get 3 of the 4 seats  on the DCA to JFK portion as the flightg was oversold by 2 people. I am trying to drive to JFK and lose the DCA to JFK portion but so far no luck, being told that we have to fly out of the washington area airorts and not JFK since our initial ticket was out of IAD.  Any help and suggestions appreciated

Celebrity Air screwed up our flights 2 years in a row. One year at 3 weeks prior to flight Philly to Rome they cancelled my husband and I ( we had booked Business Class). Worst part was they never notified us. A friend questioned me if we had cancelled our flight because our seats were now showing as a available (they were seated right behind us). . It was a nightmare getting it straightened out. But the following year, because of what had happened the previous year, I kept an eye on our flight. One week prior to flying i saw they changed my seat from row 3 to row 1 and cancelled my husband entirely!  Celebrity was useless in helping us. Both these flights were on American Airlines. We wound up having to drive to the Philadelphia airport to get  it straightened out. The flight was oversold so we had to change and fly a day earlier, which wasn't the end of the world, but it did mean an extra night hotel. And we had  to alter our plans for my Mom's caretaker arrangements since my Mom had Alzheimer's and my husband and I lived with her and took care of her. Despite better pricing it wasnt worth the aggravation and havent booked through cruiseline since. 

[PAllinson]

We finally got everything worked out with KLM, now will be flying on Delta from JFK to Barcelona. What happened was that when the iinitial KLM flight out of IAD cancelled, KLM automatically rebooked us a non-viable flight, After multiple calls to both KLM and Flights by celebrity KLM claimed that American airlines would not allow them to drop the segment and they rebooked us on the delta flight out of JFK. 

Hope there are no further hitches.