Flights by Celebrity NIGHTMARE

[NyerinOH]

The biggest mistake I made was booking airfare via Celebrity for a May Scandinavian cruise, and wondering if others have had issues? I booked the cruise 11 months in advance, and understand flights change.  However, in my case, after my initial flight was cancelled, they waited months, then gave me an itinerary that made no sense, cancelled that, and in the past 2 weeks have had airfare changed FOUR TIMES!!  Now, when I go to pick my seats (I booked Premium Economy), the airline wants to charge me an additional $218 dollars!?  Celebrity has been horrific!!  I booked far in advance so that me and my significant other could sit together, by a window where there are only two seats, and now I can't even get middle seats unless I pay $218?  And there are no window seats available.  Of course, they have all my money, my cruise is in less than 90 days!  

 

Am I the only one having such nightmares with Flights by Celebrity.  I've loved cruising with them, but after this nightmare, I will never sail with them again!! The only thing they have done was apologize over and over, thank me for my patience (which is long gone) and gave each of us $100 onboard credit, which ironically doesn't even show up on my account.  

 

#Celebrityneveragain

[Sally & Dan]

Flights by Celebrity failed to get us reasonable flights and accommodations, so we cancelled our cruise in last days of only losing small deposit.  We had a flight from PHL to Tampa with 4 hour layover! They "could not do any better and keep flights back from Barcelona".  SO what!  The BCN to PHL was 22 hour.  Flights by Celebrity was requested to do better for two months and 20+ calls.  Just could not believe how Flights by Celebrity seemed like no effort into accommodating our cruise. 

[Cruise Junky]

Are you flying in British Airways by any chance?  They do charge to pick your seats even in PE. I agree though, I’d avoid cruise air like the plague. 

[Bo1953]

I can only say that our FBC flights were perfect to/from Europe last year. 

 

Our only challenge was on the return was BA changed planes and fortunately we found out before outbound so we could re-select seats...

 

The UA flight there was no charge for selecting seats, but for BA we had to pay and had no issue with that to get what we wanted as that is BA's policy and not FBC.

 

Yet, this goes to show that each of us have different experiences and expectations with/for FBC...

 

bon voyage

[Charles4515]

50 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

Are you flying in British Airways by any chance?  They do charge to pick your seats even in PE. I agree though, I’d avoid cruise air like the plague. 

I try to avoid British Airways like the plague. I had the experience too of not being able to pick my seats until check in but luckily it actually worked out. I got the aisle seat I wanted. As far as cruise air it is not my first choice but in some instances, when flying into one city and returning from another city it has saved ne a bundle. I saved about $1000 once on a one way fare back from a transatlantic. So I usually do check on the cruise air along with direct from the airlines, airline miles,  and AMEX miles or Ultimate Rewards miles. 

Edited March 1 by Charles4515

[wrk2cruise]

All the airlines seem to be doing this since Covid.  I actually had Delta tell me it was my fault for booking so far in advance.  I had a return flight from Tahiti to RDU where they only have 1 flight a day and it alternates between Air France and Delta (code share partners).  About 2 months before the flight Air France decided not to fly on Mondays anymore, only choice was to move to Delta the next day.  Add $500 resort night at my expense.  Day of flight a couple of weeks ago Delta cancelled due to weather in LA.  I went to the app and moved to  next flight the next day only to find out there were no Premium Economy seats available so they put me in Economy from PPT to ATL and then Comfort Plus to RDU.  It would have added another $500 resort night as well.   Ended up booking on United same day in Premium Economy at an additional $600 more than my original flight.    So Delta cost me $1100 even after being refunded for a flight I never took with them!

 

Just saying it's not just flights by Celebrity.  Last minute flight changes by the airlines cause these problems especially with the limited seats in the premium cabins.

Edited March 1 by wrk2cruise

[TeaBag]

I am so sorry your first post on Cruise Critic is about a nightmare.  You sure did get the runaround.  I hope your cruise to Scandanavia makes up for it.

We have sailed on many cruises and we have never booked airfare with the cruiseline.  We prefer to make our own arrangements for flights.

Welcome to Cruise Critic and all the best to you on future cruises and posts on here.

[Mr. Click]

Flight schedules change all of the time.  It is up to us to keep an eye on these things.  BA and a number of other airlines have charged for early seat selection for quite a while.  Pre-COVID we did a cruise out of AMS and went over on BA to save some money.  We booked biz class and even there if we wanted to choose our seats early it was $125 per seat. Since it was on overnight flight and we both planned to just sleep we saved the money.  The LHR to AMS flight was just an hour so we did not really are where we sat.   Always look at all of the details and don't rely on a third party to do the work for you.

[NMTraveller]

Skip the middleman ...

[Cruise till you drop]

We always book our own flights as we always fly in the day before a cruise.  Therefore we don’t see any benefit to booking with the cruise line and we can decide our own itinerary (which is usually the most convenient and direct)

[ScotchBoy]

We are doing a Celebrity cruise next year, and are considering their flight options. Can you tell me if their prices compare favourably to booking direct? Previously, we have always booked our flights direct with the airline.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Cruise till you drop said:

We always book our own flights as we always fly in the day before a cruise.  Therefore we don’t see any benefit to booking with the cruise line and we can decide our own itinerary (which is usually the most convenient and direct)

You can book to fly in the day before and you can book convenient and direct itineraries with the cruise line. Sometimes more convenient as you can book a different airlines for each leg. 

[mahdnc]

22 minutes ago, ScotchBoy said:

We are doing a Celebrity cruise next year, and are considering their flight options. Can you tell me if their prices compare favourably to booking direct? Previously, we have always booked our flights direct with the airline.

 

From my usage, I have found in general that airfare pricing through Celebrity is usually about the same as buying direct.  Sometimes Celebrity will run a cruise promotion that advertises a discount on air fare which requires you to use Flights by Celebrity.  In those cases the air fare though the cruise line is decidedly cheaper than booking directly with the airline.

 

To me it is worth shopping for air fare through Celebrity and through the airline directly.  If the price through Celebrity is cheap enough, I will consider using them.

[rotoal]

2 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

We always book our own flights as we always fly in the day before a cruise.  Therefore we don’t see any benefit to booking with the cruise line and we can decide our own itinerary (which is usually the most convenient and direct)

We like to use FBC in order to book our flights early but not have to pay until cruise final payment.  
You can pick your own flights, doing all of the research ahead of time.  For our cruise in September from Barcelona to Rome we are flying in 4 days early and staying a week at the other end.  
 

[Jeremiah1212]

Flights by Celebrity can certainly be challenging to work with. Some tips if you do book with them...

 

Do not book 11 months out. You will have several flight changes as airlines change schedules. 

Do not book codeshare flights (i.e. sold by Virgin operated by Delta).

Know the airlines rules and fees, especially for seat selection and bags, because you are still responsible for those additional costs.

 

 

[Shiba_Lover]

If it's on American and you paid for premium economy yourself, ask you need to do is go on the American site, there s form for cancelled/changed flights where you can submit to get the refund for upgraded premium seats.  You have to submit this yourself.  You just need the confirmation number.  I did this for flights made by flights by celebrity that changed and we got the refund within 48 hours.

[CruisingTheWaves]

Reasons I always book my flights directly with the airline. I think of it like contractor services for my home. I will shy away from any "home service" that will come to my house and service my appliances, but yet they will do landscaping and pool work too. Red flags all over that something won't be done right. Celebrity is a cruise line and that is their focus. I can't rely on them to get a flight arrangement right, it's just not their specialty.

[villauk]

2 hours ago, ScotchBoy said:

We are doing a Celebrity cruise next year, and are considering their flight options. Can you tell me if their prices compare favourably to booking direct? Previously, we have always booked our flights direct with the airline.

 

X have been advertising some special deals on flights to Europe e.g. £49pp return. We have used them for our next cruise later this month as, again, it was a special offer. This is the first time we haven’t booked our own flights direct with the airline, and like I previously stated, it’s just because there was a special offer available and it was cheaper than booking with the airline. So, it’s worth checking what they are offering for the sailing you are considering.

Edited March 1 by villauk

[Jim_Iain]

15 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Are you flying in British Airways by any chance?  They do charge to pick your seats even in PE. I agree though, I’d avoid cruise air like the plague. 

 

I have to say BA use to be a good airlines but has gone in the tanks.    Sometimes BA is the only choice and shocked by their charges.    I recently booked a flight LHR to Barcelona in full fare Business Class.   They charge to pick seats.      The only airline I've ever experience that hit Business class passengers with a fee to select seats.

[Charles4515]

27 minutes ago, CruisingTheWaves said:

Celebrity is a cruise line and that is their focus. I can't rely on them to get a flight arrangement right, it's just not their specialty.

True but Celebrity contracts the service to a company that has flight arrangements as their specialty. You are not dealing with Celebrity. When I have booked cruise air I get the record locator number. I have been able to use that info with the airline for seat changes and the like and to check on flights on the airline website. Also when booking direct with an airline can't rely on them either. I always check regularly as I have had flight times changed on me without being notified. If you book very far out can pretty much expect changes. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, ScotchBoy said:

We are doing a Celebrity cruise next year, and are considering their flight options. Can you tell me if their prices compare favourably to booking direct? Previously, we have always booked our flights direct with the airline.

 

FBC use to have some really good promotional rates, especially for one way Business Class.   They were hit really bad due to Covid and since have for the most part shifted to Full Fare Refundable Fares.

 

I have only booked with them once since the resumption of cruising as their rates are the same or higher than booking direct with an airline.  

 

Negative of booking -   If flights change you have to call in and have them change your flight as oppose to just calling the airline and changing.   This is especially important if you have problems on day of flilght.

 

Positive -  You can book 11 months  and not pay for it until Final Payment.   You can also cancel during this period and get 100% refund.        The reason I booked with them was I was shopping for a better Air Rate and booked with them.    The airline late dropped their rate about 3 months before cruise so I cancelled and re-booked direct.

[NyerinOH]

2 hours ago, ScotchBoy said:

We are doing a Celebrity cruise next year, and are considering their flight options. Can you tell me if their prices compare favourably to booking direct? Previously, we have always booked our flights direct with the airline.

The prices were no cheaper or expensive than others I saw independently. My thought was having that added layer of assurance if flights were cancelled, if something happened where I would miss the departure, I knew Celebrity would get me to the next port to catch my cruise, whereas if I booked my own airfare, I was on my own.  I was still planning to arrive the day before, but back in June of 2023, airlines were a hot mess with schedules.  

 

As you noted, the benefit was I locked my airfare cost (mostly, not 100%) and didn't have to pay for it until 90 days prior to cruising.  If I cancelled my cruise, I didn't lose any money related to airfare.

Edited March 1 by NyerinOH

[NyerinOH]

2 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Flights by Celebrity can certainly be challenging to work with. Some tips if you do book with them...

 

Do not book 11 months out. You will have several flight changes as airlines change schedules. 

Do not book codeshare flights (i.e. sold by Virgin operated by Delta).

Know the airlines rules and fees, especially for seat selection and bags, because you are still responsible for those additional costs.

 

 

I was VERY surprised that even though I booked Premium economy, I still had to pay almost $200 to select my seats (there are only four rows of Premium economy). Air Canada and American didn't have that added cost. 

[NyerinOH]

13 hours ago, TeaBag said:

I am so sorry your first post on Cruise Critic is about a nightmare.  You sure did get the runaround.  I hope your cruise to Scandanavia makes up for it.

We have sailed on many cruises and we have never booked airfare with the cruiseline.  We prefer to make our own arrangements for flights.

Welcome to Cruise Critic and all the best to you on future cruises and posts on here.

Thank you!  My cruises on Celebrity have been great, and I hope that another good experience may change my mindset to never cruise with them.  Right now, I'm wrapped up in all the stress and emotion of getting airfare resolved. My significant other is going on her 22 cruise, while this is my 5th and she mentioned Cruise Critic to me.  Great site, and I really appreciate all the experiences, insights that others have shared here!  

[CruisingTheWaves]

26 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

True but Celebrity contracts the service to a company that has flight arrangements as their specialty. You are not dealing with Celebrity. 

More of a reason why I wouldn't book the air this way. Celebrity isn't actually handling it, so their hands are tied and all they can really say is "sorry." My original statement still stands...the more work is contracted out, the less likely it is that the final product will be up to standard. The argument is really then with the contractor, and you may not even know who that is.