HAL Airlines

[cdkempton]

Does anyone know which airlines HAL uses when you book your flights with them? I know there are many variables depending on the cruise. My interest is from the West Coast to Brazil. I know our return from Athens will start off being Lufthansa to Frankfurt then ?? But, I'm really interested in the Calif. to Rio portion. Thank you for any assistance. Appreciate it. :)

Colette

[RuthC]

This may or may not be of help to you....

When I had HAL book my flight to Rio, from the east coast, there was a choice of AA out of Miami or Delta from Atlanta.

[cdkempton]

Thank you Ruth. AA looks good out of Sacramento. There's one that goes out around noon that would be perfect..... if only. There are also many early morning flights that would require an extra night's stay at the airport hotel, which we have done many times but prefer not to if we don't have to.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. thanks :)

[bepsf]

Thank you Ruth. AA looks good out of Sacramento. There's one that goes out around noon that would be perfect..... if only. There are also many early morning flights that would require an extra night's stay at the airport hotel, which we have done many times but prefer not to if we don't have to.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. thanks :)

 

 

One guaranteed thing about purchasing your air through the cruiseline: It will not be the airline or schedule you want.

 

Best to pay a bit extra and book your own.

[Jade13]

One guaranteed thing about purchasing your air through the cruiseline: It will not be the airline or schedule you want.

 

Best to pay a bit extra and book your own.

 

Not true. We paid a $50pp air diviation fee and picked out exact flight (gave them the flight numbers) to Alaska. It was still cheaper than booking on our own. We asked and they told us which airlines they used. For example, in 2006 they did not have contracts with US Airways or United to Alaska.

 

Booking on your own during high season is not always cheaper as I am finding out and I look at flights on a daily basis.

[cdkempton]

Thanks Brian,

I normally book my own air if we're round trip same airport. But search as I might, it was more than a little bit more to book one way flights to Rio with a return from Athens. The air I got from HAL was cheaper than the oneway fare just to get to Rio. I booked my air with Orient for the same type of a cruise and actually got pretty good scheduling, so I'll keep my fingers (and toes) crossed. :)

[cdkempton]

thanks Jade,

I've never used the deviation fee and don't know how it works. Since I booked direct with HAL can I do this? If so, when do I apply for it, or whatever, and how many alterations to air bookings can you make. Is there somewhere I can look for this info? I appreciate your input. Thanks.

Colette

[ON cruiser]

You can call HAL directly if you did not use a travel agent to book your criuse and air, and ask about the "deviation" fee. Before you do, check their web-site which discusses this, if memory serves. Also, check which carrier you want and when, and, as someone said, don't be shy about requesting specific flights. You may have to email or fax your request, so they (and you) have a written record of it.

 

While for cruises with the same port of embarcation/disembarcation, I usually book our own round-trip air, generally flying down the day prior to avoid unpleasant weather and other airline snafus, when we did two re-positioning cruises it was indeed cheaper to book air with HAL instead of paying an "open-jaw" ticket (airline lingo for flying into one and out of another airport). Since I am Canadian and earn points with Air Canada, I requested AC flights--all was done for the deviation fee, and it was still cheaper than if I had booked it all myself.

 

Check it out and see if this works for you. Good luck and happy cruising,

Ontario cruiser.

[cdkempton]

Thanks ON, I tried finding information on the HAL web site to no avail. I will, however, call them as I have had very good luck dealing with the representatives in the past. If we can avoid having to stay in the airport hotel prior to flight it would be worth the deviation fee (up to about $125).

You're right. The "open-jaw" (thanks for the terminology) ticketing is very difficult to book on your own.

Happy Sails to you as well.

Colette :)

[infohunter]

United has a new nonstop from Washington Dulles to Rio that will start in October. Again don't know who you want to fly with or what city you want to fly through.

[Jade13]

thanks Jade,

I've never used the deviation fee and don't know how it works. Since I booked direct with HAL can I do this? If so, when do I apply for it, or whatever, and how many alterations to air bookings can you make. Is there somewhere I can look for this info? I appreciate your input. Thanks.

Colette

 

Call your PCC. The time I did this I had booked through an Agent but was able to call HAL with general questions on who they used and who they did not use. I e-mailed the TA with the flights that I wanted. This should be easy since you are booked through HAL. I needed to pay the fee because I wanted to fly in a day early and at that point I just asked and got the exact flights that I wanted.

[starysacz]

We have paid the air deviation fee a number of times and have requested our preferred airline, time, and usually a day before schedule. It has been successful each time.

[cdkempton]

Thanks all,

We're flying in 3 days ahead and will have 2 nights in Rio prior to our cruise. I am just wanting to get a flight out at a decent hour, instead of before daybreak, that will get us to our destination at a decent hour as well. It's the pits to get into an airport at 6 in the morning when you can't get into your hotel room until afternoon. ;(

I'll work with HAL as soon as I check out all the availables.

Thanks again. :)

[Big Al B.]

We looked into booking on our own to Copenhagen and best price we found was $1500 pp. (this is a one-way since we're doing transAtlantic). HAL price was under 800 with the deviation fee of 75.