Transatlantic cruise air

[luvscruising2007]

We have booked a transatlantic in Sept 2009. How soon can you book airfare? Is it best (cheaper) to book yourself or through the cruise line?:confused::confused::confused::rolleyes:

[6rugrats]

Usually airfare can be booked about 330 days out. Most often, it's cheaper to do it yourself. There are many, many, many threads in this forum that discuss this topic. If the search function is down, just scroll through a few pages and you will find lots of information.

[paul929207]

You can book about 330 days in advance, Note that you cannot book the return flight until you are within 330 days of it.

[hajekfam]

We have done 4 transatlantics and have found that the cruiseline air was cheaper or the same as doing it ourselves. A transatlantic requires two one-way fares - you cannot do an open jaw as the cruise portion is not the shortest leg.

We always book our transatlantics with air - you can always drop the air as long as you have not made final payment.

[BEAV]

We have done 4 transatlantics and have found that the cruiseline air was cheaper or the same as doing it ourselves. A transatlantic requires two one-way fares - you cannot do an open jaw as the cruise portion is not the shortest leg.

We always book our transatlantics with air - you can always drop the air as long as you have not made final payment.

 

 

Your experience of booking cruise line air for Transatlantics is often true. We had a different experience, however. We were sailing SJU (San Juan) to London. Our gateway city was SFO. The cruise line was charging $1100, including taxes/fees/transfers. When I first priced out SFO-SJU and LON-SFO I was getting about the same fare, of course without transfers. When I added a return leg (SFO back to LON) to the equation, it brought the price down to $650 total, which I booked immediately.

 

It just proves there is no set (or correct) answer to pricing air fare for Transatlantic cruises. Each scenario is different and independent from the next.

[gooselover]

We booked airfare through RCL for our TA in November. From Tulsa to Southamptom and back to Tulsa from Ft. Lauderdale was $894/each. I priced and priced and priced online an thru at travel agent. Each time was around $2500+. RCL rules on the airfare on our TA cruise.

[lobstertail]

We have booked a transatlantic in Sept 2009. How soon can you book airfare? Is it best (cheaper) to book yourself or through the cruise line?:confused::confused::confused::rolleyes:

 

Could you tell me, if you don't mind sharing the information, what transatlantic you booked in Sept. '09? Everything I found for Sept. was in '08 and we wanted Sept. '09. In '09, it seemed everything I found was in Oct. or Nov. Too cold for us in Europe that time of year. Or are you leaving from somewhere other than US east coast? Thanks in advance for any info you can help us with.

[greatam]

Most of the TA's are mid fall and mid spring-CHEAP times for international airfare.

 

If you spend time researching air from places OTHER than Travelocity, Expedia, etc. etc., you will find prices AS cheap if not cheaper. You may have to route a weird routing or use two tickets, but I certainly will take that option ANY day over consolidator class, mystery flights arriving 3-4 hours pre cruise booked with cruise air.

 

As someone posted (and I love the saying), "when cruise air goes South, it REALLY goes South". You are essentially on your own and STUCK with tickets that cannot be used on another airline. I'll take my chances with airline booked tickets that are endorsable to another carrier and rebooking if needed through the airline, NOT the cruiseline AND the airline. The cruise line could care less if you get to your cruise. Your cruise air tickets were booked as a CONVENIENCE and the cruise line assumes NO responsibility for third party vendors (hotels, excursions, transfers AND air).

[nho9504]

Most of the TA's are mid fall and mid spring-CHEAP times for international airfare.

.

 

The trend in recent years seems to be the majority of Westbound now happens between November and December - very late in my opinion.

 

The Eastbound remains the traditional Mid April to Early May, but the Westbound these days you hardly find anything in Sept, or even Oct. This is what we are looking at for 08 - for our preference, we only found Constellation have the Sept sailing, and the next one would be HAL in early Oct.

 

Obviously cruiselines now make much more money doing European market than to compete fiercely in the Caribbean market.

 

Unless the differentials are too big, I would book the air myself, though.

[greatam]

We booked airfare through RCL for our TA in November. From Tulsa to Southamptom and back to Tulsa from Ft. Lauderdale was $894/each. I priced and priced and priced online an thru at travel agent. Each time was around $2500+. RCL rules on the airfare on our TA cruise.

 

There are lots of options cheaper. I can see air from Tulsa to London and return from FLL on your dates for less than $800.00. Two tickets-NW or AA from Tulsa to Boston or JFK, Boston or JFK to Dublin to Heathrow on AerLingus or Delta.

 

Nonstop to Heathrow from JFK on Air India for $322.00 (not that I am recommending Air India, but it is available one way for a very decent price). Then return on either AA or NW from FLL to Tulsa.

 

AA has an interline luggage agreement with AerLingus and you can also accumulate AA miles. Plus, if you wanted to spend a day in Shannon or Dublin Ireland-very doable with an AerLingus ticket.

 

If you want to drive to DFW, it is about $60.00pp cheaper (and one less stop). And flying on the 4th, instead of the 5th saves $33.00pp.

 

National Express bus leaves from Heathrow to Southampton almost hourly. Cost is about $25.00.

 

Personally, I sure would rather know what flights I have long before 30-60 days pre cruise. And sure would not like to deal with the cruise air consolidator tickets if you have a mis-connect, mechanical, etc.

[nho9504]

There are lots of options cheaper. I can see air from Tulsa to London and return from FLL on your dates for less than $800.00. Two tickets-NW or AA from Tulsa to Boston or JFK, Boston or JFK to Dublin to Heathrow on AerLingus or Delta.

 

Nonstop to Heathrow from JFK on Air India for $322.00 (not that I am recommending Air India, but it is available one way for a very decent price). Then return on either AA or NW from FLL to Tulsa.

 

AA has an interline luggage agreement with AerLingus and you can also accumulate AA miles. Plus, if you wanted to spend a day in Shannon or Dublin Ireland-very doable with an AerLingus ticket.

 

If you want to drive to DFW, it is about $60.00pp cheaper (and one less stop). And flying on the 4th, instead of the 5th saves $33.00pp.

 

National Express bus leaves from Heathrow to Southampton almost hourly. Cost is about $25.00.

 

Personally, I sure would rather know what flights I have long before 30-60 days pre cruise. And sure would not like to deal with the cruise air consolidator tickets if you have a mis-connect, mechanical, etc.

 

Air India... We flew it once (in Asia - Tokyo to Hong Kong) many years ago. Midway thru the flight, the overhead bins fell opened, and the big movie projector also fell down ... That was a 747... Very empty plane... But, that was many years ago. I am sure today's India, with its fast-growing economy, its airline would be much more improved now.

 

You bring up a good point - many Asian airlines have to fly between London and JFK then onto their Asian home countries - the segment between LDN and JFK often has very few passengers and the fares are steals. But this requires more knowledge than an ordinary, infrequent flyer, would have processed.

 

In the 2 tickets scenario, I would try to book both tickets with same airline, or at least airlines with partner agreement - so that the reservations can be linked and the passengers can use interline luggage handling. While technically 2 tickets would not offer you protection in case you miss the connection which is on the 2nd ticket, but in practice, if booked on same airline and reservations linked, the airline can often offer some help to rebook.

[greatam]

The trend in recent years seems to be the majority of Westbound now happens between November and December - very late in my opinion.

 

Other than the Thanksgiving holiday period, international air is generally cheap from Sept. 10 until about Dec. 15.

 

Maybe you wanted only X, but I see quite a few TA's in September/October-RCL, NCL and Princess and even Carnival. All fall within the "cheap" airfare period.

 

Best bargains out there this year, IMHO, are either the MSC cruises from Italy to South America or Italy to Africa. Less than $2000 for a balcony-18 or 19 days. Pretty good deal.

[greatam]

In the 2 tickets scenario, I would try to book both tickets with same airline, or at least airlines with partner agreement - so that the reservations can be linked and the passengers can use interline luggage handling. While technically 2 tickets would not offer you protection in case you miss the connection which is on the 2nd ticket, but in practice, if booked on same airline and reservations linked, the airline can often offer some help to rebook.

 

I wasn't recommending Air India. Friends flew them a few years ago (about 5) and said they were horrible. But there have been reports that things have improved considerably. How true they are, I have no idea. But they are cheap-even their business class is pretty reasonable.

 

Both of the two ticket scenarios I posted are either "partners" or have interline agreements. AA/AerLingus, Delta/NW (soon to be one company). I fly on a lot of two ticket scenarios internationally. If you don't live close to an international gateway, you FREQUENTLY are gouged big time trying to book it as one ticket. Yes, you have no guarantees, but a little research and leaving yourself enough time for the "oops" is almost a sure fire way to save money.

[nho9504]

Other than the Thanksgiving holiday period, international air is generally cheap from Sept. 10 until about Dec. 15.

 

Maybe you wanted only X, but I see quite a few TA's in September/October-RCL, NCL and Princess and even Carnival. All fall within the "cheap" airfare period.

 

Best bargains out there this year, IMHO, are either the MSC cruises from Italy to South America or Italy to Africa. Less than $2000 for a balcony-18 or 19 days. Pretty good deal.

 

We dont particularly want X, but we are looking for the Westbound from Europe back to US only. We did the Eastbound on Emerald Princess in April and would not like to repeat 2/3 of the itinerary on Emerald's Westbound in early Oct (it combined the Med cruise with the TransAtlantic but 1/2 of Med cruise ports were the same as our April Eastbound). Constellation itinerary seems interesting for 2 things - it overnights at Lisbon, it calls on Casablanca. HAL early October has an OK itinerary. Dont like NCL dining setup. RCL has Jewel of the Sea sailing in that time frame I think. The ship is beautiful, the itinerary is not exciting. Have not thought about Carnival but will check it out. Actually Crown Princess may also be a contender as it sails back via the Northern route (Iceland).

 

Our airtickets for the Apr Eastbound we did, were originating from BCN. The 2nd half (the "inbound" leg) is back to BCN. Since they are award tickets, we can change destination to VCE, provided there are availability of course. Current routing is MIA/YYZ on AA for a stopover then YYZ/LHR/BCN on BA. I hope to keep BA business class in the event we need to change routing. I would wait till July to book the cruise and see where we embark - BCN or VCE or CPH... then see if we can switch the LHR/BCN leg to LHR/VCE or LHR/FCO, or LHR/CPH.

[nho9504]

I wasn't recommending Air India. Friends flew them a few years ago (about 5) and said they were horrible. But there have been reports that things have improved considerably. How true they are, I have no idea. But they are cheap-even their business class is pretty reasonable.

 

Both of the two ticket scenarios I posted are either "partners" or have interline agreements. AA/AerLingus, Delta/NW (soon to be one company). I fly on a lot of two ticket scenarios internationally. If you don't live close to an international gateway, you FREQUENTLY are gouged big time trying to book it as one ticket. Yes, you have no guarantees, but a little research and leaving yourself enough time for the "oops" is almost a sure fire way to save money.

 

Agree about the 2 tickets approach. I was just mentioning about there were hidden cheap fares on Asian airlines flying the routes LDN/JFK/Asia - ordinary infrequent flyers wouldn't necessarily know about such. I would prefer AA/AerLingus than DL/NW, eventhough AerLingus has left Oneworld, I think you still earn AA miles on AerLingus. AA miles are more valuable than DL/NW (Skyteam) miles. Miles are not created equal, something not everyone knows about.

[rich40245]

www.LessNo.com is a web site that several posts have mentioned as giving good fares.

 

A quick search for TUL-LHR, FLL - TUL in Nov gives a fare of $774 (Delta over & United back, each one stop)

 

Rich

[greatam]

www.LessNo.com is a web site that several posts have mentioned as giving good fares.

 

A quick search for TUL-LHR, FLL - TUL in Nov gives a fare of $774 (Delta over & United back, each one stop)

 

Rich

 

You need to be VERY careful when buying tickets from AirFare.com, BestFares, LessNO, CheapoAir, etc. etc. Quite a few of the tickets are consolidator class tickets, with extreme restrictions. Recently, a large amount of consolidator tickets have been issued by US airlines that includes "fly or loose it". Which means NO changes (even if the airline changes the flight time-you will fly flight XXX, NO MATTER WHAT TIME it flies), no refunds, NO help to get to your destination. And if you are flying two airlines to get to destination, IF you miss the connection, you are out of luck. You will have to buy a new ticket, at walk up prices, to get to your destination.

 

These "super discounters" have gone to the US airlines with contracts to buy bulk tickets. They have "encouraged" even more restrictive tickets to get the cheapest possible fare. Those extreme restrictive tickets are fine for a trip where you absolutely, positively do NOT have to be someplace. But for a cruise-you are really taking your chances. It is not nearly as bad with the European/Asian airlines, but the rules are different overseas.

 

As I posted, there are fares available through airline websites for the same or even less (the Air India example). You just have to do more research.