ChoiceAir seat assignments and other ??s

I did search this thread, and read the sticky, but am still confused. Hopefully someone can clarify.

When air flights are booked with ChoiceAir , when are seat selections made? At time of booking, or afterwards via carriers website?

Does ChoiceAir put in Frequent Flyer account numbers?

After the initial arrangements, it appears that one normally deals directly with the carrier rather than through ChoiceAir unless there is a problem? If so, however, why are there so many complaints of not being notified by either ChoiceAir or carrier in the case of schedule changes?

You still get the first bag [normally] free on international flights booked with ChoiceAir?

I read somewhere - sorry, can't recall where - that using ChoiceAir includes airport/port transfers? Is that still in effect? What about LHR <-> Harwich?

They are essentially replacing your TA booking your flights for you, unless your TA volunteers to work with them as part of the cruise package?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[infinity July 04, 2014 Norway]

Good questions Dave. I would also like to know the answers.

Also, does Choice Air always deal with the same airlines or does that differ from day to day? If I wanted to fly on an airline not mentioned on their site can I still get it through Choice Air somehow? Thanks.

We just booked our flights with Choice Air a few days ago. We did it online. We were able to select our seats and enter our frequent flyer numbers ourselves. (Of course, this can always be done later on the airline site.) And you can go online to the airline site and change your seats if you wish at any time.

You will have to check with the airline to see their restrictions about baggage.

If you have a problem, you should deal with ChoiceAir.

It would be wise to check your airline site often to see if there is any change in schedule.

ChoiceAir provides you with an emergency number in case you have problems on the day of travel.

...

 

When air flights are booked with ChoiceAir , when are seat selections made? At time of booking, or afterwards via carriers website?

 

 

Does ChoiceAir put in Frequent Flyer account numbers?

 

After the initial arrangements, it appears that one normally deals directly with the carrier rather than through ChoiceAir unless there is a problem? If so, however, why are there so many complaints of not being notified by either ChoiceAir or carrier in the case of schedule changes?

 

 

 

You still get the first bag [normally] free on international flights booked with ChoiceAir?

 

I read somewhere - sorry, can't recall where - that using ChoiceAir includes airport/port transfers? Is that still in effect? What about LHR <-> Harwich?

 

[infinity July 04, 2014 Norway]

Seats...all you list are possible. Bottom line after they make reservation you deal directly with the airline and can change seats just like you can with flights directly booked with the airline.

Yes to frequent flyer numbers.

I have only received updates from airline. We have had many flight changes (all on delta) and have had some emails, but mainly have found changes on our own. I check flights regularly to make sure no unexpected changes.

I haven't heard about free bags for international flights. I think whatever your airline would have charged you(if anything) if you booked directly is the same you will pay with choice air.

No, on transfers included.

Note: we have made ALL changes directly with the airline, NOT with choice air. I only used choice air to potentially have support in case of travel delays. Both of our upcoming trips we arrive on embarkation day. (one Barcelona and once Miami)

nojoke -

Thanks for sharing your experience. That helps.

Holly g -

I can help with your question based on my experience to date. I have not booked yet, but am looking at both DIY w/TA and ChoiceAir, and my TA is willing to deal with CA for me - as part of the cruise package as I stated in my original post. I looked online @ ChoiceAir and saw the flights offered, and they were not what I wanted. I'm going 1 day early, then doing an Ireland Land Tour after the cruise and departing from Shannon, Ireland, not Heathrow; so NOTHING is standard. My TA called CA and I believe is dealing with the CA Plus office. They are able to offer flights NOT shown on the web site, and are able to give me exactly what I want. The pricing appears to be the same as on the UA website +$25 service fee, but since I booked under the Pi****urPerk promo, I can save $300 over and above the $300 OBC if I book with CA. That makes them attractive.

We used Choice air last year. We had one free bag each with British Airways. There are no transfer included. Went to the BA site and got our seats right away where others we know paid for choosing seats but we didn't have to and BA website said it was $40pp to choose seats but we didn't pay anything and got good seats. Price was quite a bit cheaper than airline website. We are going to use them again this year.

Booked LAN flight and picked seats on LAN website immediately. Then booking disappeared on LAN website. Called LAN who told me it was because we booked with a TA. I asked to add a frequent flyer number and was told to call ChoiceAir. I did call ChoiceAir, added the number, and my reservation now appears on the LAN site under "my trips" after I log in. LAN will not deal with you if you booked through ChoiceAir, but establishing a FF # is apparently a way around this problem. We received immediate notification from ChoiceAir when a schedule/equipment change was made and were able to pick seats again on the new plane. I keep a watch on the reservation and seat assignment on the LAN site.

I don't think I'd care if they put me in a cockpit jump seat, galley, or lavatory.

Choice air to Istanbul on Lufthansa for the 12 Nov Constellation cruise is $429

Lufthansa's website will sell me the same flight for $1,434

$1,005 will by me a LOT of checked bags.

I did book our flights for Feb 2014 cruise through Choice Air. Flights are from /to Hartford, Ct. to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was able to make all our seat selections and put I our freq flyer #'s on the reservations. I also booked transfers to & from the ship at the same time (add'l chg). I have since gone to the airlines website and changed our seats.

Also, we have gotten notification from Choice Air, not the airlines of schedule changes.

I wouldn't think it would be different elsewhere, but you never know.

We booked Choice Air thru our TA when we booked our cruise in April (Summit Nov16 thru San Juan). Our flights have changed three times already and no-one notified me. I found out myself by going to the airline website. Our seat selection was done at time of booking and again has changed twice and now only shows one leg of the flight confirmed. I haven't done anything on the airline website as of yet, but will shortly since I seem to be on my own with this. No notice from ChoiceAir, TA or Jet Blue.

We used Choice air last year. We had one free bag each with British Airways. There are no transfer included. Went to the BA site and got our seats right away where others we know paid for choosing seats but we didn't have to and BA website said it was $40pp to choose seats but we didn't pay anything and got good seats. Price was quite a bit cheaper than airline website. We are going to use them again this year.

DH is taking BA from LHR to JFK and I can't find any way to reserve a seat. I called BA and they said there is a charge for everyone to choose a seat. How did you manage to do it?

The agent said 24 hrs in advance they open up the bookings and you can secure a seat at that time.

My Choice Air experience was not easy, but I am happy with the outcome. We needed one way flights from Venice to the US. I went to the Choice Air website and found a flight with Business Class seats for the same price that I would have paid for the cheapest (and with the worst connections) Economy Class through the airlines. I tried to book those seats on-line and it wasn't finalized for some reason, but said an email would be sent when it was finalized. I checked my cc the next day and there were no pending charges for that amount. I went back to Choice Air and those seats were gone but found 2 refundable Economy seats for 1/2 the price as the Business Class seats, with excellent connections (so half the price of booking the cheapest non-refundable seats I could find elsewhere and these are refundable). I again plugged in my cc # and didn't receive a confirmation, though my cc immediately showed pending charges for that amount.

The next day, since I still hadn't received a confirmation, I called Choice Air. The rep, who was very nice, couldn't see that we were booked on any flights, but could see that I had paid that amount for airfare. She couldn't find the flights I had tried to book in the system - luckily I had a print out and read the flight numbers to her and she found them (she did look for those Business Class seats but couldn't find those - probably grabbed up by some lucky person). In the end, she was able to get us the same Economy seats I had tried to book, for a little less, so it all worked out. I went into the airline website and added the flights to my FF account and chose seats. I was going to upgrade to Economy Plus (2 seats across with more legroom on that long overseas leg, instead of being scrunched into 3 seats across) and found, much to my surprise, that we had already been assigned Economy Plus seats (worth ~ $100 each). I booked early enough that I was able to get good seats all around. If something happens and we can't go, they are refundable, except for $150 each.

So, all in all, we are very happy with the flights we booked. The service remains to be seen, but my one interaction was very pleasant (she was helpful and didn't seem rushed). I think I would recommend looking at Choice Air availability on-line, printing out various options with prices and then calling Choice Air to see what they can do (and you might be less apt to miss out on good seats waiting for a confirmation). I think they may see flights that we don't see on-line and vice versa. It seemed to work well to get a good deal.

Good luck!

DH is taking BA from LHR to JFK and I can't find any way to reserve a seat. I called BA and they said there is a charge for everyone to choose a seat. How did you manage to do it?

 

The agent said 24 hrs in advance they open up the bookings and you can secure a seat at that time.

We were told the same thing. We decided to go ahead and pay, I tried to do on website and couldn't so called them was told that choice air needed to release my resy. I called them and they didn't something( I have no idea what they did) went back to the BA site picked our seats and then it said comfirmed! Never asked for any money. I was very happy to say the least. I wasn't looking forward to not sitting by my husband for 8 hours.

Just a little off topic. DH and I are booked on a TA in Oct, 2014 and plan to use Choice Air. When is the best time to book flights?

Thanks again to all who contributed comments earlier. I can now report on my experience with ChoiceAir [CA] first hand as I have made air reservations with them.

Route is ROC-LHR day prior, SNN-ROC after Ireland land tour after cruise, so nothing is standard.

I booked the cruise with a TA, and she usually handles air reservations in conjunction with cruises at no added charge. She agreed to do the same checking with, and in the end dealing with, CA.

I had found the specific flights I wanted, including daytime from ROC-IAD-LHR day prior [staying at LHR hotel after 9:55 pm arrival London time]. I found them on Kayak and my TA verified current pricing.

My TA dealt with CA for me. CA matched the pricing almost to the dollar. No great deal as others have reported with one-way flights, but no more, either.

No fees because I used the Pi****urPerk promo which gave me $600/cabin credit [versus $300 OBC] for using CA; I am Select based mainly on RCI cruises.

CA [Plus for my situation, I believe] was able to provide the flights even though they did not show up in CA online web site that I could see beforehand.

CA made the reservation which showed up virtually immediately on united.com, under my FF #, with seats reserved, and 1st bag free for international showing. It looked just like a res booked directly with United as far as I could see EXCEPT the credit card charge was a single charge to Celebrity. The UA summary showed a code of some sort as the payment source. I don't have a UA credit card, so the possible complications that might cause were not a factor for me.

I did not like the seats assigned for me - I gave them choices along with our FF #'s, but for whatever reason, they were close but not what I wanted. For example, I asked for Window+Aisle in a 3-3 hoping that the Middle seat will remain vacant, but was booked Window-Middle. Same day as the res was made, I was able to reselect seats.

In summary, I am pleased so far. I hope the promised follow-up does, indeed, occur.

The service remains to be seen, but my one interaction was very pleasant (she was helpful and didn't seem rushed). I think I would recommend looking at Choice Air availability on-line, printing out various options with prices and then calling Choice Air to see what they can do (and you might be less apt to miss out on good seats waiting for a confirmation). I think they may see flights that we don't see on-line and vice versa. It seemed to work well to get a good deal.

 

Good luck!

I agree with you about checking the options and calling Choice Air. We have had great luck with them and always have found the staff helpful. We had a similar situation in booking ourselves + when there was no confirmation I contacted Choice and they resolved the problem quickly (they could find no booking). They have been most helpful for our April 2014 cruise when flights were very limited.

After the one slight problem, I will only reserve by calling Choice. Beneficial as CC members don't pay a fee The only thing you have to watch is for changes in flight times as we were not notified when a flight time changed. One person on our RC has had several changes, without notification.

I have never used CA to book flights. Usually trade in air miles or drive to port. However, I am flying post-cruise from Singapore to Orlando in early December. After checking options through various web engines, I called CA to see what they could do for me. We wanted to fly 1st class, and take as short a time as possible. I had identified flights through American Airlines that were not only the cheapest option located, but also the shortest---about 24 hours total travel tine vs. 36 hours or more on other carriers. I asked CA to book these flights for me. They said they could not. Do so, as they were not in their system mad offered instead a 38 hour total flight time option that was more than double the cost of the American flights. needless to say, I said thank you, hungup, and booked directly with American through their website. Guess I do not understand what the benefit of CA would be, as any extra shipboard credit was more than eaten up by the extra costs. Even if cost had been the same, traveling an extra half day seems silly.

Hello, did you use a transportation service to Harwich, or train/taxi? Leaving in September 2014 and studying options. Thanks.

We booked our cruise (7/11) through Choice Air and loved it. It gave us a selection of flights based on what our embarkation city was and we could select which one we wanted. We selected this all online and it was booked. We then went into the actual airline site and selected our seats. We use United and got our first bag free through them. We did not receive any OBC from Choice Air and I guess we were lucky that our airline of choice was included in the list of flights offered.

We booked our cruise (7/11) through Choice Air and loved it. It gave us a selection of flights based on what our embarkation city was and we could select which one we wanted. We selected this all online and it was booked. We then went into the actual airline site and selected our seats. We use United and got our first bag free through them. We did not receive any OBC from Choice Air and I guess we were lucky that our airline of choice was included in the list of flights offered.

If your preferred itinerary/airline is not showing online just give them a call with the flight #'s and they will look it up and price it for you.

 

I haven't heard about free bags for international flights.

 

I only used choice air to potentially have support in case of travel delays.

It's actually not uncommon to be able to check a bag for free on international flights.

As for support in case of travel delays, there are anecdotal reports of Choice Air providing wonderful service in those situations, and there are also stories of Choice Air providing little to no service whatsoever. They make no guarantees. Keep in mind though, that if you have a travel delay, it's not like the airline just leaves you where you are. They, too, will work with you to get you rebooked.

We just booked our flights with Choice Air a few days ago. We did it online. We were able to select our seats and enter our frequent flyer numbers ourselves. (Of course, this can always be done later on the airline site.) And you can go online to the airline site and change your seats if you wish at any time.

You will have to check with the airline to see their restrictions about baggage.

If you have a problem, you should deal with ChoiceAir.

It would be wise to check your airline site often to see if there is any change in schedule.

ChoiceAir provides you with an emergency number in case you have problems on the day of travel.

Always go to choice air for any changes if you go to airline and make any changes the airline then has control of your tickets and choice air can do nothing for you after that. I learned the hard way.

I don't know what happened in your situation, but my experience with choice air is just the opposite. We dealt with all flight issues directly with the airline. We had booked, on multiple occasions, choice flight 10 months in advance (actually close to the time limits that flights can be booked)...and thus, we had MANY schedule changes. Every time we just went through the airline and had no issues getting flights changed to better suit our needs. Once choice air booked tickets, we never dealt with them directly again.

I booked our flights to Buenos Aires through Choice Air. I booked by phone since we wanted Business Class. The day after the booking I called the airline with our record locator #, name and travel date. I was able to add our FF#s

and change our seats, and the airline emailed our confirmation. These tickets were about 40% less then what I had already seen on the airline's website.

Hello, did you use a transportation service to Harwich, or train/taxi? Leaving in September 2014 and studying options. Thanks.

Last fall, we took a direct train from London Liverpool Street station to Harwich. Most trains have a change at Manningtree but on cruise days they run one train non-stop.

The only downside is that there were no discounts on that train so we paid about 3 times more than if we had changed at Manningtree.

I encourage you to direct this question and further discussion to one of the destination threads instead of this Choice Air thread as we are off topic.

Mike in Ohio