Choice Air or book through airline?

Hello,

I'm so new to booking airfare for a cruise. We are looking at a Med. cruise and wonder if there is an advantage or disadvantage on booking through Celebrity?

Thank you in advance!!

Check your prices. We have found much less expensive overseas flights on Choice Air. However, you need to be aware of restrictions there may be on the type of tickets that Choice Air provides.

Choice air from NYC to Italy was much cheaper and if you are taking a transatlantic trip, their one way fares extremely good; especially on airlines that rip you off on one way fares.

Bookworm61,

There is a Sticky dedicated to your question. It's pages and pages long and while the information is not current the details have not changed substantially over the years.

Cruise air tickets are most likely consolidator tickets. This is not always the case but it is almost impossible to determine the restrictions and fare class.

There are also several ways to book cruise air tickets. The least restrictive tickets will cost about the same as self booked tickets. The big if here is - you may never really be able to determine the restrictive nature of the tickets.

Be aware also that the US government is negotiating rights within several countries in Europe to offer Customs and Border Patrol plus agriculture inspections. This could greatly affect connection times. No one knows yet if or when this could be instituted. If your cruise is scheduled for 2016 or 2017 you should consider waiting to book any air even beyond the booking opening date.

Do, regardless of how you book your air, arrive at least one day prior to your cruise. There have been work stoppages by airline employees, including pilots for eons and the more flexible self booked tickets can make a huge difference in travel. We got caught in an Air France pilots strike last year and were glad we had booked our own tickets, others weren't so lucky.

Check you Choice Air pricing if you are buying a return ticket. More than once we have seen 2 one way fares on Choice Air being cheaper than a return ticket! It can happen.

Check you Choice Air pricing if you are buying a return ticket. More than once we have seen 2 one way fares on Choice Air being cheaper than a return ticket! It can happen.

To be fair, I have seen that happen via the airline itself (or a partner, in this case) too. Not too long ago, it was cheaper to buy a one-way Kansas City to Melbourne and a one way Melbourne to Kansas City on the same dates and flights as the roundtrip Kansas City-Melbourne-Kansas City. It's rare in my experience, but occasionally does happen.

These flights were booked via AA.com for a combo AA/Qantas flight MCI-DFW-LAX-MEL/MEL-SYD-DFW-MCI trip.

One thing to be very aware of when booking one ways from Europe is the high taxes, gasoline surcharges and fees tacked onto a flight. Round trip and/or multi city on the same reservation can save those additional fees.

Bookworm61,

There is a Sticky dedicated to your question. It's pages and pages long and while the information is not current the details have not changed substantially over the years.

Cruise air tickets are most likely consolidator tickets. This is not always the case but it is almost impossible to determine the restrictions and fare class.

There are also several ways to book cruise air tickets. The least restrictive tickets will cost about the same as self booked tickets. The big if here is - you may never really be able to determine the restrictive nature of the tickets.

Be aware also that the US government is negotiating rights within several countries in Europe to offer Customs and Border Patrol plus agriculture inspections. This could greatly affect connection times. No one knows yet if or when this could be instituted. If your cruise is scheduled for 2016 or 2017 you should consider waiting to book any air even beyond the booking opening date.

Do, regardless of how you book your air, arrive at least one day prior to your cruise. There have been work stoppages by airline employees, including pilots for eons and the more flexible self booked tickets can make a huge difference in travel. We got caught in an Air France pilots strike last year and were glad we had booked our own tickets, others weren't so lucky.

Could you elaborate on your point about the US government offering Customs Border patrol ...statement?

I will be looking at flights to Barcelona for July 2016 when the flights from MSP show their schedules for these dates.

Could you elaborate on your point about the US government offering Customs Border patrol ...statement?

I will be looking at flights to Barcelona for July 2016 when the flights from MSP show their schedules for these dates.

I can try

US Immigration and Customs currently offers in a few places around the world to clear people before they leave, rather than when they arrive in the US. This allows flights to arrive in to the US as domestic flights, even if they're coming from an international airport. Most large airports in Canada have this, Shannon and Dublin in Ireland have it, Abu Dhabi, and a few places in the Caribbean.

The US wants to expand this to some pretty major airports, and is in discussions - Brussels, Punta Cana, Tokyo Narita, Amsterdam, Oslo, Madrid, Stockholm, Istanbul, Manchester, and London Heathrow. If this happens (no guarantee if it will, or when it will), you will need extra time at those airports to clear US immigration and customs. The perk is that you would land in the US like you are coming from, say, Pittsburgh, not Tokyo. The negative is that a 1.5-hour connection at, say, London, may not be enough anymore (exit the plane, get to and clear security, go to the US preclearance area, clear US immigration and customs). But this is all unknown at this point.

Heathrow is the most intriguing to me. There are flights leaving to the US from at least three if not four terminals...that's an awful lot of staff that will be needed (all of whom are US persons living in that location on temporary, but somewhat long term, assignment...$$$)

FWIW, there were unsubstantiated stories back when pre-clearance was first established in Shannon and Dublin. Supposedly, these posts mostly went to Boston and New York agents of Irish background and of a particular political persuasion. They were deemed to be part of an experimental process, and as such, staffing was outside of standard government procedures.

Of course, today one might be able to say that the introduction of kiosks has freed up staff that can now be assigned to LHR. And why spend money on Mexican border enforcement when you can pay hefty TDY per diems for London. It's all about priorities.

We experienced this for the first time in Toronto on our return from our recent trip to Europe. I do not know how long they have been doing this but all I can say is it was chaotic. We have Global Entry and still stood in multiple lines. They system was also different from GE we are accustomed to in say Houston. I personally dread this development.

We experienced this for the first time in Toronto on our return from our recent trip to Europe. I do not know how long they have been doing this but all I can say is it was chaotic. We have Global Entry and still stood in multiple lines. They system was also different from GE we are accustomed to in say Houston. I personally dread this development.

Interesting. I've used Global Entry at Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto within the last two years and it's the same kiosk as I use when I arrive at an airport in the US. It has always been super easy and quick.

It has been around for quite a few years, but I am not exactly sure how long.

Zach 1213,

Thanks for the explanation.

So it can come down to : do you want to go through the hassle of lines for Immigration/Custom at the beginning or the end of your return trip to the US.

Will keep that in mind if it is available once we figure out our route/fights to Spain and back.

Interesting that Punta Cana is on the list. All those winter tourists hating to leave the sunshine to return home. The times I have gone there it has been on a direct charter vacation flight, not for the faint of heart.;)