Celebrity Choice Air vs ITA Matrix

I was checking for flights for our cruise in May '17 and want to fly business-I don't have any "points" since my Chase card is only for Southwest Airlines. So the Matrix shows the flights around 3K pp but the Choice Air shows the flights for 12K. How can there be such a huge difference in the prices? Help.

Wondering if Choice Air will have better deals if I wait longer. Also I understand you can't actually make reservations on the Matrix site-so how would you get the prices listed on the Matrix? I've never done this on my own before-just had our TA get the best deal for us. But since I want business class for the long flights I will have to do it myself.

Teanne

More specific info would be very helpful. Dates? Airports? Airlines?

 

I have never used ITA for mileage awards. I always look at the airline's website.

Also I understand you can't actually make reservations on the Matrix site-so how would you get the prices listed on the Matrix? I've never done this on my own before-just had our TA get the best deal for us. But since I want business class for the long flights I will have to do

 

Did you 'click thru' on one of the flight listings? If you do that it will show flight numbers, booking class, etc that will allow you to call the airline and make the booking at the price that you see. (unless it expired or was taken by someone else while you were thinking about it.) :confused:

 

 

I have always been able to find the matrix price in the online listing at the airline website, except for once. That one time I called the airline and booked with an agent.

... the Matrix shows the flights around 3K pp but the Choice Air shows the flights for 12K. How can there be such a huge difference in the prices?

The short answer is probably that this is because Choice Air is selling a different kind of ticket from those being priced by ITA.

 

ITA shows you published fares, obtained from the Global Distribution Systems that the airlines use to distribute fare and availability information.

 

However, many travel agents (including Choice Air) also have access to negotiated fares which are not published and not available to the general public. These are not shown by ITA.

 

It may be that the Choice Air rates that you are seeing are the negotiated rates, and that Choice Air is simply not showing you any published fares at all. The discrepancy could then occur if published fares are actually much lower than the negotiated fares.

 

However, without knowing the routes and dates you're looking at, anything more would be pure guesswork. We can't even guess whether the figures you see seem to be in the right ballpark.

We check on matrix it and choice air etc.

 

Our experience over the past few years is that air is the same price or less expensive 30-60 days out as it is 6-12 months out. We have experienced this for transatlantic and transpacific over each of the past three years. We just purchased air to Ireland for mid/late August last week. So glad we waited as the prices at the moment for transatlantic travel seem to be the lowest that we have ever seen them...at least for late August/Sept/Oct travel.

Thanks for all the info. Our dates are 5/16/17 and 6/1/17. Leaving from Austin TX to AMS. Then the cruise ends in Stockholm so its an "open jaw" ticket from Stockholm back to Austin. I backed the dates up by one month since the 6/1 isn't available yet and got those crazy amounts.

 

So those of you who are looking for great deals-do you just check the Matrix daily until you get a good deal?

 

Teanne

So those of you who are looking for great deals-do you just check the Matrix daily until you get a good deal?

 

Teanne

 

Sometimes....but it is more likely that I will set up several alerts on Kayak. It reports to my email once a day.

Our dates are 5/16/17 and 6/1/17. Leaving from Austin TX to AMS. Then the cruise ends in Stockholm so its an "open jaw" ticket from Stockholm back to Austin. I backed the dates up by one month since the 6/1 isn't available yet and got those crazy amounts.

Then the work that you've done has been fundamentally worthless, so far as finding out what your actual flight costs might be. What it costs to fly on 16 April returning 1 May may have absolutely nothing to do with what it costs to fly on 16 May returning 1 June.

 

In fact, that might be the exact reason why you got wacky numbers from Choice Air.

 

What looking early is good for is getting you used to using the tools, and learning how to operate them powerfully, so that you are not still doing that when the flights you want actually come into view. It will also give you some ideas about routing options, so that you can then start to think about the pros and cons of various alternative routes before you have to consider prices in earnest.

 

Nevertheless, you should also remember that the fares available when flights first come on sale may not include the cheap fares, and almost certainly won't include any sale or promotional fares that may come along later.

So those of you who are looking for great deals-do you just check the Matrix daily until you get a good deal?

No. I make sure that I understand the structure of the fare ladder and the prices of year-round fares (ie those available for sale all year round). I make sure that I understand the booking class ladder of the airlines concerned. I also make sure that I understand typical restrictions and limitations in the rules of the cheaper fares, and how the rules may have an impact on my final price. Then I try to get a feel for when sales or promotional fares might be on offer, and what would be a good fare level for a sale.

Wondering if Choice Air will have better deals if I wait longer.

 

 

I've never done this on my own before-just had our TA get the best deal for us. But since I want business class for the long flights I will have to do it myself.

 

The short answer is maybe.....maybe Choice Air will have better deals but maybe they won't. Maybe the price will be higher. Same with looking at the airline website directly. There is no way to accurately predict where prices will be in the future.

 

Beyond that I just have to ask, if you normally book your air through a TA to get the best deal, why can't you do that this time? I've never heard of a TA who will ONLY book economy and not business class tickets. :confused:

One thing that we really like about matrix it is the ability to see price and also fare codes. The fare codes can sometime make a difference to our decision. Seems to me that last time we booked Choice Air we did not see the fare codes until after we booked and were ticketed.

The short answer is maybe.....maybe Choice Air will have better deals but maybe they won't. Maybe the price will be higher. Same with looking at the airline website directly. There is no way to accurately predict where prices will be in the future.

 

Beyond that I just have to ask, if you normally book your air through a TA to get the best deal, why can't you do that this time? I've never heard of a TA who will ONLY book economy and not business class tickets. :confused:

 

Good question Meg about the TA. I kind of get the impression from others on this site that the TA's aren't really good about getting the best fares. But I will definately tell her that I'd like business for this trip and see what she comes up with.

 

Teanne

Is your travel agent a general travel agent or a cruise specialist? Do they just book air through the cruiseline? Do they have experience working air travel? Do they know how to plow into a GDS and dig out good options or do they just take what comes up at the top of their screen? Are they just order takers? What kind of due diligence have YOU performed on their qualifications, talents and resourcefulness?

Good question Meg about the TA. I kind of get the impression from others on this site that the TA's aren't really good about getting the best fares. But I will definately tell her that I'd like business for this trip and see what she comes up with.

 

Teanne

 

That's because when it comes to booking air, travel agents don't generally get commission from the airlines like they used to, so many either don't book air, or only do it as an add-on convenience, and because they aren't getting paid to do it, they only put about a half a second of effort into it. As a result, most are far from being experts on deciphering the ins and outs of air travel, and don't know the first thing about how to work the airlines' own programs to their clients' advantage. Contrast that to people, such as some on this board, who are not TA's but who ARE very frequent flyers and really understand the intricacies of working the system to their advantage for one airline or another. For the most part, if you are going to trust a TA to find you the very best deal on airfare, I'd research and find one that actually is an "expert" on air and charges a fee for that knowledge.