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Cunard Complete Air


BellaAnna
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We’ve used Complete Air only once. We were very pleased with the price which was lower than anything we could find on our own. This may not always be the case, of course, but other reports I’ve seen on this forum have been positive as well.

 

 

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Hi, we booked the air travel for our upcoming TA and British Isles Cruise through Cunard. The price for the domestic flight to NYC to join QM2 was competitive, but nothing to write home about. The ticket for the international flight home from London was eye popping. About 80% cheaper than I could find for a seat on the same flight from a number of other sale outlets, including the airline.:D

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If you are doing a crossing, Complete Air is a very good deal. Airlines no longer sell one-way transatlantic flights as such - you can purchase one, but it will cost the full fare amount for a round trip. We used this service last December, when I had business in Ireland, after which we were taking the QM2 back to New York. They were perfectly happy to arrange our flights to go into Dublin a couple of weeks prior to the westbound crossing and it cost us slightly under half of the best round trip fare I found in an Internet search. If it matters, we also received frequent flyer credit with the airline (Delta) for both miles and dollars spent (both are used for elite level qualification).

 

We booked only one-way, Charlotte (NC) to Dublin. I booked the one-way return from New York to Charlotte myself through the airline, as they still seem to sell domestic one-ways for half the going round trip fare...unlike international.

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  • 1 year later...

Has anyone had recent experience with this, specifically with a flight on American/British Airways?  As others have noted, the one-way fare from JFK to LHR - to catch a westbound crossing on QM2 - is eye-poppingly lower than anything I could get on my own.   There are two choices via CunardComplete, one on British Airways, and another on American.  The price is much lower on the BA flight, and more but still very favorable on the American flight.

 

I could use frequent flyer miles for either of these, as well, but the CompleteAir pricing is making me think twice about that.  My specific question, which I haven't been able to get an answer to from Cunard, my TA, American customer service, or BritishAir customer service (at least, not a "for sure" or "consistent" answer):  at these prices, does the fare class that Cunard is using qualify for frequent flyer mileage credit on American?  (BA is a codeshare with American, so I assume the same answer would apply to both airlines.)

 

Any insight from others who might have recently booked on American/BA via CunardComplete?

 

 

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I don't meet your qualifications to provide an answer,  but will offer this observation anyway:  I would not assume that the answer to your question would be the same regardless of which airline you book through.  (As I think you recognize, the flight, which I assume is IAD-LHR, is a BA flight that AA also sells under an AA flight number/code-share).  We have taken that flight, using AA frequent-flyer miles.  This required us to pay a significant amount in cash on top of the miles used (about $300 for Economy-class, which might not have been worth it, and $500 for Business-class, which clearly was).  Although I could be wrong, I don't think BA requires such a cash payment when using BA miles.  From this, I would conclude that the two airlines do not necessarily apply the same policy when it comes to earning miles.

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It will almost always be cheaper with Cunard to arrange the flights. They act as an agent to the airlines and will have access to inventory which is not available for either public sale, or is not at an agent negotiated rate. For example the massive price differences in one way legs. Airlines will agree rates with the agents because they know that either way, westbound or eastbound, the seats will ultimately be nearly all used and likely won't fly empty because of the reverse ship itineraries that can be sold requiring the pax to be moved in the other direction. 

 

However, when joe public books a single, one way ticket, the airline don't know whether they will be able to fill the other end of the ticket, for want of a better term, and will charge through the nose for it to protect revenue on the possible lost seat occupation at a later date. 

 

We used to fly many Cunard passengers between London and New York in both directions, and being a ship and QM2 fan, I always used to chat to them, and always said how very well priced it was booking it as a package and a lot less than they were expecting. 

 

I don't know if its a UK booking thing, but the fares displayed on the UK site state that the air fare is included in the price they will sell you the sailing for, so you can't see how much it is costing as a separate entity. 

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Anyone know how much of a deviation in time Cunard will tolerate?

We're sailing westbound in late July 2020 but need a flight eastbound in early July (sailing in the Med with another line). Would an eastbound flight 3 weeks before our crossing be bookable through Cunard?

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18 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

Anyone know how much of a deviation in time Cunard will tolerate?

We're sailing westbound in late July 2020 but need a flight eastbound in early July (sailing in the Med with another line). Would an eastbound flight 3 weeks before our crossing be bookable through Cunard?

Ask Cunard.

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On 7/23/2019 at 7:11 PM, T5LHR said:

It will almost always be cheaper with Cunard to arrange the flights. They act as an agent to the airlines and will have access to inventory which is not available for either public sale, or is not at an agent negotiated rate. For example the massive price differences in one way legs. Airlines will agree rates with the agents because they know that either way, westbound or eastbound, the seats will ultimately be nearly all used and likely won't fly empty because of the reverse ship itineraries that can be sold requiring the pax to be moved in the other direction. 

 

However, when joe public books a single, one way ticket, the airline don't know whether they will be able to fill the other end of the ticket, for want of a better term, and will charge through the nose for it to protect revenue on the possible lost seat occupation at a later date. 

 

We used to fly many Cunard passengers between London and New York in both directions, and being a ship and QM2 fan, I always used to chat to them, and always said how very well priced it was booking it as a package and a lot less than they were expecting. 

 

I don't know if its a UK booking thing, but the fares displayed on the UK site state that the air fare is included in the price they will sell you the sailing for, so you can't see how much it is costing as a separate entity. 

Thanks, this is extremely helpful detail.  Makes total sense in terms of why Cunard is able to get this type of pricing.  

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