Choice air tip

We have never used Choice Air or even checked them out, but will definitely do so this year for our fall cruise on Celebrity. Two questions for those people who have used them:

 

1. In this case our outbound flight would coincide with our Celebrity cruise (by arriving a day or two early) but our return flight will be a couple of weeks after the end of the cruise (and from a different airport) since we will be doing other things in Europe before returning to the U.S. Will they still be able to assist us, or do they have some limits as to how far out from the cruise they will book?

 

2. To carry this one step further, can one call Choice Air for any trip, regardless of whether there is a Celebrity Cruise in the picture? Or must you have a Celebrity cruise as part of the overall trip?

 

Tom & Judy

There is no post-cruise time limit that you have to adhere to when booking your return flight. And, yes, it can be from any European airport and isn't limited to the airport closest to the cruise disembarkation port.

You do have to have a Celebrity booking number (live booking, not one from the past!) to access Choice Air.

If you're going to explore your options with Choice Air, I suggest you to check each segment separately (one-way) rather than using the round-trip or multi-destination function. You will be given more options this way.

We have never used Choice Air or even checked them out, but will definitely do so this year for our fall cruise on Celebrity. Two questions for those people who have used them:

 

1. In this case our outbound flight would coincide with our Celebrity cruise (by arriving a day or two early) but our return flight will be a couple of weeks after the end of the cruise (and from a different airport) since we will be doing other things in Europe before returning to the U.S. Will they still be able to assist us, or do they have some limits as to how far out from the cruise they will book?

 

2. To carry this one step further, can one call Choice Air for any trip, regardless of whether there is a Celebrity Cruise in the picture? Or must you have a Celebrity cruise as part of the overall trip?

 

 

Tom & Judy

Agree with BEAV

For #1, we routinely fly early and many times return a week or more after completing the cruise. This coming April we will do a T/A to Copenhagen, then fly to Zurich and spend 10 days traveling Switzerland. Booked to return trip through EZAir and the flight between PCH and ZRH direct with Swiss - they had a promotion for upgrading to Business inexpensively. EZAir was ready to provide the ticketing for the CPH-ZRH leg, if needed.

The best deals on these cruise air sites are one-way. You do need an RCCL booking confirmation (Azamara, Celebrity and RCI all utilize ChoiceAir). Best search info site I've used is google.com/flights. Can't book but the site provides options for consideration, offers search algorithms and will suggest best days (lowest fares) for travel.

What happens to those Solo cruisers?

What I did was book my outgoing flight online, and then called Choice Air to book the return flight.

I recently did the same thing for my December Millennium SE Asia cruise...

Some more notes:

I went to the Choice Air site and separately entered the two legs--LAX to Hong Kong and Singapore to LAX--checking the box saying "return flight not needed" each time...

One interesting quirk is that the default for my cruise say "December 22, 2017" for the inbound flight...That, of course, is embarkation day...but, to fly LAX to Hong Kong, you cross the international date line and, if the flight is overnight, you actually leave what looks like two days earlier...So, since I wanted to fly in a day ahead, I first tried changing the date to December 21--which came up with NOTHING. I learned I had to change the date to "December 19, 2017" in order to have the search engine find me a flight that landed in Hong Kong on the 21st!

Not only did I find a better combined price this way, I also noted that none of the "both way" options that showed on the site had nonstops both ways...But when I plugged in the two legs separately, I was able to get nonstop flights in both directions.

When I called Choice Air on the phone to book the flights, I got a little resistance from the agent--because my flight home departs Singapore at 11:00 am on disembarkation day...She said they can't book a flight prior to noon. Of course, the Millennium is in Singapore overnight the night before...and the airport is only about 20 minutes from the ship...so, I don't think clearing customs or transport to the airport is really an issue. But she had to put me on hold and ask a supervisor. Of course she came back and booked it for me.

So, whereas all of the "both way" options that came up were over $1500 pp, we got the combined one-ways for $1448 pp...and, more importantly as far as I'm concerned, nonstops both directions...LAX to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, Singapore to LAX on United...

And, one more note, the fares are hard to find cancelable rates on both ends...

Steve: Well Done! Cathay Pacific will be great...

Thanks to the OP and for those who have commented on this thread as this is really useful information I plan to use for our European cruise next year which starts in Rome and ends in Venice.

For what it is worth we have found Chica Air useful for domestic flights on two occasions. The first was when we needed to buy tickets a week before our cruise and the second was when we needed to buy tickets for a cruise that had us flying home the weekend after Thanksgiving. In both cases we saved several hundred dollars.

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So, whereas all of the "both way" options that came up were over $1500 pp, we got the combined one-ways for $1448 pp...and, more importantly as far as I'm concerned, nonstops both directions...LAX to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, Singapore to LAX on United......

My guess, and it’s only a guess, is the reason Choice Air didn’t display both the Cathay Pacific and United nonstops in the multi-destination search is because they belong to different alliances (One World vs Star Alliance) and the computers are programmed to combine airlines within the same alliance when issuing a single multi-destination or round trip ticket.

A few years ago on a business trip the Corporate Travel Agent wanted to book me on a single airline even though booking each of the two legs separately (on different carriers within different alliances) would have not only been hundreds less, but also afforded a nonstop flight on the return segment. When I questioned why they wanted to issue the more expensive itinerary, without the nonstop, the answer back was they would have to create two separate reservations (PNRs) and issue two tickets. Had they booked the same airline (or multiple airlines within the same alliance), only one PNR and ticket would have been necessary. Hopefully, a more knowledgeable poster on all thing airlines will see this thread and correct if I’m wrong!

My guess, and it’s only a guess, is the reason Choice Air didn’t display both the Cathay Pacific and United nonstops in the multi-destination search is because they belong to different alliances (One World vs Star Alliance) and the computers are programmed to combine airlines within the same alliance when issuing a single multi-destination or round trip ticket.

I am fairly certain that is the exact reason the trip I got didn't show up on the ChoiceAir website (nor did it show up on Kayak, CheapOAir or, obviously, the websites for any individual airline)...But, for the purposes of our Cruise Critic members, it is important to know...It's pretty much the explanation for why it is important to manipulate the site to give you two one-ways rather than the full trip ticket the system is set up to look for...

And the reason to do it via Choice Air is that Celebrity has some negotiated rates on many of these flights that may be different than what you get just going through the airline's website...For example, putting through one of these legs directly through the same airline's website, I got a quoted fare several hundred dollars higher...

OK. I have a few questions I hope folks can help with.

1. What is the phone number for OneChoice?

2. I am a United Priority 1K member. I want to fly United and receive my qualifying miles and qualifying dollars toward my premier status. Will a ticket through One Choice give me these?

Thanks!

OK. I have a few questions I hope folks can help with.

 

1. What is the phone number for OneChoice?

2. I am a United Priority 1K member. I want to fly United and receive my qualifying miles and qualifying dollars toward my premier status. Will a ticket through One Choice give me these?

 

Thanks!

You can connect to Choice Air on Celebrity’s web site...

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What happens to those Solo cruisers?

 

 

 

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No problem you select how many passengers.

You can connect to Choice Air on Celebrity’s web site...

 

 

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Celebrity has re-named Choice Air to Flights by Celebrity on their menu. It confused me first time I used it. The only thing that changed was the banner with the new name.

OK. I have a few questions I hope folks can help with.

 

1. What is the phone number for OneChoice?

2. I am a United Priority 1K member. I want to fly United and receive my qualifying miles and qualifying dollars toward my premier status. Will a ticket through One Choice give me these?

 

Thanks!

Toll Free Phone: 800-533-7803 - for Celebrity and Azamara

You will get FF benefits, but the formula UA uses to award mileage is not the same as what you are used to = Cost of ticket x a multiplier. If you book through Choice Air, UA will have no idea what you paid for your ticket (and you will not know how much Choice Air paid to UA for the ticket). The Mileage Plus web site has some information related to mileage awards for "opaque" or "Bulk" fare tickets. I do not recall the specifics.

Toll Free Phone: 800-533-7803 - for Celebrity and Azamara

You will get FF benefits, but the formula UA uses to award mileage is not the same as what you are used to = Cost of ticket x a multiplier. If you book through Choice Air, UA will have no idea what you paid for your ticket (and you will not know how much Choice Air paid to UA for the ticket). The Mileage Plus web site has some information related to mileage awards for "opaque" or "Bulk" fare tickets. I do not recall the specifics.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

You are welcome. One other point I remembered - if you book through Choice Air, they collect information about your FF number, KTN, maybe passport information etc., but I found that none of that transfers over to the UA site. You should go to UA and enter your FF & KTN numbers and whatever else may be missing.

You are welcome. One other point I remembered - if you book through Choice Air, they collect information about your FF number, KTN, maybe passport information etc., but I found that none of that transfers over to the UA site. You should go to UA and enter your FF & KTN numbers and whatever else may be missing.

Good point. Being proactive is always better than reactive on the backside.