ChoiceAir seat assignments and other ??s

[Dave4120]

Hello...we are cruising next May 3rd out of Barcelona. I've been researching roundtrip air from Syracuse, NY and back, and from JFK and back since we have both choices as options.

 

Having only flown once ever, we are new to all of these flight options, prices, tons of airlines and aircrafts that provide a better flight than others.

 

We have checked on-line with RCCL choice air, but from what I've seen so far, the flights have been $24 more per person roundtrip than booking directly with American's or Delta's website.

 

Should I be calling choice air instead, or, I doing anything wrong? Maybe some flights are more and not less through choice air sometimes.

 

Another thread on here was also very cautious about using choice air for a number of reasons.

 

Dave

 

W

 

 

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[Zach1213]

Hello...we are cruising next May 3rd out of Barcelona. I've been researching roundtrip air from Syracuse, NY and back, and from JFK and back since we have both choices as options.

 

Having only flown once ever, we are new to all of these flight options, prices, tons of airlines and aircrafts that provide a better flight than others.

 

We have checked on-line with RCCL choice air, but from what I've seen so far, the flights have been $24 more per person roundtrip than booking directly with American's or Delta's website.

 

Should I be calling choice air instead, or, I doing anything wrong? Maybe some flights are more and not less through choice air sometimes.

 

Another thread on here was also very cautious about using choice air for a number of reasons.

 

Dave

 

W

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Well I guess my question is this...if most people use Choice Air simply because they're the cheapest, and in this case Choice Air isn't the cheapest...why would you use Choice Air?

 

As someone with 100,000+ BIS air miles each year, I always book with the airline and they have always helped me out. That was the case as a rookie traveler with no status, and still these days when I do occasionally fly an airline for which I have nothing but base member status (meaning I am just a member of their frequent flier program, or in some cases with foreign airlines not even that). I am just one of those people who would like as few people between me and my airline as possible.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Zach1213

[Clarea]

Hello...we are cruising next May 3rd out of Barcelona. I've been researching roundtrip air from Syracuse, NY and back, and from JFK and back since we have both choices as options.

 

Having only flown once ever, we are new to all of these flight options, prices, tons of airlines and aircrafts that provide a better flight than others.

 

We have checked on-line with RCCL choice air, but from what I've seen so far, the flights have been $24 more per person roundtrip than booking directly with American's or Delta's website.

 

Should I be calling choice air instead, or, I doing anything wrong? Maybe some flights are more and not less through choice air sometimes.

 

Another thread on here was also very cautious about using choice air for a number of reasons.

 

Dave

Choice Air prices are usually higher than the airline's own website prices for purely domestic flights. Choice Air has much better prices for international flights, especially one-way international.

[Zach1213]

Choice Air prices are usually higher than the airline's own website prices for purely domestic flights. Choice Air has much better prices for international flights, especially one-way international.

 

They are flying to Barcelona from New York, which is rarely considered to be a domestic flight ;)

[marco]

We've used choice air several times. Always TA. The price has always been significantly less then any price I could get on my own. 1 bag pp always went at no cost and we were able to choose our seats on the airline's site. As an aside, I think all airlines check at least one bag at no cost for an international flight and our experience has been that even if the flight requires the first leg domestic with a connection, bags go "all the way" at no charge (at least if it's the same airline)

[jjh9]

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.

That is true but if anything goes wrong choice air can not help you with it. That is what I was told by choice air. If flight is late or airline changes your flight choice air can not help you.

[Zach1213]

We've used choice air several times. Always TA. The price has always been significantly less then any price I could get on my own. 1 bag pp always went at no cost and we were able to choose our seats on the airline's site. As an aside, I think all airlines check at least one bag at no cost for an international flight and our experience has been that even if the flight requires the first leg domestic with a connection, bags go "all the way" at no charge (at least if it's the same airline)

 

Do be careful generalizing "international". Many airlines do charge for bags from the US to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean...sometimes for all destinations in those areas, sometimes for only some of them. For example - American charges $25 for a bag to Queretaro, Mexico, but not to Guadalajara, Mexico. And they charge $25 for a bag to Montego Bay, but not Kingston.

[Clarea]

They are flying to Barcelona from New York, which is rarely considered to be a domestic flight ;)

Ooops.:o

[waterbug123]

Well I guess my question is this...if most people use Choice Air simply because they're the cheapest, and in this case Choice Air isn't the cheapest...why would you use Choice Air?

 

A couple of possibilities come to mind: (speaking in general terms, and not necessarily about anyone in particular)

1. Some people seem to believe Choice Air has magical powers that can fix weather problems, mechanical issues, and crew that time out, and that they therefore "guarantee" you will make it to the ship no matter what.

2. Some people seem to believe that if there are flight delays or cancellations, the airline will hang you out to dry and not rebook you, whereas they believe Choice Air will appear like a genie in a bottle to hold your hand through the entire process.

 

 

Do be careful generalizing "international". Many airlines do charge for bags from the US to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean...sometimes for all destinations in those areas, sometimes for only some of them. For example - American charges $25 for a bag to Queretaro, Mexico, but not to Guadalajara, Mexico. And they charge $25 for a bag to Montego Bay, but not Kingston.

 

True. A better term might be "inter-continental." I'm sure there are exceptions (Zach noted one above), but generally speaking you are likely to get a free checked back if flying from the US to another continent, but not likely to get one if flying from the US to Canada/Mexico/Caribbean, as that is all part of North America.