Thanks, Choice Air

[GJH123]

In the interest of fairness, I wanted to share our experience with Choice Air as I had earlier issued a warning about the pre-flight experience. We were delayed out of Indianapolis because of weather in Newark. We sat on the tarmac for about two hours and returned to refuel (restart the clock) and then sat on the tarmac for approximately another two hours, before the pilot finally announced the cancellation of our flight. I called Choice Air initially giving them a heads up about our situation and again when the flight was officially cancelled. Also called United while waiting in the terminal for our flights to be reassigned and was advised that "someone was in our file and that United was unable to help at this time." Before we reached our turn at the counter (long line ahead of us), Choice Air called me back advising of our new flights. I then called Lufthansa to inquire about seat assignments and we were able to secure aisle seats. We caught up with the cruise in Bergen. Choice Air arranged for the port agent to pick us up there and also covered the cost of our hotel and issued a voucher for a meal there. The agent then picked us up the next morning and took us to Journey where we were greeted with a glass of champagne.

While waiting in line, we heard of others not being able to get flights out until Sunday or Monday, so we felt very fortunate to be able to fly out on Saturday. So bottom line is "Thank you Choice Air for helping us to make the best of an unfortunate situation! We appreciate the competent and persistent agent who found us alternative flights and allowed us to catch up to our wonderful cruise of Norway!"

Edited July 2, 2014 by GJH123

[Andy]

In the interest of fairness, I wanted to share our experience with Choice Air as I had earlier issued a warning about the pre-flight experience. We were delayed out of Indianapolis because of weather in Newark. We sat on the tarmac for about two hours and returned to refuel (restart the clock) and then sat on the tarmac for approximately another two hours, before the pilot finally announced the cancellation of our flight. I called Choice Air initially giving them a heads up about our situation and again when the flight was officially cancelled. Also called United while waiting in the terminal for our flights to be reassigned and was advised that "someone was in our file and that United was unable to help at this time." Before we reached our turn at the counter (long line ahead of us), Choice Air called me back advising of our new flights. I then called Lufthansa to inquire about seat assignments and we were able to secure aisle seats. We caught up with the cruise in Bergen. Choice Air arranged for the port agent to pick us up there and also covered the cost of our hotel and issued a voucher for a meal there. The agent then picked us up the next morning and took us to Journey where we were greeted with a glass of champagne.

While waiting in line, we heard of others not being able to get flights out until Sunday or Monday, so we felt very fortunate to be able to fly out on Saturday. So bottom line is "Thank you Choice Air for helping us to make the best of an unfortunate situation! We appreciate the competent and persistent agent who found us alternative flights and allowed us to catch up to our wonderful cruise of Norway!"

 

Hi Gjh123,

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with us, and kudos to the ChoiceAir team for their efforts. If you are currently onboard Journey, I wish you a wonderful cruise !

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report! Based on the title I assumed you were being sarcastic, glad that was not the case.

[Texed]

Thanks for posting. :)

[3418ahl]

We were due to leave from Charlotte for Asia in Feb. through Choice Air. The two days before leaving, we had the biggest snowfall here in 20 years! I called Choice Air from the airport hotel when we knew our flight was cancelled. They booked us on one of the few flights for the following morning and we ended up arriving 10 minutes before our original flight would have gotten there. When we got to the airport, the lines for trying to rebook were "miles" long. We never would have made our cruise.

[Jade13]

In the interest of fairness, I wanted to share our experience with Choice Air as I had earlier issued a warning about the pre-flight experience. We were delayed out of Indianapolis because of weather in Newark. We sat on the tarmac for about two hours and returned to refuel (restart the clock) and then sat on the tarmac for approximately another two hours, before the pilot finally announced the cancellation of our flight. I called Choice Air initially giving them a heads up about our situation and again when the flight was officially cancelled. Also called United while waiting in the terminal for our flights to be reassigned and was advised that "someone was in our file and that United was unable to help at this time." Before we reached our turn at the counter (long line ahead of us), Choice Air called me back advising of our new flights. I then called Lufthansa to inquire about seat assignments and we were able to secure aisle seats. We caught up with the cruise in Bergen. Choice Air arranged for the port agent to pick us up there and also covered the cost of our hotel and issued a voucher for a meal there. The agent then picked us up the next morning and took us to Journey where we were greeted with a glass of champagne.

While waiting in line, we heard of others not being able to get flights out until Sunday or Monday, so we felt very fortunate to be able to fly out on Saturday. So bottom line is "Thank you Choice Air for helping us to make the best of an unfortunate situation! We appreciate the competent and persistent agent who found us alternative flights and allowed us to catch up to our wonderful cruise of Norway!"

 

Were you scheduled to arrive the same day as the cruise departure?

 

Did you pay for cruise line insurance?

 

Were you booked with cruise air, or with Choice Air where you picked and paid for your flights (either on the choice Air website or through a choice Air agent)?

 

Do you know if the airline paid for the hotel or did Azamara?

Edited July 2, 2014 by Jade13

[GJH123]

Jade 13:

This was our first cruise with Azamara and also with a "big box" agency. As part of our "package" which included a significant amount of refundable OBC, we had $500 credit per person toward airfare. I booked online with Choice Air paying the full fare and then received $1000 credit toward final payment of our cruise. I therefore assumed that Choice Air was a division of Royal Caribbean as there were separate websites for RC, Celebrity and Azamara.

The agent from Choice Air was the person that informed me that the port agent would be waiting for us at the Bergen airport and taking us to a hotel for the evening before boarding Journey the next morning.

This was the first time we had not gone in a couple of days early as we had determined that Hamburg had little of interest to us, which according to our ship mates was a big mistake--Hamburg had lots to offer. Hence, we have since vowed to always go in at least a day or two early. After embarking at Hamburg, our second day of cruising was a sea day, so we caught up with the cruise on the third day at the first scheduled port in Bergen.

I purchased trip insurance from a separate agency and will be filing a claim for trip interruption with them. We inquired at the United counter about a hotel for the night in Indy and were told that they are not responsible for weather related delays.

A few years ago, we were in Rome when the Icelandic volcano erupted. I and the concierge at the hotel tried unsuccessfully to find an alternative route back to the US--everything to the north and west was closed. I called our independent agent in the US and asked her if she might find a way out using a more southern route. Long story-short, we were able to fly out through Athens before the "cloud" reached there. We paid for everything and then were reimbursed by insurance and British Air as EU airlines were required to compensate for additional expenses incurred when airports were closed. Not sure if the rule is still in effect though.

Edited July 2, 2014 by GJH123