Choice Air-good idea?

[fendbass]

Last spring , we took a RCL cruise out of Copenhagen, so we used Choice Air to book tickets on Star Alliance/SAS. The lowest class tickets did not allow us to reserve seats, so we paid extra for that benefit

 

Works OK going over, but, coming back, they apparently 'forgot' and we were booked on middle seats, 10 rows apart. We had to do a gate upgrade that cost me $700 additional

 

I don't know if this was a Choice Air problem, or with SAS, all I do know is that I was royally ticked off

 

I also found their web site extremely hard to use, and this isn't my first rodeo. I just can't see myself using them again

[sasset]

On a Transatlantic with Choice air, does anyone know how far you can extend your flight before or after the cruise? We have family in Europe(Munich) we would want to spend time before or after the cruise. Thank you.

 

We just booked a May 2 one way return Milan to Los Angeles after our transatlantic ending in Rome April 22. Choice Air AA business for $1753. They are refundable and earn FF miles. All the flights on the Choice Air site connected through Heathrow and we didn't want to that. Found flights we liked on the AA website and gave the agent the numbers and she booked it. On AA they were $4440 for business and $1651 for non refundable coach. So that's 11 days and almost 400 miles away. You shouldn't have a problem.

Edited March 9, 2015 by sasset

[waterbug123]

The same goes for any ticket you buy from the airline.

 

There are risks with all tickets, but there are some potential additional risks with Choice Air. So no, it is not necessarily the same.

 

Much of the misinformation in this thread is some are citing what they have heard happens with no personal experience. Here is our personal experience from September 2014....

 

 

No issue that it was a Choice Air booking. As far as AA was concerned it was just another AA ticket. It was stressful, especially the aborted take off, but it worked out. We didn't seem to have any issues due to using Choice Air.

 

An added perk: BA's lounge at LAX is much nicer than AA's.

 

It worked out for you. Great! Doesn't mean it always will. Plenty of stories out there from folks who didn't have the same good luck getting re-accommodated.

[waterbug123]

My tickets are the same as I would have gotten directly from American Airlines. Both carry the same restrictions: non-cancellable, non-refundable, fee for change in itinerary. Fee is charged only if I were to make the change. Weather delays, etc are the airlines problem. Although seats are assigned at time of booking, I went on AA website and selected seats of my choosing.

 

 

There are other possible restrictions beyond whether or not your ticket is cancellable or refundable. You can choose to believe that or not.

[Rob the Cruiser]

There are other possible restrictions beyond whether or not your ticket is cancellable or refundable. You can choose to believe that or not.

 

I know how to, and do, read the fine print.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Rob the Cruiser

[sasset]

I'm done.

[BEAV]

Although Federal Rule 240 went out the door with airline deregulation, I believe most US carriers have adopted their own "Rule 240" policies. In most cases, if an airline delay and/or missed connection is caused by mechanical issues (vs. weather-related), you have the right to have the carrier rebook you on another carrier in the event the alternate carrier is able to get you to your destination sooner than the ticketed carrier. So if I have this right (?), does an airline's Rule 240 policy supersede even in the event you may be holding a restricted bulk fare Consolidator's ticket?

[Gonzo70]

Although Federal Rule 240 went out the door with airline deregulation, I believe most US carriers have adopted their own "Rule 240" policies. In most cases, if an airline delay and/or missed connection is caused by mechanical issues (vs. weather-related), you have the right to have the carrier rebook you on another carrier in the event the alternate carrier is able to get you to your destination sooner than the ticketed carrier. So if I have this right (?), does an airline's Rule 240 policy supersede even in the event you may be holding a restricted bulk fare Consolidator's ticket?

 

Good question; according to this article I found about the current state of Rule 240 type policies: " if you're traveling on a 'bulk' 'consolidator,' or other unpublished airfare, then all bets are off."

 

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/3801232/rule-240-revisited/

[Ma Bell]

One thing for sure is if and when I have a problem I won't be waiting for someone else to take care of it for me.

[Christine Frances]

Good question; according to this article I found about the current state of Rule 240 type policies: " if you're traveling on a 'bulk' 'consolidator,' or other unpublished airfare, then all bets are off."

 

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/3801232/rule-240-revisited/

 

That is a 5 yr old article. They should have posted references to the "all bets are off" statement

Edited March 9, 2015 by Christine Frances

[CathyCruises]

Does everyone only buy one-way flights in the States as it appears they're the ones that are continually quoted on this thread? Whenever I look at CA prices flying from this side of the pond, not one-way as we don't cruise TAs, the majority are far more expensive than booking with the airlines direct :confused:.

 

As far as I've been able to tell, the place where CA shines is in one way flights generally associated with transatlantics. I agree, I've never found any great benefit to domestic or even rt intl flights. But the savings on those one way flights a is tremendous.

On a Transatlantic with Choice air, does anyone know how far you can extend your flight before or after the cruise? We have family in Europe(Munich) we would want to spend time before or after the cruise. Thank you.

We have extended for over a month to six weeks after the end of our cruise, no problem. Just pop in your desired dates.

 

Our cruise arrives in Amsterdam on May 3. I tried to book a round trip ticket from Paris-CDG to San Francisco leaving on May 30 and returning to Paris on June 30, and it wouldn't let me. But I didn't expect that it would!

 

I have found the website easy to use, I just put in my dates and look at all the choices, then select one. So I'm not sure what that reference was to. My only beef is that most airlines sites now will show you a calendar of low fares, so sometimes you can change your travel by a day or two and save a significant amount. With CA you have to search each day separately. Somewhat of a PITA but worth it.

[CathyCruises]

I am sorry , I will do better next time and pay the full rate

Just think of the points I am not getting by not paying $3500 rate :(

I am paying $1024 taxes and grads included for a 14 night cruise in a 1b, so I should over 3x that for 8 hour flight

 

Well yes, you should, because it's all about that risk, 'bout that risk, no trouble!!!

[Gonzo70]

That is a 5 yr old article. They should have posted references to the "all bets are off" statement

 

There is no reason I can think of that the airlines would have become more generous to bulk/consolidator/specially negotiated tickets since 2010 - there is no new government regulations I am aware of they would force them. There is a reason consolidator tickets are so deeply discounted; they do not come with the same protections. The airline is absolved of normal responsibility when things go wrong and priority is granted to those who paid regular fares for accommodation on other flights. The low price is is a huge perk, but comes at a cost.

 

For some bizarre reason a few on this thread are naive enough to think the cruise line is graciously paying $1,000+ in airfare for those deeply discounted tix on behalf of the passenger. They are not! No matter how "nice" you think the cruise line is to offer these fares, they are not taking a loss on your airfare; they are making a profit on those tickets. These are not magical tickets that are "identical" tickets to the one's being sold at a much higher price by the airline. Cheap tickets are great, but be an informed consumer, know what you are receiving and take adequate precautions to minimize the increased risk these tickets come with. It is possible to take advantage of these low fares in a fairly safe manner - but only if you realize what you are dealing with.

[GranthamMommy]

We had a bad experience with Choice Air last year. We allowed them to book our flights and I thought it was odd that not only were we flying on the same day we sail, but we could not book our seats even though we were booking our flight 6 months in advance. They told me "you can't do it until 30 days before your flight." So 30 days before I phoned and was told "You can't reserve your seats until 24 hours before." I thought it was odd, I phoned Choice Air, I also phoned Celebrity. They told me not to worry that it was standard. So 24 hours prior to take off I went online and it would not allow me to reserve seats. I phoned again and was told "Don't worry, we will make sure you are sitting beside your husband when you check in at the airport." I am a nervous flyer and do better when my husband is beside me.

 

We arrive at the airport to check in and find we are on STAND BY!!! Celebrity told us that if we didn't make the flight that they will put us up in a hotel and fly us to the first port to meet the ship two days later... which of course is a horrible way to start a cruise you've been looking forward to for months.

 

Thank goodness a couple was willing to give up their seats for us, but right until 20 minutes before our flight we did not know if we would be sailing out later that day. As it was we we seated at the very back of the plane on the seats that say "crew only". At least we did get there but we learned that from then on we will book our own flights.

 

We got nothing but "we're terribly sorry" from Celebrity when we complained about how stressful the experience was.

 

We will never use Choice Air again.

 

 

This sounds a bit different. There are some cruises where Celebrity includes the airfare and you don't know about your flight until 30 days out and cannot pick your seats. We had the airfare included for our cruise out of Singapore. I was worried. It was winter. And I'm a planner. I could barely sleep worrying.

 

What a surprise - they booked us on Cathay Pacific (number one airline last I heard). Wonderful flights. Great seats. And......they told us we would arrive at the airport around 2am and we could wait until it was time to take a bus to the ship. They ended up getting us in mid day and put us up in a Conrad Hilton. We felt like royalty.

 

Life is a gamble. If you can't stand the heat, get the travel insurance. Which I did for a trip to Las Vegas last year. Big snow storm back east. Long story, but I was reimbursed for my add'l hotel nights and airline changes.

[WpgCruise]

Very well said.

 

We've traveled on Consolidator tickets several times, once from Seattle to San Juan for $300. Just a heck of a deal. Consolidator or Bucket tickets are still for sale on web sites. Check them out.

 

However and it is a big however which I think Gonzo70 and others are trying to make, it's best to understand what you're buying. I don't think some posting here understand that difference.

 

Ignorance is Bliss

 

 

 

There is no reason I can think of that the airlines would have become more generous to bulk/consolidator/specially negotiated tickets since 2010 - there is no new government regulations I am aware of they would force them. There is a reason consolidator tickets are so deeply discounted; they do not come with the same protections. The airline is absolved of normal responsibility when things go wrong and priority is granted to those who paid regular fares for accommodation on other flights. The low price is is a huge perk, but comes at a cost.

 

For some bizarre reason a few on this thread are naive enough to think the cruise line is graciously paying $1,000+ in airfare for those deeply discounted tix on behalf of the passenger. They are not! No matter how "nice" you think the cruise line is to offer these fares, they are not taking a loss on your airfare; they are making a profit on those tickets. These are not magical tickets that are "identical" tickets to the one's being sold at a much higher price by the airline. Cheap tickets are great, but be an informed consumer, know what you are receiving and take adequate precautions to minimize the increased risk these tickets come with. It is possible to take advantage of these low fares in a fairly safe manner - but only if you realize what you are dealing with.

[Ma Bell]

I don't think there's anyone posting here who doesn't understand that there are a lot of variables with airline tickets. When I book with Choice Air I always make choices that provide me with plenty of time and alternatives and I back it up with an insurance policy. Realistically, it's not likely that there will be a problem of such a magnitude that it can't be fairly easily rectified and since I've already saved an enormous amount of money through the years it wouldn't even put a small dent into those savings if I had to buy a completely new ticket to get me somewhere.

 

If we're talking about a disaster of some kind it won't make any difference what kind of a ticket someone has.

[ghstudio]

I am only aware of one "gotcha" booking with choice air. If you book a flight to/from your cruise and decide to cancel the cruise, your air tickets will be cancelled. Yup....and that's even if you have the confirmed ticket number from the airline. In most cases that doesn't matter...you pay the airline cancellation penalty fee which you would pay if you had booked directly. However, if you decide to cancel the cruise, but fly to the city and just do a land tour, you are out of luck....those tickets are gone.

 

The mechanics of paying are interesting. When you book with choice air, you pay for the ticket immediately (assuming a non-refundable ticket). You are billed by choice air not the airline. The money you pay goes into your cruise account..it does actually not go to the airline until about 30 days prior to the cruise...in fact it seems to delay the issuing of your cruise documents. That's why when you cancel the cruise, you have automatically cancelled the air tickets. It's seems really strange to me that the airlines allow this, but that seems to be the way choice air operates.

Edited March 10, 2015 by ghstudio

[waterbug123]

For some bizarre reason a few on this thread are naive enough to think the cruise line is graciously paying $1,000+ in airfare for those deeply discounted tix on behalf of the passenger. They are not! No matter how "nice" you think the cruise line is to offer these fares, they are not taking a loss on your airfare; they are making a profit on those tickets. These are not magical tickets that are "identical" tickets to the one's being sold at a much higher price by the airline. Cheap tickets are great, but be an informed consumer, know what you are receiving and take adequate precautions to minimize the increased risk these tickets come with. It is possible to take advantage of these low fares in a fairly safe manner - but only if you realize what you are dealing with.

 

Exactly what I've been trying to say.

 

 

However and it is a big however which I think Gonzo70 and others are trying to make, it's best to understand what you're buying. I don't think some posting here understand that difference.

 

Ignorance is Bliss

 

I agree. All the "but I got a record locator number," or "I was able to choose my flights," and "I read the fine print" comments make it clear that some still just don't get it. They think they do, but those are exactly the types of statements that show that they don't. If they did, they would realize those statements mean nothing.

[waterbug123]

I don't think there's anyone posting here who doesn't understand that there are a lot of variables with airline tickets. When I book with Choice Air I always make choices that provide me with plenty of time and alternatives and I back it up with an insurance policy. Realistically, it's not likely that there will be a problem of such a magnitude that it can't be fairly easily rectified and since I've already saved an enormous amount of money through the years it wouldn't even put a small dent into those savings if I had to buy a completely new ticket to get me somewhere.

 

If we're talking about a disaster of some kind it won't make any difference what kind of a ticket someone has.

 

Most likely many do realize there are lots of variables with airline tickets, but it's quite apparent that some don't realize the additional variables with CA tickets. And there are probably more folks reading and not posting who do NOT realize all the potential variables involved, even in a regular published fare ticket. Hopefully some of them have gained some additional knowledge and can be a more informed consumer. :)

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Most likely many do realize there are lots of variables with airline tickets, but it's quite apparent that some don't realize the additional variables with CA tickets. And there are probably more folks reading and not posting who do NOT realize all the potential variables involved, even in a regular published fare ticket. Hopefully some of them have gained some additional knowledge and can be a more informed consumer. :)

 

I think most people understand , it a cheap price ticket , and have planned for screwed ups

At least CA will try to get you to the next port , an airline will not do that

 

But the Choice Air haters will tell you never book with CA but book this airline that is more pricey, has 5 stops, and leaves 4 days after the date you want

Yes , I have told that by the CA haters

[Ma Bell]

Most likely many do realize there are lots of variables with airline tickets, but it's quite apparent that some don't realize the additional variables with CA tickets. And there are probably more folks reading and not posting who do NOT realize all the potential variables involved, even in a regular published fare ticket. Hopefully some of them have gained some additional knowledge and can be a more informed consumer. :)

 

The one thing I absolutely would not do is book a cruise with airfare included. I want to know ahead of time exactly what airline and flights I'm on. The beauty of Choice Air is you can choose exactly what you want. I wouldn't book a flight with more than one connection and I want to be sure my connections are where there's the least chance of weather problems and the most chance of being able to get another flight if one is cancelled.

 

If people are really as naive as some seem to think, they have a lot more to worry about than a Choice Air ticket.

[DaisyFire]

Next cruise, same departure port. This time I paid for the first class seats and took an earlier flight out of LAX. Landed in Dallas with enough time to enjoy the fine airport cuisine.

 

Moral of the story, choose one's own flights.

 

The unfortunate reality is that there are no guarantees in air travel (or other types of travel for that matter) - no matter how much planning and precautions you take with your travel arrangements.

 

I have had long layovers that still were not long enough, and tight connections that managed to somehow work when it seemed there was no way they could. Of course, that doesn't mean that we don't try to pick the best flight options - but in many cases it really is just the luck of the draw.

 

Where my travel arrangements are less than optimal, I find that I am more likely to have plans B and C already laid out in advance and I can react quickly to make the best of the situation. It's when I am comfortable with my travel arrangements and haven't mapped out a plan B or C and things go awry that I can find myself in hot water.

 

It's kind of like your approach to investing in the stock market, it's all about risk tolerance. High reward usually goes hand in hand with higher risk. And for some, the reward is just not worth the risk.

[Ma Bell]

The unfortunate reality is that there are no guarantees in air travel (or other types of travel for that matter) - no matter how much planning and precautions you take with your travel arrangements.

 

I have had long layovers that still were not long enough, and tight connections that managed to somehow work when it seemed there was no way they could. Of course, that doesn't mean that we don't try to pick the best flight options - but in many cases it really is just the luck of the draw.

 

Where my travel arrangements are less than optimal, I find that I am more likely to have plans B and C already laid out in advance and I can react quickly to make the best of the situation. It's when I am comfortable with my travel arrangements and haven't mapped out a plan B or C and things go awry that I can find myself in hot water.

 

It's kind of like your approach to investing in the stock market, it's all about risk tolerance. High reward usually goes hand in hand with higher risk. And for some, the reward is just not worth the risk.

 

Exactly right.

[dodger1964]

... All the "but I got a record locator number," or "I was able to choose my flights," and "I read the fine print" comments make it clear that some still just don't get it. They think they do, but those are exactly the types of statements that show that they don't. If they did, they would realize those statements mean nothing.

 

What they (we) get is a promise to get to the ship (at some point) that the airline couldn't care less about if there are problems.

 

I still haven't heard those that are critical of CA bookings convey their thoughts about missing the ship?

 

Some make it sound like if you are on a consolidator CA ticket that you will just be left at the airport on your own.

 

The only thing I can take from comments in these CA threads is the potential of a "direct airline" ticket passenger being potentially put on a different airline if flight problems happen. (and I would question that CA couldn't do the same thing with a consolidator ticket, but at least one person on different thread made that statement).

[blueboro]

I am only aware of one "gotcha" booking with choice air. If you book a flight to/from your cruise and decide to cancel the cruise, your air tickets will be cancelled. Yup....and that's even if you have the confirmed ticket number from the airline. In most cases that doesn't matter...you pay the airline cancellation penalty fee which you would pay if you had booked directly. However, if you decide to cancel the cruise, but fly to the city and just do a land tour, you are out of luck....those tickets are gone.

 

The mechanics of paying are interesting. When you book with choice air, you pay for the ticket immediately (assuming a non-refundable ticket). You are billed by choice air not the airline. The money you pay goes into your cruise account..it does actually not go to the airline until about 30 days prior to the cruise...in fact it seems to delay the issuing of your cruise documents. That's why when you cancel the cruise, you have automatically cancelled the air tickets. It's seems really strange to me that the airlines allow this, but that seems to be the way choice air operates.

 

 

So, if I book a flight to Rome this week for an October cruise, the ticket is not purchased by CA until 30-days beforehand? From what I have read I can reserve seats at the time of booking but how can I reserve seats without the airline getting paid?