Choice Air-good idea?

[Katie H]

yes, you have been ticketed, but if you cancel your cruise, that ticket will be cancelled when the cruise is cancelled. You can't book a ticket through choice air, then cancel the cruise and use that ticket for a land cruise or a cruise on a different ship.

 

I know this sounds strange...but see my comments about when the airline is actually paid.

 

There is a very big Gotcha here....

If you make a cruise reservation and book a choice air flight on that reservation....and then find a "new bookings only" reservation on the same cruise...and you cancel the first reservation and book a new reservation without telling your agent about the choice air ticket, you may/will find that your choice air flight is cancelled...and yes, with penalties....even though you are on the same ship. The reason this happens is that your payment to the airline is actually stored in the cruise reservation file...so if you cancel that cruise reservation, that money is treated as a cancellation of the air ticket as well.

 

Be VERY VERY careful when changing reservation numbers on the same cruise if you use choice air.

 

I was aware of that risk - read about it on the boards previously. When I saw a price drop on our Azamara cruise for new bookings, I was told by someone at Azamara that my TA could have a 3 way call with Azamara bookings and Choice Air and that CA would remove my air from the booking, the booking could be canceled, a new booking made and the air put on the new booking. I had my doubts and didn't want to risk it, so stayed with the original booking. But I did get a free upgrade out of it. Wondering if anyone here has ever done the above successfully.

[If only]

Thank you Choice Air/Celebrity/Royal Caribbean for making it financially feasible for us to see Europe. In October, we will be doing our sixth B2B transatlantic in the last four years. There is no way, we would have considered doing one if we had to pay the price of the air that the airlines have. We have read all the naysayers warnings about what could go wrong when buying these discounted tickets, but have actually seen, or talked to anyone who have had any problems what so ever. We do build some fluff into our schedule, just in case, but so far, it was not needed.

If someone would have told us, five years ago, that we would see London, Paris, Venice, Rome, Amsterdam, and many other place, I would have said they're crazy, but we did. Thanks again.

 

Have your travel agent or Celebrity agent "lock in"your air, that way it will not be changed unless of course the airline changes the time, but you will not change airlines. We found this out by accident when we did our Med cruise.

[Ma Bell]

I was aware of that risk - read about it on the boards previously. When I saw a price drop on our Azamara cruise for new bookings, I was told by someone at Azamara that my TA could have a 3 way call with Azamara bookings and Choice Air and that CA would remove my air from the booking, the booking could be canceled, a new booking made and the air put on the new booking. I had my doubts and didn't want to risk it, so stayed with the original booking. But I did get a free upgrade out of it. Wondering if anyone here has ever done the above successfully.

 

Yes, just about a month ago. No problem.

[ghstudio]

Grandgeezer's post about discounted Transatlantic tickets vs. full price from the airlines direct reminded me that for the last two years I've been buying frequent flyer miles when the airlines have mileage promotion sales. For example, I joined Avianca's LifeMiles program and bought miles when they were having a 100% bonus promo (buy 50,000 miles, get 100,000 for example). They have been running the same promo every three/four months for the last two years since I first discovered them. No, I don't fly on Avianca, I simply signed up for their frequent flyer program. I don't fly enough to earn enough miles for long distance award trips, so I buy them instead. During a LifeMiles promotion, I was able to buy enough miles for two business class tickets on Singapore Airlines from Perth, Australia to San Francisco in conjunction with a cruise on Solstice. The price was $1000 per person, which of course is a steal for business class tickets for that length of trip. And Avianca certainly isn't the only airline that runs mileage purchase bonus promotions, either.

 

While I have no ax to grind regarding Choice Air's deeply discounted one-way fares, I'm just saying that they're not the only game in town when it comes to securing discounted tickets vs. buying full one way fares from the airlines.

 

Using Air miles is an excellent alternative to choice air (or paying for a ticket any other way). A couple of years ago, Amex ran an offer which gave you 75K AA miles per new card (free the first year). My wife and I both got a card and I got one for my business (225,000 miles). We managed to meet the "must spend" in 3 months requirement, partially by paying for the cruise...and we flew round trip to Singapore business class on Cathay Pacific (110,000 miles each). Not too shabby and the price was wonderful. We are now working on the accumulating the AA miles for a 2017 B2B in asia on the infinity. We will however (most likely) use choice air to fly to Buenos Aires for a b2b that returns us to Miami/FLL...a one way trip.

 

It's really a game....you just have to understand the rules because often the agents you speak to don't. That applies to Choice Air, the airlines, the credit card companies, etc.

Edited March 11, 2015 by ghstudio

[Ex-Airbalancer]

In Canada, I have never seen deals on buying airmiles

I guess I will just live with the deals I get with Choice Air

[Christine Frances]

Grandgeezer's post about discounted Transatlantic tickets vs. full price from the airlines direct reminded me that for the last two years I've been buying frequent flyer miles when the airlines have mileage promotion sales. For example, I joined Avianca's LifeMiles program and bought miles when they were having a 100% bonus promo (buy 50,000 miles, get 100,000 for example). They have been running the same promo every three/four months for the last two years since I first discovered them. No, I don't fly on Avianca, I simply signed up for their frequent flyer program. I don't fly enough to earn enough miles for long distance award trips, so I buy them instead. During a LifeMiles promotion, I was able to buy enough miles for two business class tickets on Singapore Airlines from Perth, Australia to San Francisco in conjunction with a cruise on Solstice. The price was $1000 per person, which of course is a steal for business class tickets for that length of trip. And Avianca certainly isn't the only airline that runs mileage purchase bonus promotions, either.

 

While I have no ax to grind regarding Choice Air's deeply discounted one-way fares, I'm just saying that they're not the only game in town when it comes to securing discounted tickets vs. buying full one way fares from the airlines.

 

We flew Avianca for the first time using Aeroplan miles in Biz Class to Costa Rica the first week in Feb. Itinerary was United to Houston then Aviance to CR. The return was Avianca to Toronto then Air Canada to Victoria. Avianca was wonderful, really good food and service. Better than both United and Air Canada and we would happily fly with them again.

[floatplan]

The deeply discounted one way TA fares are 1/2 the roundtrip fare.

 

Some agents are allowed to do that. In the USA one way fares usually carry only a small $20 penalty but to the EU they are more than RT so must buy from an agent that can buy half an RT to do a TA. AA allows booking one way awards so that's an option, USAir and others do not.

 

I have not used CA but would.

[Ma Bell]

British Airways round trip Phoenix to Rome business class, one stop, $6990. My one way back on the same flight, business class, refundable with fees, $1846., 27.5% of the round trip fare.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Ma Bell

[waterbug123]

AA allows booking one way awards so that's an option, USAir and others do not.

 

 

Delta also offers one way awards tickets.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Delta also offers one way awards tickets.

 

Delta does not have good flights from YYZ

[waterbug123]

Delta does not have good flights from YYZ

 

I did not realize we were talking specifically about flights from YYZ, just responding to the post saying that other airlines don't offer one way reward tickets.

 

As for "good flights," guess that's subject to opinion, but there are plenty of daily departures on Delta from YYZ to Delta hubs ATL, DTW, and MSP, as well as LGA/JFK, and from those one could connect to virtually any major city in Europe.

[Kartgv]

This afternoon we tried to book flights by calling Choice Air for a January trip - one way LAX>Sydney, with a return from Auckland>LAX. Because of back and knee problems, we wanted premium economy, non-stop flights, which wouldn't come up on their website. Based on what we've read here, we thought that a phone call might get us the flights with a little savings. We had our flight numbers and the cost for booking directly with the airlines before we called and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, the Choice Air price was exactly the same for these flights - no bargain at all. We ended up booking directly rather than going with Choice Air. We're flying in several days early, so have no fears about missing the ship...no advantage to using Choice Air that we can see in this case.

[Ma Bell]

There is not always an advantage but many times there is, especially with one way fares as noted by many posting here.

[Karynanne]

Choice Air airlines and flights to/from Europe seem to have the best fares.

[Cuizer2]

Delta also offers one way awards tickets.

 

Which way? :confused:

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I did not realize we were talking specifically about flights from YYZ, just responding to the post saying that other airlines don't offer one way reward tickets.

 

As for "good flights," guess that's subject to opinion, but there are plenty of daily departures on Delta from YYZ to Delta hubs ATL, DTW, and MSP, as well as LGA/JFK, and from those one could connect to virtually any major city in Europe.

Toronto is the centre of the universe just ask anyone that lives there ;-)

Why go though the U.S. if one does not have , avoiding US customs is always great

Toronto is hub , I can direct flights to Europe,

Edited March 15, 2015 by Airbalancer

[ghstudio]

AA allows booking one way awards so that's an option, USAir and others do not.

 

USAir is now part of AA...you can use USAir miles to book AA or any other OneWorld airline tickets. USAir miles (and status) are being combined with AA miles later this month or early next month.

[ptrpanpens]

Also AA has pretty decent availability at some times of the year for one way flights to Europe at saver rates for 20,000 miles. The trick is to get a flight that is NOT on British Airways so you dont have to oay the outrageous fees.:eek:

[navybankerteacher]

Also AA has pretty decent availability at some times of the year for one way flights to Europe at saver rates for 20,000 miles. The trick is to get a flight that is NOT on British Airways so you dont have to oay the outrageous fees.:eek:

 

Two other reasons for avoiding British Airways: their incredibly narrow seats with minimal legroom and their hassled, discourteous flight attendants.

[Twickenham]

Delta does not have good flights from YYZ

 

You can get one-way award tickets on Aeroplan. I've actually flown 3 one-way awards within the last year.

[Jazzbo]

Delta also offers one way awards tickets.

 

I looked at using our Delta miles on a one-way from Orlando to London last fall for a TA, but they were charging the same miles as for a round trip. We used Choice Air, flew in a few days early on Delta, and added FF miles to our accounts, all at a cost of a little more than $400 each.

 

I did choose seats and monitor our flights. We had two changes, one to Virgin Atlantic, which we did not want due to a horrendous experience on a non-stop from Orlando to Manchester a few years ago. I called Choice Air with a suggested change of flights, and while the customer service wasn't fantastic, we were re-booked on our requested flights.

 

As others have said, it is important to do your research, monitor your flights, and build in safety times for connections and arriving to your port of departure. But if you do that, Choice Air can save you money and be a good choice.

[waterbug123]

I looked at using our Delta miles on a one-way from Orlando to London last fall for a TA, but they were charging the same miles as for a round trip.

 

That is no longer the case with Delta. They offer true one way awards without charging round trip mileage. :)

[BEAV]

You can get one-way award tickets on Aeroplan. I've actually flown 3 one-way awards within the last year.

 

We used Aeroplan for a one way business class award from SFO to Barcelona on Turkish Air for 45,000 miles, whereas United wanted 70,000 miles for the same flights.

Edited March 16, 2015 by BEAV

[RM]

Our transatlantic leaves from Rome. We would like to fly to Venice for 4 days precruise and then take the train to Rome 2 days ahead of ships departure. Can I book Choice Air to Venice instead of Rome? I realize we would be responsible for getting to the ship.

[BEAV]

Our transatlantic leaves from Rome. We would like to fly to Venice for 4 days precruise and then take the train to Rome 2 days ahead of ships departure. Can I book Choice Air to Venice instead of Rome? I realize we would be responsible for getting to the ship.

 

Yes, you can. If you're booking on the Choice Air website, be sure and replace the destination airport code to reflect flying to Venice instead of Rome. Also be sure and modify your dates as the system defaults to having you arrive at your destination on the same date the ship sails.