Celebrity Air

[tonyd285]

We are booked on a Celebrity transatlantic cruise out of Fort Lauderdale to Civitevecchia in April 2016. At our request our travel agent contacted Celebrity and was told that the airfare, from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale and from Rome back to Philadelphia would be around $2300 per person. I told our TA that was absurd and I would arrange my own air. The net result, $863 per person. Same flights offered by Celebrity. Looks like a not-so-clever way to make nearly $1500 per passenger. By the way, we are leaving a day early and returning a day later so missed flights should not be a problem. Is this a new way to beef up the bottom line?

[ghstudio]

Your ta got the wrong price....choice air would have been much less

[RickT]

Looks like we can add Choice Air to the Celebrity websites that are messed up. I looked at a round trip using your dates and came up with $2,270. I then looked at each leg individually and came up with $227 Phil to Ft Lauderdale and $359 Rome to Phil. (not sure which TA you are using so I picked dates associated with the Reflection).

 

Total using choice air less than $600.

 

I'm guessing your agent just used the Choice Air Website http://www.celebritycruises.com/htmlpage/celebrity-choiceair rather than calling.

 

When I've called Choice Air the worst deal they have ever offered was to match airfare I currently had. As ghstudio mentions, when one way transatlantic flights are added the price usually drops dramatically.

[Karynanne]

Your ta got the wrong price....choice air would have been much less

 

I agree. We have booked Choice Air flights many times, and have always found that the airfare is substantially less. Especially if we book Business Class.

 

We book our domestic flights on our own, but use Choice Air for the flights to/from Europe.

 

We booked (thru Choice Air) British Air, Business Class from Barcelona to San Francisco for $1400 pp. If we booked the same flight directly thru British Air, the fare would have been 3 times higher.

 

My suggestion: Always be your own advocate. Use a TA to book your cruises, but do the research on your own for airfare. JMHO.

[twin123185]

This is why I ALWAYS do my own air even if using Choice Air. Those prices you got are ridiculous. I am on a Celebrity TA in April and the prices I saw to Philly and Newark were much cheaper. You also might like to look into flying back from Milan. My last cruise it was $250 pp less than Rome. Of course it depends on how much time you are spending on land after the cruise.

[roxievegas]

choice air is the best. I booked one way, calif to Ft lauderdale and then used freq flyer miles to upgrade to first class. We are returning from Amsterdam and the one way on British Airways using choice air was undr $600, but I wanted premium economy so we paid $1100 per person for one way. If I booked with British Airways direct, it was more than double. I used the website to check out prices, but called direct to choice air to book. (also refundable tickets)

[mringenoldus]

I am assuming that choice air reservations cannot be booked with credit card points. Is this correct? But it seems that points may be used to upgrade to business or higher??

Thanks,

Maureen

[Rob the Cruiser]

You booked with a TA or transferred a direct booking to a TA and were still able to use ChoiceAir?

[mringenoldus]

I am a TA. I cancelled with HAL and rebooked with Celebrity. My sister was hoping to use points to book Celebrity Air - but I don't believe that's possible. Am I correct??

[Christine Frances]

You booked with a TA or transferred a direct booking to a TA and were still able to use ChoiceAir?

 

I book with a TA but always select and book my own flights with Choice Air.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

With Choice Air , for repositioning cruise, on their website , click using one way flights , for both legs of the flights it is much cheaper

[Wj420]

I recently booked our one way one from London after the silhouette trans. We got a wonderful rate with choice air. To Orlando, business class less than $1400 pp nonstop on Virgin. We book with a ta for the cruise. I always book the air, whether from choice or directly. Enjoy your upcoming vacations everyone! How lucky are we to enjoy the seas and relax?!

[dodger1964]

We are booked on a Celebrity transatlantic cruise out of Fort Lauderdale to Civitevecchia in April 2016. At our request our travel agent contacted Celebrity and was told that the airfare, from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale and from Rome back to Philadelphia would be around $2300 per person. I told our TA that was absurd and I would arrange my own air. The net result, $863 per person. Same flights offered by Celebrity. Looks like a not-so-clever way to make nearly $1500 per passenger. By the way, we are leaving a day early and returning a day later so missed flights should not be a problem. Is this a new way to beef up the bottom line?

 

Are you sure that was just for flights, and that it didn't include the pre/post hotels and transfers??

[jerseygirl3]

I am a TA. I cancelled with HAL and rebooked with Celebrity. My sister was hoping to use points to book Celebrity Air - but I don't believe that's possible. Am I correct??

 

I don't think you can book through Choice Air and use points. But you can use them to upgrade.

 

Although HAL's FlightEase is different than Celebrity's Choice Air (with Celebrity you can look up your own flights and book them yourself...with HAL you or your TA have to call Celebrity and request a particular flight). Anyway, we are doing a transatlantic on HAL Eurodam next Fall and my TA called HAL, told them the flight we were interested in (Philadelphia to Barcenlona, non-stop) and we got Business Class (which is First Class for this aircraft) for $1,200/pp. We took this same flight through Celebrity and paid over $1,700/pp, so this was a bargain!

[waterbug123]

I don't think you can book through Choice Air and use points. But you can use them to upgrade.

 

 

You MIGHT be able to use points/miles to upgrade. Some ticket fare classes are upgradeable and others are not.

[iancal]

Our experience is that the Choice Air on Celebrity and RCI is far, far better than anything offered by the Carnival Corp subs.

 

My comments are not related to price but to ease of use, options etc. Sometimes the prices are good, sometimes not so good. Same with the scheds.

 

But was is good is the ability to go into the system, with or without a booking, to look at pricing and routing.

 

More than once we have seen that two one ways were cheaper than a return. These are airline generated prices and you get numerous price/schedule options on various airlines.

 

Having suffered through trying the Princess and HAL offerings, I can say that Choice Air is miles ahead of the others in terms of flexibility and ease of use.

 

Just our experience.

[Cruise Raider]

We've usually just ended up booking on our own but for ease, we could book on Choice Air and have come out with exactly the same pricing as offered by the airlines .... but we only travel domestically, so don't know if that makes a difference.

I just looked up our airfare for a spring cruise we have booked and at first, it appeared that the Choice Air was a better deal but then I realized that the first leg of the flight was standard economy while the airlines has me in first/business class the entire trip. I usually only book this class if I get a good deal and only on the way home .... that way, I save a little and my DH doesn't have a bad taste in his mouth at the end of a lovely vacation. Not sure why Choice Air didn't show that pricing for both legs of the flight. The seats are not completely filled on either leg.

[teecee60]

 

We are booked on a Celebrity transatlantic cruise out of Fort Lauderdale to Civitevecchia in April 2016. At our request our travel agent contacted Celebrity and was told that the airfare, from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale and from Rome back to Philadelphia would be around $2300 per person.

 

I told our TA that was absurd and I would arrange my own air. The net result, $863 per person. Same flights offered by Celebrity. Looks like a not-so-clever way to make nearly $1500 per passenger. By the way, we are leaving a day early and returning a day later so missed flights should not be a problem. Is this a new way to beef up the bottom line?

 

You need a new travel agent. :( :o ;)

 

I just did a quick search of flights for your cruise on the AIR2SEA (formerly Choice Air) website which took less than five minutes. :cool:

 

PHL-FLL Leaving Friday, April 1st, at 1 pm was $106pp, nonstop on Jetblue

 

FCO-PHL leaving noon on Saturday the 16th, or Sunday the 17th, was $411pp, nonstop on AA.

 

I hope you didn't pay too much for your cruise as well. Prices on the Celebrity website are $799pp inside/$909pp window/$1149pp balcony...

 

...while a well known online site has prices of $619pp/$669pp/$949pp. Even lower prices if you qualify for a military rate.

Edited January 14, 2016 by teecee60

[Jade13]

I am a TA. I cancelled with HAL and rebooked with Celebrity. My sister was hoping to use points to book Celebrity Air - but I don't believe that's possible. Am I correct??

 

 

No. Celebrity is selling the cruise air. Choice Air is the name of their air department and booking tool.

Edited January 14, 2016 by Jade13