Booking Air travel with RCCI for one-way flights for Transatlantic?

[skrapngal]

So am looking at a transatlantic cruise in the next few years. Problem is, one-way flights from North America to Europe are crazy expensive (sometimes actually cheaper to book return flight).

 

Would booking air travel with RCCI be cheaper? Is it reliable?

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Yes it would be a lot cheaper usinf RCI!

Usually around $400 for the one-way more or less....

[robtulipe]

We've booked with RCCL Air2Sea program for overseas travel for most of our repositioning cruises including quite a few TA cruises and have found doing so to be price competitive and reliable as one is flying with the establish major airlines.

Typically we don't book domestic flights to/from US and Canadian ports as these don't have any cost savings as do the overseas flights, especially one way ones.

Edited March 12, 2018 by robtulipe

[neilp]

Hi

 

Do you have to of booked the cruise with RC direct to use the air2sea booking

[blackshirt]

Hi

 

Do you have to of booked the cruise with RC direct to use the air2sea booking

No. All my reservations are with a TA, no problem using air2sea.

[MiniChunks]

I opened up a new Delta Amex and paid for my cruise with it to meet the spending requirement for the bonus miles and was able to pay for the flight to San Juan, as well as the return from Rome for under 60,000 miles.

[dreamer976]

Have used Air2Sea twice now for one-way TransAtlantic cruises and the savings are MAJOR!

 

Just know that you'd be booking "bulk" fare (same when you book a trip pkg w/a tour company such as Apple Vacations, etc) and your rights, in the case of a problem with the flight, are different.

 

YMMV, but to me, the cost savings is more than worth it.

 

Good luck and enjoy that cruise!😊

[cruising twosome]

We got a great rate for coming home from Amsterdam in April with RCCL, but it all depended on the day our TA called. First quote was $2400.00......next day $350-we took it and then upgraded to economy plus with Delta for $150 more.

[silentbob007]

For one-way flights, either Air2Sea or miles are the way to go as legacy carriers (US especially) do not have competitive one-way pricing. You can sometimes get one-way deals on airlines like Aer Lingus. Some who do lots of transatlantics book round-trip tickets that cover the appropriate timing.

[awestover89]

I opened up a new Delta Amex and paid for my cruise with it to meet the spending requirement for the bonus miles and was able to pay for the flight to San Juan, as well as the return from Rome for under 60,000 miles.

 

We just did that for our Transatlantic. Iberia was having an amazing deal on business class from the East Coast to Madrid, so we got a new Chase card, got the bonus Ultimate Rewards points and transferred them to Iberia. Business class seats from Boston to Madrid for just the taxes, and we were able to find a good deal from Nevada to Boston.

 

Before that deal came up we were planning on using Air2Sea, since the cash price of A2S one way was a good bit cheaper than what we were finding on our own direct SLC to Barcelona.

[Teeara]

Do you still get to choose your own seats? How soon should (or can) you book the airfare with Air2Sea? We are contemplating a TA in 2020 that will most likely go to Barcelona.

[knittinggirl]

Got to be careful when booking international flights. Our TA at the time, booked us on a really expensive flight through Royal Caribbean. The next day, we found a cheaper flight, but she wouldn't let us change it.

 

We also learned our Diamond Concierge, wouldn't print out the boarding passes for us, because we "used choice air."

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Got to be careful when booking international flights. Our TA at the time, booked us on a really expensive flight through Royal Caribbean. The next day, we found a cheaper flight, but she wouldn't let us change it.

 

We also learned our Diamond Concierge, wouldn't print out the boarding passes for us, because we "used choice air."

You can always cancel within 24 hours for free !

[KalamityJane]

Check out Norwegian Air. We flew from Copenhagen to FLL for 200 ow and that was the upgraded LowFare+ that includes bags, seat assignments and meals.

 

 

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[silentbob007]

Do you still get to choose your own seats? How soon should (or can) you book the airfare with Air2Sea? We are contemplating a TA in 2020 that will most likely go to Barcelona.

 

Usually airfares aren’t available until 330 days out. I sometimes think they are higher then to take advantage of those who want to book as soon as possible.

[taglovestocruise]

So am looking at a transatlantic cruise in the next few years. Problem is, one-way flights from North America to Europe are crazy expensive (sometimes actually cheaper to book return flight).

 

Would booking air travel with RCCI be cheaper? Is it reliable?

 

Booked our flights for the Oct. Symphony transatlantic, Norwegian Air Los Angles to Barcelona non stop. Coach was under $350.00, we booked business class for $625.00 pp. Picked our seats the same day as booking. Have used Air2sea many times and they have been trouble free. Several years ago we were booked on American Airlines Lax to Rome with a stop over at JFK. Hurricane Sandy blew in and our flight was cancelled the morning we were leaving, Called Air2sea and they got us on a Air France flight Lax to Rome via Paris. Bumped us up into economy plus for no extra charge or change fees.

[Namelocg]

This is a little complicated but here goes. Last year I did a TA from Ft Lauderdale to Barcelona with friends that live in the south of Spain. My husband and daughter couldn't go on the cruise but flew to Barcelona to meet us the day we disembarked. We spent a few days at our friend's house and then we all went to Madrid by train. I booked them on a "round trip", Ft Lauderdale to Barcelona, Madrid to Ft Lauderdale for $600. I was then able to go through air2sea and book my one way, Madrid to Ft Lauderdale on the same flight for just slightly over $300. So if you want to stay in Europe a little longer you do not have to fly back from the city where you disembarked the ship.

[Zach1213]

Just know that you'd be booking "bulk" fare (same when you book a trip pkg w/a tour company such as Apple Vacations, etc) and your rights, in the case of a problem with the flight, are different.

 

Yep this is an important consideration. The majority of the times, things go great; however, when they go wrong, you're usually at the very bottom of the re-accommodation list compared to other passengers, and that could cause a major problem.

[Turtles06]

I'll just add that if you have them, frequent flyer miles are great for using on one-way flights like this, because the carriers don't jack up the "price" for them they way they do for cash.

 

Another airline to check for one-way flights for which you are paying cash is Iceland Air. I have not personally flown them, but I do see them recommended often for just these situations.

[swoopy2110]

Check out Norwegian Air. We flew from Copenhagen to FLL for 200 ow and that was the upgraded LowFare+ that includes bags, seat assignments and meals.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Just came here to suggest Norwegian. They offer great 1 way prices transatlantic.

[Zach1213]

I'll just add that if you have them, frequent flyer miles are great for using on one-way flights like this, because the carriers don't jack up the "price" for them they way they do for cash.

 

Another airline to check for one-way flights for which you are paying cash is Iceland Air. I have not personally flown them, but I do see them recommended often for just these situations.

Icelandair is quite nice. I would, however, advise against WOW, the other Icelandic carrier.

[roadburner]

We booked Air-2-Sea last year for our 4-back cruise on Serenade leaving from Stockholm, landing in Boston. We paid $1800 each for business class on American Air from DFW to Stockholm. Your own personal pod that makes into a full-length bed with linens, steak dinner with fine wine, champaign on boarding, over a hundred late-out and classic movies plus unnumbered tv shows on your personal screen, noise cancelling headphones, all kinds of music, magazines, newspapers, open snack bar through the flight and up to 3 checked bags at 75# each free. Almost as good as our American/Qantas flight from DFW to Sidney in 2013--business class, also! Both were one-way and a steal, IMO.

 

Kay (& Steve)

[waterbug123]

Hi

 

Do you have to of booked the cruise with RC direct to use the air2sea booking

 

Depends on what yiu mean by "booked with." See below

 

 

No. All my reservations are with a TA, no problem using air2sea.

 

You can be booked on the cruise either directly or through a TA, but you need to have a cruise booked. You cannot plan a land-based vacation and then call up air2sea to book your airfare.

[waterbug123]

Do you still get to choose your own seats?

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends entirely on both the airline and the exact fare class of the ticket the cruise line books for you; some allow advance seat selection and some don't.