Celebrity Air?

[msmayor]

We're taking our first Celebrity cruise in October, the Summit repo to Puerto Rico. We will need to fly home to PHL.

 

Normally I book air on my own. American Airlines is the dominant carrier at PHL and there are a few non-stops that are timed nicely for the return.

 

I noticed that I can get the same exact flights through Celebrity for less. Buying direct from AA an economy ticket is $290 but through Celebrity I can get the same flight for $203. I could even splurge on a business class for $321 and get our bags checked at no cost; through AA the business class is $390.

 

Is there a catch somewhere? Same exact flights, but so much cheaper?

[Hydrokitty]

Nope no catch....I've never used X Air for domestic but I always use them for International because their business class rates are so much better. For domestic we favor Southwest, but we're spoiled because we have a regional airport 3 miles from home. Philly has so many options are you sure you've explored all of them? Some of the cheaper airlines are now flying to PR as well as the legacy lines.

[msmayor]

Southwest has one option that is only $153...but it flies first to Midway and then to PHL, which is over 8 hours. That's crazy to save $50 when I can fly non-stop and get home in four hours.

 

Spirit has one that is slightly cheaper, but I have read too many horror stories about Spirit to ever consider flying them. Jet Blue has one, similarly priced to the AA flight.

 

Delta has a few, all higher priced than all.

 

We used to use Southwest as our go-to because there were no bag fees but we've found that their fares have jumped up much higher than they used to be out of PHL, and there are fewer non-stops. The merger of USAir (which once was the dominant carrier out of PHL) with AA has made AA the big dog in Philly. Our last three round trips have been on AA and we've been reasonably pleased with their service, even though I have to pay for bags.

[SkystheLimit]

We have used Celebrity Air the last two years when flying to Europe. The B/C fares were considerably less than any booking site we tried including the airlines.

 

Both of our tickets were on Delta and we were able to have complete control over our reservations once we had a booking number from Celebrity.

 

I will say that the fares do vary as time goes by. Don't assume that you will see the same fare going forward.

[SoccerMom#3]

We're doing the Reflections repositioning cruise in October so I looked at air from Denver to Rome today. Celebrity Air was significantly cheaper (even upgrading our seats) than booking directly from the airline. Looks like I'll be making a call to Celebrity Air.

 

We'll use Southwest from Fort Lauderdale to Denver since they have a non stop although they aren't booking yet for when we need to fly home.

[jagoffee]

We're taking our first Celebrity cruise in October, the Summit repo to Puerto Rico. We will need to fly home to PHL.

 

Normally I book air on my own. American Airlines is the dominant carrier at PHL and there are a few non-stops that are timed nicely for the return.

 

I noticed that I can get the same exact flights through Celebrity for less. Buying direct from AA an economy ticket is $290 but through Celebrity I can get the same flight for $203. I could even splurge on a business class for $321 and get our bags checked at no cost; through AA the business class is $390.

 

Is there a catch somewhere? Same exact flights, but so much cheaper?

 

There is a slight catch. Recently I was checking prices. I got a higher price when I was logged in.

Celebrity told me it was because they do not update the general prices each day, but I noticed the difference for many weeks.

 

I was looking at flights home from Sydney.

 

I suggest you confirm before you make a final decision.

 

Good luck.

 

If you are going to fly on AA a few times a year, you might wish to consider getting an AA branded card for the free checked bag for you and your traveling companions. (Up to 6 people booked at the same time).

[Hydrokitty]

Southwest has one option that is only $153...but it flies first to Midway and then to PHL, which is over 8 hours. That's crazy to save $50 when I can fly non-stop and get home in four hours.

 

 

I have to agree with you. Southwest has gotten creative with it's routing to the point of absurd! On our last flight to Ft. Lauderdale we flew non-stop to Orlando then 40 minutes from Orlando to FLL!!

[Sittin'OnTheDock]

We needed one way tickets from London to Texas. Exact same flight on AA was $2000+ pp while choice air was $700+pp. Round trip tickets only run about $1600 pp.

 

I don't understand it, but Choice Air has always come through for us.

 

Cheers:)