How would you handle this with Celebrity Air?

[wrk2cruise]

Not that I approve of any travel provider handling it in this way but...   AA cancelled the flight and evidently they have no alternative available so will be required to process a refund.   If one had booked direct with AA or any travel agency would it really be handled any differently??  The AA refund would probably not be credited to the customer in time to make alternative arrangement so you would have to put out additional money to get new arrangements and yes at probably higher last minute fares.   This is precisely what happened to me when JetBlue canceled a flight and I was unsure if the flight the next morning would get me there in time for the cruise.  I had to buy a new ticket on Spirit and wait for the JetBlue refund.   I believe my travel insurance reimbursed me for the difference.

 

 

Edit:  I believe when you book Celebrity Air your payment is made to them, not the airline directly so it really should be handled differently.   They should make the new arrangements and charge the difference as they will be getting the refund.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by wrk2cruise

[sasset]

53 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

We will see if it works out. She (the Executive Asst) promised to send me an e-mail with her contact info and nothing yet. That was about half an hour ago. 

Does her name happen to be Mathana Denose?

[DrKoob]

Just now, wrk2cruise said:

Not that I approve of any travel provider handling it in this way but...   AA cancelled the flight and evidently they have no alternative available so will be required to process a refund.   If one had booked direct with AA or any travel agency would it really be handled any differently??  The AA refund would probably not be credited to the customer in time to make alternative arrangement so you would have to put out additional money to get new arrangements and yes at probably higher last minute fares.

 

 

 

Yes, AA cancelled the flight but because we booked it with X, they won't deal with us. So we have to deal with Celebrity. Celebrity saying to "find your own way to get to Quito" is not acceptable when they guarantee that they will get you to your destination. Our flight arrangements are not with American Air, they are with Celebrity. That's why you book cruise line air. If I could book directly with AA and I had booked these myself, this would not be a problem at this point. 

Also, it's funny because when I check the flights available on other airlines they are (in some cases) less expensive than what we paid for the new flights a month ago when they had to make changes to the cruise itinerary.

We booked this cruise for last summer, let them hold our money for more than a year and this is where we are two days before we are supposed to fly to Miami to see friends before we fly to Quito? And then NOT notifying us but I have to find out when I go to see if I can move a seat assignment? I mean what if I hadn't done that? Would I have not found out until we went to print boarding passes the night before?

 

Sorry, they are dropping the ball on this one and so far the president of the cruise line thinks they are as well.

 

[DrKoob]

1 minute ago, sasset said:

Does her name happen to be Mathana Denose?

Not sure. She called in the middle of a FaceTime call with our grandkids and said the name so fast I didn't get it. I was going to ask her to repeat and give me her contact info and she said she would e-mail it to me. Two hours later...nothing yet.

 

[wrk2cruise]

2 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Sorry, they are dropping the ball on this one and so far the president of the cruise line thinks they are as well.

 

I didn't say they weren't dropping the ball, they did nothing to notify you and didn't do anything to assist.   I think many people think the guarantee to get you there but the wording is more to assist.  I agree they didn't even do that in your case.   Hopefully it all works out quickly because it's a trip of a lifetime.

 

My point was if you did a direct booking with the airline is it still would have been a mess and you would have been putting out more money even if temporary.

[DrKoob]

1 minute ago, wrk2cruise said:

My point was if you did a direct booking with the airline is it still would have been a mess and you would have been putting out more money even if temporary.

 

Other than the $900 per person air credit I wish I had booked them because then I would have just rebooked with someone else and taken the refund later. But because they will not be refunding the monies to me but to Celebrity, I can only imagine the teeth I would have to pull to get that back. And AA is notorious for fighting on this and only wanting to give you airline credits. That would be fine except that we hate AA and never would have flown them had we had a choice. They were the only non-stop. 

I should add that the flight we were on is still scheduled to fly every day but Saturday (they day we were on it) and they have two other flights that are flying that day and many of the people on our flight were moved to one of those but we weren't. My suspicion is that we were not moved because we were booked by X and they know they can old X off for a while.

 

As far as getting us to the cruise, you would think it would be in their best interest to do that. If we cancel at this point, we get back almost $20K. Just because they can't get their act together. I guarantee I am never booking cruise line air again...although during the pandemic it was the easiest way for me to get back $$$ for my clients but that was all with Viking Air who handles it much better than X.

 

[CalTexCruiser]

6 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

 I think many people think the guarantee to get you there but the wording is more to assist. 

 

They marketing website states "Assured Arrival."

 

The dictionary definition of "assured" is "characterized by certainty or security : GUARANTEED"

 

If "Assured Arrival" means they will merely assist if they feel like it, then this is deceptive advertising.

 

AA will reimburse Celebrity Air for the flight cancellation, and Celebrity Air is responsible to get OP to their final destination according to "Assured Arrival," especially since there are other airlines available.

[rucrazy]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

I have to say if this works out, I am truly impressed.

That makes two of us...(at least)

[DrKoob]

Well, it looks like this worked out. 

 

We just got a call from a supervisor with Flights by Celebrity. They have moved our flight from AA to Copa Air (National Airline of Panama). We originally had a non-stop but now we have a two hour layover in Panama City and our original flight was supposed to leave at 9:30 am but now it leaves around 6:00 am. Which means we have to be at the airport by 3:30...but beggars can't be choosers. At least we will be able to do the cruise.

 

Strangely we are still on American, non-stop coming home. 

We want to thank all of you for your ideas and notes of encouragement. Especially to Kelly and Terri who suggested e-mailing Lisa Luthof-Perlo. I think that one did the trick but let's be honest, it should not have come to that. 

 

Jim and Kathleen

[jelayne]

Happy it worked out.  

[DrKoob]

Just now, jelayne said:

Happy it worked out.  

So far, so good. I will believe it when I get the air reservations in my hands. Also, we are trying to figure out if we need a COVID test for the Panama layover. We won't leave the airport and Ecuador does not require one as long as we can prove we are vaccinated. 

 

 

[mahdnc]

Very nice to hear, @DrKoob

[ExArkie]

31 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

So far, so good. I will believe it when I get the air reservations in my hands. Also, we are trying to figure out if we need a COVID test for the Panama layover. We won't leave the airport and Ecuador does not require one as long as we can prove we are vaccinated. 

 

 

I am glad that this worked out. I think it appalling that the CEO's office had to get involved to make it do so.

 

According to the Copa Airlines Web site in regard to Panama: "If you have a connection in Panama and you will stay within the international area, it is not necessary to present negative test results of COVID-19 to transit."

 

 

[rucrazy]

4 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Didn't want to do it as I actually like booking air but it was highly recommended by others who have done this itinerary. 

My big question... when it comes to booking air would/will you do it again?

[talljules1]

Happy to hear it worked out.  Otherwise, would have been very sucky indeed.

 

Hope you have an amazing cruise!

[dreams_of_travel]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

Well, it looks like this worked out. 

 

We just got a call from a supervisor with Flights by Celebrity.

Glad it worked out for you.  They did step up to do what would enable you getting to your cruise.  Not the best timing but sometimes things aren't always convenient. 

16 minutes ago, rucrazy said:

My big question... when it comes to booking air would/will you do it again?

I think we are seeing unprecedented flight issues across the board since Covid.  Pilot shortages, crew shortages, call center wait times etc have caused havoc with everything from airline help centers, to scheduling, the latter then leads to cancelations.  This isn't the norm for sure, and it will likely take a few months to years for some airlines to recover.  Not siding with the mess DrKoob encountered, just that Celebrity Air usually works better than his experience. YMMV

[rucrazy]

1 minute ago, dreams_of_travel said:

Not siding with the mess DrKoob encountered, just that Celebrity Air usually works better than his experience. YMMV

So happy it works for you… it didn’t for  us the. One time we used the service.. that may be my fault..I tend to be a control freak 😇 

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, rucrazy said:

My big question... when it comes to booking air would/will you do it again?

Never! I am back to doing my own. The Galapagos is the only trip I would do it on. That said, I would with some other cruise lines...notably Viking where their system is awesome. Also, we have one more X cruise (after 20+) and we are done with them and I already booked my own air for that one but I still would not do Celebrity Air again. Too many things falling through the cracks...but to give them the benefit of the doubt, this is the first cruise back after COVID. 

But I just feel more comfortable doing it myself. And I love finding flights. Actually sit around and do it just for fun. 😜

 

Jim

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, rucrazy said:

So happy it works for you… it didn’t for  us the. One time we used the service.. that may be my fault..I tend to be a control freak 😇 

Me too. Plus we book a lot of our stuff with miles. I just did not like the experience at all. They had done the same thing with our original Galapagos cruise that got cancelled due to COVID. When we got this one they said we had book with the same airline. We said, no they cancelled the flight. Get the money back and get us a better flight (the original left at 11:30 am, the new one at 2:30 am).

 

Jim

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, ExArkie said:

According to the Copa Airlines Web site in regard to Panama: "If you have a connection in Panama and you will stay within the international area, it is not necessary to present negative test results of COVID-19 to transit."

 

 

Thanks for that. We thought that was the case but you found something more definitive than we did. 

[DrKoob]

Wanted to add that Ms. Lutoff-Perlo's exec asst. called me back this afternoon to make sure everything was satisfactory. 

[rucrazy]

12 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

and do it just for fun.

me too hi Geek! lol

[rucrazy]

14 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

exec asst. called me back this afternoon to make sure everything was satisfactory. 

Thank the lord there is still some semblance of customer service left in big buisness!

[pooh/tigger]

16 minutes ago, rucrazy said:

Thank the lord there is still some semblance of customer service left in big buisness!

I knew they would. Lisa is one of the best to deal with.

[dreams_of_travel]

3 hours ago, rucrazy said:

So happy it works for you… it didn’t for  us the. One time we used the service.. that may be my fault..I tend to be a control freak 😇 

Same re: control freak. LOL!  I find the Celebrity interface not as good when comparing with the Princess air interface.  Celebrity's is much more restrictive, less flexible for changing flights and watching for price drops.  I can see why there are potential problems that require a call vs. just doing it yourself online.