Result! Thankfully I Booked My Flights With Celebrity

[Chrisclaire]

This is mainly for info as I'm sure many will already know some of the benefits of booking flights with Celebrity.

We are flying to Venice & returning to Barcelona from Edinburgh this September.

All of the flights have just been cancelled!

Thankfully they were booked direct with Celebrity. 

No stress on our part as they took care of everything.

Plus it would have potentially cost us another £600 to rearrange!

As I say, just for info in this unsettled time we find ourselves in.

[Susanb10567]

14 minutes ago, Chrisclaire said:

This is mainly for info as I'm sure many will already know some of the benefits of booking flights with Celebrity.

We are flying to Venice & returning to Barcelona from Edinburgh this September.

All of the flights have just been cancelled!

Thankfully they were booked direct with Celebrity. 

No stress on our part as they took care of everything.

Plus it would have potentially cost us another £600 to rearrange!

As I say, just for info in this unsettled time we find ourselves in.

Consider yourself fortunate. My flight to Rome from New York was canceled over a month ago. I still don’t have new flights and I leave 9/1.

Edited July 30, 2022 by Susanb10567

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Susanb10567 said:

Consider yourself fortunate. My flight to Rome from New York was canceled over a month ago. I still don’t have new flights and I leave 9/1.

For peace of mind, can you book them on your own (perhaps refundable) and assuming you finally get from Celebrity, just use whichever ones make the most sense.  I've a;ready made final payment for an October TA and hemmed and hawed so did not make air res before final.  Now if I want to to do that, if I cancel or chnage, there is a $200 chnage/cancel fee pp.  I'll figure out the best option, make my own or still use Celebrity, I just want to get that last piece all finaized this weekend.  Then the only thing I will have to fret about (maybe) is getting tested in Rome before the cruise.  Overall though, it's been a very stressless experience, I have a fantatstic TA, who was able to maneuver some NRD to this new cruise w/o any penalties.   

[mahdnc]

It's nice to read that you are a pleased FBC customer.

[Fly and Sail]

3 hours ago, Chrisclaire said:

This is mainly for info as I'm sure many will already know some of the benefits of booking flights with Celebrity.

We are flying to Venice & returning to Barcelona from Edinburgh this September.

All of the flights have just been cancelled!

Thankfully they were booked direct with Celebrity. 

No stress on our part as they took care of everything.

Plus it would have potentially cost us another £600 to rearrange!

As I say, just for info in this unsettled time we find ourselves in.

 

When an airline cancels your flights you are entitled to a rebooking on an alternate routing and carrier under EC261/2004. You don't have to pay a penny extra for that.

[Bo1953]

37 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

When an airline cancels your flights you are entitled to a rebooking on an alternate routing and carrier under EC261/2004. You don't have to pay a penny extra for that.

Yes, yet the main takeaway from the OP is, X arranged new flights automatically, without her having to worry about doing it.

 

bon voyage

[Fly and Sail]

Just now, Bo1953 said:

Yes, yet the main takeaway from the OP is, X arranged new flights automatically, without her having to worry about doing it.

 

bon voyage

 

To be honest that would concern me even more. While convenient if you don't care how you fly, I would like to pick my own flights and not be automatically rebooked on a random airline. I'm extremely picky when it comes to flying, mostly related to my memberships and benefits.

[adhncruisers]

On 7/30/2022 at 8:18 AM, Chrisclaire said:

This is mainly for info as I'm sure many will already know some of the benefits of booking flights with Celebrity.

We are flying to Venice & returning to Barcelona from Edinburgh this September.

All of the flights have just been cancelled!

Thankfully they were booked direct with Celebrity. 

No stress on our part as they took care of everything.

Plus it would have potentially cost us another £600 to rearrange!

As I say, just for info in this unsettled time we find ourselves in.

You had a much more fortunate and positive experience than we have to date. We depart in September and our return flight was cancelled in May, Flights by Celebrity told us it would take 10 days to resolve so we went ahead and made final payment. Multiple calls by our TA and they kept sending confirmation of the cancelled flight (with an outdated booking reference number). Finally, 2 weeks ago got another notification that our flight was cancelled but still no alternate flight. Interestingly, our reservation is linked to our friends' reservation and they received their alternate flight over 3 weeks ago. And, on top of that, our flight to Venice on BA still hasn't been ticketed and we fly out in 41 days.

[lynncarol]

Glad your experience was better than ours.  Fifteen years ago we were booked on Celebrity flights from Pittsburgh to Philly where we were supposed to meet my elderly parents to fly (also a Celebrity booking) to London for our Baltic cruise.  Because of weather issues we missed the Pittsburgh to Philly flight and thus the flight onto London which meant we also missed the cruise ship departure.  Naively I expected Celebrity to take care of this, but NO!  I was told since it was weather related, we had to get the airline to reschedule us.  Problem was we now needed a 3 leg flight to get to the next port in Oslo. But since it was a weekend, nobody at Celebrity flights was able to authorize this extra leg.  I begged them to at least notify my parents, who didn't have a cell phone and would have no idea what happened to us.  The agent promised to do so, and also said their port agent would be waiting to help us in Oslo. Thank goodness the airline ticket agent was able to resolve all of this and we eventually landed in Oslo.  No port agent to be found. Also, when we finally caught up with the ship, my frantic parents had never been told what happened to us.  So, as for me, I will NEVER book a flight through Celebrity again.

[D. B.]

That was 15 years ago?

 In the last 15 years I have had FBC do extraordinary things to get us to our overseas destinations.

 But I do understand how a bad experience can linger.

 

[George C]

I like booking with celebrity or rccl for air , have our next cruise already booked with their air.

[Susanb10567]

Hoping I get some luck with FBC…I noticed over a month ago that the first leg of my flight to Rome was canceled…I called immediately and they said it could take up to a month for new flights…which I thought was excessive…we are past that now and I am scheduled to fly a month from today…and still no flights…spent three hours on hold today with them and was hung up on twice….I hope I get to go on my cruise..as each day goes by I see less and less seats available on the alternate flights I need…ugh!!!!

 

[bdstickks0944]

If your flight is cancelled, the airline should in theory rebook you.  Another thought is that I highly recommend not booking your air to get in the same day as your cruise.  Get there at least a day early.  We always do this, and have never used Celebrity Air.  I work for an airline.  For cruises, we always pay for the tickets.  We are arriving two days early into FLL, so no reason to be concerned.  Got a better deal booking direct over Celebrity Air.  Just my two cents. 

[Susanb10567]

9 hours ago, bdstickks0944 said:

If your flight is cancelled, the airline should in theory rebook you.  Another thought is that I highly recommend not booking your air to get in the same day as your cruise.  Get there at least a day early.  We always do this, and have never used Celebrity Air.  I work for an airline.  For cruises, we always pay for the tickets.  We are arriving two days early into FLL, so no reason to be concerned.  Got a better deal booking direct over Celebrity Air.  Just my two cents. 

We are planning to arrive a day early..our flight was set to depart 9/1 arriving the morning of 9/2 for a 9/3 departure on the Edge…I also thought that if the airline cancels my flight they would simply rebook me on another one so I first called United to see if it was actually canceled since I never got notice of it..the first leg of the flight just dropped off my United account…they were ready to rebook it until they saw I booked through a travel agent and they then said they need to do it…over a month later and no resolution…FBC are claiming they are waiting to hear back from the airline…

 

[Bo1953]

On 7/30/2022 at 12:07 PM, Fly and Sail said:

 

To be honest that would concern me even more. While convenient if you don't care how you fly, I would like to pick my own flights and not be automatically rebooked on a random airline. I'm extremely picky when it comes to flying, mostly related to my memberships and benefits.

Which means that you do need to book on your own.

 

While many of us are picky in terms of aisle or window, front or back of plane... which airline we fly is of no real consequence as many do not fly often enough to think or worry or get the points for.

 

bon voyage

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Which means that you do need to book on your own.

 

While many of us are picky in terms of aisle or window, front or back of plane... which airline we fly is of no real consequence as many do not fly often enough to think or worry or get the points for.

 

bon voyage

I have done both Celebrity Air and on my own and never had a problem either way.  I don't know but for some reason the way air travel is all discombobulated right now I decided to book my own flight thru Delta.  I only need a one way into Rome as my cruise  disembarks in FLL.  Flying in 3 days before the cruise just to be on the safe side of a possible cancellation/re-scheduling and purchased the flight insurance (it was only $77) for a Premium Select seat and will take two weeks worth of clothing in a carry-on  to place above my seat.  After seeing some of the scenes in Europe with luggage claim nightmares I just don't want to take the chance.  Only "worry" now is the COVID test needed in Rome before boarding the ship but heck that could change (fingers crossed) between now and the end of October.

[Snit13]

8 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Which means that you do need to book on your own.

 

While many of us are picky in terms of aisle or window, front or back of plane... which airline we fly is of no real consequence as many do not fly often enough to think or worry or get the points for.

 

bon voyage

Our flights booked through Viking River Cruises cancelled a few weeks ago.  I called the same day and was rebooked.  Lady gave me a routing and I casually asked if Delta flew that route.  She schecked and said yes and immediately switched us to Delta.  We are NOT CHECKING LUGGAGE as friends have had luggage delivered 3 days post flight and 6 days post flight.  We will just take less changes of clothes and do carry on. 

 

Flying in recent months has become a real challenge.  I am trying to figure out how to chill and go with the flow.  Return flights don't concern me as much as I get home when I get home.  I however do need to meet my cruise.

 

[Susanb10567]

11 minutes ago, Snit13 said:

Our flights booked through Viking River Cruises cancelled a few weeks ago.  I called the same day and was rebooked.  Lady gave me a routing and I casually asked if Delta flew that route.  She schecked and said yes and immediately switched us to Delta.  We are NOT CHECKING LUGGAGE as friends have had luggage delivered 3 days post flight and 6 days post flight.  We will just take less changes of clothes and do carry on. 

 

Flying in recent months has become a real challenge.  I am trying to figure out how to chill and go with the flow.  Return flights don't concern me as much as I get home when I get home.  I however do need to meet my cruise.

 

Wow..I can’t believe they got you new flights the same day…I have been waiting for Flights by Celebrity to rebook my canceled flight to Rome for my 9/3 Edge cruise….it’s been over a month since I called them to let them know the first leg of my Rome flight was canceled ( they never contacted me about it) and I still don’t have new flights…today is 30 days until I depart and one person said that things should get done then..but who knows..FBC is saying they reached out to the airline and are waiting for a response…