"Free airfare" a good deal, or a trap?

[hallux]

34 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

the cruise line didn't release the itinerary until it was too late to do anything about it

Not that it's too late to do anything about it, but once your perk airfare is issued there is nothing you can do about it because of the way it's booked.  It has nothing to do with timing.

[dadroy]

On 9/16/2022 at 5:57 AM, mjkacmom said:

You might want to ask for a one day deviation, I believe your flight will be a red eye landing the morning of your cruise.

 We actually fly in 2 days early.

[9tee2Sea]

This is the first time i will be using the Airfare perk via NCL.  Our Feb cruise is from Dubai-Athens.  I checked airfare from Los Angeles ( my home base), and there was no way I could get it any cheaper than what NCL is using.  There s only 1 non-stop to Dubai from LAX, but there are many other flights with 1 stop ranging from 1 hour all the way up to 24 hours.  I have two days pre and post cruise.  Im looking at the NCL airfare this way.....A short layover is fine ( change planes, maybe have to go thru customs at first overseas stop.  If they assign us a flight with a very long layover ( Over 5 hours), I will try to get out of the airport and do a short sightseeing tour of the city we stoped in.  I already booked my pre/post cruise hotels with changeable date options, so i can change things around if I got my arrival dates screwed up. I consider this all part of the adventure.  Just roll with it, and make the best out of it.  At least I am still traveling, and its not like I never experience inconvenience in my day to day activities at home.

[hallux]

17 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

Just roll with it, and make the best out of it.

Best way to go about it!  As I've noted before - I used the airfare perk in 2019, NCL booked me on a red-eye coming back East.  What did I do?  I rented a car and did some sightseeing around LA!

[happy cruzer]

Packaged air works for some people in some cases, sometimes.

 

Have booked cruise air a few times with no horror stories on the provided routing.  The biggest negative to us is that if something goes wrong and the airline has to issue a refund they refund to who payed them i.e. the cruise line.  Still waiting at six months for a refund to be issued.

 

Each case is different.  If you demand direct flights, avoid cruise air.  If you just want to save some money and don't care to be a bit inconveinced, cruise air probably will work.

 

Free air is just a promotion that may save on the total cost.

[navybankerteacher]

11 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

Packaged air works for some people in some cases, sometimes.

 

Have booked cruise air a few times with no horror stories on the provided routing.  The biggest negative to us is that if something goes wrong and the airline has to issue a refund they refund to who payed them i.e. the cruise line.  Still waiting at six months for a refund to be issued.

 

Each case is different.  If you demand direct flights, avoid cruise air.  If you just want to save some money and don't care to be a bit inconveinced, cruise air probably will work.

 

Free air is just a promotion that may save on the total cost.

I have used cruise air several times - in connection with Cunard, Celebrity, Holland America, and Royal Caribbean trans-Atlantic repositionings. Not only did I get direct flights on the dates I wanted, and I got to choose the airline in several cases - basing my selection, in fact, on the equipment used.   You have to have paid the full fare before you can book your own, but it works.

 

If you want to book a one way trans-Atlantic flight, cruise air is the way to do it.

 

Of course it is not “free” - you get to pay a much lower fare than without cruise air.   But when your flight is part of a package (which does not give you options), it is not really “free” - but part of the price for your package.

Edited October 1, 2022 by navybankerteacher

[Ride-The-Waves]

Our experiences with "cruise air" varies significantly by cruise line.  Some companies, like Princess, seem to actually care about happy customers while others, such as Oceania, appear to make making air reservations as difficult and expensive as possible.  Flying from Florida to Oz booking through Princess Air was easy and less expensive than booking direct with the airline.  Spent about an hour on the phone with Princess Air to change and finalize the Oz booking since the original routing had as transiting ATL with on a 45 minute layover during the Summer thunderstorm season.  Princess Air found us a better connection flying out of MCO instead of TPA and with a savings of $800.  Princess and Celebrity air programs have provided significant savings, especially business class, over the years.  Oceania, on the pother hand, charges a hefty "deviation fee" for anything differing from their set routing, to include arriving a day or two early for a trans-Atlantic cruise.  We have been using TAP (Air Portugal) business class for one-way transatlantics.  TAP is Star Alliance and flies new A330neo aircraft which are quite comfortable.

[hallux]

Some of you are just adding confusion to this topic.  The OP asked about the FREE air perk, often advertised with NCL cruises as an example.  In the case of NCL they do also offer flight booking services where NCL can get discounted rates and act as the TA for your flight booking to get you a slightly better price on your preferred airline, route and timing; just as other lines do (as described by @Ride-The-Waves). 

 

The FREE AIR perk the OP is asking about is often where the cruise line takes full control over the flight booking including the airline, route and timing chosen for the flight at least in the case of NCL.

 

For my next cruise, on NCL where I was offered reduced airfare, I decided to decline it as I can get direct flights to/from MCO from/to my home airport on Southwest (an airline NCL hasn't used), flights that are actually good times for a cruise.  The flights cost more but I prefer SWA and I can't turn down the option of direct flights and still having full control of my flight when the current air travel situation is considered!