Seriously, Flights By Celebrity?

[cruisestitch]

I have been a satisfied user of “flights by celebrity” in the past but on receiving this email today, I am reconsidering some upcoming options

 

 

[mahdnc]

15 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I have been a satisfied user of “flights by celebrity” in the past but on receiving this email today, I am reconsidering some upcoming options

 

 

 

Go to the airline website and look at the changes to determine how big of deal this is.

 

I received the exact same letter from FBC before our Constellation TA in October.  There was a 10-15 minute change in one of our flights (both outbound and return flights were non-stop).  So a big nothing-burger--I did not contact FBC and they never contacted me or changed anything.  Maybe the same for you.   It must be a computer generated email triggered by a schedule change.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by mahdnc

[floridatravelersforlife]

United Airlines UGH!   Our Summit cruise last year ended in Reyklavik and we had booked a homeward bound flight four days after ship arrival.  We booked this flight ourselves, on a full refund basis - concern about Covid.  On T minus 3 days of wheels up, we received an email from Delta advising our flight,  might be cancelled due to weather and suggested we make other arrangements.  The gall.  We canceled and booked a Delta flight.  It worked out.  By the way, we checked on the Delta flight - the connecting flight to EWR arrived on time, but Newark flights to Orlando were cancelled for two days.  Hope you succeed.

 

Keep us posted on the nonsense.

 

 

[jwlane]

Why is it FBC's fault if the airline made a change?

[retird]

6 minutes ago, floridatravelersforlife said:

United Airlines UGH!   Our Summit cruise last year ended in Reyklavik and we had booked a homeward bound flight four days after ship arrival.  We booked this flight ourselves, on a full refund basis - concern about Covid.  On T minus 3 days of wheels up, we received an email from Delta advising our flight,  might be cancelled due to weather and suggested we make other arrangements.  The gall.  We canceled and booked a Delta flight.  It worked out.  By the way, we checked on the Delta flight - the connecting flight to EWR arrived on time, but Newark flights to Orlando were cancelled for two days.  Hope you succeed.

 

Keep us posted on the nonsense.

 

 

Did Delta advise you of a United Airlines flight change?    

[mahdnc]

9 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Why is it FBC's fault if the airline made a change?

 

You're right of course, it isn't FBC's fault if an airline makes a change.  However the prioritization schedule is not good.  If your flight gets cancelled--say 62 days before you sail--FBC says to expect a 30 day turnaround to get re-booked (notice that it doesn't say "up to 30 days").  That is not reasonable.  And if you had lengthy pre-cruise plans (many did for our westbound Constellation TA), the 30 day wait would be tough.  On the other hand, if you booked directly with the airlines, you can take care of it fairly quickly--through a smartphone app if you choose.

Edited February 5, 2023 by mahdnc

[cl.klink]

I decided not to use Flights by Celebrity (FBC) for my western med cruise in May, booked directly with airline, and then got an email like OP's. The email, and website account info, essentially said "there has been a change in some of your flights" but could not tell me what the change was. It took a week or so for the information to become available (one flight had a change in time), and then only after I did a lot of detective work.

 

I think this is airplane travel in the immediate peri-COVID / post-COVID era, and not FBC per se.

 

- Joel

[mahasamatman]

I got an email from FbC that I could book airfare for an upcoming cruise, but when I went to the cruise, the flight option was still greyed out.

[kathynorth]

We received the same email from FBC for our BOS to KEF flights last August. When I researched I discovered that Iceland air had taken our flight off the schedule. We were a bit nervous but we did receive our new flight’s notification in plenty of time and we ended up with a better flight time that would have cost us quite a bit more $ if we had booked on our own. We leave on our next FBC booking this Tuesday and have received numerous notices with changes over the past year. Hopefully all goes well for us.

[Alakegirl]

30 day turnaround? That’s unreasonable, IMO

[mchell810]

I recommend signing up for notifications for your flights from the airline, when I did this,  by the time I got the generic email from FBC I already had a notification from Delta showing the actual change.  Thus, I could ignore the FBC email as it was generally a small time adjustment.  I do agree with others: the turn around times noted are ridiculous. If it were a major flight change I would contact FBC immediately.

Edited February 5, 2023 by mchell810

[RTR 21-0]

So sorry this happened to you.  I’m forever grateful to this forum as last year I considered using FBC mainly to put off that payment but after reviewing tons of FBC reviews here I decided to go with purchasing a flexible ticket through AA.  Turns out it was cheaper than going through FBC.  I’ve been updated two or three times by AA through email and the app of some minor changes to the flight since booking.  

[emmas gran]

Received the same email for myBA flight from Sydney to LHR in December 2023

[Hlitner]

18 hours ago, jwlane said:

Why is it FBC's fault if the airline made a change?

I think this misses an important point.  Consider "30 day turnaround" or even "7 day turnaround."  This means that they will not even get to reviewing and looking for other options for some time.  In today's airline world, time is NOT on your side.  When things change, you are well advised to move quickly to secure another workable reservation/option.  Delaying only decreases the available options and can even leave you no reasonable alternative.

 

Hank

[horseymike]

17 hours ago, kathynorth said:

We received the same email from FBC for our BOS to KEF flights last August. When I researched I discovered that Iceland air had taken our flight off the schedule. We were a bit nervous but we did receive our new flight’s notification in plenty of time and we ended up with a better flight time that would have cost us quite a bit more $ if we had booked on our own. We leave on our next FBC booking this Tuesday and have received numerous notices with changes over the past year. Hopefully all goes well for us.

Hope you have a smooth flight and a great cruise 🚢 

[cruisestitch]

40 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I think this misses an important point.  Consider "30 day turnaround" or even "7 day turnaround."  This means that they will not even get to reviewing and looking for other options for some time.  In today's airline world, time is NOT on your side.  When things change, you are well advised to move quickly to secure another workable reservation/option.  Delaying only decreases the available options and can even leave you no reasonable alternative.

 

Hank

Exactly!  A 30 day turnaround before they would even investigate is the issue.  Airlines change schedules but you need to be nimble in order to get the best solution, not pokey and apologetic.

[Hlitner]

12 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Exactly!  A 30 day turnaround before they would even investigate is the issue.  Airlines change schedules but you need to be nimble in order to get the best solution, not pokey and apologetic.

We recently (last week) had a similar issue with HAL on air from Seattle to the east coast.  The AA flights, we had booked, were cancelled (3 months prior to the flights) by AA.  I only noticed the change on my AA app and HAL's web site simply said there was a "schedule change" under review.  There were few options to replace our flights and the best options were not available through HAL.  So, I called HAL, who demanded to know how I even knew this information :).  Since they could not find a reasonable alternative, they agreed to refund my money (for the air) and we booked with United using miles.

 

So why is this happening?   The airlines have simply overwhelmed the third-party companies that handle the air for cruise lines, and they are unable to keep up with the changes.  They must prioritize. which means it takes forever for them to get around to the more distant bookings.  

 

As a frequent flyer, we have joked (for several years) that domestic airline schedules are "advisory only" as they are likely to change (multiple changes are not unusual) as you near your flight day.  International flights, operated by foreign airlines, seem to be the most reliable as many countries (including the EU) have stronger consumer protection laws than here in the USA.  Many of the foreign carriers also seem to have this strange knack of only scheduling flights they actually intend to operate :(.  With domestic USA flights, alrlines will sometimes schedule flights they never intend to operate in order to hold onto their allotted "slots" at busy airports.  That is apparently a dirty secret in the airline industry and our government watchdog, DOT, has traditionally done very little to stop this practice or force airlines to pay out refunds (and even penalties) for these anti-consumer practices.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[mnocket]

Is anyone else totally over the "we are currently experiencing extremely high call volumes" warning?  It's not "currently" it's ALWAYS!  It's a problem that they are aware of, but don't care to address due to cost and other priorities.  It's right up there with "Your call is very important to us.  Please stay on the line ...". 

[mahdnc]

@cruisestitch, what was the change to your existing airline schedule that prompted the email?  Flight cancellation? Small change in flight times?

[WanderingTheWorld]

This just happened to me this weekend. My husband received the email from FBC on Saturday. It provided very little detail. On Sunday morning, Delta sent us both emails saying our flights had changed. The flight to the cruise was a small change, but our return flight was a problem. Originally, we were supposed to fly home at 5:50pm, and it got moved to 9:40am! There's no way we could make it from the ship to the airport on time. I checked my Celebrity account, and the old flights were still listed. So, I decided to call and work it all out. FBC requested Delta put us on a later flight. The rep said it can take up to 10 business days to process but that it usually happens sooner. She suggested I call back in on Thursday or Friday of this week if I haven't heard anything from Delta.

 

I would suggest looking up your reservation through your airline. This will let you see the actual change. If you don't like it, call FBC.

[mahdnc]

6 minutes ago, WanderingTheWorld said:

This just happened to me this weekend. My husband received the email from FBC on Saturday. It provided very little detail. On Sunday morning, Delta sent us both emails saying our flights had changed. The flight to the cruise was a small change, but our return flight was a problem. Originally, we were supposed to fly home at 5:50pm, and it got moved to 9:40am! There's no way we could make it from the ship to the airport on time. I checked my Celebrity account, and the old flights were still listed. So, I decided to call and work it all out. FBC requested Delta put us on a later flight. The rep said it can take up to 10 business days to process but that it usually happens sooner. She suggested I call back in on Thursday or Friday of this week if I haven't heard anything from Delta.

 

I would suggest looking up your reservation through your airline. This will let you see the actual change. If you don't like it, call FBC.

 

I agree with your suggestion.  Thanks for sharing the details of your situation.  Let us know how it turns out and when FBC got back to you.

[WanderingTheWorld]

24 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I agree with your suggestion.  Thanks for sharing the details of your situation.  Let us know how it turns out and when FBC got back to you.

Thanks, @mahdnc! I just checked my Delta app, and the new flights are there! I picked our seats, and we are ready to roll. No need to call FBC again.

Edited February 6, 2023 by WanderingTheWorld

[mahdnc]

8 minutes ago, WanderingTheWorld said:

Thanks, @mahdnc! I just checked my Delta app, and the new flights are there! I picked our seats, and we are ready to roll. No need to call FBC again.

 

Nice.  Which travel window category did you belong? Within 30 days?  Within 60?  Greater than 60?

[padgman1]

I would like to know if anyone has NOT received a change in flight email, either from FBC or by your airline, if you have booked flights more than 90 days in advance....we tend to book our own flights as close to the 330 day window as we can, and we have been rescheduled every single time ( sometimes more than 4 hour time difference).

[WanderingTheWorld]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Nice.  Which travel window category did you belong? Within 30 days?  Within 60?  Greater than 60?

I am in the greater than 60 day window. Within 48 hours, everything was taken care of. Part of this was the airline just changing the schedule. When a flight time is changed or cancelled, the airline is usually on top of it. The other part was due to me taking initiative and fixing the flight that didn't work.

 

In the FBC email, I don't know what these long windows of time are for. Perhaps it's to discourage people from calling in?