Air Travel Booked with Seabourn

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Seat guru has been very helpful in sorting it all out.

 

You do know that SeatGuru has been effectively abandoned by Trip Advisor, its owner.

 

Use at your own risk.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

4 hours ago, jdk-atlga said:

I'm not saying that it is bait & switch, but a warning within FlightEase that the BA seats will/may cost extra, if selected early, could allow people to make different flight selections.

 

Do they also go through all of the baggage information as well?  Carry on restrictions?  Baggage fees?

 

It's the responsibility of the consumer to make an informed, researched decision.  If you only have FlightEase as your only data source, you only have yourself to blame, IMO.  It's not the responsibility of the cruiseline to mention every possible issue.

 

 

[Vineyard View]

37 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

You do know that SeatGuru has been effectively abandoned by Trip Advisor, its owner.

 

Use at your own risk.

 

 

I Did not know that. Do you know what the reason is for them doing that? 

[SDuckers]

On 12/10/2023 at 10:54 PM, Vineyard View said:

Fair response/question for sure. Thank you. 

Cancelled flights. Re-routed flights and inability to book seats on transatlantic flights. This question did not necessarily pertain to Flight ease at all,  but experience in the past several months with BA specifically being more so than other lines. I truly realize that this occurs with all airlines, but I was told by more than one person in the travel industry that they have experienced more than normal with BA. 
On an aside, friends who recently travelled independently on a land trip to the British Isles via BA, that we spent this weekend with, had a flight cancelled -  their return flight at the last minute. It was not a well handled situation - so that combination prompted my question. 

Not a cruise-connected trip, but this past September we flew BA from Houston (IAH) to Heathrow, first class both ways.  Our out-bound flight was cancelled about 18 hours in advance (the flight from London to Houston had been cancelled so the aircraft was not available) and we were booked on a flight leaving about 6 hours later.  Our return flight was cancelled about 12 hours in advance, and the initial rebooking had us leaving at approximately the same time, on American Airlines business class, with a connection through Miami, getting home about 5 hours later.  I was able to change that to rebook on an earlier BA flight to Houston remaining in first class.  We were not happy about losing the last half day in London, but it beat the hell out of having to fly American business class and have to connect to a domestic flight in Miami.  Our TA told us the particular Heathrow-IAH flight we originally booked on cancelled fairly frequently, probably when it wasn't close to being a full flight.

[CalmSea]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

You do know that SeatGuru has been effectively abandoned by Trip Advisor, its owner.

 

Use at your own risk.

 

 

Interesting. I have been noticing that SeatGuru sometimes give me wrong information, and is getting worse as time passes. Do you have a suggestion for another site to look for similar information that are more up to date?

[docmark]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Do they also go through all of the baggage information as well?  Carry on restrictions?  Baggage fees?

 

It's the responsibility of the consumer to make an informed, researched decision.  If you only have FlightEase as your only data source, you only have yourself to blame, IMO.  It's not the responsibility of the cruiseline to mention every possible issue.

 

 

Do we have access to Flight Ease, or we have to go through TA or Seabourne? (booked our first Seabourne cruise)

[marazul]

1 hour ago, docmark said:

Do we have access to Flight Ease, or we have to go through TA or Seabourne? (booked our first Seabourne cruise)

You can go to the "Booked Guests" section, login and go to Flight Ease.

[marazul]

I just booked flights to Europe on Flight Ease going through LHR.  Flight Ease lists several flights leaving at the same time. If you look at  "Details," you will see that they are co-branded flights - one entry for AA and the other for BA.  If you book the AA flight you can choose your seats. If you book the exact same BA flight you can't.  

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, CalmSea said:

Interesting. I have been noticing that SeatGuru sometimes give me wrong information, and is getting worse as time passes. Do you have a suggestion for another site to look for similar information that are more up to date?

Ditto!

[marazul]

The new seatguru? aeroLOPA.com

 

https://onemileatatime.com/guides/aerolopa/

[Vineyard View]

3 hours ago, marazul said:

I just booked flights to Europe on Flight Ease going through LHR.  Flight Ease lists several flights leaving at the same time. If you look at  "Details," you will see that they are co-branded flights - one entry for AA and the other for BA.  If you book the AA flight you can choose your seats. If you book the exact same BA flight you can't.  

Understanding they are co-branded, I just thought that booking Via BA would be preferable. As a result I thought to go with BA. This is really good to know. Are you paying extra per seat for BA in this AA codeshare route? 
My best options seem to be mostly this AA/BA codeshare. Followed by Swiss Air (zero experience), then Lufthansa/Canadian Air codeshare with 2 stops each way. Most cost effective but least desirable. 

on up the price chain is Virgin. So if booking via AA allows for seat selection with a known upfront total cost that sounds attractive. 

[marazul]

21 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Understanding they are co-branded, I just thought that booking Via BA would be preferable. As a result I thought to go with BA. This is really good to know. Are you paying extra per seat for BA in this AA codeshare route? 
My best options seem to be mostly this AA/BA codeshare. Followed by Swiss Air (zero experience), then Lufthansa/Canadian Air codeshare with 2 stops each way. Most cost effective but least desirable. 

on up the price chain is Virgin. So if booking via AA allows for seat selection with a known upfront total cost that sounds attractive. 

The price was exactly the same for either AA or BA.  No upcharge for booking the seat when picking AA. The seat selection screens came right up after I picked the flights. 

If Swiss Air is an option for you, it is a good choice.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you Marazul. As always, I appreciate your helpfulness. 

[galeforce9]

So I’ve just booked a Seabourn holiday that includes business class flights (economy were part of the deal and I paid more for business inclusive). They’re not available yet as it’s in 2025.  Does anyone know whether when it comes to book, there will be a number of options on Flight ease, one of which will be at no extra cost? 

Edited December 13, 2023 by galeforce9

[FlyerTalker]

20 hours ago, galeforce9 said:

So I’ve just booked a Seabourn holiday that includes business class flights (economy were part of the deal and I paid more for business inclusive). They’re not available yet as it’s in 2025.  Does anyone know whether when it comes to book, there will be a number of options on Flight ease, one of which will be at no extra cost? 

 

Who knows what will be available in 2025, as schedules still aren't loaded for all of 2024.

 

Paying for air tickets that far in advance is, in my opinion, buying a pig in a poke.

 

 

[galeforce9]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Who knows what will be available in 2025, as schedules still aren't loaded for all of 2024.

 

Paying for air tickets that far in advance is, in my opinion, buying a pig in a poke.

 

 

As I said, I know they’re not available.  Quite well aware when flights are released.  Business class flights cost me a few hundred quid.  Why not?  Just talking in general  for people that have previously selected included flights using flight ease. Was there a choice or no option to choose.  I usually diy it on the flights with a BA companion voucher if I can.  

Edited December 14, 2023 by galeforce9

[jdk-atlga]

On 12/12/2023 at 10:20 PM, marazul said:

The price was exactly the same for either AA or BA.  No upcharge for booking the seat when picking AA. The seat selection screens came right up after I picked the flights. 

If Swiss Air is an option for you, it is a good choice.

I have a FlightEase booked for this coming April. It is codeshared AA with BA. I "selected" my seats during the initial booking for the transatlantic flight (PHL to LHR). Once the booking was completed, the seat selection was now gone and I would have to reselect the seats. Even though it was booked with AA, the seat selection process was still to BA, which required pr-payment for the same seats that I thought that I had booked. BTW, I was able to select my seats on AA/BA from LHR to EDI, without an issue. Bottom Line: You don't know for sure if the "selected" seats at original booking with AA to BA are going to take.

 

Being somewhat research OCD, I do check the flights (both on FlightEase, airline direct and the various air price site (SkyScanner, Google Flights, Expedia) on a daily basis for all my upcoming trips. My wife is very concerned with me 🫣

Best, jdk

[alainciao]

15 minutes ago, jdk-atlga said:

I have a FlightEase booked for this coming April. It is codeshared AA with BA. I "selected" my seats during the initial booking for the transatlantic flight (PHL to LHR). Once the booking was completed, the seat selection was now gone and I would have to reselect the seats. Even though it was booked with AA, the seat selection process was still to BA, which required pr-payment for the same seats that I thought that I had booked. BTW, I was able to select my seats on AA/BA from LHR to EDI, without an issue. Bottom Line: You don't know for sure if the "selected" seats at original booking with AA to BA are going to take.

 

Being somewhat research OCD, I do check the flights (both on FlightEase, airline direct and the various air price site (SkyScanner, Google Flights, Expedia) on a daily basis for all my upcoming trips. My wife is very concerned with me 🫣

Best, jdk

Do you have any status with AA?  I am under the impression that some level (Platinum maybe) allows free seat selection with BA if booked thru AA. (and maybe even if you book direct with BA).  Also, I am wondering how important it is to book specific seats in business when my perception is that all seats are the same configuration.  DW is OK by herself! (maybe better) 🙂 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, jdk-atlga said:

Being somewhat research OCD, I do check the flights (both on FlightEase, airline direct and the various air price site (SkyScanner, Google Flights, Expedia)

 

One should be aware that SkyScanner will frequently show consolidator tickets as well as tickets that are cobbled together as two separate flights - thus necessitating a complete new check-in at the "connection" point.  They are owned by Trip.com, a Chinese travel company.  You can do you own decision making as to whether or not you choose to utilize such a company.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

 

[Vineyard View]

After reading all this great feedback, I ended up finding one stop flights in BC that were previously not showing (I have been frequently checking for some time). Flight times both departure and return are favorable with good layover times. I’ve not flown on AC for a long time, and never on ITA (obviously newer line), but the reviews seemed to be fairly good (particularly with ITA) and the price was as well.

Will continue to watch flights a short while but grabbed these yesterday.

[Earthtones]

12 hours ago, galeforce9 said:

Just talking in general  for people that have previously selected included flights using flight ease. Was there a choice or no option to choose.

When I booked a Seabourn cruise that included a flight credit (for $500 per passenger, not for a class of seat), Flight Ease showed me all my options with the flight credit already accounted for (so fares shown were $500 less pp than they would have been if we didn't have the flight credit--and I know this is the case because we eventually changed our booking to one with a different incentive and the flights became $500 pp more expensive). I imagine your travel agent could probably tell you how this will work in your situation, which sounds like it's different from a flight credit. 

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Flight times both departure and return are favorable with good layover times.

 

Just be vigilant in checking on your flights when you get within 3-4 moths of travel, because that's when the airlines update their final schedules; great flight times/connections can be ruined when an airline changes one of your flights. There's been a lot more changes to schedules over the past two years as the airlines have struggled to ramp up staff and equipment in the aftermath of the pandemic. Seat assignments can also be changed if they change planes to a larger/smaller plane than what was listed when you originally booked. Hopefully you'll have no changes, or changes of just a few minutes. 😀

[jdk-atlga]

5 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

One should be aware that SkyScanner will frequently show consolidator tickets as well as tickets that are cobbled together as two separate flights - thus necessitating a complete new check-in at the "connection" point.  They are owned by Trip.com, a Chinese travel company.  You can do you own decision making as to whether or not you choose to utilize such a company.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

 

Hi FlyTalker:

All good points - I would never book a flight in that manner (i.e. consolidator). That said, it is useful for a simple comparison tool across airlines. Then you can book through FlightEase, Direct or however you decide. And, No, I do not have status with AA - being in the Atlanta area, it is hard to be removed from Delta.

- jdk

[Earthtones]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

Just be vigilant in checking on your flights when you get within 3-4 moths of travel, because that's when the airlines update their final schedules; great flight times/connections can be ruined when an airline changes one of your flights.

 

Spot on comment. This just happened to me this afternoon! Flight Ease called my travel agent to alert her to a schedule change that made our return flight too early for the boat. They worked out a different flight for the same cost that they thought we would accept. However, it wasn't in the same class on all segments (and was on BA, so I knew from this board we'd have to pay extra for seat choices!).

 

So I went online to Flight Ease to see what was available and found a different replacement flight I'd prefer and had my TA call Flight Ease to book it. FYI, I was not forced to re-price the entire flight itinerary (which would have been several hundreds more), only the difference in the two flights in current fares. We actually ended up on a nonstop that hadn't been an option previously!

[Hlitner]

While FlyerTalker (and some others) have long made a case for why folks should think carefully before using cruise line air options, we now find a very compelling case.  These days, it is becoming all too common for cruise lines to change itineraries, including embarkation/debarkation ports.  In fact, in the last 2 years we have booked two cruises (Oceania Marina and the Seabourn Encore) where the embarkation port was changed after we had booked.  In the case of "O" we had booked Business Class (from Lima back to home) with miles and O changed the debarkation port from Lima to Santiago, Chile (more then 1000 miles from Lima.  In that case, we were able to convince Delta to refund our miles and even refund the associated taxes (that are paid in cash).

 

But the reality is that, in many cases, the airlines will, at best, give a voucher (which often comes with lots of restrictions).  When using cruise airs Flex fares, one has some protection from the cruise line in the event of a change of ports.  We feel more comfortable using Flightease for expensive international biz class/first class knowing that we will not lose money on the air...in the event of a cruise cancellation or change in embarkation/debarkation ports.  Just this past week, Seabourn shifted our embarkation port from Istanbul to Dubrovnik.  Since this cruise is next August, there are undboutably some folks who had already purchased their own air and now have to deal with the change (and hoping that SB will eventually refund any lost money or fees).  Those who had booked Flexair through SB, will simply have their flights changed (or they can go online and make their own change) at no cost.

 

Hank