FLIGHTS WITH CUNARD

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

Hi All - I am new to the site but just wondered how people found booking their flights with Cunard as opposed to booking directly with airline.  We've always booked with British Airways but plan to fly to Seattle from London Business Class in August 2025 for the Queen Elizabeth cruise to Alaska.  We booked directly with BA before but was interested to hear people's experiences.

[TheOldBear]

Looks like the two sub forums to explore are the Cunard https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/32-cunard-line/ and Cruise Air https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/.

 

And if no one has said 'welcome aboard', I would like to extend a welcome 🙂

 

I cannot help you with air questions - I'm fairly local to the port so we have been able to avoid flying in favor of QM2 round trips.

[Host Hattie]

I've moved your question to the Cunard board where you should get more answers. 

[tjunmin]

Welcome to the Cunard board, @Jennifer Sandhurst.

I'm fairly new to Cunard myself. For my upcoming cruise on QM2, the prices Cunard Air quoted me were either the same as booking directly with the airline, or higher.

Reading the Cunard board, I gather that booking through Cunard Air offers the most savings for one-way fares on sailings between NYC-SOU, but I'll let the seasoned Cunard passengers share their experiences.

[david63]

Being something of a control freak I much prefer to organise my own flights rather than trusting someone else to get it right.

[3rdGenCunarder]

57 minutes ago, tjunmin said:

Welcome to the Cunard board, @Jennifer Sandhurst.

I'm fairly new to Cunard myself. For my upcoming cruise on QM2, the prices Cunard Air quoted me were either the same as booking directly with the airline, or higher.

Reading the Cunard board, I gather that booking through Cunard Air offers the most savings for one-way fares on sailings between NYC-SOU, but I'll let the seasoned Cunard passengers share their experiences.

 

I have had better prices on the Newark to Heathrow flight for a westbound transatlantic than I have for flights from Newark to Canada, both Montreal and Vancouver. 

 

Since @Jennifer Sandhurst is flying transatlantic, perhaps the prices will be better.

 

22 minutes ago, david63 said:

Being something of a control freak I much prefer to organise my own flights rather than trusting someone else to get it right.

 

Me too! Unless Cunard's price is better, I want to make my own arrangements.

Edited January 18 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

2 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

Looks like the two sub forums to explore are the Cunard https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/32-cunard-line/ and Cruise Air https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/.

 

And if no one has said 'welcome aboard', I would like to extend a welcome 🙂

 

I cannot help you with air questions - I'm fairly local to the port so we have been able to avoid flying in favor of QM2 round trips.

Thank you.   I do really prefer to make my own arrangements but was just interested to hear if anyone got a better deal with Cunard.  So British Airways it will be !!!

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

56 minutes ago, david63 said:

Being something of a control freak I much prefer to organise my own flights rather than trusting someone else to get it right.

Me too to be honest !!

[LadyL1]

For years we have always booked long haul flights in conjunction with cruises through Cunard and have had some great deals. You can ask for BA flights and they will probably quote another airline as well. Transfers will be included.

As there are no prices released for Aug ‘25, you can book a cruise and add the air fare when appropriate (possibly during a BA sale). Just remember, if anything was to go “pear shaped”, everything is under one booking which makes things a whole lot easier. We found that out at the start of the pandemic! If flights are delayed/cancelled then Cunard has to pick up the problem.

You can still make your own plans if you wish and go well before or after the cruise, even coming back from another airport if you wish to arrange some travelling on your own. It is extremely flexible!

[sfred]

This anecdote isn't directly relevant to the OP's question, but a few years back we were doing a short weekend getaway on QE from Melbourne to Brisbane via Sydney.  Out of curiosity I investigated the Cunard options for the one way airfare from Brisbane to Melbourne to start the trip.  The offer was for flights from Brisbane to London to Melbourne, for approximately A$12,000 in economy class.  I'm sure it was just the typical Cunard IT bug, but in general I've never seen the sort of good airfare deals here that UK and US passengers enjoy.  Anyone in Aus/NZ experienced differently?

[Victoria2]

We only cruise with Cunard and also like to be in complete control of cruise bookings and  flights which for us, were always long distance.

 

To that end, we always book specific cabins and also flights, choosing the airline and scheduling, the day, the time and most important, our seats.

 

All this is done through our wonderful agent who bundles it up under one Cunard booking eg, once decided on the flights, they are booked through Cunard.

 

This might/might not be more expensive than trawling around to find cheaper flights but the protection one booking gives, far outweighs the cost differential.

 

At the moment, passengers due to join QM2 in a month or two and have made their own travel arrangements to join the ship, must be wondering if they'll lose their money if their flights become useless whereas if they had booked through Cunard, it;s Cunard's issue to sort out.

 

Same problem arose when QM2s TA was cancelled after her Worldie. Some very unhappy bunnies who hadn't made Cunard travel arrangements there.

 

OK, might be anomalies but anomalies happen and we like to make sure any anomalies don't cost us financially.

 

Others will disagree with me but I think  LadyL1 is on the same page as us.

 

Your decision to make. 🙂

 

[Pushpit]

The OP gives a UK location, and for those in UK, EU, EEA then the Package Tour regulations apply, which does indeed give legislative protections to those who buy a bundle of items via an agent. The agent makes money not on flights, but on Cunard's bundled fare packages and things like insurance, car hire, hotels, which do have greater mark ups. Note there is a difference between Package Tour regulations and Linked Travel regulations, the latter is when you start adding this extra after initial purchase and have slightly weaker protections. A key, possibly unique feature of these Regulations is the legal concept of enjoyment - much of the UK and Europe's law codes look to repair direct damage but not much else, these regulations do expect you to have a good time on your holiday.

 

I buy separately as a barely repressed control freak, but I know what I'm doing. You still get some protections doing it that way, notably EC261 for air travellers based in UK (and again EU plus EEA and few other places). The key issue there is the Right to Rebooking, so something happens to your SEA flight. If you  book directly then realistically BA is going to look after their direct channel customers immediately, but depending on the exact circumstances BA may refer the passenger to the agents, since BA won't "own" a ticket issued by an agent, so there's an extra loop and you are down the pecking order. BA uses something called FLY, a version of Altéa DCS, which allows direct passengers to be rebooked by robotics, but agency tickets usually just get referred to the agent. There are also cost advantages in doing this, potentially. 

 

There's no right answer, globally, just a right answer for you. If you were going to go to SEA a bit before departure - a day or two - then the differences merge somewhat since with BA's partnership with AA, IB and EI (and to a lesser extent AS) then things can be resolved no matter with whom you book.

[Victoria2]

I can't get my head around much of what Pushpit says but what I DO know is if any part of our Cunard booking [and ours consists of cruise/flights and also hotel which we ditch] goes whatsit's up, then it's down to Cunard, through our agent, to get things sorted, be that a reroute, a delayed boarding and/or a refund.

 

The extra loop, as has been mentioned is a bonus for us say because, say, stuck in some far flung port ready to board and the ship goes technical or has been rerouted, or stuck in the same port and the flight home goes technical, we would leave all the sorting out for our agent to deal with.

 

There again, as has been mentioned many, many times, there are agents, and then there are wonderful agents. Ours is one of the latter variety. 🙂

 

As for BA, they would not be the first airline we'd choose to fly with but that's a totally different issue.

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

2 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

We only cruise with Cunard and also like to be in complete control of cruise bookings and  flights which for us, were always long distance.

 

To that end, we always book specific cabins and also flights, choosing the airline and scheduling, the day, the time and most important, our seats.

 

All this is done through our wonderful agent who bundles it up under one Cunard booking eg, once decided on the flights, they are booked through Cunard.

 

This might/might not be more expensive than trawling around to find cheaper flights but the protection one booking gives, far outweighs the cost differential.

 

At the moment, passengers due to join QM2 in a month or two and have made their own travel arrangements to join the ship, must be wondering if they'll lose their money if their flights become useless whereas if they had booked through Cunard, it;s Cunard's issue to sort out.

 

Same problem arose when QM2s TA was cancelled after her Worldie. Some very unhappy bunnies who hadn't made Cunard travel arrangements there.

 

OK, might be anomalies but anomalies happen and we like to make sure any anomalies don't cost us financially.

 

Others will disagree with me but I think  LadyL1 is on the same page as us.

 

Your decision to make. 🙂

 

Thank you.  I tend to book outward flights to arrive a couple of days before cruise departure, just in case!!  Adds to the trip as well.  But yes, any problems would bento Cunard if booked through them.  Food for thought .

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

45 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

The OP gives a UK location, and for those in UK, EU, EEA then the Package Tour regulations apply, which does indeed give legislative protections to those who buy a bundle of items via an agent. The agent makes money not on flights, but on Cunard's bundled fare packages and things like insurance, car hire, hotels, which do have greater mark ups. Note there is a difference between Package Tour regulations and Linked Travel regulations, the latter is when you start adding this extra after initial purchase and have slightly weaker protections. A key, possibly unique feature of these Regulations is the legal concept of enjoyment - much of the UK and Europe's law codes look to repair direct damage but not much else, these regulations do expect you to have a good time on your holiday.

 

I buy separately as a barely repressed control freak, but I know what I'm doing. You still get some protections doing it that way, notably EC261 for air travellers based in UK (and again EU plus EEA and few other places). The key issue there is the Right to Rebooking, so something happens to your SEA flight. If you  book directly then realistically BA is going to look after their direct channel customers immediately, but depending on the exact circumstances BA may refer the passenger to the agents, since BA won't "own" a ticket issued by an agent, so there's an extra loop and you are down the pecking order. BA uses something called FLY, a version of Altéa DCS, which allows direct passengers to be rebooked by robotics, but agency tickets usually just get referred to the agent. There are also cost advantages in doing this, potentially. 

 

There's no right answer, globally, just a right answer for you. If you were going to go to SEA a bit before departure - a day or two - then the differences merge somewhat since with BA's partnership with AA, IB and EI (and to a lesser extent AS) then things can be resolved no matter with whom you book.

Thank you fellow control freak!!!  I do like to be in control😉 we always go out to departure port a couple of days ahead, both to visit the area and to make sure we are there for cruise departure day.  I simply could not fly out on the day of departure - far too stressful!!!!😂

[Victoria2]

7 minutes ago, Jennifer Sandhurst said:

Thank you.  I tend to book outward flights to arrive a couple of days before cruise departure, just in case!!  Adds to the trip as well.  But yes, any problems would bento Cunard if booked through them.  Food for thought .

As do we.

However much we know Cunard 'will sort things', going a few days earlier adds to the holiday/lessens potential stress situations.

Enjoy Alaska, it's the most wonderful experience. We added a few days at Knight Inlet Lodge, bear watching  the last time we were out there.

Oh and welcome to CC Cunard too. 🙂

Edited January 19 by Victoria2

[Victoria2]

21 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

...or stuck in the same port and the flight home goes technical, we would leave all the sorting out for our agent to deal with....

 

 

Too late to edit, in that scenario the airline should sort that out without without the need for input.

[exlondoner]

11 hours ago, david63 said:

Being something of a control freak I much prefer to organise my own flights rather than trusting someone else to get it right.

Let us hope that never leaves you in the out of control situation where the plane is late and you miss your ship or vice versa.

[Pushpit]

35 minutes ago, Jennifer Sandhurst said:

Thank you.  I tend to book outward flights to arrive a couple of days before cruise departure, just in case!!  Adds to the trip as well.  But yes, any problems would bento Cunard if booked through them.  Food for thought .

Absolutely adds to the trip, if you can cope with the surprisingly hilly streets of Seattle. But unlike say Fort Lauderdale, there is a real city to see here, with loads of indoor options for when the weather turns bad, as can be a feature of Seattle. If the fare to SEA looks too high (or you are hoping to use Avios) then also consider Vancouver and Portland, BA goes to both of those, Virgin goes to SEA but not the other places. All three cities are linked by beautiful, if slow, train services. But unbelievably, some people do book longhaul to cruise within a few hours of the scheduled arrival, which isn't something I would do, even though I normally do fly into Southampton from Edinburgh or Newcastle on the day of departure.

Edited January 19 by Pushpit

[david63]

14 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Let us hope that never leaves you in the out of control situation where the plane is late and you miss your ship or vice versa.

I always build contingency in to avoid such situations.

[Pushpit]

12 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Let us hope that never leaves you in the out of control situation where the plane is late and you miss your ship or vice versa.

That's more complex than it looks. It's certainly the case that a good agent will pick up and own the issue, and do all the heavy lifting. However in these days of robotics and automation, airlines tend to look after their own customers first. Just to complicate matters, agents tend to sell tickets known as IT/BT tickets, inclusive tour and bulk tickets. These are negotiated tickets, which is why single way pricing can be good value - on commercial tickets you normally need to buy a return or open-jaw ticket to get best value but that's no good for many cruise customers.  Cheap, but restrictive tickets.

 

So if LHR-SEA gets cancelled say 15 days before departure (since at 14 days the airline is potentially on the hook for compensation), BA and other main airlines have a robotic which will rebook their own customers automatically and nearly immediately, typically within the hour. To SEA the robots will look at options with AA or Virgin and just rebook their own customers. But if the passenger was booked via a travel agent then the booking gets bounced to them to sort out a few hours later. So at this point the easy rebooking options will all be gone, and the IT/BT tickets can't just be transferred to Virgin since it's a negotiated ticket. The agent may well be able to do this in the end, so it's not a black and white situation.

[exlondoner]

I had always considered myself something of a control freak, but for me that means using an expert I trust. I don’t try and mend my own washing machine, I don’t try and slaughter my own meat, I wouldn’t try to make my own false teeth (though, bizarrely, I know some who has, out of meanness), and, when the tiles blow off my roof, I get a roofer in. In each case I pay good money to someone who does these things all the time, and therefore presumably has got good at what they are doing. I adopt the same attitude towards travel arrangements.

[Victoria2]

Why look for flies in the ointment.

 

The flights we have booked and put through our Cunard booking aren't reduced/special/agent prices or anything other than normal flight bookings.

 

Any issues and Cunard or the airline through our agent will sort it. It's their problem, not ours. Even after making sure all our ducks are in a row, there are occasions when 'things' are out of our control and we leave it to the experts.

 

I do hope if any re-scheduling is apparent in the coming months, those who have made independent travel arrangements will be able to re-route and not in any way be out of pocket if having to do so.

 

 

[exlondoner]

17 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

That's more complex than it looks. It's certainly the case that a good agent will pick up and own the issue, and do all the heavy lifting. However in these days of robotics and automation, airlines tend to look after their own customers first. Just to complicate matters, agents tend to sell tickets known as IT/BT tickets, inclusive tour and bulk tickets. These are negotiated tickets, which is why single way pricing can be good value - on commercial tickets you normally need to buy a return or open-jaw ticket to get best value but that's no good for many cruise customers.  Cheap, but restrictive tickets.

 

So if LHR-SEA gets cancelled say 15 days before departure (since at 14 days the airline is potentially on the hook for compensation), BA and other main airlines have a robotic which will rebook their own customers automatically and nearly immediately, typically within the hour. To SEA the robots will look at options with AA or Virgin and just rebook their own customers. But if the passenger was booked via a travel agent then the booking gets bounced to them to sort out a few hours later. So at this point the easy rebooking options will all be gone, and the IT/BT tickets can't just be transferred to Virgin since it's a negotiated ticket. The agent may well be able to do this in the end, so it's not a black and white situation.

I was thinking of something more straightforward like your Cunard booked plane being diverted to Schipol because of a problem at Heathrow. So you can’t get to your ship in Southampton. Then it’s Cunard’s problem not yours, and you don’t lose your entire holiday.

 

I remember a significantly delayed departure from Hamburg, because we were awaiting the very late arrival of a train from Spain (yes, I know it’s a long way) with a number of though booked Cunard passengers on. 

[Pushpit]

10 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I was thinking of something more straightforward like your Cunard booked plane being diverted to Schipol because of a problem at Heathrow. So you can’t get to your ship in Southampton. Then it’s Cunard’s problem not yours, and you don’t lose your entire holiday.

 

In both direct and indirect bookings, it's down to insurance and rebooking. So you book with Cunard, they will either refund you or rearrange so that you join at the next port, they will be an insurance policy underwriting the loss. Book directly, well it's the same outcome. You will get the refund faster from the airline if you book direct, and under EC261 if the airline doesn't immediately rebook you to LHR under Article 8, then you can do it yourself and bill the airline, rather than get a third party involved.

 

I did laugh at your washing machine analogy, since I would repair a minor fault myself. But as someone who can book air flights myself, I would see the analogy with changing a light bulb - would you hire someone in to do that? And I'd much rather book a flight myself than change a light bulb! 💡But again, there isn't a perfect answer here.