FLIGHTS WITH CUNARD

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

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.

 

With the lightbulb it would depend where it was. If it were high and awkward, I might ask someone with better balance to do it and reward them with a bottle of wine. So sort of yes, sometimes.

[alc13]

Tangential but related, I think - sites like Expedia or Google don't list all the available flights for a given itinerary.  Which complicates the comparison between Cunard Air and DIY, because better alternatives can pop up on individual airline sites.  A thorough search for preferred prices and flight times can take a while. 

[Pushpit]

Yes, and not everyone has the time and / or inclination. So travel agents will know what to look for and will find good deals, both IT-BT and other tickets.

 

It is also the case that some airline tickets are only sold direct, they won't go via travel agents, and if a travel agent has to use those they are buying them almost as if you are buying it yourself. In recent years the big factor is flight comparison websites such as Skyscanner and Kayak - airlines shave a few pounds off flights so they get top of the listings (and recover it via other stealth charges). Since this market is usually dominated by Basic economy fares with zero checked luggage allowance and increasingly tight cabin allowances, they probably aren't going to be that useful to Cunard travellers with their gala wear in tow.

[godfreyb]

Another factor is that Cunard can change your flights without directly informing you.  I had been trying to book a fare to Singapore on Singapore Airlines from SW Florida, but I could not do it on Singapore Air website.  Cunard could book it at an attractive Premium Economy fare. Great, I thought and booked it.  A month or two later, I looked at our cruise booking on the Cunard website and noticed a tab 'My flights'.  Checking it, I saw that we had been rebooked on three United flights (instead of two, one being direct from EWR to Singapore) and NOT in Premium Economy.  My TA got involved and we cancelled the entire flight booking.  The problem was caused by the booking being done by Cunard on the United Airlines system, which when the timing of the initial connecting flight changed, automatically rebooked us on United flights (United and Singapore Airlines both belong to the Star Alliance group).

If I hadn't checked I would never have known!  

That's why I won't use cruise air bookings now.

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 minutes ago, godfreyb said:

Another factor is that Cunard can change your flights without directly informing you.  I had been trying to book a fare to Singapore on Singapore Airlines from SW Florida, but I could not do it on Singapore Air website.  Cunard could book it at an attractive Premium Economy fare. Great, I thought and booked it.  A month or two later, I looked at our cruise booking on the Cunard website and noticed a tab 'My flights'.  Checking it, I saw that we had been rebooked on three United flights (instead of two, one being direct from EWR to Singapore) and NOT in Premium Economy.  My TA got involved and we cancelled the entire flight booking.  The problem was caused by the booking being done by Cunard on the United Airlines system, which when the timing of the initial connecting flight changed, automatically rebooked us on United flights (United and Singapore Airlines both belong to the Star Alliance group).

If I hadn't checked I would never have known!  

That's why I won't use cruise air bookings now.

 

I book direct and I still have to keep an eye on United. I don't think I've ever flown to the US northwest and not had a flight change. And usually, they don't tell me--I stumble on the change when checking something else. It happened last year on a flight to Ohio and just recently on a flight from Miami. Okay, I get that schedules change. But passengers need to be notified! 

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

On 1/18/2024 at 9:01 PM, 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’m enjoying being part of this group.  All very helpful.  

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I book direct and I still have to keep an eye on United. I don't think I've ever flown to the US northwest and not had a flight change. And usually, they don't tell me--I stumble on the change when checking something else. It happened last year on a flight to Ohio and just recently on a flight from Miami. Okay, I get that schedules change. But passengers need to be notified! 

Hmm.  Think I will stick to booking my own flights!!   Tks.  

[Jennifer Sandhurst]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I book direct and I still have to keep an eye on United. I don't think I've ever flown to the US northwest and not had a flight change. And usually, they don't tell me--I stumble on the change when checking something else. It happened last year on a flight to Ohio and just recently on a flight from Miami. Okay, I get that schedules change. But passengers need to be notified! 

Sticking with booking my own flights!  Tks.  

[Victoria2]

5 minutes ago, Jennifer Sandhurst said:

Sticking with booking my own flights!  Tks.  

Jolly good and thank you for  generating a healthy  debate.

 

I know it's a way off, but have a wonderful holiday in a magical part of the world. We have a couple of cruises to our name in Alaska and each one, was fabulous.

Enjoy. 👍

[Archipelago]

My TA got a quote for my flight from Southampton.I said good let's do it . The next day I got a message from my TA that the flights increased and the increase was over $2000 which was way more than I could book direct so I said NO .I'm disappointed that Cunard was WAY more .