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Seabourn Air Experience


Sunprince
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Hi, I have searched the archives but for some reason I have not found many previous threads related to Seabourn air. Seabourn has a current promo that provides a credit by booking the air through them. It's not a lot of money but it helps. Normally we book our own air arrangements but I am interested in hearing your experiences with booking air through Seabourn.

Many thanks

 

 

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My experience has been from the very expensive to the ridiculously cheap ? So i always check their price. If about the same or cheaper I choose them due to the guarantees but especially as they do look after you on leaving the ship. When we have an evening leaving flight they have always either arranged a day room or at least provided lunch and of course they look after the luggage until you get to the airport.:)

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Whenever I book a seabourn cruise I ask my travel agent for a cruise only price and a flight/transfer package, then I can do my research and make an informed decision. Sometimes the seabourn air package includes a pre voyage hotel and private transfers which is great value. If I am travelling independently I find out which flight Seabourn will be using and book myself on that for that little bit of extra security.

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We have usually booked Seabourn air I have always found it to be cheaper than I can book myself and they arrange the transfers etc. Occasionally We have had to have a forced overnightin a hotel which effectively was a freebie.:)

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We usually use Seabourn Air. Caution: check the schedule carefully. Once they booked us through CDG with a rediculously short connection time. I assumed they knew what they were doing, so didn't complain. I was wrong. We missed the connection and almost missed the ship. Otherwise, it's very good. Competitive cost, transfers, and meals if there is much time between ship and plane.

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Thank you all for your responses. The Seabourn air quote is reasonable. We only travel business class and it's basically within $100 of the best internet search price less the promotion discount. Transfers are not included and are extra (probably best to book my own at lower cost). We will fly in a day early and do our own hotel.

 

 

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We got an excellent RT business class price via Seabourn on a European (Eastern Med) trip last summer. They also rebooked us returning from Athens instead of Istanbul when the plans changed during the bombing emergency that took place mid cruise. There were some snags with that because of our post cruise plans were impacted but between Seabourn and our travel agent it all worked out.

 

For a spring Asian trip they were not offering air, at least not at a competitive price.

 

Thank you all for your responses. The Seabourn air quote is reasonable. We only travel business class and it's basically within $100 of the best internet search price less the promotion discount. Transfers are not included and are extra (probably best to book my own at lower cost). We will fly in a day early and do our own hotel.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

FYI, booked SB Air RT to Europe this summer on AA at a discounted SB rate but was told by AA that mileage does not accrue and that AA was not responsible for helping to reroute should a problem arise. Any thoughts or experiences?

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We have made use of this summer's £99 offer which was for people flying from the UK. It is much easier for us to fly from Manchester so thought we would check what was available. Booked our own flights to Barcelona but Seabourn back from Athens with Aegean. The £99 offer is verrry basic (but was the flight we would have taken independently anyway) flight and that's it so we have booked bags etc ourselves, however, I believe the included transfer usually includes lunch or a day room so pretty good value all in.

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When I first saw this thread, I thought it referred to Seabourn Airlines. Just recently flew them from STT to SJU to catch a "real" airplane. Old turbo props but hey, on time and landed ok. I think it is the remnants of some attempt to feed Seabourn ships years ago. I am sure someone here has better knowledge of Seabourn Airlines.:cool:

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FYI, booked SB Air RT to Europe this summer on AA at a discounted SB rate but was told by AA that mileage does not accrue and that AA was not responsible for helping to reroute should a problem arise. Any thoughts or experiences?

 

As I understand it, It's up to Seabourn to deal with problems if they own the booking. We booked air through them last summer and when Istanbul got cancelled they immediately and automatically rebooked us to fly home from Athens. There were some subsequent issues (timing, as our original return flight involved a few days touring in Istanbul, then a weather based flight cancellation in Athens ) but our TA worked it out with Seabourn to everyone's satisfaction. We ended up on a completely different airline network (booked on AF/Delta, ended up on Lufthansa star alliance) so not being dependent on a single airline was good thing.

I need to double check but I'm pretty sure we got points on the flights we took. You should be able to add FF code when you enter your personal data for flight or just do it after the fact. The seats were business class if that's relevant. The pricing was excellent. We were able to pick the flights when we booked.

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We have booked our air through Seabourn for our cruise in October, London to Rome, Dubai to London, business class for a very good price including transfers, but I have noticed that the airmiles will be very meagre. We could have booked reward flights as they were available but that would have cost us a large amount of airmiles plus taxes plus of course taxis from airport to ship then ship to airport, so all in all we got a good deal with Seabourn, I can't say this is always the case as last summer the prices for air seemed sky high, but we always check just in case!

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Just be sure to periodically check your flight(s). We had a very good first class price from Seabourn on from Seattle to Philadelphia for our upcoming Sojourn trip. However, in checking the flight recently, American discontinued our flight and automatically rebooked us on a 7:30 AM flight. Although, the ship wasn't scheduled to dock until 8 AM, we did not receive any notification from Seabourn or American about the flight change, although we have over 400 days with Seabourn and more than a quarter million of current frequent flyer miles with American.

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When I first saw this thread, I thought it referred to Seabourn Airlines. Just recently flew them from STT to SJU to catch a "real" airplane. Old turbo props but hey, on time and landed ok. I think it is the remnants of some attempt to feed Seabourn ships years ago. I am sure someone here has better knowledge of Seabourn Airlines.:cool:

 

 

I believe the airline is "Seaborne Air", not "Seabourn", which is a cruise line :)

 

 

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Just be sure to periodically check your flight(s). We had a very good first class price from Seabourn on from Seattle to Philadelphia for our upcoming Sojourn trip. However, in checking the flight recently, American discontinued our flight and automatically rebooked us on a 7:30 AM flight. Although, the ship wasn't scheduled to dock until 8 AM, we did not receive any notification from Seabourn or American about the flight change, although we have over 400 days with Seabourn and more than a quarter million of current frequent flyer miles with American.

 

 

That is typical of American Airlines and has happened to us before. We avoid travelling any airline based in the USA as they are less reliable and offer a poorer quality of service.

 

 

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FYI, booked SB Air RT to Europe this summer on AA at a discounted SB rate but was told by AA that mileage does not accrue and that AA was not responsible for helping to reroute should a problem arise. Any thoughts or experiences?

 

 

There is no reason mileage should not accrue as you are paying for the flight. Please double check on this and add your AA # to the file. Just call AA again to add your AA # and reconfirm.

 

 

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Sunprince actually that is not correct about the mileage. Typically airlines sell bulk tickets and those tickets come with different many different fare restrictions. In some cases the ticket restrictions specifically say that reduced or no FF mileage will be credited for the flights. In order to determine this the flyer needs to get confirmation number AND the ticket number (which is only available if the reservation has actually been ticketed). From that information you can go online and find the fare code the flights booked and the restrictions for that fare. BTW, this had nothing to do with the class of service booked (i.e. Economy, business ,etc).

 

As to notifications, I have found most airlines -- US and those based outside the US -- do a very poor job of notifying customers of flight changes. Last year BA did not notify me of changes and recently both my Alaska Airlines and American Airlines flights for my upcoming cruise to Alaska changed without my receiving and notification. The two best airlines in recent years in terms of providing me with notice have been United and Turkish Airlines. As a result if you travel frequently you know if is in your best interest to check your flights on a frequent basis to see if there have been changes.

 

 

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Just be sure to periodically check your flight(s). We had a very good first class price from Seabourn on from Seattle to Philadelphia for our upcoming Sojourn trip. However, in checking the flight recently, American discontinued our flight and automatically rebooked us on a 7:30 AM flight. Although, the ship wasn't scheduled to dock until 8 AM, we did not receive any notification from Seabourn or American about the flight change, although we have over 400 days with Seabourn and more than a quarter million of current frequent flyer miles with American.

 

 

Unfortunately some airlines are just not that great about notifying anyone and it is now up to us to check flights regularly. If AA didn't notify Seabourn then Seabourn wouldn't have known to notify you of the change.

 

Like Chairsin I have flights booked with Alaska Air and to make life more awkward for us if I see a change listed they actually won't tell me what it is until I call them. Annoying when calling from Perth, Australia. This last change my connection in Seattle was changed to only 45 minutes as 35 minutes is their legal connection time. As we have checked baggage and an unfamiliar airport I refused to accept it and they found me the exact same seat in their flight that gave me a 2 hour connection time.........much more acceptable. As we are flying in first class I would rather spend time in the lounge rather then stressing we meet our connection. They assure me that closer to our flight I will get the change listed online so I can see it :rolleyes:. So moral of story check flights often.

 

Meanwhile my SQ flights have notified me a few times of as little as 10 minute changes. I still check them though.:)

 

Julie

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It's not only mileage but tier points that are reduced with different flight codes, according to Flyer Talk. Certainly our Seaborne flights are heavily discounted this time, I checked on the BA site and one way back to LHR is over twice what we are paying for the whole package. Incidentally I always find BA good at notifying even small changes to flight times.

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Sunprince actually that is not correct about the mileage. Typically airlines sell bulk tickets and those tickets come with different many different fare restrictions. In some cases the ticket restrictions specifically say that reduced or no FF mileage will be credited for the flights. In order to determine this the flyer needs to get confirmation number AND the ticket number (which is only available if the reservation has actually been ticketed). From that information you can go online and find the fare code the flights booked and the restrictions for that fare. BTW, this had nothing to do with the class of service booked (i.e. Economy, business ,etc).

 

As to notifications, I have found most airlines -- US and those based outside the US -- do a very poor job of notifying customers of flight changes. Last year BA did not notify me of changes and recently both my Alaska Airlines and American Airlines flights for my upcoming cruise to Alaska changed without my receiving and notification. The two best airlines in recent years in terms of providing me with notice have been United and Turkish Airlines. As a result if you travel frequently you know if is in your best interest to check your flights on a frequent basis to see if there have been changes.

 

 

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I do agree that the mileage accumulation depends on the type of ticket purchased. Perhaps I wasn't clear, but I was simply saying that just because Seabourn arranged your air then that does not automatically exclude you from earning airline points.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Can you all book flight ease online? It isn't showing as an option for me. I booked my cruise through a discount TA who *only* does cruises, and seabourn said via phone they won't discuss flight pricing over the phone with me since I have a TA - they will only through the TA. They said I could check the website but it doesn't always show up. Seems odd, but thought I would see what others' experiences were. TIA.

 

 

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Did the TA specifically refuse to do this type of transaction? Even if they do "only" cruises this seems like part of the cruise package booking if you do Seabourn air. and it is likely comissionable, as it's all on one invoice. So not like you are asking for a true non-cruise service.

If they still say no, well, that's the downside of that sort of TA option.

 

Can you all book flight ease online? It isn't showing as an option for me. I booked my cruise through a discount TA who *only* does cruises, and seabourn said via phone they won't discuss flight pricing over the phone with me since I have a TA - they will only through the TA. They said I could check the website but it doesn't always show up. Seems odd, but thought I would see what others' experiences were. TIA.

 

 

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Booking through Seabourn Air was fine. The problem, for us, came when we were bumped out of business class and had to fly economy for part of our trip. It took six months to get a refund from Seabourn.

 

The airline reimburses Seabourn for refunds, etc.. Then you have to fight Seabourn for the refund.

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Did the TA specifically refuse to do this type of transaction? Even if they do "only" cruises this seems like part of the cruise package booking if you do Seabourn air. and it is likely comissionable, as it's all on one invoice. So not like you are asking for a true non-cruise service.

 

If they still say no, well, that's the downside of that sort of TA option.

 

 

 

It wasn't a hard no, but strongly attempted persuading like "My clients find the best fares on the web at .... and I really just book cruises" so yes, I can force the issue, just disappointed it's not easier to get a quote. I agree if it's commissionable it's certainly a reasonable request. Although I'm happy with the cruise rate I got...

 

I have booked a (refundable) flight through the Amex Companion Pass program for the first time for the cruise. It was about $1000 cheaper than the next closest price I could find (for a restricted ticket). So I found something I am happy with, but definitely would have liked to pressure test the Seabourn Air prices to see if it was a good deal. (For those who aren't familiar, you buy a full fare refundable business class ticket, and your companion flies free - just pays tax and airport fees. This has been the first time ever it's been cheaper than other business class options...)

 

 

 

 

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Booking through Seabourn Air was fine. The problem, for us, came when we were bumped out of business class and had to fly economy for part of our trip. It took six months to get a refund from Seabourn.

 

 

 

The airline reimburses Seabourn for refunds, etc.. Then you have to fight Seabourn for the refund.

 

 

How did you get bumped out of business class with a confirmed reservation/seat?

 

 

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