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Choice Air Question - Economy Plus


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I was wondering if anyone has had luck purchasing an economy ticket from Choice Air and then going to the airline (in this case United) and paying to upgrade to Economy Plus? I was able to upgrade to business class last year however this year I don't have enough miles:(

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Thanks Bob, gives me hope!!

One time, I tried to get the upgraded seats using the airline's website and got some sort of error. Called the airline and they told me that Choice Air had not "purchased" the tickets yet, so I could not upgrade. So I called Choice Air and they told me they would purchase the tickets that day.. When I checked back with the airline's website a couple of days later, I found I could upgrade to Economy Plus.

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this is an FYI about our experience last year booking with Choice Air - this is not a complaint, but info in case you have problems. And yes I will use Choice Air in the future.

 

I booked one way return from Amsterdam to Lax with choice air and booked Amsterdam to london (economy) and then London to LAX with economy plus (we had no miles to use) and paid an extra $1000 for the seats. Due to mechanical problems on our flight leaving Amsterdam we missed our connecting flight in London. We had to change everything and got home 24 hours later going London to NYC (slept in airport) and early morning flight back to LAX.

 

I was not aware that the EU has very good regulations regarding delays and we got $1350 back for our delay and then received $1000 back from Celebrity for our upgrade charge for economy plus seats that we did not get to sit in.

 

We got the money back from Celebrity because we could not get Choice Air to handle the matter for us. British Airways said it was Choice Air's problem and Choice Air said it was British Airways and we were caught in the middle. going to Captain Club, we got everything resolved.

 

We had original paid $2800 for our flights. We had flown one way Calif to Ft Lauderdale - took a transatlantic cruise and then our return was one way. After all our refunds, we paid $500 totally. Had a horrible return trip home after 34 nights of cruising, but the refunds were nice.

 

Have a great cruise

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Nice that Captain's Club stepped in to help. I would hope that Royal's C&A would do the same, and I'm not sure I would have thought of trying them as an option until I read your post. Thanks.

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Yes! We booked economy seats last year through Choice Air for our Med Cruise to fly from the US to Barcelona and then Athens back to the US. We were able to upgrade both of these legs to Business through the airline.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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The one thing you need to be aware of now is United's Basic Economy fares. They just recently started them and you are not allowed to upgrade from a BE fare to an E+ seat. If you book with Choice Air do it on the phone with a real person and make sure you do not have a BE fare (Fare class N I believe) and that they can and will get you regular seat assignments.

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I was wondering if anyone has had luck purchasing an economy ticket from Choice Air and then going to the airline (in this case United) and paying to upgrade to Economy Plus? I was able to upgrade to business class last year however this year I don't have enough miles:(

 

We booked Choice Air for the Chgo to Miami. Are you using Choice Air for your return? I have read Miami airport is almost a 2 mile walk from entrance to gates. Any one know if this is true?

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The one thing you need to be aware of now is United's Basic Economy fares. They just recently started them and you are not allowed to upgrade from a BE fare to an E+ seat. If you book with Choice Air do it on the phone with a real person and make sure you do not have a BE fare (Fare class N I believe) and that they can and will get you regular seat assignments.

Thanks for the tip, had not considered this. Do you know if United has BE fares for international flights?

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We booked Choice Air for the Chgo to Miami. Are you using Choice Air for your return? I have read Miami airport is almost a 2 mile walk from entrance to gates. Any one know if this is true?

 

I have flown out of Miami before and I do recall it was a rather long walk to our gate but I'm sure it wasn't 2 miles. I am a slow walker so I allow myself extra time when traveling through an airport.

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  • 7 months later...

Last week I purchased our return flights in April from Dublin to Cincinnati on Choice Air - United economy for $408 pp. Two days later I went into United's website and was able to upgrade our sets to Economy Plus for $260 total for both of us, (I tried, but couldn't upgrade to Business Class.) My credit card has been charged the correct amount for Choice Air and United. The Economy Plus seats show up correctly on the United web site. My understanding is if flights change and Economy Plus isn't available, I will receive a refund for the upgrade.

 

This is the first time I've used Choice Air - keeping my fingers crossed that all works out for us.

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Recently booked with Choice Air on Lufthansa, MIA/PRG and returning from AMS/MIA, Premium Economy. Saved approx. $400 pp. below airline website. Plan to request complimentary upgrade to Bus. class, if possible. Choice Air does not assign seats — you have to call the airline, which we did. So far, no complaints.

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The one thing you need to be aware of now is United's Basic Economy fares. They just recently started them and you are not allowed to upgrade from a BE fare to an E+ seat. If you book with Choice Air do it on the phone with a real person and make sure you do not have a BE fare (Fare class N I believe) and that they can and will get you regular seat assignments.

 

Thanks for the tip, had not considered this. Do you know if United has BE fares for international flights?

 

I can't answer for UA, but Delta also sells Basic Economy seats (including on some international itineraries) that cannot be upgraded through any means. So again, something to watch for if booking via Choice Air. DL's BE seats also do not allow seat selection prior to 24 hours before flight.

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Recently booked with Choice Air on Lufthansa, MIA/PRG and returning from AMS/MIA, Premium Economy. Saved approx. $400 pp. below airline website. Plan to request complimentary upgrade to Bus. class, if possible. Choice Air does not assign seats — you have to call the airline, which we did. So far, no complaints.

 

When I went into United's web site, i had automatically been assigned seats in economy, then I changed them to Econo +.

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I have a question - I booked the one way return flight for my TA because the RT price on Choice Airnwas over $2000. As previously mentioned, the flight from Dublin to CVG was $408 and a one way from CVG to MIA is $125. Now that I booked the flight home I can't seem to be able to book the flight to Miami with Choice Air on line. Is there a restriction prohibiting booking 2 one way flights rather than a RT?

 

If there is, I will just book the flight to MIA on my own although it will cost a little more, but the savings on the flight home will more than offset it.

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I can't answer for UA, but Delta also sells Basic Economy seats (including on some international itineraries) that cannot be upgraded through any means. So again, something to watch for if booking via Choice Air. DL's BE seats also do not allow seat selection prior to 24 hours before flight.

 

Although I prefer Delta, I'm glad I got the flight home on United. I'm familiar with Delta's basic pricing and that may have been what was available at the low price I paid. (Delta wasn't offered on the day we are departing but was the next day and I had thought of changing just to fly Delta, but now glad I didn't) Delta's international planes have a 2-4or5- 2 configuration and the last thing I want to be is stuck in the middle.

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Everyone here seems to be booking Economy with Choice Air and then upgrading directly with the airline. Is there an advantage to doing it that way rather than booking Premium Economy or Business with Choice Air?

 

I compared prices and it was considerably lower to book economy and then do the upgrade with the airline. Not sure if that is the case with all flights/fares and the United web site didn't allow me to upgrade to business. I might call United directly and see what they say about that.

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Everyone here seems to be booking Economy with Choice Air and then upgrading directly with the airline. Is there an advantage to doing it that way rather than booking Premium Economy or Business with Choice Air?

 

Just go onto Choice Air and check the 3 prices, i.e. Economy, Economy +, and Business. Then call the airline direct and ask how much to upgrade. On Delta last year to Barcelona from Atlanta, I booked Choice Air, then went into the website and it prompted me to see if I wanted to upgrade to Economy + for $99.

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Booked economy flight home from Dublin on KLM with Choice Air. After a few hours it showed on their website and I went in and booked the economy plus and chose my seats for a small amount to upgrade. It was very easy to do.

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I have a question - I booked the one way return flight for my TA because the RT price on Choice Airnwas over $2000. As previously mentioned, the flight from Dublin to CVG was $408 and a one way from CVG to MIA is $125. Now that I booked the flight home I can't seem to be able to book the flight to Miami with Choice Air on line. Is there a restriction prohibiting booking 2 one way flights rather than a RT?

 

If there is, I will just book the flight to MIA on my own although it will cost a little more, but the savings on the flight home will more than offset it.

 

I booked two one way flights for my TA, one from home to MIA on AA, and the other from FCO on UAL. I did by calling Choice Air. In your position, I’d call Choice Air re your MIA flight if the system is restricting you.

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I booked two one way flights for my TA, one from home to MIA on AA, and the other from FCO on UAL. I did by calling Choice Air. In your position, I’d call Choice Air re your MIA flight if the system is restricting you.

 

That's what I'm going to do.

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