Choice AIr- How are the Fares Calculated?

I know there are some wise people on here, and was hoping your collective intelligence might help

About a year or so ago someone explained the mechanics of how choice air (RCCL,Celebrity, Azamara) works. How it's NOT simply charter fares, but instead how the algorithms it uses work (the calculations it uses compared to normal fares you might find elsewhere). I tried searching through a dozen threads but couldn't find it.

I know how to book it, use it, and it's pluses and minuses. I know they get limited blocks of seats and a certain percentage discount on those, but was wondering if anyone could explain it further.

Any info from one of you who really understand the mechanics of airfare would be greatly appreciated

I'm not terribly familiar with it either, but do be aware that it's not always cheaper. I just booked a cruise and booked my own airfare (domestic US), and decided to check CruiseAir just for the hell of it...it was the exact same price. So, do your research.

From what I've be told . The cruise lines go to the individual airlines and ask for the best fares from gateway cities to their cruise terminals.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

Thread is old but very informative. Especially to your question.

I'm not terribly familiar with it either, but do be aware that it's not always cheaper. I just booked a cruise and booked my own airfare (domestic US), and decided to check CruiseAir just for the hell of it...it was the exact same price. So, do your research.

It depends on the routing. If a small regional airport (in Canada all except four major gateways) , it's cheaper to by cruise air.

Example

YKA ( small ) to LAX (via YVR) cruise air $800 Rtn

YVR (gateway) to LAX cruise air $400 RTN

The difference is the market fare between YKA and YVR.Only one airline serves YVR from YKa

It depends on the routing. If a small regional airport (in Canada all except four major gateways) , it's cheaper to by cruise air.

Example

YKA ( small ) to LAX (via YVR) cruise air $800 Rtn

YVR (gateway) to LAX cruise air $400 RTN

The difference is the market fare between YKA and YVR.Only one airline serves YVR from YKa

Oh definitely, I know it depends on the case but I imagine most domestic US flights are pretty the same, price wise, based on what I have personally seen.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

 

Thread is old but very informative. Especially to your question.

Thanks, That's explains it pretty well.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

 

Thread is old but very informative. Especially to your question.

This thread only explains “certain” cruise line air programs. While consolidator fares are common, many of the cruise air (Choice Air for example) allow you to book specific flights/airlines and that’s a bit different than the thread mentioned. Many refer to them as “negotiated” fares which may match regular airline fares/rules while others offer more of a discount presumably with more consolidator type rules.

It is the same thing as a consolidator fares or any corporate fare agreement in the sense that is highly confidential. The airline and the company/consolidator/cruise line get together and sign a confidential agreement that provides that organisation with a discount. Perhaps the cruise line agrees to buy a certain volume of seats on the entire network or just on certain flights. Neither party is going to make the agreement public. We are never going to know the specific details.

What cruise air is going to do is likely charge a bit more to you as their end customer. How they specifically sort out the fees is not public.

If they have a lot of passengers flying on a specific route, they may charter an aircraft or buy a dedicated block of seats from the airlines.

As an example, I frequently book flights through a points program off a credit card. Until this year I would get Aeroplan points for my booking when flying Air Canada. RBC negotiated a better deal for themselves and now I don't get any Aeroplan points. Pretty certain Air Canada gave RBC the choice of paying more to keep the Aeroplan points in the fare structure and they decided it was not worth it. Similar tradeoffs would be happening with the cruise lines.

Same thing on the corporate side. When IBM employees travel on business there are a few prefered airlines that IBM has special deals with. Sometimes there are front-end discounts at time of booking and sometimes they are back-end rebates. With a back-end rebate, the airlines will write a cheque at the end of the year or quarter based on hitting certain thresholds.

Be aware that cruise lines "cruise air" does not include all options between selected cities. For example, was unable to book a much less expensive flight out of CPH earlier in the day since the cruise line restricted flights before noon. Just spend weeks looking at options between Florida and Australia/NZ. Fares and routings all over the board, to include 24-hour stop in China. Finally booked using Princess EZAir with about a $300 savings each over the airline rack rate for the same day/flights. And payment not due until and consolidated into cruise final payment, and changeable until 45 days prior to sailing. Good program. Again, not all options were available as some airlines do not offer all flight options to the cruise lines. Qantas made their flights "available" but at full refundable prices which came to about double the current open rate for the flights. Have generally found it less expensive to book direct with airlines when on RCCL cruises (Azamara) and less expensive using Princess EZAir on their cruise offerings.