Buying Plane Tickets Using Choice Air Flex Air Option

[ShipRiders]

My experience has been that Flex is more expensive than non-refundable, but less expensive than refundable. The Flex cost also seems to go up as the flgiht date nears. I normally book flights as soon as they are available, at 11 months out. At this time Flex has been about 10% more expensive than nonrefundable. I keep checking prices and notice that the the percentage difference between Flex and non-refundable gets larger as the flight date approaches.

 

Thank you for the precise answer Bob.

 

The advantage to Flex is you don't have to pay until cruise final payment is up, therefor it can be cancelled at anytime up until then. Is that correct?

[Clarea]

Thank you for the precise answer Bob.

 

The advantage to Flex is you don't have to pay until cruise final payment is up, therefor it can be cancelled at anytime up until then. Is that correct?

Yes, that is correct. If you cancel, you are only out the non-refundable Choice Air booking fee. I use it because our plans change and I've had to cancel cruises. It would have been much more painful to be out $1000 in non-refundable airfare.

[mrsfecura]

How do you tell that your ticket is tentative? We have a Flex flight on Delta and I don't see any "pending" status on Delta's site.

 

On our United flex ticket reservation it says "this reservation is not ticketed and will hold until midnight of (whatever particular day I look at the reservation)"

Copied from the UA site:

This reservation is not ticketed.

We will hold this reservation until midnight Thu., Jul. 18, 2013 in Albany, NY (ALB).

[Clarea]

On our United flex ticket reservation it says "this reservation is not ticketed and will hold until midnight of (whatever particular day I look at the reservation)"

Copied from the UA site:

This reservation is not ticketed.

We will hold this reservation until midnight Thu., Jul. 18, 2013 in Albany, NY (ALB).

That's much more info that I get on the Delta site. The only thing that clued me in to the fact that I was not tickted was then I tried to move up to the Economy Plus seating. The website gave a message like my reservation was not eligible.

 

In fact, at least with Delta, that might be a disadvantage to Flex tickets. The Economy Plus seats are almost all gone now, and I won't be tickted until next month.

[grandmakathy]

After reading this thread I went and checked my Delta flight for my serenade ta this fall only to discover that my 1 stop flight LAX to JFK to BCN had been changed without any notice to go from LAX to JFK to CDG to BCN. Not a happy camper. Choice Air is working on alternate solutions. They send will get back within 48 hours. In addition to 2 layover/plane changes we would get in 2 hours later and had hope to see some of Barcelona on arrival. We will see what they come up with.

 

Kathy

[Clarea]

After reading this thread I went and checked my Delta flight for my serenade ta this fall only to discover that my 1 stop flight LAX to JFK to BCN had been changed without any notice to go from LAX to JFK to CDG to BCN. Not a happy camper. Choice Air is working on alternate solutions. They send will get back within 48 hours. In addition to 2 layover/plane changes we would get in 2 hours later and had hope to see some of Barcelona on arrival. We will see what they come up with.

 

Kathy

Unfortunately, frequent flight changes are a way of life now. We had a 3 hour connection change to a 6 hour connection with no notice.

[cruisenfever]

After reading this thread I went and checked my Delta flight for my serenade ta this fall only to discover that my 1 stop flight LAX to JFK to BCN had been changed without any notice to go from LAX to JFK to CDG to BCN. Not a happy camper. Choice Air is working on alternate solutions. They send will get back within 48 hours. In addition to 2 layover/plane changes we would get in 2 hours later and had hope to see some of Barcelona on arrival. We will see what they come up with.

 

Kathy

Now I see why I check all my record locator numbers every day. :D

Unfortunately, frequent flight changes are a way of life now. We had a 3 hour connection change to a 6 hour connection with no notice.

I'm just wondering if the reason we get notifications of any change when it occurs is because we pay for our flights at the time of booking.

[Clarea]

...I'm just wondering if the reason we get notifications of any change when it occurs is because we pay for our flights at the time of booking.

That's a good point. All of our flights have been purchased with Flex rates.

[greeneng]

I have been happy to have the ability to lock in a price with the Flex Fare option. Perhaps the price has been greater than I could have gotten directly from the airline, but the extra has been, in my opinion, worth it to be able to either cancel or re-schedule the flights. I have a couple of trips coming up where I booked with Flex and the airline direct price has sky-rocketed to way more than I booked it. In one case, three times more. Booking a flexible or refundable fare directly with the airline is way too high.

 

But, recently the Flex Fare option has ceased to be available for the flights I want. And they don't have the one-way options which were previously available. Flights show up when I price with the buy now option, but disappear when I use the Flex option. So, Choice Air is losing its appeal.

 

When I book with Choice, I always get the airline record locator and immediately use it on the airline site to make sure things are correct. I have been notified by email by Choice when there were changes, and I do like Patti, although not as often, and look at the airline site regularly.

 

In April I booked some flights, Boston to Rome, and then Barcelona to Boston, for the Navigator in October. In June the airline changed the schedule some and I got an email with a link in it from Choice. But, when I looked at it the airline had changed not only the flight time but the date of the return! Changed it by TEN days later than it had been. Now, I like Barcelona but hanging there for an extra ten days was going to get pretty pricy! Nobody at Choice picked up on that little error. It took them a couple of days to get that corrected, but it was corrected.

 

Jim

[Clarea]

...But, recently the Flex Fare option has ceased to be available for the flights I want. And they don't have the one-way options which were previously available. Flights show up when I price with the buy now option, but disappear when I use the Flex option. So, Choice Air is losing its appeal....

Jim

I've noticed this too, but so far only as the flight date has gotten within a few months. I still see a variety of Flex fares available at the 11 month mark.

[Virtopia]

This is good information to know as I have booked my upcoming flights with Choice Air on Flex Fare; I will have to start checking flight times as it's getting closer.

 

I do like the pricing Choice Air has offered for my last two cruises, but with my next 3 sailings being out of Cape Liberty, which is a 90 minute flight from Toronto, I will be booking my flights elsewhere for much cheaper.

[UNV-IT!!!]

Can't beat their TA one ways.

[franl24fan]

That was the other issue that I had with the flex fare. If you notice on the airline site under notification, they use the Choice Air. Although I tried to change it to my email, it would never take, so I was not notified of changes. After final payment and my "real" ticket was issued, the airline site did let me put in my contact info. Guess it makes some sense, since Choice Air is supposed to help you if there were problems with flight.

 

The only way I knew I didn't have a real confirmed ticket was that when I put in the airline confirmation number it showed a note that an eticket had not been issued.

 

As far as flex fare is concerned, I just consider it another option to check for pricing, and weigh the pros and cons. Thanks to cruise critic and the wise info from experienced cruisers, I used it for my one way to London last year and it saved me $850 over any other option, well worth the few extra steps. For some other trips I have coming up, so far it is not that great a deal.

[cruisenfever]

Can't beat their TA one ways.

Can't beat International R/T tickets either.:)