Choice Air

[canuckinindia]

Some people in our group are thinking of flying from Toronto to FLL/MIA on the morning of our Jan 3 2016 Silhoutte cruise (departing FLL). So i've been researching ChoiceAir.

 

Looking at the ChoiceAir website I saw the following language.

 

We have experts on hand monitoring your flights, and if any delays or cancellations jeopardize your travel plans, we work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship.

 

Wanted to find out what this practically means, from people's own experience

Do they take responsibility for getting you alternative airfare for the cruise?

Do they get you to the next port? (San Juan)

Do they hold the ship for certain delays?

Who bears the costs of these alternative arrangements?

[fbgd]

You need to read the Cruise Air thread at the top of this forum before you fall for the marketing guff.

[Clarea]

Some people in our group are thinking of flying from Toronto to FLL/MIA on the morning of our Jan 3 2016 Silhoutte cruise (departing FLL). So i've been researching ChoiceAir.

 

Looking at the ChoiceAir website I saw the following language.

 

We have experts on hand monitoring your flights, and if any delays or cancellations jeopardize your travel plans, we work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship.

 

Wanted to find out what this practically means, from people's own experience

Do they take responsibility for getting you alternative airfare for the cruise?

Do they get you to the next port? (San Juan)

Do they hold the ship for certain delays?

Who bears the costs of these alternative arrangements?

I would contact ChoiceAir with your questions.

[FlyerTalker]

Far more important is to read the legal terms and conditions of Choice Air. That's the governing language, not the marketing hype.

 

Take a minute and re-read what you posted. "Will work quickly with the airline". Doesn't say "You will be rebooked on next flight". Doesn't say "We will get you to the next port". Doesn't say "The ship will be held for you."

 

And next available means "next available for the ticket and fare rules you have".

[ducklite]

They aren't going to hold the ship and you will be accommodated on the next flight with seats available using a predetermined structure of priority for distressed passengers. That could mean several days later for the lowest fare buckets, consolidator, and contracted tickets. Make sure they have travel insurance.

[waterbug123]

I would also add that as far as the "experts on hand monitoring flights" bit, do you really believe there is a room full of CA employees sitting at computer screens monitoring the thousands of daily flights on which they might have pax booked, going "Hey Bob, this flight from Cleveland to Houston is running behind, I don't think the Schwartzmans are going to make their connection to London, I better get busy getting them rerouted." LOL.

 

Aside from that, there have been anecdotal stories both good and bad. In some cases travelers have been notified by CA that there was a problem, which CA quickly fixed, making all necessary arrangements and everything ended up being fine. In other cases, CA never notified them that their flight was delayed or canceled, and when the traveler called CA they either couldn't get through to them because it was a weekend, or CA said something along the lines of "gee, we really can't do anything, you need to talk to the the airline."

 

 

Bottom line: Flying in the same day the ship leaves adds an element of risk. Most of the time, your flights will be fine and you'll get there and board the ship with no worries, regardless of how you booked the ticket. But if there are day-of-travel flight disruptions? Well, CA is no guarantee of a quick and easy fix. If the next flight is full, CA cannot boot people off the plane to make sure you reach your cruise. They cannot make the airline add a flight to their schedule. They cannot insist that the airline reroute you if your ticket is non-rerouteable. If a lot of CA pax are on a particular delayed flight they MIGHT be able to hold the ship, but there are a lot of other factors that go into the decision to do so so it's far from a guarantee.