Choice Air - a recommendation based on recent experience

[Dave in Atlanta]

I've read several posts on this board relative to the value of Celebrity handling air travel via Choice Air, and never gave it much thought...I know how to get good fares, have favorite airlines, etc.

 

My wife and I are planning a big trip to Australia / NZ next January, and will be flying from Atlanta to Sydney and returning to Atlanta from Auckland. Our local favorite airline, Delta, thought we should pay @ $2,900 each for that privilege...WOW.

 

I did recall that several board members had commented that the Choice Air fares were quite competitive, and since I sure didn't like $2,900, I thought I'd give it a try.

 

My online experience was typical. I entered the requirements, made choices that used my favorite airline, and saw that the Choice Air fare was $2,200! Checked again with Delta on those specific flights, and they still wanted $2,900. That was fun.

 

But then I had a Celebrity website "moment". When I entered the payment info and went to pull the trigger........."Error. Please call our Customer Support Team". I called, waited 15 minutes because "your call is very important to us", and got through to a travel person, who took my dates and flight numbers to manually create it on her side. When she got a result, she said "hmmm". Never what you want to hear...

 

The net of all this was that the Choice Air fare for those exact flights and dates was now $1,900! I booked it, can see it on the Delta website and get my favorite seats, and all is very well.

 

Your mileage may vary, but I saved $1,000 per person by using Choice Air for the exact flights I wanted. You might want to give it a try...just don't plan on the website working for you. No news there. I would just call the travel department and save the time. I figure even if they can't match your best deal, it's worth a 15 minute phone call to be certain.

[Bo1953]

d - very good to hear about your experience.

 

It is often said and bears repeating, that Flights By Celebrity is great for international flights, mainly and you just experienced this.

 

bon voyage

[Jim_Iain]

Happy that it worked out for you. I use ChoiceAir regularly for International business class and the fares are usually very good. I've often searched on domestic fares and they were usually the same or more expensive than what I received from other sites.

 

I recently purchase a Business Class from Venice to SFO for about $1,100. I was very pleased with the price.

[Orator]

I've read several posts on this board relative to the value of Celebrity handling air travel via Choice Air, and never gave it much thought...I know how to get good fares, have favorite airlines, etc.

 

My wife and I are planning a big trip to Australia / NZ next January, and will be flying from Atlanta to Sydney and returning to Atlanta from Auckland. Our local favorite airline, Delta, thought we should pay @ $2,900 each for that privilege...WOW.

 

I did recall that several board members had commented that the Choice Air fares were quite competitive, and since I sure didn't like $2,900, I thought I'd give it a try.

 

My online experience was typical. I entered the requirements, made choices that used my favorite airline, and saw that the Choice Air fare was $2,200! Checked again with Delta on those specific flights, and they still wanted $2,900. That was fun.

 

But then I had a Celebrity website "moment". When I entered the payment info and went to pull the trigger........."Error. Please call our Customer Support Team". I called, waited 15 minutes because "your call is very important to us", and got through to a travel person, who took my dates and flight numbers to manually create it on her side. When she got a result, she said "hmmm". Never what you want to hear...

 

 

The net of all this was that the Choice Air fare for those exact flights and dates was now $1,900! I booked it, can see it on the Delta website and get my favorite seats, and all is very well.

 

Your mileage may vary, but I saved $1,000 per person by using Choice Air for the exact flights I wanted. You might want to give it a try...just don't plan on the website working for you. No news there. I would just call the travel department and save the time. I figure even if they can't match your best deal, it's worth a 15 minute phone call to be certain.

Did you price the flights as Roundtrip or two one ways. you can usually save if you price as two one way flights. Always price both ways.

[dabear]

I also decided to give choice air a try. I often use miles but I was unable to get a non stop from Chicago to Amsterdam with them. After shopping prices on other airlines I contacted Choice air and they offered a nonstop at about $400pp less than the airline site. After I booked economy I contacted the airline and upgraded to economy plus, again at a lessor price than if I tried to book it as part of an original purchase from the airline or other sites. I am pleasantly surprised. FYI, I've checked Choice air again and their prices have increased, so checking from time to time until you get a satisfactory price is important.

[sasue]

Congratulations!! We found Choice Air to be a great service as well. Last September we paid

$4,000 pp to fly round trip business class from San Antonio to London booking ourselves through American Airlines.

Recently we booked round trip business class from San Antonio to Rome ( for next August), using Choice Air and the fares were $2900 pp. We win!!!;)

[Lastdance]

Congratulations!! We found Choice Air to be a great service as well. Last September we paid

$4,000 pp to fly round trip business class from San Antonio to London booking ourselves through American Airlines.

Recently we booked round trip business class from San Antonio to Rome ( for next August), using Choice Air and the fares were $2900 pp. We win!!!;)

 

That is very close to what we paid from Reno to Rome and from Milan back to Reno, which was also so much cheaper than the airlines sites. I check many sites several times a day for many weeks until I actually purchase on Choice Air.

[Cruise Junky]

Was the $2900 pp in Economy? if so, that's insane. When Air Canada has a sale and they do often, we can get direct to Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne for under $1,300 CDN. My last direct flight to Brisbane was $1,040. You could have added on a flight from Atlanta and still come out way ahead. When it's not onsale, it's a different story.

[Mr. Click]

The one thing to keep in mind with Choice Air is to ask about the fare class. Sometimes, not all of the time sometimes they offer consolidator tickets and those do not earn miles in many cases and if there is a problem with the flights you go to bottom of the re-booking list. With the web site, yes it sucks, it is better to call as you did and invest some time. We have used Choice Air a few times when they had better fares than other sites. Mostly on international trips but it is always worth checking.

[Bo1953]

Was the $2900 pp in Economy? if so, that's insane. When Air Canada has a sale and they do often, we can get direct to Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne for under $1,300 CDN. My last direct flight to Brisbane was $1,040. You could have added on a flight from Atlanta and still come out way ahead. When it's not onsale, it's a different story.

 

No, it was BC....

 

bon voyage

[BEAV]

Did you price the flights as Roundtrip or two one ways. you can usually save if you price as two one way flights. Always price both ways.

 

Today I price checked SFO to MRS (Marseille), return LHR-SFO. Business Class was $3200 when I checked as multi-destination, but $2700 when I checked each one-way segment separately.

 

So, yes, definitely price check both methods.

[btobey]

We just booked with ChoiceAir. We're not going international, but we are in a small airport market (Rochester NY), and there were very few flights available as per my own research. The flights Celebrity offered were exactly the same price.

[Clarea]

Nice to hear a positive experience with the Choice Air customer service.

[helen haywood]

I’ve only had experience with using Choice Air for one way flights for transatlantic cruises. Choice Air was always way cheaper than the airlines direct.

 

 

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[alcpa1]

Last year Choice Air was $400 per person higher for a flight to Amsterdam so it is not always the least expensive method of booking. Our flight this year, again to Europe is less expensive via Choice Air.

Always compare direct airline bookings and Choice Air. But it's almost impossible to compare fare codes from Choice Air and the codes do make a difference.

Booking a domestic flight at the same price via Choice Air is not your best option.

If you want further clarification check out the Cruise Air Forum under the Discussion Boards here on Cruise Critic.

And no matter how you book be sure to monitor your flights from time to time. Every airline makes time and equipment changes.

[Wine-O]

I always do flight and price research as well as travel routes, find the schedules we like, then call Choice Air for a price. They've always been very reasonable for international flights.

[waterbug123]

The one thing to keep in mind with Choice Air is to ask about the fare class. Sometimes, not all of the time sometimes they offer consolidator tickets and those do not earn miles in many cases and if there is a problem with the flights you go to bottom of the re-booking list.

 

it's almost impossible to compare fare codes from Choice Air and the codes do make a difference.

 

This. Getting booked on the "exact same flight" doesn't mean your ticket is "exactly the same." Curious what fare code the OP was quoted by the airline and if it was the same quoted by Choice Air. ??

[Bo1953]

This. Getting booked on the "exact same flight" doesn't mean your ticket is "exactly the same." Curious what fare code the OP was quoted by the airline and if it was the same quoted by Choice Air. ??

 

w - you are quite correct, yet I and others focus on cabin for cabin with the exception of coach. I do not think that is an issue either unless one wants a 'refundable' fare in any class of service, that is a question which must be asked before paying.

 

International flights have not, yet, gone the route of LCC's where you pay for everything including food, although I have heard of a few who do now, but they are not ones used by X or many of us, currently.

 

I think the concern is most valid on US domestic flights rather than international, I could be incorrect though.

 

bon voyage

[Cruise Junky]

w - you are quite correct, yet I and others focus on cabin for cabin with the exception of coach. I do not think that is an issue either unless one wants a 'refundable' fare in any class of service, that is a question which must be asked before paying.

 

International flights have not, yet, gone the route of LCC's where you pay for everything including food, although I have heard of a few who do now, but they are not ones used by X or many of us, currently.

 

I think the concern is most valid on US domestic flights rather than international, I could be incorrect though.

 

bon voyage

 

Your code has nothing to do with food though, it's what happens to you when S hits the fan. Can you ticket be assigned to another airline, can they reroute you. All things that you probably won't know until it matters.

[Bo1953]

Your code has nothing to do with food though, it's what happens to you when S hits the fan. Can you ticket be assigned to another airline, can they reroute you. All things that you probably won't know until it matters.

 

Yes, quite true, again most people do not think about such things when booking flights. They are thinking 'best price', yet if X's air holds to their commitment, as best they can, they will try to re-accommodate independent of the airline policy for such instances, whereas if one books independently, there most likely will be no consideration/accommodation given regardless. All airlines have to re-route you on 'their' next available flight, rather that be in one hour or one week or longer. If an airline has not interline agreements in place of course you will never be re-routed on another carrier at all... many of us who travel frequently know this to some degree, which makes booking through X look better and better, to me.

 

 

While I accept that X's air may not be perfect in every instance, I have read of other cruise lines as well as X's air helping in such instances make reasonable attempts to get passengers to the ship at some point in its' sailing.

 

The other part of the equation is to have travel insurance, which will permit one to make their own arrangements and get reimbursed later for any non-refundable portions of the ticket and any additional transportation costs, lodging and food not covered by the airline. Then, it is still up to the passenger to get to the ship once landing, whereas X will attempt to help with info and contacts to do so.

 

 

bon voyage

[TFree]

This will be our third cruise with Celebrity, but the first time we have even checked with Choice Air, thanks to threads like this one mentioning the good prices. Otherwise I have always assumed that any airfare booking agent, including Choice Air, would have the same prices as are available to me booking directly. This certainly turned out to be true the only other time when I checked with the airfare department of a guided land tour we were taking.

 

We are flying from LAX to FCO (Rome) in advance of our Celebrity Cruise, and then doing other things in Europe including a river cruise. Our return will be BSL (Basel) to LAX, a couple of weeks after the end of the Celebrity cruise. I have been watching the prices, and they are always about $4300 pp for Business Class, and about $1500-$1700 pp for Premium Economy.

 

On the Choice Air website, the open jaw Business Class ticket would be $2700+, and the Premium Economy ticket would be $1300+. Already a fantastic savings for Business Class, and a meaningful savings for Premium Economy. Then, following suggestions on Cruise Critic, I checked the two flights as two one-way flights. Now the Business Class price dropped to $2500+.

 

So I then called Choice Air directly. I was initially quoted $2700+ for Business Class. I then suggested checking it as two one-way tickets. I have no idea why suggesting checking the flights as one-way produced this result, but somehow the guy came back with a "contracted" price of $2095 pp in Business Class, with outbound flights on DL and return flights on KLM. This all came back as a single KLM reservation. I have been able to find the reservation on both DL and KLM websites, add our DL frequent flyer numbers, change some of the seats that the airline pre-assigned, and even see that we will be receiving mileage credit for this trip. I could not be more delighted with the way this turned out. We booked these flights for less than half the going rate according to Google Flights. The only downside to the whole deal is that this contracted rate was apparently only available on the very early first flights of the day. For this kind of savings, we can get up early.

 

This is practically enough to make we want to book a Celebrity Cruise as part of any foreign travel, just so I can use Choice Air again.

 

Tom & Judy

[Globehoppers]

w - you are quite correct, yet I and others focus on cabin for cabin with the exception of coach. I do not think that is an issue either unless one wants a 'refundable' fare in any class of service, that is a question which must be asked before paying.

 

International flights have not, yet, gone the route of LCC's where you pay for everything including food, although I have heard of a few who do now, but they are not ones used by X or many of us, currently.

 

I think the concern is most valid on US domestic flights rather than international, I could be incorrect though.

 

bon voyage

 

There are several European airlines offering "basic" transatlantic flights from major hubs. You pay extra for luggage, meals, etc. They are becoming popular with travelers.

[Globehoppers]

No, it was BC....

 

bon voyage

 

Nope. Economy. You cannot travel R/T between North America and Oceana in Business for that fare. Most fares on major carriers begin at $6,000. There are several airlines (Fiji, China) offering fares in the $4,500 range with stopovers. Sorry. Just spent a month working this for flights in October.

[waterbug123]

w - you are quite correct, yet I and others focus on cabin for cabin with the exception of coach. I do not think that is an issue either unless one wants a 'refundable' fare in any class of service, that is a question which must be asked before paying.

 

 

I think you've misunderstood my point. Getting a different ticket for the same flight is about far more than making sure you're comparing cabin-for-cabin, or refundable vs. non-refundable. it has to do with the exact fare code of your ticket, and all the little rules and regulations attached to it. These can be vastly different from one ticket to the next within the same cabin class. With cruise air, there's a good chance you may not be able to see all this fine print though, so you may not know whether or to what degree your ticket is different. Most of the time it won't matter because most of the time flights go off without any major glitches. But when they don't, and the s*$# hits the fan, people sometimes find out just how different their ticket actually is from someone else's ticket, based on the rebooking options and rebooking priority given to holders of different tickets that all seem the "same" on the surface.

 

 

if X's air holds to their commitment, as best they can, they will try to re-accommodate independent of the airline policy for such instances, whereas if one books independently, there most likely will be no consideration/accommodation given regardless. All airlines have to re-route you on 'their' next available flight, rather that be in one hour or one week or longer. If an airline has not interline agreements in place of course you will never be re-routed on another carrier at all... many of us who travel frequently know this to some degree, which makes booking through X look better and better, to me

 

bon voyage

 

Several misconceptions here:

 

-X cannot always re-accommodate "independent of the airline policy."

 

-Airlines don't necessarily offer "no consideration/accommodation" regardless, on independently booked tickets

 

-And its in the next available rerouting where the ticket differences often are realized. My ticket might allow me some rerouting options that yours doesn't, and/or my ticket might give me a higher priority to get rerouted ahead of you; when an entire plane full of people has to get reaccommodated, believe me that that "priority" level might be hugely important.

[Cruise Junky]

whereas if one books independently, there most likely will be no consideration/accommodation given regardless. All airlines have to re-route you on 'their' next available flight, rather that be in one hour or one week or longer. If an airline has not interline agreements in place of course you will never be re-routed on another carrier at all... many of us who travel frequently know this to some degree, which makes booking through X look better and better, to me.

 

 

 

bon voyage

That is absolutely not true. I've been rerouted on Lufthansa onto Air Canada on a totally different route. Last week a co-worker was on a Icelandic flight, Seattle - Iceland - London. His flight was cancelled, they put him on a BA flight direct to London.