HAL Air

[luvn2cruzzz]

Thinking of looking into HAL's air program for our next Europe cruise and wondering how it works with airline status. Have used other cruise line programs but it was a while ago. Do you accrue points just as if you booked it with the airline itself. What about upgrades? If you have an elevated status, does it come into play? Thanks!

[Palm Bay Cruise Couple]

Thinking of looking into HAL's air program for our next Europe cruise and wondering how it works with airline status. Have used other cruise line programs but it was a while ago. Do you accrue points just as if you booked it with the airline itself. What about upgrades? If you have an elevated status, does it come into play? Thanks!

My suggestion is to contact a Holland America Line 'Personal Cruise Consultant' for the latest and most accurate information. We have used the HAL air program did accrue points for the airline of our choice. Although I did have to log on the airlines website, find our flights and choose our seats. No big issue. We will be utilizing the airline program for a 2019 cruise.

[rkacruiser]

My suggestion is to contact a Holland America Line 'Personal Cruise Consultant' for the latest and most accurate information. We have used the HAL air program did accrue points for the airline of our choice. Although I did have to log on the airlines website, find our flights and choose our seats. No big issue. We will be utilizing the airline program for a 2019 cruise.

 

Good advice from this poster to contact a HAL PCC or have your travel agent, if you are using one, get the answers you want..

 

My HAL Air experience has been that I have earned airline mileage points and was also able to book seats at the time the reservation was made. One does need the airline locator number for the airline reservation and not just the cruise reservation number in order to see your air itinerary on the airline's web site.

[kazu]

I am using HAL's flight ease for the first time in decades (it probably wasn't called that back then) and both of our FF numbers have been registered and showing on my booking. Not sure what the FF miles will be of course, but it appears we will be credited.

[dfish]

I have been credited with the miles when I used HAL air. In addition, I was able to upgrade to Economy as it should be (Main Cabin Extra, Comfort Economy, or what ever they call it).

[luvn2cruzzz]

Thank you for your replies. I will contact a PCC as suggested.

[TAD2005]

The greatest part of HAL Air (Flight Ease) is that your payment for the air is not due until final cruise payment is due, usually 75 days out. If you book your own ticket, you must pay immediately with little or no cancellation available. With HAL Air, if something happens and you must cancel the cruise, the air is cancelled with it and you lose no money. I nice peace of mind knowing you don't have to go to battle with an airline to get any of your money back, and you will surely lose that fight.

[*Miss G*]

I just checked prices again. I still get a better deal doing it on my own. Maybe one day. I hope.

[navybankerteacher]

I just checked prices again. I still get a better deal doing it on my own. Maybe one day. I hope.

 

You MIGHT get a better deal booking on your own if it s a ROUND TRIP transatlantic, but I doubt it. If it is a one way, to catch a repositioning, there is no way - most airlines charge more for a one way T/A than a round trip - - yes, it sounds stupid and illogical, but that is the way it is.. I have used HAL's program three times to get to Europe for westbound T/A's, Cunard's twice, and Royal Caribbean's once - it really beats doing it on your own.

[*Miss G*]

It's a one way following a trans pacific. Last year it was a one way following a trans atlantic. I still got a better deal on my own.

[rkacruiser]

It's a one way following a trans pacific. Last year it was a one way following a trans atlantic. I still got a better deal on my own.

 

I did a trans-Pacific one way flight once: Singapore-SFO-DAY. HAL was not able to provide me with a better price than I found on my own.

 

I really think HAL Air is better when they have some contracts with one or more airlines. I don't think (nor did my TA) that HAL had any contracts for flights from Singapore.

[TAD2005]

One-way international flights are horribly expensive, because most of the people buying them are business travelers who's company is paying for the flight. They buy a one-way because they have no idea how long their business will take. The airlines take advantage of that by charging almost double for a one-way than the same flight with a return. I needed a one way, Tampa->Venice for a westbound cruise. The cheapest, even on some of the flaky sites like Cheap-O-Air, were around $759. A round trip was around $490, and this was regular economy. HAL air got me $395. Many people will purchase a round trip ticket to get the cheaper rate and throw away the return ticket. The airlines hate that, and can penalize you by taking any miles earned.

[iancal]

We have never had a good cruise line air offer on trans pacific. Always done better on our own.

 

Only once have we had a better trans atlantic one way fare on cruise air. Plus, the connection and the airline was better. All other times we have done as well or better on our own. Our preference is to book direct with the airline if the pricing/routing is competitive.

[kazu]

our one way flight on a Transaltantic was so good for business class that I rebanked my FF miles. Much better connection to get our puddle hopper home too.

 

I'm talking about nearly $5M each in savings and airline we have always wanted to try.

 

It's worth checking and looking at. Doesn't cost antying.

 

And this is one who normally books her own air.

[*Miss G*]

I definitely keep checking. That is, until they released the new website. Now I can't check anything. ;p

[iancal]

We check cruise air every time.

 

We also check the costs and offerings on cruise air when we are doing independent land based travel. Celebrity and RCI both allow you to shop for air without having a booked cruise. It gives us another view of pricing. I have been told that we can now do this on the Princess site but ipI have not yet tried.

 

 

We have found it useless for trans pacific-one way or return. We particularly like seeing the various routings, airlines, and pricing options listed out on the screen.

Edited April 4, 2018 by iancal

[Hlitner]

We think Iancal has it right about checking cruiser air, every time. This is something we have done on about 100 cruises and only used cruise air twice. But we have an upcoming cruise where we needed to fly (Business Class) from the east coast of the USA to Singapore...and then home from Vancouver. In this case the cruise line is Princess and they just happened to have an amazing business class fare that saved us about $2000 per person over the best deal I could find on my own. You just never know what kind of the deals the cruise lines will have on a certain itinerary...which is why it makes sense to check it out.

 

One piece of advice. When checking International Air Fares...consider flights from multiple airports...even if it is somewhat inconvenient. In our case the best deal (by far) was from JFK which is not a very convenient airport for us. But we can live with a one-way rental car deal and 4 hour drive to save thousands of dollars.

 

Hank

[iancal]

Alternate airports is what we often end up with for European travel. What we sometimes save by going to an alternate airport pays for a short visit there. And we get to see some places that we had not previously considered.

 

An addendum...we can, and do, shop for air on the Celebrity and the RCI sites but only for comparison or benchmark pricing when we do not have a cruise booked. Clearly, the cruise line will not accept a cruise air booking without a cruise confirmation number.

[ottahand7]

This discussion has been so helpful. I am working through trying to find business class from either Philadelphia or Dulles to Amsterdam and then back to either from Rome. I found a great price on KLM to Amsterdam but the return is problematic. It is so expensive I am going to see what Holland can do.

[kazu]

Here is the one heads up I will give. I have had a booking since July last year. I am trying to get preferred seats (more leg room) for our puddle hopper flight since we get in at 1:30 AM on our return. I called the airline as I can't do it on line. I thought it was because HAL had booked me. No I haven't been ticketed yet. My reservation is secure, but I can't do a dam thing until HAL tickets me.

 

I don't do the preferred seats early (not talking biz class here) as AC tends to change their planes and booking the wrong seat = paying and getting nothing.