Flights by Celebrity: Useless...ChoiceAir: good one way fares to/from Europe gone?

[ghstudio]

Just tried to check a few flights on both systems...."flights by Celebrity" and "choiceAir.

 

Flights by Celebrity could find no flights to/from two cruises, one in Europe, the other in Asia...and I was looking at economy and checked various dates on all flights.

 

ChoiceAir found one way flights from Europe (we are using air miles one way) but they are the same $2000+ charged by the airlines.  Apparently the one way fare agreements with the airlines have gone away, at least to/from us and European ports.  The system could find round trip's, but also at the same price as the airlines (as expected).

 

No I didn't try calling...both sites are supposed to work from the internet and it's painful to go over date options and airport options with a person....we are flexible and choose the least cost routing....and we have four departure/return airports we can use....and Tokyo has two major international airports, etc.

 

Have others had better luck with international flights.

Edited March 13, 2019 by ghstudio

[Wine-O]

I just did a dummy booking from EWR to BCN for a cruise in October 2019, and came up with a non-stop United flight for $321.00.   Looks like a great price to me.

[ghstudio]

That is a great, and the range of expected prices.  I was checking July....for Europe...

[h20skibum]

18 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

That is a great, and the range of expected prices.  I was checking July....for Europe...

 

The oneway flights have been crazy for a while.  We tried choiceair a few months ago for a oneway flight from SFO to LHR for a July cruise, and it was coming up with $4,700 for two one way tickets in economy.

 

We ended up booking Virgin Atlantic, two round trip direct flights in economy delight for a very reasonable price.  Of course, we bought on the right day of the week, and far enough out.

 

It also helped to have google flights tracking for almost a year.

[scottygirl]

2 hours ago, ghstudio said:

Just tried to check a few flights on both systems...."flights by Celebrity" and "choiceAir.

 

Flights by Celebrity could find no flights to/from two cruises, one in Europe, the other in Asia...and I was looking at economy and checked various dates on all flights.

 

ChoiceAir found one way flights from Europe (we are using air miles one way) but they are the same $2000+ charged by the airlines.  Apparently the one way fare agreements with the airlines have gone away, at least to/from us and European ports.  The system could find round trip's, but also at the same price as the airlines (as expected).

 

No I didn't try calling...both sites are supposed to work from the internet and it's painful to go over date options and airport options with a person....we are flexible and choose the least cost routing....and we have four departure/return airports we can use....and Tokyo has two major international airports, etc.

 

Have others had better luck with international flights.

I had better luck calling Choice Air.  They actually found flights on a "different system" for our cruise to Hawaii.  Might be worth a call. Not sure what the "different system" was so I can't help with that.

[cruise kitty]

The prices were better when I called as well.   Yes, I know you're supposed to be able to do it all online, but I'll always call now, knowing that they have pricing we can't see.  

 

If Air New Zealand flies from where you live, they do great one way fares to London. :)

[hiccups]

1 hour ago, scottygirl said:

I had better luck calling Choice Air.  They actually found flights on a "different system" for our cruise to Hawaii.  Might be worth a call. Not sure what the "different system" was so I can't help with that.

 

Interesting!  I've always just booked online, and gotten what I thought were great prices for international flights, but maybe next time I'll call as well.  Of course now I'm stewing I may have missed a better price  

[gfkcruiser]

Yes, do call.  Our listed one way back from TA was outrageous.  When I called it was less than half and a great deal.

[JoePDX]

This thread also talks about the importance of asking the booking code the agent is using to quote airfare....

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2639360-psa-when-booking-flights-through-celebrity-make-sure-to-check-the-booking-code/?tab=comments#comment-56895028

 

Joe

 

[sasset]

We just got a good one way LHR-PHX in business on Choice Air. While I was watching the fare for a few weeks before I finally booked I would see wild fluctuations over the course of a few hours.

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

4 hours ago, ghstudio said:

Just tried to check a few flights on both systems...."flights by Celebrity" and "choiceAir.

 

Flights by Celebrity could find no flights to/from two cruises, one in Europe, the other in Asia...and I was looking at economy and checked various dates on all flights.

 

ChoiceAir found one way flights from Europe (we are using air miles one way) but they are the same $2000+ charged by the airlines.  Apparently the one way fare agreements with the airlines have gone away, at least to/from us and European ports.  The system could find round trip's, but also at the same price as the airlines (as expected).

 

No I didn't try calling...both sites are supposed to work from the internet and it's painful to go over date options and airport options with a person....we are flexible and choose the least cost routing....and we have four departure/return airports we can use....and Tokyo has two major international airports, etc.

 

Have others had better luck with international flights.

If you are looking in and out of RSW, you will probably find NOTHING that seems reasonably priced. Please check MIA or FLL as your gateway.

That strategy works well for us, and then we do a one way rental car back to SWFL.

[ghstudio]

13 minutes ago, Palms2Pines2Sea said:

If you are looking in and out of RSW, you will probably find NOTHING that seems reasonably priced. Please check MIA or FLL as your gateway.

That strategy works well for us, and then we do a one way rental car back to SWFL.

I tried miami and tampa.....those should be large enough airports to cover most airlines....

[johhnnyt]

3 hours ago, scottygirl said:

I had better luck calling Choice Air.  They actually found flights on a "different system" for our cruise to Hawaii.  Might be worth a call. Not sure what the "different system" was so I can't help with that.

Same here, the one way flights to Rome were coming up high $2400 in biz class , $900 in economy, called Choice Air and found them to be less than half the price. Someone at Celebrity told me since Celebrity awarded a new vendor to  handle their Choice Air program, these glitches in pricing have come up quite a few times, so best to call and verify.

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

1 hour ago, ghstudio said:

I tried miami and tampa.....those should be large enough airports to cover most airlines....

You would think, but look at FLL.

The presence of Norwegian Air in FLL drives the prices lower for most competing carriers, but only in and out of FLL.

😎