Choice Air Fare Drop After Purchase

[sasset]

Anyone get any fare reduction outside of the 24 hour booking window price guarantee from Choice Air/Flights By Celebrity? Been on hold for over 30 minutes to check on the almost $400 each drop in our LHR to PHX tickets.

Edited March 18, 2019 by sasset
Correction of text

[sasset]

After 76 minutes on hold I got my answer. Too bad, you're outside of the 24 hour window.

[justcrusn]

Yeah, airlines are not as kind as cruise lines lol

[FlorenceItaly]

I am very sorry to hear this.  Thank you for coming back and updating.  I wish it was better news for you.

[BEAV]

If the fare drop is $400 per person, couldn’t you cancel your tickets and rebook at the new fare?  The change/cancel penalty is probably $150-200, meaning you’d still come out ahead in the end, right?

[sasset]

I had a feeling that would be the outcome. The 24 hour price guarantee references finding a lower price "on a major US Website". I thought that maybe since I found it on the Flights By Celebrity/Choice Air site that I might get a break. But, no.

[sasset]

Just now, BEAV said:

If the fare drop is $400 per person, couldn’t you cancel your tickets and rebook at the new fare?  The change/cancel penalty is probably $150-200, meaning you’d still come out ahead in the end, right?

Yeah, it's $200 per for cancellation. I asked about that and the rep said that in the time it takes for him to issue a cancellation and then do a rebooking the fare may go back up. In the weeks prior to buying the air I saw wild fluctuations in the fare, some on the same day. So we're sticking with what we've got.

[waterbug123]

12 hours ago, sasset said:

Yeah, it's $200 per for cancellation. I asked about that and the rep said that in the time it takes for him to issue a cancellation and then do a rebooking the fare may go back up. In the weeks prior to buying the air I saw wild fluctuations in the fare, some on the same day. So we're sticking with what we've got.

 

Next time tell the rep to book the new ticket first.  THEN go back and cancel the original reservation. 

[sasset]

Thanks. Didn't think of that bu,t when I've been booking my own stuff on AA.com I've found that it won't let me book the same itinerary if I'm already ticketed on it.

[bigdawgs]

I recently booked my air arrangements through Flights by Celebrity because I spotted a great business fare and couldn’t pass it up. The itinerary was MIA to Prague with Lufthansa, then from PRG to Rome for a cruise, returning from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale. It was booked as one way rather than multiple destinations. The return to FLL is with United (a Lufthansa code share) through EWR with a 4 hour layover at EWR (Newark).

 

The other day I noticed that Celebrity was offering a flight out of Newark departing two hours earlier, so I called my TA to see if she could make the switch. She called Celebrity and was told that there would be a $200 pp change fee, PLUS the difference in fare which in our case would amount to more than $1,000. 

 

Therefore, we will keep our original flight to FLL and spend 4 hours at the new United lounge in Newark. 

 

To summarize, if you spot a great fare, grab it. Had we waited, we would have been able to book the better connection to FLL but the total price would have been more than $1000 higher.

 

Safe travels.

Larry

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fogfog]

Months after our purchase We called to make a change to a ticket--found out the price drop was huge (Biz class) and even though we had to pay $200 pp to change the flight... it was worth it because the drop was $300 per person. So our change cost us a next $100....

It was however  was about 90 days from sailing --AS we had to pay for the tickets up front (before the new pay at final payment deal) and had booked the flights 6 months out

 

 

[BEAV]

5 hours ago, sasset said:

Thanks. Didn't think of that bu,t when I've been booking my own stuff on AA.com I've found that it won't let me book the same itinerary if I'm already ticketed on it.

 

When AA.com wouldn’t let you book a duplicate itinerary, were you by chance logged on to the website under your account? If so, I wonder if you could book it as a guest, not signed in under a specific account? Either that, or book through a 3rd party website (Expedia, etc) if the fare was identical as AA.com. I normally never book air through a 3rd party site if I can get the same fare/itinerary directly through the airline itself. But I wonder in this case if a 3rd party site would be a work around.....

[39august]

I have recently used Flights by Celebrity's Buy Now Pay Later plan. I can do anything I wish with my reservation at no penalty up until the final payment due date. I got a $75 pp drop just 4 days after booking. I continue to monitor the prices. Also the rate is guaranteed not to go up if the airline raises prices.Even tho' this is a domestic flight, it is still a bit cheaper with Flights by Celebrity than directly thru' the airline. 

[Lastdance]

I have a refundable fare booked, so I can change it if I find a better price up until final payment.  I also have my seats.  Just got lucky on that one...the airfares have been crazy since the end of last year, around November...it used to be easy and cheap for one way overseas in business.  This time it took me weeks to find the above decent fare...

[Jim_Iain]

37 minutes ago, 39august said:

I have recently used Flights by Celebrity's Buy Now Pay Later plan. I can do anything I wish with my reservation at no penalty up until the final payment due date. I got a $75 pp drop just 4 days after booking. I continue to monitor the prices. Also the rate is guaranteed not to go up if the airline raises prices.Even tho' this is a domestic flight, it is still a bit cheaper with Flights by Celebrity than directly thru' the airline. 

 

Thanks for reporting this.   I was going to ask if anyone had tried the Buy Now Pay Later plan.  Makes me want to use it for our next cruise.

[DUTRAVEL]

26 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks for reporting this.   I was going to ask if anyone had tried the Buy Now Pay Later plan.  Makes me want to use it for our next cruise.

 

I'm using the refundable Flights by Celebrity for our November TA. On my original flight, I got a business price that I could live with. I called last week to check prices and my flight had gone down $500 per person. We have been able to chose our seats even though payment is not due until final cruise payment.  The only problem is that you do have to call to check prices - the prices on the website are still not accurate.

[39august]

BTW, the personnel has been very accommodating so far. I've changed the flights 3 times. 

[rotoal]

4 hours ago, 39august said:

BTW, the personnel has been very accommodating so far. I've changed the flights 3 times. 

You were very lucky.   I booked through Flights by Celebrity at a fare from PHL to LHR that I thought would never go lower, but it did.   It took more than a week and 4 phone calls before I found someone who could make the change. Luckily the prices for the flights stayed low - although in between it jumped back up, and then came down again.   I kept seeing the lower fare on both Flights by Celebrity and on aa.com - the first 3 people I spoke to told me that what they saw was a rate higher than my initial rate, and basically they were telling me I was crazy. 

I was almost ready to just cancel through Flights by Celebrity and book with aa.com - but DH hasn't yet put in his vacation request, and the idea of a fully refundable fare is appealing until we are sure that he can take the time off.  I finally found someone willing to take the time to get me the lower fare. 

Now I am on hold with my big box TA to get a lower rate on the cruise.  

[waterbug123]

21 hours ago, sasset said:

Thanks. Didn't think of that bu,t when I've been booking my own stuff on AA.com I've found that it won't let me book the same itinerary if I'm already ticketed on it.

 

1.  When we've changed flights at Delta, the agent has been able to put the new flights on hold while canceling the original, then finalizes the new booking.

2.  If you do it yourself, don't log in or use your frequent flyer number for the new flights.  Book them, then go back and cancel the original flights.  Once that's done, log into the new reservation and add your frequent flyer number.

 

14 hours ago, Lastdance said:

 

 

[sasset]

Thanks