Flights by Celebrity pricing differential between quote and actual booking?

[hiccups]

Last night we booked a Thanksgiving week cruise on Summit out of San Juan.  I used the flight quote option on X's website before deciding to book, because as you can imagine, flights during a holiday week are at a premium.  I was very surprised today when I attempted to book flights using our reservation number, and found the price $117 PP more than the generic quote (I compared them in two different windows).  I called Flights by Celebrity and was told that the quote is just an estimate and the booking quote "is what it is."  I let the agent know that I was very unhappy to learn this, since that quote estimate went into our decision to book the cruise.

 

We've used Choice Air several times for Azamara cruises, and have never had any difference between the "just looking" quote and the "actual booking" quote.  Have we just been lucky?  Does this happen frequently? 

I understand I have the price drop benefit with the "book now and pay later" option, and the benefit of X helping get us to our cruise if something happens to our flights, so most likely we'll suck it up and book.  But I still feel a little baited and switched.

[jelayne]

I have found that often the prices are the same sometimes more but a couple of times we experienced looking and the next day going to book to find the price has dropped substantially.  Airline pricing is very dynamic.  

 

We looked at prices for a 1 way from Europe this week both just looking and by using our booking #.  Fares were the same and identical to booking with the airline.

we decided to book using miles.

[kearney]

Wow.. not sure.... We are going on a cruise in September... we were planning on driving from ATL to FLL... but I decided to look at Choice air.... the fare was $153/pp for economy... which was extremely reasonable... so I booked it.... when I got the document from Celebrity there was a cancellation charge of $200/pp. I did not see this anywhere before booking. I would have been ticked off if I hadn't booked the flight just a few days before final payment was due on the cruise... so in my mind we were committed to the cruise... but I would warn others to ask about any cancellation fees... 

[hiccups]

Our TA also put a hold on the Equinox for that same day, and because I have a booking number, I used it to price flights.  The price of the "just looking" is exactly the same as the "actual booking."   So that makes my dilemma even more annoying!  I'll see if my husband now might want to switch to the Equinox cruise.

[cruiserchuck]

42 minutes ago, hiccups said:

Last night we booked a Thanksgiving week cruise on Summit out of San Juan.  I used the flight quote option on X's website before deciding to book, because as you can imagine, flights during a holiday week are at a premium.  I was very surprised today when I attempted to book flights using our reservation number, and found the price $117 PP more than the generic quote (I compared them in two different windows).  I called Flights by Celebrity and was told that the quote is just an estimate and the booking quote "is what it is."  I let the agent know that I was very unhappy to learn this, since that quote estimate went into our decision to book the cruise.

 

We've used Choice Air several times for Azamara cruises, and have never had any difference between the "just looking" quote and the "actual booking" quote.  Have we just been lucky?  Does this happen frequently? 

I understand I have the price drop benefit with the "book now and pay later" option, and the benefit of X helping get us to our cruise if something happens to our flights, so most likely we'll suck it up and book.  But I still feel a little baited and switched.

 

Prices often change from day to day, so the price you saw yesterday may have been accurate, but it may have changed today.  

[hiccups]

49 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

Prices often change from day to day, so the price you saw yesterday may have been accurate, but it may have changed today.  

I know that--that's not the issue.  I am looking at the prices right now, on two different tabs, done within 15 seconds of each other.  The price quote is $117 less than the price to actually book those flights (Summit cruise).  The price for the Equinox cruise is the same (quote versus booking), so we're going to switch our cruise.

Edited June 18, 2019 by hiccups

[hiccups]

Well, we can't win for losing  🙂  Tried to switch to the Equinox, but because the TA has us in a group on Summit, changing the reservation takes 24 hours to process (according to him, anyway) and by then, their promo is over.  The cabin price would go up $200, which would be a wash with the higher Summit airfare.  I can hope that the air price will go down, I guess!

Anyway, maybe this thread can serve as an FYI that if you use the airfare price quote, even if you book the cruise right then, your airfare may not be what the quote was.

[Lastdance]

1 minute ago, hiccups said:

Well, we can't win for losing  🙂  Tried to switch to the Equinox, but because the TA has us in a group on Summit, changing the reservation takes 24 hours to process (according to him, anyway) and by then, their promo is over.  The cabin price would go up $200, which would be a wash with the higher Summit airfare.  I can hope that the air price will go down, I guess!

Anyway, maybe this thread can serve as an FYI that if you use the airfare price quote, even if you book the cruise right then, your airfare may not be what the quote was.

Exactly!