Air2Sea seat upgrades - how did you get them?

[Cruiser24]

We booked through Air2Sea from Newark to Barcelona for our upcoming TA in November.   For a one way ticket on BA, you really can't beat the price.  When we made the reservation, the only choice we were given were seats in World Traveler Standard Economy.   Although this is what we normally fly, we decided this time we might try to upgrade to World Traveler Plus.  I called Air2Sea who said they couldn't change the seats, then called BA who said the same.  BA said that the reason our flight was so inexpensive is that Air2Sea had a block of seats to sell at a discounted price.  I've read on other threads that people booked with Air2Sea but have upgraded seats.  So I'm curious, how did you make this happen?  Thank you.

[twangster]

It all depends on the fares they booked.  When I've used Air2Sea I was booked in the same fare class I would have booked direct on the airline's site.  My upgrades and perks for being elite with that airline worked normally.

 

Had they booked me in the no frills basic coach class my normal elite benefits wouldn't apply.

 

It seems like in your case the fare class booked isn't upgradeable.    Not a lot anyone can do about that.  That's how the fares are so cheap.  

[taglovestocruise]

We have used Air2Sea many times and always fly premium economy or business class.  When using the Air2Sea site I just click on premium economy, there is always three choices, Economy, premium economy and business. I have never seen first class.  I have also never seen any limitation on seat location.  Last trip from LAX to Barcelona premium was offered on Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Lufthansa. We ended up booking Norwegian business class for $650 pp one way.   The part of Air2Sea buying  groups of seats is pretty bogus,  they offer a dozen or so airlines and offer 24 hour a day options and allow several weeks before and after the cruise sail date. Maybe different in the UK but not here. Have never tried to upgrade after purchase but we have changed seat location months after booking the flight.

[John&LaLa]

49 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

We have used Air2Sea many times and always fly premium economy or business class.  When using the Air2Sea site I just click on premium economy, there is always three choices, Economy, premium economy and business. I have never seen first class.  I have also never seen any limitation on seat location.  Last trip from LAX to Barcelona premium was offered on Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Lufthansa. We ended up booking Norwegian business class for $650 pp one way.   The part of Air2Sea buying  groups of seats is pretty bogus,  they offer a dozen or so airlines and offer 24 hour a day options and allow several weeks before and after the cruise sail date. Maybe different in the UK but not here. Have never tried to upgrade after purchase but we have changed seat location months after booking the flight.

 

I dont see Norwegian offered on our Spring TA. I figured Roysl gave up on them

[taglovestocruise]

2 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I dont see Norwegian offered on our Spring TA. I figured Roysl gave up on them

It was not a bad flight but we would not be repeaters.  Big stretch to call it business class but the price was great,  they also use terminal 2 in BCN  which is for low cost airlines and has a very small immigration area as well as limited taxi service.  Best flight ever was premium economy on Lufthansa. Absolute best price, service and comfort flying cheap economy was Air France 380 double decker. happy cruising

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

It was not a bad flight but we would not be repeaters.  Big stretch to call it business class but the price was great,  they also use terminal 2 in BCN  which is for low cost airlines and has a very small immigration area as well as limited taxi service.  Best flight ever was premium economy on Lufthansa. Absolute best price, service and comfort flying cheap economy was Air France 380 double decker. happy cruising

 

I was referring to their financials. 

 

We're flying home United, got a decent price on a direct into Miami. Half the cost of flying into Orlando,  but twice the price of booking Norwegian direct

[kingcole]

As a regular flying on BA there are ways of ‘possibly’ upgrading this ticket.

 

Firstly, if you are not a member, join the BA executive club and download the app. You may then well see offers to upgrade any time until the day of your flight. As a rule. I would expect the fee to be in the region of $200-$250 one way for a WT to WTP offer. Failing that, ask at checking in. This is known as a AUP and can be offered at the airport. 

 

FWIW it’s worth checking what aircraft you are in. If its the A380 then your experience will be far better than if in a 777 or one of the unrefurbished 747’s.

 

WTP is often oversold so it’s a good cabin for a chance of an Op up to business (Club)

 

Either way though, join the Exec club for the miles.

 

In response to another post, Norwegian don’t do business class. They only have economy or premium economy. If you were sold business then you were miss sold!

 

As for Royal dropping Norwegian..... Norwegian have cancelled many of their long haul routes due to either not being profitable or 787 issues

[Jimbo]

Asked this on another thread but will ask here where I  see seasoned Air2sea users.

 

When using Air2sea, if you book and later on see a lower air price pop up do they reprice your air ticket for you, if so what happens with your cruise price that you are booked at, do they reprice that to the current cruise price or leave that alone?

 

Another question say 3 months before our cruise and before final payment we see a much lower air price on our own, can we opt out of the Air2Sea deal, if we go that route how much Air2Sea $$ is non refundable?

 

Flight I'm looking at are for 2020, PHL to Anchorage  and either Vancouver to PHL or Seattle to PHL

Edited July 21, 2019 by Jimbo

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

 ...

Another question say 3 months before our cruise and before final payment we see a much lower air price on our own, can we opt out of the Air2Sea deal, if we go that route how much Air2Sea $$ is non refundable? ...

 

The $15 or $25 per person service charge is not refundable.

 

The amount of the airfare that is refundable depends on which fare you purchased.  Some are 100% refundable (other than the service charge), some are partially refundable,  some are not refundable at all.

 

There is a fare type that is not paid until cruise final payment date, that one would only cost you the service charge if you cancel before cruise final payment date.

[waterbug123]

20 hours ago, Cruiser24 said:

 BA said that the reason our flight was so inexpensive is that Air2Sea had a block of seats to sell at a discounted price.  I've read on other threads that people booked with Air2Sea but have upgraded seats.  So I'm curious, how did you make this happen?  Thank you.

 

Cruise lines often sell airline tickets in multiple fare categories.  Some are regular published fares and others might be "basic economy" tickets that don't allow seat selection, upgrades etc.  Still others are bulk fares that are also typically more restricted.  Your tickets were restricted because, as the rep told you, you had bulk fare tickets.  Others that posted about less restrictive tickets almost assuredly had tickets in a higher fare class.

 

14 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

When using the Air2Sea site I just click on premium economy, there is always three choices, Economy, premium economy and business. I have never seen first class.

 

Many airlines do not offer international first class seating anymore.  And the ones that do typically have a very small first class cabin and the airline is probably not inclined to discount the fares to cruise lines.  All of that makes it much easier and more logical for the cruise lines to not offer an international first class option.

[robandana]

We were able to upgrade the day of check in. When we got the email that we could now do our online check in we had an option to upgrade to Premium. The cost seems to depend on the fare paid and in our case was quite expensive and we did not opt for the upgrade. Once we got to the airport to actually check in we asked again about an upgrade, the price was a bit less but still more than what we were willing to pay.

 

Air2Sea can do very cheap fares because they package the flight with the cruise, I think its called a TO fare and designed for tour operators to make up packages (flight, hotel, cruise, etc) 

Edited July 21, 2019 by robandana

[Cruiser24]

Thank you for all of your replies.  We'll definitely join the Executive Club and download the app on BA and will look for other options the next time we use Air2Sea.

[Artemis908]

Just an FYI - I wasn't able to access my flight/choose seats until I paid for my cruise in full. Then I was able to do everything through the airline's website when Air2Sea provided a reservation locator number. Not sure if this is true for all flights or not. 

[zooma]

18 hours ago, Artemis908 said:

Just an FYI - I wasn't able to access my flight/choose seats until I paid for my cruise in full. Then I was able to do everything through the airline's website when Air2Sea provided a reservation locator number. Not sure if this is true for all flights or not. 

 

We were given an airline record locator number as soon as we booked with Air2Sea (before having made any real payment). With that, it was easy to find our reservation directly on Delta's website and choose seats/meals, etc.

[robandana]

3 hours ago, zooma said:

 

We were given an airline record locator number as soon as we booked with Air2Sea (before having made any real payment). With that, it was easy to find our reservation directly on Delta's website and choose seats/meals, etc.

Yes same with us, it was also Delta and we booked our seats well before we paid for the flight/cruise.