Celebrity Air Questions and Feedback Needed

[WonderMan3]

So I have never looked into Celebrity Air before but decided to play around a bit on the Celebrity website today in conjunction with a cruise to Europe I have for next May. Reading over the information from Celebrity it appears that I can reserve flights without having to pay for them until my final payment is due. Is this really true? It also says no penalties are incurred with the flights until after the final payment deadline. So does that mean I could go in and change the flights to another airline or itinerary at no penalty prior to final payment? This all seems too good to be true. I am unsure if we are going to go on our May cruise as I don't know what is going to happen with COVID. I will make my final decision (unless Celebrity cancels my cruise first) by the final payment deadline but I typically like to book flights more than 90 days prior to departure. This appears to be a way for me to reserve flights without having to commit any money unlike booking with the airline directly. One big question I have though is if you book Celebrity Air and make your final payment are they able to make changes to your flights that you have no say over? Meaning could they suddenly switch you to another carrier or routing and you are stuck with whatever they give you with no option to cancel? If anyone can provide insight on the positives and negatives of booking Celebrity Air I would be interested in hearing. Right now the fares I'm seeing are comparable to what I'm seeing on Kayak so I feel inclined to reserve something just to have it as long as I have the ability to cancel without penalty (prior to final payment) in case I find something cheaper elsewhere (watching for that Jet Blue-American Airlines partnership to see if I will be able to use Jet Blue points on AA flights).

[WonderMan3]

Oops, didn't see that there was a thread on the first page which basically answered all my questions.

[bama4cruisin]

I can answer some of your questions.  

 

First, you are reading correctly . . . You do NOT pay for the airline tickets until final payment.  In addition, if rates drop (on the airline site or Choice Air site), you can get the new price.  You can also cancel and rebook if you find a better option . . . Before final payment.

 

you nay encounter an issue with choosing seats . . . But that is an airline issue, not a Choice Air issue . . . Some airlines don't allow seat selection before payment, others do.

 

i have only used Chouce Air for international flights, but I have never had a change made by Celebrity . . . I've had time changes made . . . By the airline, not Celebrity.  We had reservations through Celebrity to Barcelona this fall for our Apex TA; the Newark to Barcelona flight was canceled by United, early in the lockdown.  Glad I had booked this way, as I am not fighting with an airline for a refund or credit voucher.

 

 

 

  

 

 

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, bama4cruisin said:

I can answer some of your questions.  

 

First, you are reading correctly . . . You do NOT pay for the airline tickets until final payment.  In addition, if rates drop (on the airline site or Choice Air site), you can get the new price.  You can also cancel and rebook if you find a better option . . . Before final payment.

 

you nay encounter an issue with choosing seats . . . But that is an airline issue, not a Choice Air issue . . . Some airlines don't allow seat selection before payment, others do.

 

i have only used Chouce Air for international flights, but I have never had a change made by Celebrity . . . I've had time changes made . . . By the airline, not Celebrity.  We had reservations through Celebrity to Barcelona this fall for our Apex TA; the Newark to Barcelona flight was canceled by United, early in the lockdown.  Glad I had booked this way, as I am not fighting with an airline for a refund or credit voucher.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Thanks. Found the combination of flights I want but I can't get the Celebrity website to confirm them. I get all the way to the end to confirm everything and it kicks me back to the beginning and gives me an error message. I might have to call to inquire.

[bama4cruisin]

1 minute ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

Thanks. Found the combination of flights I want but I can't get the Celebrity website to confirm them. I get all the way to the end to confirm everything and it kicks me back to the beginning and gives me an error message. I might have to call to inquire.

I always call Celebrity Air . . . Have never had as much luck with the website.  

[wrk2cruise]

Yes call !   I booked my Baltic flights yesterday.  Agent found what I saw on the web page on United in Premium Economy for the price on the web.   But then said we could return on American at a bit better time and for less money.  After getting off the phone I was able to get the combination on the web but it was about $500 more.

 

As I said on the other thread I got burned today when booking traveling companions, we originally setup the flights from their departure city connecting to our same long haul flights.  They were concerned with the short connection time so asked to see if they could get an earlier departure which ended up putting them on a different long haul flight.  When we went back to the original flights they were $100 pp more.  If you are looking at something you like have them book it and then get them to change it if you find something better.   I'm not sure why they can't use a different window or something to hold the original. 

 

When I booked my flights yesterday I couldn't select premium economy seats on United but could on American.  Today booking our friends the agent reserved PE seats on both so I had her reserve my United seats as well.  I'm sure it's just a "seat request" as they don't actually ticket until you pay.

 

You don't have to pay until final payment but if the seat issue is real important you can pay earlier and it's still 100% refundable until final payment.  $200 pp penalty after final.

 

In our case Premium Economy fares were less than what they could quote Economy and were at least $300 less than basic economy on kayak or the airline website.

 

Been awhile since I bought tickets to Europe but > $2,000 for Economy??  That seems crazy.  I was expecting to pay about 1/2 of that.

 

My first time too but the risk free aspect is what sold me.

[kayakcove]

I have been looking a flights for a booking next summer.  When I am signed in on the Celebrity site and go to my booking and then click on flights it is not responding.  Same lack of response for several days.  Went directly to Flightsbycelebrity.com site and it accepted my booking number and gave me options, but seemed to very limited. Failed to find options for certain seat categories. I have 3 departure airports I can work with including Charlotte. My other disappointment was it the pricing. I was not seeing any price improvements over direct booking. (business to Europe) Almost no flight options with my preferred carrier (Delta).  

I had excellent pricing on flights I booked as soon as they were available on the cruise we did not take last month.  Will continue to monitor.  Not willing to book direct with carrier at this point in time, when canceling is still a real possibility. 

To try and keep up with our missed Baltic cruise in July.  I picked a couple of Youtube travel features on each port and watched them the same day we should have been there. 

 

[jelayne]

Call Choice Air and tell them what you have found or let them help you.  We have. It had success relying on what shows on-line but have been more successful when calling.