What are you doing about flights

[vacationlover_mn]

I’m approaching the time where is normally start checking flight prices...  but, who knows what next feb will bring?

 

I’m curious what you guys are doing for your flights... are you just holding off and not even checking prices?  Booking and paying to move your flight if needed?

 

if I book the flight through my TA and RCI, will it lift and shift for free, if RCI makes me lift and shift the cruise?

 

thx!

[cruiseguy1016]

You book your flights a year in advance?

[bouhunter]

We have 3 cruises booked from San Juan January 2022.  I doubt we'll even think about looking at flights until late summer at the earliest.  But we'll be in Florida next winter so it would be a short flight from Miami and prices from there aren't usually too high anyway.

[vacationlover_mn]

I start looking as soon as they are available (which is usually about a year out) then check rates almost daily.  We are pretty picky- only do Delta, with no layovers (when possible), and get there a day in advance ideally earlier in the day- so there aren’t usually a ton of options :).  So far this been able to do a good job of nabbing a flight at a decent price.

[A&L_Ont]

If you have to book a cruise flight, or any flight for that matter, IMO book it 100% refundable.  There are many reasons for that now, but hopefully less as the year goes on. 

Edited January 9, 2021 by A&L_Ont

[bouhunter]

1 minute ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I start looking as soon as they are available (which is usually about a year out) then check rates almost daily.  We are pretty picky- only do Delta, with no layovers (when possible), and get there a day in advance ideally earlier in the day- so there aren’t usually a ton of options :).  So far this been able to do a good job of nabbing a flight at a decent price.

We've booked flights 11 months out many times, often it's a way to get the best prices.  But that was pre-covid, we're in no hurry to buy plane tickets now.....  😞

 

[A&L_Ont]

1 minute ago, bouhunter said:

We've booked flights 11 months out many times, often it's a way to get the best prices.  But that was pre-covid, we're in no hurry to buy plane tickets now.....  😞

 

That was our policy in the past and morphed to your new one as well.

[John&LaLa]

Look at Air 2 Sea if booking international one way trips. Just booked air to Barcelona for our iffy fall TA

[Ourusualbeach]

42 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Look at Air 2 Sea if booking international one way trips. Just booked air to Barcelona for our iffy fall TA

^^^Definitely Air 2 Sea and refundable.  Don’t pay until final payment, if you see the flights lower you can cancel and rebook.  By final you should have a pretty good idea of whether it’s going to sail or not. 

[emeraldcity]

I plan to book my air through RCI for any 2021 cruises. I got burned on the air I booked for my Fall 2020 cruise plans. That great rate wasn't so great when the best they would offer me was flight credits that had to be used within a year of booking (which is Feb. 9, 2021). What's the chance I will be going to Italy next month?

 

[LuCruise]

This is a problem now...esp for high peak travel times.  For our March break 2019, we booked the day that flights were released (so around April 2018) and it worked out great for us.  These flights go up and up with each day so we were glad we booked at a decent price.  However, at the moment we have 1 credit from WestJet (booked pre-covid for our Aug 2020 cancelled cruise), don't want any more credits, and so we are waiting and won't book until we know our ship is sailing.  Luckily our next two cruises are at a closer port for us so if we had to, we could drive (a 9-10 hr drive so long, but doable).  For March break 2022, it's out of Florida and we won't be driving for that one (but we do have a backup at the closer port) so will have to see.

Edited January 9, 2021 by LuCruise

[DISFANS3]

We book our flights on are own. Have cruise plans for sept, going to wait until one month out before we buy. We will pay a higher price but don't want to get stuck with flights if cruise is canceled. Or we might just drive to port, 24 hours. and not worry about flights??

[FlorenceItaly]

We have booked domestic flights with Southwest points, and international travel through Holland America, refundable, not due until final payment.

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

For March break 2022, it's out of Florida and we won't be driving for that one

I booked my flight for March 2022 just over a month ago.  Air Transat opened their flights up and they were great prices.  Two other families and us grabbed them the first day.  First time flying for us at March break.

[reallyitsmema]

I would not be booking a domestic flight for a cruise a year away at this point.  The airlines have been flying reduced schedules and the flight you book now will likely change many times in the next year.  We usually fly on miles as my DH travels a lot on business, so we usually book as soon as flights are available, but we would wait in this unknown situation we are in right now.  We have a cruise in May 2021 that we have not booked flights for as we really think it will be cancelled.  I would wait it out for now.

[voyager70]

3 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

I would not be booking a domestic flight for a cruise a year away at this point.  The airlines have been flying reduced schedules and the flight you book now will likely change many times in the next year.  We usually fly on miles as my DH travels a lot on business, so we usually book as soon as flights are available, but we would wait in this unknown situation we are in right now.  We have a cruise in May 2021 that we have not booked flights for as we really think it will be cancelled.  I would wait it out for now.

 

Agree.  We did a land trip to Florida in October and booked our flights in May.  Schedule was changed 4, possibly 5 times over 5 months.  Was very frustrating, but at least we got to get away for a week.

 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

^^^Definitely Air 2 Sea and refundable.  Don’t pay until final payment, if you see the flights lower you can cancel and rebook.  By final you should have a pretty good idea of whether it’s going to sail or not. 

 

Lately it seems all the A2S flights are refundable

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

^^^Definitely Air 2 Sea and refundable.  Don’t pay until final payment, if you see the flights lower you can cancel and rebook.  By final you should have a pretty good idea of whether it’s going to sail or not. 

Do you know anyone who can book Air2Sea?

[rockmom]

I had to book flights for my July '21 cruise because I had to use our vouchers from our canceled June 2020 cruise.  Technically we were supposed to use them by June 15th, but AA was nice and let us use them for a June 30th flight. But if that cruise doesn't go, we are out of luck and out of that $$ for those flights.  I'm in the same situation for our Oasis cruise that was scheduled to sail tomorrow.  I have to use for flights departing no later than December of this year.  That would be a huge hit to lose, there are 7 of us and it's about $3K in airfare.  I'm waiting for AA to open their flight schedules from the west coast to Florida for Dec 31st, we rebooked on Harmony for Jan 2, so are hoping to squeak by and not lose all that money. 

[mac_tlc]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

^^^Definitely Air 2 Sea and refundable.  Don’t pay until final payment, if you see the flights lower you can cancel and rebook.  By final you should have a pretty good idea of whether it’s going to sail or not. 

Bingo. We just booked our one-way flight to Barcelona for the maybe-it-will-happen Harmony Westbound TA through A2S. No $$ due until final cruise payment in August. Flight seats already assigned. 

 

mac_tlc

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

^^^Definitely Air 2 Sea and refundable.  Don’t pay until final payment, if you see the flights lower you can cancel and rebook.  By final you should have a pretty good idea of whether it’s going to sail or not. 

This is what I did several months ago with Flights By Celebrity for my July 30, 2021 British Isles

cruise on Celebrity. Easily booked exactly what I wanted, flights, times a great price & business class seats. on DL (KLM) and I am able to access them on the DL website and make any seat changes.

No payment until my final which is due in May and I have been able to easily reprice them when the prices went lower with no fee. Once final payment is made if cruise is cancelled complete refund by carrier.

 

Now, my concern is will this cruise sail or with a NRD to Celebrity how can I get out of this cruise

if I choose to? L/S not available at this time...Waiting to see what happens when final is due.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Lately it seems all the A2S flights are refundable

Yes they are only selling refundable as is Flights By Celebrity....more than likely most cruise offered flights are...how long this will be true no one knows.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Do you know anyone who can book Air2Sea?

Anyone ? You only have to call you can do this yourself. 

Look on the website of the carrier you want to use and know what you

want before calling the direct number to the cruise air department.

I easily did this for my DL (KLM) flight before I called X.

[reallyitsmema]

2 hours ago, rockmom said:

I had to book flights for my July '21 cruise because I had to use our vouchers from our canceled June 2020 cruise.  Technically we were supposed to use them by June 15th, but AA was nice and let us use them for a June 30th flight. But if that cruise doesn't go, we are out of luck and out of that $$ for those flights.  I'm in the same situation for our Oasis cruise that was scheduled to sail tomorrow.  I have to use for flights departing no later than December of this year.  That would be a huge hit to lose, there are 7 of us and it's about $3K in airfare.  I'm waiting for AA to open their flight schedules from the west coast to Florida for Dec 31st, we rebooked on Harmony for Jan 2, so are hoping to squeak by and not lose all that money. 

 

We had to cancel flights to San Juan on Jetblue for a cancelled May 2020 cruise.  We called to cancel and they said we would only get a credit but I fought for a refund and got one.  One leg of the flight had been cancelled by them and we had been rebooked on a flight four hours later, so I think that helped our case for a refund. How flexible has AA been on their credits?  Are they allowing extensions?

[Jeremiah1212]

I would never book domestic flights a year+ in advance under normal conditions. Even if it was only a few months out, there is no way I would book anything other than a ticket eligible for a cash refund.