Managing Celebrity Air

[lhsail]

Booked flights through Celebrity Air for our August sailing out of St. Maarten. Prices were similar to what I could book independently and that seemed kind a safer and less stressful way to go for this sailing. I have not used Celebrity Air before, but have experience with Princess EZ Air. With Princess, even after you book your flights you can go into their system, check current pricing, look to see if additional flight options have opened up and make any changes yourself. I can’t seem to find the option to do so on the Celebrity website. Do you need to call the air department to do any flight management?

 

Thanks. 

[cruiseb4udie]

If there is a way to change your flights on your reservation without calling, I am not aware of it.  I have always had to call to make a change.  HOWEVER, if you want to recheck pricing, you have to basically act like you don’t have a reservation and just want to check prices.  The link below will take you to the page where you can EVENTUALLY check flight quotes.  Click link below and scroll down until you see the section marked JUST LOOKING FOR FLIGHTS QUOTE.  At that point, enter the departure date and departure port of your cruise, press FIND A CRUISE.  On the search results, select your cruise date and press the button VIEW ITINEARY AND FLIGHTS.  Then scroll all the way to the bottom of that page and select GET A QUOTE.  From there you will see you can do your normal flight search.  When it was CHOICE AIR, there used to be a separate link – very easy to do.  That link does not exist any longer.  FLIGHTS BY CELEBRITY is WAY more complicate to get quotes after you have already booked your air and want to price check.  AND more complicate to make changes. Maybe someone else knows a short cut but we cruise and fly a lot (before Covid) and this is they only way I know.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/flights-by-celebrity

[39august]

I find it simpler to just call and inquire if prices have gone down, or call and make whatever changes I wish. The staff is happy to give you any information you want. 

[Ashland]

I've found it easier to check the carriers website directly then call Flights By Celebrity to verify price and make the change. I've done that twice for price reductions for my July 2021 LAX-AMS but now I'm hoping and waiting for X to cancel that cruise.

800 (533) 7803..... Flights By Celebrity.

[lhsail]

Appreciate the insight. I have had one conversation with them when I realized that the date I selected to fly down was going to put me in jeopardy of getting our COVID tests outside the 120 hours before boarding. The rep was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. Looks like I watch what’s going on with the airlines and call them if I want adjust something. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Everything is changing.  Flight schedules.  Cruises continuing to be cancelled.  Hope St Maartin happens and is successful.  For DW and self too much uncertainty.  We will wait till next year.

[lhsail]

51 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Everything is changing.  Flight schedules.  Cruises continuing to be cancelled.  Hope St Maartin happens and is successful.  For DW and self too much uncertainty.  We will wait till next year.

Can’t deny the uncertainty. Right now the only at risk is the refundable deposit. We’ll be following things closely. 

[Host Anne]

9 hours ago, lhsail said:

Can’t deny the uncertainty. Right now the only at risk is the refundable deposit. We’ll be following things closely. 

Remember, even non-refundable deposits are returned as an FCC under the Cruise with Confidence policy if you book by May 31.  So for us, there was no risk to book that I could see.  I even saves the Cruise with Confidence policy that clearly states non-refundable deposits will be returned as an FCC if your cruise isn't paid in full (it uses the phrasing "outside of penalty" and if you are paid in full, the total fare, including the deposit is returned as an FCC.

 

 

[lhsail]

5 hours ago, Host Anne said:

Remember, even non-refundable deposits are returned as an FCC under the Cruise with Confidence policy if you book by May 31.  So for us, there was no risk to book that I could see.  I even saves the Cruise with Confidence policy that clearly states non-refundable deposits will be returned as an FCC if your cruise isn't paid in full (it uses the phrasing "outside of penalty" and if you are paid in full, the total fare, including the deposit is returned as an FCC.

 

 

I thought I had read they deduct $100pp on a non-refundable deposit. We have a lot of FCC with Princess due to the cancellation of a 60-day trip in 2020. Don’t mind a little with Celebrity, but would prefer to keep it to a minimum. Anyway, we’re booked, air arranged and hotel booked. Nothing more to do now other than sit back and see where things are at full payment date. 

[Host Anne]

Nope...I had to read through things multiple times. There isn't a $100 fee if you cancel and get an FCC under Cruise with Confidence.  I noticed that Celebrity's confirmations do not have the correct information on them.  But I clipped and save the CWC policy from their website so I won't have any issues down the road.  You should double check with Celebrity and/or your travel agent but I specifically triple checked the wording since I have family sailing with us.  ENJOY

[5onadime]

Tangent question (sorry).  If we book our air through Celebrity and THEY cancel the cruise is the airfare refunded?  

[Ashland]

28 minutes ago, 5onadime said:

Tangent question (sorry).  If we book our air through Celebrity and THEY cancel the cruise is the airfare refunded?  

Yes....back to the credit card used to make final payment.

[dazey]

I booked flights with Celebrity for a November cruise and asked if I could cancel the flights without penalty before final payment and they said yes.  Asked several times to be sure but would like to ask if anyone on Cruise Credit if they know.  Can anyone confirm this?  I am hoping to get better pricing from Southwest when that time becomes available.  

[39august]

Yes, no penalty to cancel before final payment.  In fact there is no need to pay anything on the Celebrity Air until your cruise final payment is due. Also you can make any changes you wish without penalty. 

[dazey]

Thank you, 39august.  I did know about paying when final payment due which was so good since I did not want to tie up $1200 to fly from New England to Ft. Lauderdale until I was sure it was the least expensive flights I could get.  Now I feel much better that someone here confirmed my understanding.

 

[happy cruzer]

Looked at prices for a cruise just a little less than one year out.  First class air was just a little over double for domestic flight.  I decided to book it.  If is not a good deal at final payment time, I can cancel and rebook.  So it may be worth just looking at...

Edited April 21, 2021 by happy cruzer

[happy cruzer]

I just tried to reprice the air but the website did not give that option.  Anyone able to check prices?  I can see the reservation but there is no way to modify it or do seat assignments.

 

Thanks.

[drowelf]

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

I just tried to reprice the air but the website did not give that option.  Anyone able to check prices?  I can see the reservation but there is no way to modify it or do seat assignments.

 

Thanks.

You can't check prices online, via your booking, once you've booked flights. But there are ways to check. First you can call Flights By Celebrity and talk to an agent to see if any better flights/pricing is available.

 

The second way, which I use, is to check via the website yourself. If you start from the main celebrity site, just go and search for your cruise, as if you are going to do a new booking. Once you get to that cruise, you can scroll down and you will find a section that allows you to 'Get a Quote' to search for flights for this cruise. You can then check out the current pricing for flights. I bookmark that page, so that I can quickly go back and do a new flight search a couple of times a week. 

 

Once you find a better set of flights, you do have to call to get your flights changed. A bit of a bummer, but oh well. The HAL/Princess Flight website allows you to modify an existing reservation, but not the Celebrities. 

[happy cruzer]

Very helpful!  Thanks.

[Shorex]

I plan to get a window seat flying into St Maarten - this is a photo of the approach - and yes, it really does look this:

[FlyerTalker]

Maho beach.  There is a bar there where you can watch the arrivals while having a cold one.  Sunset Bar.

[patri10719]

Does anyone know when Celebrity actually does the ticket issue to the airline. American says they cant issue me a seat until the tickets are issued. Thanks

[FlyerTalker]

8 minutes ago, patri10719 said:

Does anyone know when Celebrity actually does the ticket issue to the airline. American says they cant issue me a seat until the tickets are issued. Thanks

 

Celebrity, or any other cruiseline, does NOT issue the ticket.  That is done by the airline after they get paid for the tickets by the cruiseline.  In general (and that's a very loose term), that means after full payment by the customer, and usually about 30 some days out.

[jagoffee]

30 minutes ago, patri10719 said:

Does anyone know when Celebrity actually does the ticket issue to the airline. American says they cant issue me a seat until the tickets are issued. Thanks

Do you have a FF account with AA?  Is the flight in question operated by AA?

 

Celebrity Air has improved over the last few years, but the product is still inferior to the Princess equivalent.  Celebrity Air needs to improve their website, so you can at least cancel your flight.  Princess not only allows you to remove a flight, their system allows you to modify your flight on line.

In the last week, I found better deals twice.  I was forced to wait on line for over 45 minutes each time,  just to have my previous reservation cancelled, so I could make a new one.  Celebrity Air was willing to make the new reservation for me, but I did not need the help.  
Prices for my flights have been good and it is great that we no longer need to pay for the flights until the  final payment date.  Celebrity is improving.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by jagoffee

[TheMettins]

3 hours ago, patri10719 said:

Does anyone know when Celebrity actually does the ticket issue to the airline. American says they cant issue me a seat until the tickets are issued. Thanks

We paid ours off earlier than I like (I'm a deposit and balance the day before it's due kind of gal) in order to change our seats (AA).  When I originally book everything the Flights by Celebrity agent was able to lock in the seats I wanted... fast forward to a minor flight time change notification, I noticed our seats had been reassigned to row 32 😵... when I called FBC to get them changed back, I was informed AA had blocked the seats and I'd have to wait till I was PIF to change the seats on the AA website.  Roughly 32 hours after I PIF my tickets were issued and I was able to switch the seats on the AA website- no notification, I just kept checking the AA website.  92 days till the Millennium 🤞