Long haul flights - arrange your own or through Cunard?

[Pushpit]

21 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Also

4. Temperament.

If you are a neurotic worrier like me, you would be willing to pay more for great protection. Many, less neurotic, would risk it. 

Oh aircraft are just flying buses, and there's always another one.

[Victoria2]

1

We buy the ticket we want, on all fronts, rather than chance an upgrade

2

Our agent is available but our plans are set and we don't change them unless it's for an emergency and if we do, and we have done, we learnt airlines always have what I am terming compassionate seats. Full fare, granted but the seats are there.

3

Haven't tested the theory our agent can do just as much as direct but I suspect he can.

4

Think we've established one way fare info.

5

I was top tier on an airline Pre Covid just through vacation trips to the US so know all about personal airline consultants.

 

Horses for courses, and all that.

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Victoria2
In answer to #50

[Windsurfboy]

The outstanding advantage of going direct is the ability to make instant decisions. You arrive at airport, find plane cancelled,  only other plane is another airline in 2 hours. You need to be able to either ring airline , or stand at customer service desk and say , "put me on that plane". Not ring up 3rd party hoping they pick up out of hours and wait for them to contact airline and get back to you.

 

Of course Cunard will pick up pieces if it all goes wrong, but by then it's too late. 

[exlondoner]

49 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Oh aircraft are just flying buses, and there's always another one.

But it may be next week, though I admit this is sometimes the case with rural bus services.

[Victoria2]

4 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

The outstanding advantage of going direct is the ability to make instant decisions. You arrive at airport, find plane cancelled,  only other plane is another airline in 2 hours. You need to be able to either ring airline , or stand at customer service desk and say , "put me on that plane". Not ring up 3rd party hoping they pick up out of hours and wait for them to contact airline and get back to you.

 

Of course Cunard will pick up pieces if it all goes wrong, but by then it's too late. 

and if there's no aircraft movements due to weather etc but the ship at the other end [maybe  thousands of miles away which is where our flights used to end up] is OK to go? Thinking for instance, it's a bit difficult to join a TA after the ship has sailed. 🙂

We might not make the ship but we'd get our money back.

 

No one has addressed that yet.

 

I get it. We will avoid risks and book with Cunard. Others  will book direct and hopefully with excellent travel insurance.

Edited February 28 by Victoria2

[Pushpit]

10 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

and if there's no aircraft movements due to weather etc but the ship at the other end [maybe  thousands of miles away which is where our flights used to end up] is OK to go? Bit difficult to join a TA after the ship has sailed. 🙂

 

No one has addressed that yet.

Allow me to address it. If you physically cannot reach the vessel by air, whether booked by Cunard, or TA, or booked direct, you have 3 options

1) Cancel - in which case Cunard will refund, or your insurance company will pay. TA would refer to insurance.

2) Rebook and catch up with the vessel at the next stop. May be slightly easier with a direct booking but it's probably 6 of one, half dozen other.

3) Find some way of getting there not involving flying - Cunard may or may not help, but being savvy about travel options will certainly help.

 

My insurance cover has a "book and reclaim" option so I would simply find another way to get to the vessel or opt for the refund. I have no middle person to contact, and as a control freak I don't willingly offload control of something like that to someone else, I would rather make the decisions and implement those decisions myself. Other people work in different ways and prefer not to take on the risk, entirely understandable.

 

 

Edited February 28 by Pushpit

[david63]

9 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

We might not make the ship but we'd get our money back.

I thought that was what travel insurance was for!

[Victoria2]

Just now, david63 said:

I thought that was what travel insurance was for!

Depends on your cover.

[Victoria2]

2 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Allow me to address it. If you physically cannot reach the vessel by air, whether booked by Cunard or booked direct, you have 3 options

1) Cancel - in which case Cunard will refund, or your insurance company will pay.

If the correct insurance has been purchased

2) Rebook and catch up with the vessel at the next stop. May be slightly easier with a direct booking but it's probably 6 of one, half dozen other.

Difficult on a TA.

3) Find some way of getting there not involving flying - Cunard may or may not help, but being savvy about travel options will certainly help.

 

Good luck getting to Miami without flying!

 

My insurance cover has a "book and reclaim" option so I would simply find another way to get to the vessel or opt for the refund. I have no middle person to contact, and as a control freak I don't willingly offload control of something like that to someone else, I would rather make the decisions and implement those decisions myself. Other people work in different ways and prefer not to take on the risk, entirely understandable.

Travel insurance is a minefield and not everyone will have that cover even if they assume they do.

2 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

 

 

Which ever way it's looked at, booking all travel with Cunard has its merits, cost effective or not.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

I thought that was what travel insurance was for!

 

As the old Amex commercial said, don't leave home without it!

[2BACRUISER]

Well I booked QE 517 Alaska for June 25 yesterday. The triple OBC was too good to miss. Now will wait until end May for flight info coming out on Virgins website and go from there. So excited 😊 thanks for all the insights on what was an extremely timely debate for me. Xx

[Windsurfboy]

22 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

and if there's no aircraft movements due to weather etc but the ship at the other end [maybe  thousands of miles away which is where our flights used to end up] is OK to go? Thinking for instance, it's a bit difficult to join a TA after the ship has sailed. 🙂

We might not make the ship but we'd get our money back.

 

No one has addressed that yet.

 

I get it. We will avoid risks and book with Cunard. Others  will book direct and hopefully with excellent travel insurance.

 

This ignores my point number one , which is if you are booking yourself which you would only do for substantial savings,  then use these to travel  at least few days in advance, ideally more . We would go a week in advance to  de-jetlag. The odds of weather shutting everything down for that long is extremely remote.  If you have a week of bad weather then no one can help not even Cunard. Refund job, insurance. Only case I can remember is not weather but Iceland volcano which shut everything down.

 

Travel on day or day before use Cunard , even if you use Cunard , make sure you get all details of ticket, type , number etc , so you can talk to airline directly if push comes to shove..

[Victoria2]

47 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

This ignores my point number one , which is if you are booking yourself which you would only do for substantial savings,  then use these to travel  at least few days in advance, ideally more . We would go a week in advance to  de-jetlag. The odds of weather shutting everything down for that long is extremely remote.  If you have a week of bad weather then no one can help not even Cunard. Refund job, insurance. Only case I can remember is not weather but Iceland volcano which shut everything down.

 

Travel on day or day before use Cunard , even if you use Cunard , make sure you get all details of ticket, type , number etc , so you can talk to airline directly if push comes to shove..

No.

It doesn't ignore.

 

War/pestilence/weather are all remote possibilities, but they are there.

 

You seem to be  able to go a week prior to any long haul cruise. I would take a punt those in work carefully arrange dates which would not include a buffer of a week so you factoring a week's buffer is a tad of the 'I'm all right Jack' scenario.

 

Cunard wouldn't get us anywhere if the above scenarios occur but if possible, I would hope they would get us to a port to join the ship as happened when we were on a Caribbean cruise years ago.

 

Plus

most on this board are travellers rather than just tourists and as such, will have a pretty comprehensive travel insurance in place. I would hazard a guess most holidaymakers, have a basic/ minimum policy. Yes, buyer beware but so much easier to let an umbrella organisation  [Cunard] take the strain.

 

So you do it your way but don't discount the thousands who like the ease of mind a fly/cruise booked on the same ticket with a cruise company.

 

Not a cruise issue but I got caught up in the Ash Cloud travel. I learnt the beauty of my wrap around insurance policy. Many folk lost varying amounts  of money. I didn't.

[Windsurfboy]

One should always check th he price via Cunard vs directly.  Sometimes there will be no difference, or Cunard is cheaper answer is obvious buy the package.

 

Sometimes the difference may be thousands. 

 

Not everyone can ignore a saving of a few thousand, and even many of those to whom a few thousand makes no difference may begrudge paying a few thousand more for exactly the same ticket. 

 

The advantage of a package may be convenience and piece of mind. However practically Cunard can't conjure flights out of the air or find seats on a fully booked plane any more than an individual can.  But an individual can move faster. It's a myth that Cunard will delay the ship, they may well for a plane full, but not for just a couple, the economics don't stack up. If  you miss the ship yes you will have to arrange own way to next port, either by taxi or by using same public transport that Cunard would have to use.

 

So given a potential saving of a few thousand.

 

If like many you have time you can opt to go early to mitigate risk and put it towards holiday. 

 

If you do not have time, can take money , but don't skimp on insurance,  an in unlikely event of problems be prepared to sort it out yourself and claim money back from insurance. 

 

Or Forego the saving for the peace of mind of a package.

 

It's up to you

[Victoria2]

I think it has been made quite clear, it's horses for courses. A ship will not wait for delayed passengers unless it's a plane load and even then, possibly not, and fly/cruise passengers will hopefully be bused/flown on. We have seen that in action although not a Cunard cruise.

 

For some, the price differential will be the sticking point, for others the peace of mind any issues will be up to the cruise line to solve, will be the panacea.

 

For the former, a scrutiny of travel insurance t&cs will be of particular importance. Basic cover will not necessarily be the solution if things go pear shaped.

 

I have yet to learn if all passengers not on Cunard travel and who are affected by the re routing of QM2 will have their extra costs reimbursed if insurance doesn't cover.

 

Basically, will/ has Cunard  put its hand in its pocket for all affected?

[cruiseluvva]

We will be flying to Kuala Lumpur next week, to stay with our son and then later on to Singapore for a few days before joining QM2. We used mainly Avios for our Qatar flights, costing us just over £2,000 and saving us over £4,500. There is no way this could be matched by Cunard.

[Victoria2]

40 minutes ago, cruiseluvva said:

We will be flying to Kuala Lumpur next week, to stay with our son and then later on to Singapore for a few days before joining QM2. We used mainly Avios for our Qatar flights, costing us just over £2,000 and saving us over £4,500. There is no way this could be matched by Cunard.

Cheaper still is using FF miles which we have done in the past until we changed airline allegiances.

Then all we paid was the tax. Now that IS cheaper than any Cunard flight! 😄

[D&N]

There are a few people who can ignore a saving of a few thousand, and even fewer to whom a few thousand makes no difference who don't begrudge paying a few thousand more for exactly the same ticket. Apologies for stealing and modifying that previous post.

Most posters don't seem prepared to accept that.

It certainly wouldn't be me. I'd prefer not to fly long haul in the first place, but if I needed to I would be looking for a good price.

 

But if someone isn't interested in the price they pay, or they attach a different value to the perceived benefits, it really isn't any of my, or anyone else's business.

[Victoria2]

39 minutes ago, D&N said:

There are a few people who can ignore a saving of a few thousand, and even fewer to whom a few thousand makes no difference who don't begrudge paying a few thousand more for exactly the same ticket. Apologies for stealing and modifying that previous post.

Most posters don't seem prepared to accept that.

It certainly wouldn't be me. I'd prefer not to fly long haul in the first place, but if I needed to I would be looking for a good price.

 

But if someone isn't interested in the price they pay, or they attach a different value to the perceived benefits, it really isn't any of my, or anyone else's business.

I think I have to answer this.

 

We have yet to have had a cost differential in the thousands.

 

Yes of course using points/FF air miles will save thousands, depending on the class of travel and we have used them in the past before we changed airlines for personal reasons and area of the world and so wanted a Cunard package, but since then, I can honestly say, the price differential has no way been in the thousands between booking direct with the airline or through Cunard.

 

If that had been the case then we might have decided on a different course of action. There comes a point where a difference of thousands of pounds, would definitely be a deal breaker for us but then we have been lucky and got reasonably priced flights which I must stress again, were NOT thousands of pounds different.

 

 

Edited March 3 by Victoria2

[D&N]

@Victoria2  How disappointing! 🤣

 

Seriously though, my point is still valid. If someone opts to pay x for y, that's their choice.

[Victoria2]

11 minutes ago, D&N said:

@Victoria2  How disappointing! 🤣

 

Seriously though, my point is still valid. If someone opts to pay x for y, that's their choice.

Not sure what's disappointing.

Of course it's personal choice.  Horses for courses as I have said and maybe I misinterpreted your comment in #68 which to me seemed to imply differences in ticket price could involve silly money. Not in our experience , although that can happen  for flights booked direct, if bought on the day of travel.

 

Now that can involve silly money! Been there and done that! Once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BEAV]

Does Cunard offer self-booking/selecting flights online like the other Carnival brands? I love this feature on lines like Holland America, Princess, etc. 

[Windsurfboy]

As the man who mentioned thousands

 

I've only asked Cunard on one route, that was business to Capetown. The difference for the two of us was nearly £2K. OK we wanted the direct non stop flight and the preferred Cunard was via Dubai and yes was not that much more expensive. But for the direct non stop BA it was. We were going  3 months earlier  risk therefore zero.

[Victoria2]

21 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

As the man who mentioned thousands

 

I've only asked Cunard on one route, that was business to Capetown. The difference for the two of us was nearly £2K. OK we wanted the direct non stop flight and the preferred Cunard was via Dubai and yes was not that much more expensive. But for the direct non stop BA it was. We were going  3 months earlier  risk therefore zero.

As one would prefer a direct flight but who avoids BA wherever possible, I can now appreciate the 'thousands' difference, so like for like, eg indirect flight, not too bad a difference, and if you have to have a stop, the Emirates lounges in Dubai are worth the stopover! 🙂

[Windsurfboy]

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

As one would prefer a direct flight but who avoids BA wherever possible, I can now appreciate the 'thousands' difference, so like for like, eg indirect flight, not too bad a difference, and if you have to have a stop, the Emirates lounges in Dubai are worth the stopover! 🙂

 

Everyone is different,  we avoid stopovers like the plague you are either dashing with a short connection time or adding 3 or 4 hours to journey... Even if it means flying  BA, who in my opinion aren't that bad (but would never fly out of Gatwick on old planes) .