Anyone else have custom air bookings change from flights requested?

[Clipper]

I just received my cruise docs for the May 6 Galaxy transatlantic to Rome. The flight back to Houston from Rome required a change in Paris. My travel agent explicity requested through Celebrity Custom Air a late afternoon Paris-Houston flight to give me a several-hour window for the plane change. Custom air even assigned me seats on that later flight. My cruise docs now show me on the earlier Paris-Houston flight, which only gives me 50 minutes to get to a different terminal to change planes -- and that's assuming the plane from Rome lands right on time. The later Paris-Houston flight is still on the schedule. My travel agent tried to contact international Custom Air, but they were closed today so I'll have to stew about it over the weekend. If Celebrity Custom Air cannot deliver what was requested, are you required to take what they decide to give you or are you entitled to a refund (even at this late date ) so you can book air on your own?

[RhondaPerr]

I just received my cruise docs for the May 6 Galaxy transatlantic to Rome. The flight back to Houston from Rome required a change in Paris. My travel agent explicity requested through Celebrity Custom Air a late afternoon Paris-Houston flight to give me a several-hour window for the plane change. Custom air even assigned me seats on that later flight. My cruise docs now show me on the earlier Paris-Houston flight, which only gives me 50 minutes to get to a different terminal to change planes -- and that's assuming the plane from Rome lands right on time. The later Paris-Houston flight is still on the schedule. My travel agent tried to contact international Custom Air, but they were closed today so I'll have to stew about it over the weekend. If Celebrity Custom Air cannot deliver what was requested, are you required to take what they decide to give you or are you entitled to a refund (even at this late date ) so you can book air on your own?

 

Hi,

 

Same thing happened to us, but we found out about ahead of time. Luftansa completely changed their flight time and we would have had 35 minutes to catch our next plane. When my TA called Luftansa she was told that they had switched us to an earlier flight so that they would have plenty of time to catch our connection...Celebrity said not a chance because they could not guarantee any flight before 9:30 am...We got our $75 back as a courtesy from Celebrity. We are now on Atalitia, and have a comfortable layover to catch our connection. It does get us back 4 hours later than we were originally supposed to get home though.

[teedee]

Nothing as bad as what happened to you. Last October they sent me an email saying I would need to pick my seat online. They then proceeded to cancel my ticket and re-book on the same flight for a cheaper ticket. I wouldn't have minded if they had told me, but they didn't and by the time I found out the only open seats were middle seats. This was a 9 1/2 hour flight from Atlanta to Rome and I wasn't happy.

 

Terri

[fllady]

Iy just happened to us also, but we canceled the flights thru Celebrity and did it on our own. Got better flights and cheaper. This is the second time we booked our flights thru them, first time no problem. Guess its just a hit or miss thing. Good luck. Better wear your running shoes with only a 50 minute window to catch the next plane.

[ocngypz]

Air/Sea is not closed on Fridays. Only after 5 pm.

 

Did your agent get a fax from Custom Air when they made the request and picked the flights? I'd ask.

 

When I pick flights for my clients, I receive a fax with all the flight info and a new invoice showing any applicable changes in airfare. If there are any schedule changes to the custom flights, agents do receive faxes. Even if the change is just a couple of minutes.

[Seabee]

TEEDEE...did you take the Delta nonstop back from Rome to ATL? If so, was there plenty of time to make the 11:00 am flight from Rome? X says it is a viable flight and I have booked it, but it seems cutting it close to get from ship to airport and catch the 11:00 flight.

[AliceS]

We booked our TA cruise and air with Celebrity. Tickets are in hand and I decided to check for better seats and found out that Delta had changed our flight and we had only 15 minutes to change planes in Atlanta, not a legal connection. We called Celebrity and resolved everything, not the best times, but we'll get there. They never notified me, they didn't even know about the change. Isn't that interesting? When I booked the custom air, USAirways hadn't opened up direct flights to X as yet and I took what I could get. When I asked if the direct opened yet, I was asked, "why didn't you pick that in the first place?" guess you can't win. Now we'll see if Delta decides to strike. One thing that I know, we'll get there.