When to book flight for Feb 12 cruise?

[bhpeters]

Hi, I am waiting a bit to book our flights for our Feb 12 sailing, but don't know what the rules are. They would be non refundable tickets, so what happens if we get tickets for the flight and the cruise is cancelled? Rare, I know, but what if? Also, do you recommend waiting until 3 months before, or get them now? The flights aren't currently full and I'm hoping for a price drop during that time...

 

thanks for your insight... Heather

[bjboothman]

I'm thinking of a couple things. Depends on where you live and if you have lots of flight options or only a few options. The fewer the flights/airlines from your city, the sooner I'd consider booking. If you book and the cruise is cancelled, you will likely have to pay $100 to rebook your nonrefundable ticket for a later date. But make sure you cancel the flight, if you are simply a no-show, there are airlines who will not accept the ticket for any future value. You might want to just keep a close eye on fares and be ready to book at a moment's notice if you see that fares on some flights/airlines are going up. I don't know if February 12 falls within spring break in some areas, that might fill up the planes faster. Also keep in mind that even though the flights aren't currently full, airlines often only sell a certain number of the cheapest fares before declaring that fare is sold out. I've found that where I live, the connecting fares are often cheaper than direct flights, but I typically prefer to pay a little more to avoid the risk of taking two flights - always a concern that one will be cancelled for whatever reason.

 

Not sure what your plans are, but many people feel better about flying in to the port city the day before. Even if you live in a warm climate, the potential for bad weather in February can cause flght chaos all over the country. I personally would never fly the day of my cruise. Even if you are flying from San Diego to San Francisco, there is always the possibility that your originating flight might be on a plane that is scheduled to arrive from the east.

[etrainer1]

we would book now!!! if the price comes down, you can get a credit from the airlines. if you book a flight now, i would suggest you purchase trip insurance with the clause that if you cancel for any reason, you will get a refund plus a refund for the airfare! we go to: insuremytrip.com and purchase our insurance with them. otherwise, ask your travel agent.

[ahracer]

We are sailing on 2/13 and have already booked the flights. That is a busy week with some schools having off for winter break so I didn't want to wait to long.

 

Scott

[grobbins]

We booked our air already for our 2/12 cruise. The price is just okay but we wanted certain flight times. Flights are a little limited around the Cornhusker state.

[Toto2Kansas]

I normally monitor flights for several weeks, even sometimes months. When I see them drop, then I grab them up. It is kind of like playing a game as you never know when they might take a dive or a jump.

 

If you make sure your flights are also covered in your cruise insurance, then it something unforseen does happen, you will be refunded the price you paid.

 

Best of Luck!

[tom-n-jules]

if the price comes down, you can get a credit from the airlines.

What airline does this??

[Brneyznfl]

What airline does this??

Delta does. I'm not familiar with the others though I've read that Continental won't.

[CruiseFever]

Hi, I am waiting a bit to book our flights for our Feb 12 sailing, but don't know what the rules are. They would be non refundable tickets, so what happens if we get tickets for the flight and the cruise is cancelled? Rare, I know, but what if? Also, do you recommend waiting until 3 months before, or get them now? The flights aren't currently full and I'm hoping for a price drop during that time...

 

thanks for your insight... Heather

 

We do it pretty much like Toto (above) said. As part of that strategy we monitor economic factors as well. At the advice of Dosi (another CC member) we watched flights and prices for our December cruise daily on Southwest Airlines site until the day they opened flights that would work for us. By jumping right on the price we saved hundreds over the price just a few days later. On another flight we were carefully watching the news about the price of jet fuel which eventually started translating into fare increases.

 

Sometimes this feels a whole lot like getting into or out of the stock market at the right time. The big difference is that the insider information you get here won't wind you up in the pokey baking muffins like Martha.

 

Again, this is the place to be for the best info.

 

Thanks to another member (Coral) we learned that we could change flights without penalty if the flight time got changed more than ten minutes. In practice we tend to book far out rather than wait. On a lot of flights we've booked far out the time has indeed changed. Now I know to make note of that should my plans change or it would be convenient to drop that air and take the money to a less expensive, closer to sail, option.

 

As far as what happens if the cruise is cancelled? If it's because of a hurricane right now anyway the airlines seem to be allowing rebooking without penalty. Not sure if that's ALL airlines but the one's I have heard of are.