Book now pay later: Air2Sea

[HtownHolly]

Did a quick search and didn't see this mentioned here yet. This is good, IMO!

 

https://cruisefever.net/royal-caribbean-adding-book-now-pay-later-airfare-for-cruises/?fbclid=IwAR0zNBDauPAzsqFzewYTN4K4ML70-FE3J0XaIzSMTyQTQUqQBDYjuL-u8jo

[SpeedNoodles]

Ok, this looks like a really good deal!

[tiny260]

6 minutes ago, HtownHolly said:

Did a quick search and didn't see this mentioned here yet. This is good, IMO!

 

https://cruisefever.net/royal-caribbean-adding-book-now-pay-later-airfare-for-cruises/?fbclid=IwAR0zNBDauPAzsqFzewYTN4K4ML70-FE3J0XaIzSMTyQTQUqQBDYjuL-u8jo

I've been waiting for someone to bring it up as a discussion item, hopefully someone will use it soon or maybe someone already has.

I used air2sea the last time I flew to the Mediterranean and they were the cheapest, I have another cruise to the Med next year, so will probably use them again. Just waiting for the tickets to come out so I can discuss with MEI.

[JLMoran]

This was actually discussed over in "the other place" a fair bit for the same service with Celebrity. There's a pretty big "gotcha" with choosing to pay later -- while you have a reservation for the flight are guaranteed a seat, you are not ticketed with the airline and cannot select your seat(s) until you have paid for the flight. So you're taking a gamble by paying later that any group you're flying with could be split up or that you'll be sitting in some undesirable location on the plane.

It was further explained on the thread that taking the "pay later" option is basically selecting a refundable with no change fee ticket, whereas paying right away is non-refundable. There was also some speculation (without confirmation) that the fare price could be subject to change based on the prevailing rate if you don't lock in the fare by paying right away. I got confirmation that Flights By Celebrity fares are cheapest when first offered and then only go up from there as the available seats fill up, so it's definitely something to keep in mind.

Seems to me that if you're going to use this service, just use it "the old-fashioned way" and pay for your tickets at time of booking. Especially if it's any kind of group flight where you don't want to be split up, or if you have needs like an exit row seat for legroom or absolutely have to be in a window seat and not in the middle of the plane.

[L454S]

I saw this discussed over "there", and it seems that RCI has come to do this just recently. The reason I paid attention to the thread was because we had booked several flights over the last 4 years with Air2Sea. Yes, payment was made upon booking of the flights.

Recently, we made flight bookings with Princess EZair and found they offered payment at cruise final payment date, as well as being able to choose seats now, and no change fees. It was after we booked these flights that I noticed the thread about RCI starting this practice. Could keeping up with the Jones's be in play. Whatever the case, it does help sometimes.

[BTE]

Pertaining to flights. How early do you book before your cruise? My cruise is in August & the flight price has increased $30 in the past week. Should I wait until I've made my final cruise payment?

[twangster]

19 minutes ago, BTE said:

Pertaining to flights. How early do you book before your cruise? My cruise is in August & the flight price has increased $30 in the past week. Should I wait until I've made my final cruise payment?

Try using a flight search engine that provides fare advice.  Kayak.com does, I've heard Google will as well.  

Strategy differs between low cost carriers and the legacy airlines and it differs for domestic versus international.  

LCC's (Low Cost Carriers) tend to be cheap far in advance but only a few seats are cheap.  Once they are gone, the next cheapest seats are offered.  Once those are gone, the next cheapest flights are offered and so on.  

Legacy carriers like American, Delta and United tend to be high far away, then start adjusting rates as some point, then if sales are good the prices rise.  If a hundred people suddenly search for the same flight, their computers raise the rates (supply and demand). If none of those people actually buy, prices slowly fall over the next day or two.  

If you go with Southwest, once you book and pay for your flights, you can check daily for price drops.  If the price drops, you can get the difference in the form of a credit for a future flight within one year. 

Consider checked bags fees.  Most US airlines charge for bags, except Southwest.    Some like Sprint or Frontier can also charge for certain carry on bags.  Buyer beware. 

[L454S]

9 hours ago, BTE said:

Pertaining to flights. How early do you book before your cruise? My cruise is in August & the flight price has increased $30 in the past week. Should I wait until I've made my final cruise payment?

You can book flights as early as about 330 days out from your sailing. I would book as early as possible, haven't seen too many price drops. If you are looking for overseas flights, I would go to RCI website and search the Air2Sea website offerings. They can and usually do come in at a fraction of the cost. Domestic flights are usually not any better priced than you can shop for yourself.

Have also found that Air2Sea has cut back on its overseas flights. It now seems to depend on which CITY in the US you are flying into or out of.  We have always been able(up to sometime in 2018) to get from or to New Orleans and any European embarkation/disembarkation for between 3 to 5 hundred a person. Have been pricing for the past few months and it is well over a thousand PP on some future bookings. 

It seems now, you have to get a bit creative. We have found if we fly from/to Houston, Boston, Atlanta, JFK, Chicago, etc., the prices are back to $300/400 PP. Then we add a cheap SWA connector and we are just about where we would be in times past.

 

[tiny260]

13 hours ago, twangster said:

Try using a flight search engine that provides fare advice.  Kayak.com does, I've heard Google will as well.

@BTE I use Google a lot, go to Google and type "flights", it will provide a link across the top to click, put in your search criteria and when it comes to putting in the dates it will bring a calendar up, under each day will be a price, it allows you to see an approximation of what the cost is for the days you choose, you can also view days around the date you have picked if your traveling schedule is flexible. An example would be if you want to fly on Saturday, it might actually be cheaper to fly on Friday, you just have to play around with the dates.

I do not believe Google quotes Southwest, I believe you have to use their web site, but not positive.

[HeWhoWaits]

We typically use Air2Sea and have booked our travel and pre-cruise hotel for June payable with the rest of the cruise fees.

[BTE]

Thanks all

[JCMechura]

I booked Air2Sea round trip Indianapolis to Barcelona in June 2020.  There are 11 adults traveling together.  I was able to get 3 people at $1043.07 and the remaining 8 family members cost  $1912.55 each.  I was told that if the fare drops I can change it.  When I try to check the current rates, they ask for the confirmation numbers.  When I put them in, they say these guests are already booked.  How can I check the Air2Sea rates without putting in a confirmation number?

[SpeedNoodles]

16 minutes ago, JCMechura said:

I booked Air2Sea round trip Indianapolis to Barcelona in June 2020.  There are 11 adults traveling together.  I was able to get 3 people at $1043.07 and the remaining 8 family members cost  $1912.55 each.  I was told that if the fare drops I can change it.  When I try to check the current rates, they ask for the confirmation numbers.  When I put them in, they say these guests are already booked.  How can I check the Air2Sea rates without putting in a confirmation number?

There are two tabbed options when you search for flights - Just pick the one on the right.

[JCMechura]

Thanks so much for your response, we were able to check it just fine.

[USCG Teacher]

Not to hijack this thread, but related question.  How far out can you book Air2Sea rates?  If I'm booking a 2022 cruise, can I do Air2Sea now despite the fact that air itineraries & costs aren't out yet?  I should think not, but with the airfare being such a major chunk of the overall price, I have to take it into consideration when planning future cruises.  Being able to secure a price now would certainly help me make some choices moving forward, but I don't see how the logistics of that could possibly work out.  Hoping I'm wrong here!

[12thman]

1 hour ago, JCMechura said:

I booked Air2Sea round trip Indianapolis to Barcelona in June 2020.  There are 11 adults traveling together.  I was able to get 3 people at $1043.07 and the remaining 8 family members cost  $1912.55 each.  I was told that if the fare drops I can change it.  When I try to check the current rates, they ask for the confirmation numbers.  When I put them in, they say these guests are already booked.  How can I check the Air2Sea rates without putting in a confirmation number?

Are your fares refundable fares? We did the pay later this past summer. We got fully refundable tickets, price rolled into our cruise payment. We also had seats assigned and could change if we chose to which I did. The price never went down and we couldn't rebook the flight without incurring a change fee. 

[12thman]

4 minutes ago, USCG Teacher said:

Not to hijack this thread, but related question.  How far out can you book Air2Sea rates?  If I'm booking a 2022 cruise, can I do Air2Sea now despite the fact that air itineraries & costs aren't out yet?  I should think not, but with the airfare being such a major chunk of the overall price, I have to take it into consideration when planning future cruises.  Being able to secure a price now would certainly help me make some choices moving forward, but I don't see how the logistics of that could possibly work out.  Hoping I'm wrong here!

330 days out. According to my TA. Due to most airlines not making reservations available until then.

[DanielB]

4 minutes ago, USCG Teacher said:

Not to hijack this thread, but related question.  How far out can you book Air2Sea rates?  If I'm booking a 2022 cruise, can I do Air2Sea now despite the fact that air itineraries & costs aren't out yet?  I should think not, but with the airfare being such a major chunk of the overall price, I have to take it into consideration when planning future cruises.  Being able to secure a price now would certainly help me make some choices moving forward, but I don't see how the logistics of that could possibly work out.  Hoping I'm wrong here!

you can't book until schedules released by airlines.

[USCG Teacher]

3 minutes ago, 12thman said:

330 days out. According to my TA. Due to most airlines not making reservations available until then.

 

2 minutes ago, DanielB said:

you can't book until schedules released by airlines.

This is what I figured, and makes perfect sense.  Just making sure I wasn't missing something.  As an aside, under 5 minutes from post to answer is beyond impressive turnaround.