Air2Sea Need Advise

[Rooty]

I need Opinions about Air2Sea i am going on a Transpacific cruise from Sydney to Hawaii and thinking about using Air2Sea and i have read so many Bad reviews ,  Has any one had any Good with this program ?   what are the Benefits does Royal step in if there is a problem ? 

if this a Problem company you would think Royal would step in and fix it ?

I like the aspect that it is part of Royal but maybe i am wrong ,

Should i use them or Not  ???????

[Traveling Mike]

I use Air2Sea on 1/2 of my cruses.  The only issues I have had is they don't have the power with the airlines that they used to.  If your flight changes to a bad connection, they don't have the power with the airlines to call them and just fix it.  They can only rebook your flight or submit an email request to the airlines.  With that being said you book your flight as soon as it is available and if the price goes down you just call them, and they will cancel your old ticket and rebook at the new price.  If you miss your connecting flights, you just call them, and they will find you a new connection to get you to your cruise.  If you end up missing the cruise, they will get you to the first port.  On one of my flights, they the airline cancelled my connecting flight home, and they go me a different flight right away on a different airline at no cost to me.

I use them like I do my cruises.  I do my research on the prices and if they are the lowest price, I use them.  then after I book my flight with them, I keep an eye on the prices and if they go down i rebook the flight.  If I can get a better deal on my own, I cancel my Air2Sea and book directly with the airline.  One note:  as soon as you hit your final payment you are locked into your flight.

[twangster]

You only hear bad reviews because when things go well and flights operate on time no one takes the time to report it.  Reports are written because something didn't go as planned and people became upset.  

Airlines, especially these days are greedy, terrible companies that don't care about customer service, or the customer, at all.  Air2Sea can't fix that.  Were it not for governments stepping in and preventing it airlines would double the numbers in their planes and treat us even worse.  

Air2Sea allows one to book airfare and it remain refundable without any fees until the final payment due date of the cruise.  Air2Sea does provide some assurance that if there are issues getting to the cruise they may be able to step in and help but they are still at the mercy of the airlines so this assurance is not like a form of travel insurance and some people infer too much from it.  These days with airplanes so full assured arrival has less merit.  

[baltodave]

We use A2S when traveling out of the US.  Otherwise we usually fly SWA since they have so many flights from BWI (our home airport) to Florida and the Caribbean.  Here's the one bad thing about A2S: We wanted to make a slight change (to get a shorter connection) on an outbound flight but leave the return alone.  The only thing A2S could do was to rebook everything so we had to leave it alone.  On the positive side (as another poster mentioned), if there's a problem they will rebook you.  On our recent flight to Vancouver, Air Canada screwed us (long story) and at around 2am, A2S was able to rebook us on another airline.  Basically, A2S saved the day!

[Rooty]

54 minutes ago, baltodave said:

We use A2S when traveling out of the US.  Otherwise we usually fly SWA since they have so many flights from BWI (our home airport) to Florida and the Caribbean.  Here's the one bad thing about A2S: We wanted to make a slight change (to get a shorter connection) on an outbound flight but leave the return alone.  The only thing A2S could do was to rebook everything so we had to leave it alone.  On the positive side (as another poster mentioned), if there's a problem they will rebook you.  On our recent flight to Vancouver, Air Canada screwed us (long story) and at around 2am, A2S was able to rebook us on another airline.  Basically, A2S saved the day!

 

54 minutes ago, baltodave said:

We use A2S when traveling out of the US.  Otherwise we usually fly SWA since they have so many flights from BWI (our home airport) to Florida and the Caribbean.  Here's the one bad thing about A2S: We wanted to make a slight change (to get a shorter connection) on an outbound flight but leave the return alone.  The only thing A2S could do was to rebook everything so we had to leave it alone.  On the positive side (as another poster mentioned), if there's a problem they will rebook you.  On our recent flight to Vancouver, Air Canada screwed us (long story) and at around 2am, A2S was able to rebook us on another airline.  Basically, A2S saved the day!

Good to hear that is the reviews i am looking for !

[teddy]

Like others, we’ve used Air2Sea when flying internationally.  Real or imagined, we feel a sense of security doing so. 
 

Air2Sea was by far the cheapest for our upcoming flights to/from Italy.  They’ve also been on top of any changes that have been made by the airlines since we booked, too.   Lufthansa changed our return flight and Air2Sea was able to get us on a different flight that gets us home when we need to be. 

[smokeybandit]

We've used Air2Sea twice for international flights and would like to use them for the Panama group cruise, but their prices are insanely high.

[Rooty]

2 hours ago, teddy said:

Like others, we’ve used Air2Sea when flying internationally.  Real or imagined, we feel a sense of security doing so. 
 

Air2Sea was by far the cheapest for our upcoming flights to/from Italy.  They’ve also been on top of any changes that have been made by the airlines since we booked, too.   Lufthansa changed our return flight and Air2Sea was able to get us on a different flight that gets us home when we need to be. 

I agree the sense of security is  what is attracting me !

[Lovetocruise2002]

I have mixed feelings about Air2Sea and I use them for almost every cruise, domestic or international. What keeps me coming back to them is what someone has already stated...I can watch pricing and re-price up until cruise final payment. I have saved a ton over the years this way. I also like the added comfort that my cruise is somewhat protected in the event of a flight cancellation. I always call them, I never use their website. In my own experience, they can pull a lot more fares and options on the phone compared to their website. I always find their pricing comparable. They are usually $9 more (per person) than booking direct with the airline (Delta in this case, because we only ever fly Delta). I consider that acceptable seeing that I can save more than that usually through re-pricing.

My mixed feelings come in because like someone else has already mentioned, they don't seem to have much pull over the airlines. A few weeks ago, when our flight to Orlando did get cancelled, Air2Sea pretty much told me that I was at the mercy of wherever Delta wanted to put us. In the end, they were not helpful at all and we had to drive part of the way to Orlando. Now, in this situation, we were flying in a few days early so we were not really at risk of missing our cruise. But still, it left me with a bad feeling.

The other disadvantage of Air2Sea is that depending on the airlines, you may not be able to pick seats until after you make final payment, if you choose the book now, pay later option with Air2Sea. The reason with that is because airlines don't consider your booking "ticketed" until you make payment, and some airlines won't let you pick seats because of that. We always fly Delta and we can always pick seats once we book with Air2Sea, but Air Canada for example, you cannot. So also something to consider if you are travelling together with people that you need to sit close with.

 

[steverk]

I've had great experiences with Air2Sea, but please keep in mind that the airlines aren't what they once were.  Air2Sea can't change that.

Specifically, I've had 2 experiences where Air2Sea was able to move mountains and really saved the day.  I'll explain them here. (YMMV as Air2Sea cannot force the airlines to do anything)

Back in June 2021, we were flying home from a cruise from St. Maarten with a connection in Miami.  We made the connection without issue, but sat on the plane at the gate for 5 hours.  At midnight, the flight was cancelled.  American said they have a policy of booking hotels, but none were available, so we'd have to sleep in the airport. Even worse, the next flight American would book for us was in 4 days! I called Air2Sea.  They put us up in a hotel at their expense and got us at the top of the standby list for the first flight out in the morning.  We made that flight and were very happy.

On another (family) cruise at Thanksgiving 2021, my son was flying from Birmingham AL to San Juan PR.  He drove to the airport and realized he forgot his COVID vaccine card. There was not enough time to go home and get it, so he missed the plane. Unfortunately, there weren't any flights from Birmingham to San Juan that would arrive before the ship departs the following day.  He called Air2Sea and they were able to help out.  They pieced together a segment from Brimingham to DFW with a tight connection to a flight to San Juan. This was not a published itinerary. Once again, they were able to move mountains.

Because of these 2 experiences, I always use Air2Sea if at all possible.

[teddy]

53 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I always call them, I never use their website. In my own experience, they can pull a lot more fares and options on the phone compared to their website.

This has been our experience too.   Most recently, we changed the airport we’re flying into from Bologna to Venice and changed our arrival from one day early to three days early with no problem.   Back in 2021 we changed our flights to/from Nassau easily. 
 

To be fair, I’m using words like our and we, but my wife makes the actual phone calls.   I’m not a phone person  

 

[Pattycruise]

9 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

We've used Air2Sea twice for international flights and would like to use them for the Panama group cruise, but their prices are insanely high.

Will  the group cancel the cruise? I saw Matt’s blog. Rhapsody isn’t traversing the canal .

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, Pattycruise said:

Will  the group cancel the cruise? I saw Matt’s blog. Rhapsody isn’t traversing the canal .

Yes, the group cruise has been cancelled.  

[Pattycruise]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yes, the group cruise has been cancelled.  

Sorry to hear that.  Hopefully they can find something as exciting