Air2Sea Nightmare Experience

[BrianSTL]

I will never use Air2Sea again.  I wake up this morning to find out that that our Air2Sea flights for next Saturday have been cancelled by Royal’s Air2Sea department.  They were cancelled at some point in the last 24 hours by them.  Royal did not notify us of this.  We only found out because my wife went on the airline app to check on a flight for a different trip.  Spent over an hour on the phone with the Air2Sea department only to receive no explanation for why and no attempt to correct the issue on Air2Sea’s part.  Their answer was “We dont know why we cancelled your flights, but we did return your money.”.   We ended up having to book new flights ourselves this morning to make our December 3 cruise.  It cost us $1,000 more for the flights now.

Royal’s customer service in every other department is outstanding, but Air2Sea’s customer service is among the worst I have received from any business.  I would strongly recommend that everyone precede with caution before booking their air travel through Air2Sea.

[Bruin Steve]

I have been usung Air2Sea--or its Celebrity counterpart (same people) for most of my last several cruises.  I have found a great many advantages--like being fully changable and fully refundable until final cruise payment date.  But, yes, there can also be a few issues.  I have learned how to easily deal with these.

First, understand that there can be multiple reasons for cancelations and flight changes...and, more often, these are the fault of the airline, not Air2Sea.  ALWAYS best to check your flights OFTEN--usually by going onto the airline website and logging in.  Make sure you have the airlines 6-digit code--which may be different than the one you get from Air2Sea.  Also helps to have this for thing such as seat reservations.

The one major issue that is an unfortunate quirk with Air2Sea is that they do not actually ticket your flights until after they are paid for...and with SOME airlines, this causes a cancelation issue.  The airlines' computer system assumes they are abandonned reservations.  Check your reservations to see if this is the case.  There are a couple of ways to deal with it.  One is to pay for the tickets up front and ask Air2Sea to ticket them immediately.  But I have never needed to do this.  I've always alerted Air2Sea about the issue and they've always either gotten an extension with the airline (the cae with my current upcoming March Japan cruise where the airline extended the thing until mid-January...or...they've just ticketed in advance without my paying.

In the event nothing works, I have found that the best way to handle it is to escalate the case to the Royal Caribbean Executive Offices and get them to step in.  Of course, if the reason for the cancelation was the airline and not Air2Sea, the airline is required to find you alternate flights.

In your case, I would have to know more of the reasons to know how you might have proceded.

As to Customer Service, I've found that ALL dustomer service has gotten pretty bad post-pandemic--cruise lines (all of them), airlines, etc.  Everyone laid off their reps, then hired new ones when things kicked back up--and threw them out there with little training and support.  Everyone's wait times have gotten horrific and many reps lack answers.  When you run into that, smart to quickly escalate.  Ask to seak to a supervisor...and failing to find a competent person at that level, get in touch with corporate HQ.  Keep trying until you find someone with knowledge and authority.

[AshleyDillo]

2 minutes ago, Bruin Steve said:

In your case, I would have to know more of the reasons to know how you might have proceded.

Considering this cancelation happened less than 10 days from the flight date I'm not sure he knows the reasons. That's extremely short notice to have to rebook flights and I'm curious why Air2Sea isn't responsible for rebooking. They just refunded and washed their hands of the issue?

@BrianSTL out of curiosity, does the flight you were booked on still exist directly with the airline?

[BrianSTL]

19 minutes ago, Bruin Steve said:

I have been usung Air2Sea--or its Celebrity counterpart (same people) for most of my last several cruises.  I have found a great many advantages--like being fully changable and fully refundable until final cruise payment date.  But, yes, there can also be a few issues.  I have learned how to easily deal with these.

First, understand that there can be multiple reasons for cancelations and flight changes...and, more often, these are the fault of the airline, not Air2Sea.  ALWAYS best to check your flights OFTEN--usually by going onto the airline website and logging in.  Make sure you have the airlines 6-digit code--which may be different than the one you get from Air2Sea.  Also helps to have this for thing such as seat reservations.

The one major issue that is an unfortunate quirk with Air2Sea is that they do not actually ticket your flights until after they are paid for...and with SOME airlines, this causes a cancelation issue.  The airlines' computer system assumes they are abandonned reservations.  Check your reservations to see if this is the case.  There are a couple of ways to deal with it.  One is to pay for the tickets up front and ask Air2Sea to ticket them immediately.  But I have never needed to do this.  I've always alerted Air2Sea about the issue and they've always either gotten an extension with the airline (the cae with my current upcoming March Japan cruise where the airline extended the thing until mid-January...or...they've just ticketed in advance without my paying.

In the event nothing works, I have found that the best way to handle it is to escalate the case to the Royal Caribbean Executive Offices and get them to step in.  Of course, if the reason for the cancelation was the airline and not Air2Sea, the airline is required to find you alternate flights.

In your case, I would have to know more of the reasons to know how you might have proceded.

As to Customer Service, I've found that ALL dustomer service has gotten pretty bad post-pandemic--cruise lines (all of them), airlines, etc.  Everyone laid off their reps, then hired new ones when things kicked back up--and threw them out there with little training and support.  Everyone's wait times have gotten horrific and many reps lack answers.  When you run into that, smart to quickly escalate.  Ask to seak to a supervisor...and failing to find a competent person at that level, get in touch with corporate HQ.  Keep trying until you find someone with knowledge and authority.

Royal admitted they cancelled the flights, but they did not know why they cancelled it.  I did talk to a supervisor and while not rude he didn’t seem concerned about the situation.  He said while I was on hold waiting 15 minutes to speak to him someone higher up than him made a note that they couldn’t do anything for me or provide a reason why it happened.  I asked him if I could speak with that person and he said I couldn’t.  
 

The funniest thing was he tried to get me to book my air for our three cruises following this cruise through them.  I told him I wasn’t interested in doing that now.

I will follow your suggestion and contact HQ tomorrow.  Thank you for your response.

[BrianSTL]

16 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Considering this cancelation happened less than 10 days from the flight date I'm not sure he knows the reasons. That's extremely short notice to have to rebook flights and I'm curious why Air2Sea isn't responsible for rebooking. They just refunded and washed their hands of the issue?

@BrianSTL out of curiosity, does the flight you were booked on still exist directly with the airline?

That flight was now completely booked and had to book a later flight on December 2.

[Lovetocruise2002]

@BrianSTL so sorry that this happened to you. I have my own love/hate relationship with Air2Sea. They are not a perfect system, that much is clear. I was just curious, what airline were you originally booked on (the one that Air2Sea cancelled)?

[BrianSTL]

2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@BrianSTL so sorry that this happened to you. I have my own love/hate relationship with Air2Sea. They are not a perfect system, that much is clear. I was just curious, what airline were you originally booked on (the one that Air2Sea cancelled)?

United

[Lovetocruise2002]

Just now, BrianSTL said:

United

I am wondering, and it's just a guess because this has happened to me a lot lately with several of my Air2Sea flights, if United changed the flights (moved times and aircraft) and a new flight number was assigned and that caused Air2Sea to cancel somehow.

I have several Air2Sea reservations over the next few months to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I booked these flights right when they were released, months ago. Over the last few months, Delta has changed these flights so many times, both the flight schedule and the aircraft type. Each time, a new flight number was assigned and I had to go into my Delta account to confirm the change before it would let me access the reservation. I don't know what United's system is, but I wonder if it is something along the lines of that. Either way, it doesn't make you situation right. They should at least have honoured your original price.

But I agree with above comments, I always check my flights booked through Air2Sea to make sure they are intact. At least several times a week, I log into my Delta account and make sure that they are there.

[jbrinkm]

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Either way, it doesn't make you situation right. They should at least have honoured your original price.

What sort of guarantees do you get when you book from Air2Sea? 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

What sort of guarantees do you get when you book from Air2Sea? 

I basically stick with Air2Sea even thought I have a love/hate relationship with them for 2 reasons: I can re-price my flight up until cruise final payment, and they have their assured arrival program. While that also is not perfect, it's another layer of protection for the cruise.

[Zacharius]

On 11/23/2023 at 1:17 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I am wondering, and it's just a guess because this has happened to me a lot lately with several of my Air2Sea flights, if United changed the flights (moved times and aircraft) and a new flight number was assigned and that caused Air2Sea to cancel somehow.

Airlines change times and flight numbers all the time, especially as far out as many cruise travelers book. If that caused Air2Sea to cancel the bookings, that's a serious flaw in their system, not United's. 

[Katiemay0101]

I had a similar experience twice on the same trip. We flew from the US (home) to England and the whole trip was a nightmare. We were essentially abandoned in Europe when our original flight was late getting in and we missed the connecting flight, causing my family to circle London for 2 hours because they didn't know where we were and we couldn't contact them because we were still on the plane. Then on the way home the same thing happened but we were stuck in LaGuardia. Both times A2S told me we had a better chance of getting a new flight if we booked it ourselves directly through the airline service desk at the airport. I was traveling with my 17 year old autistic son at the time and our seats ended up being separated and on the final flight I had to put him on a plane by himself and have him met by family at the other end. No help, no apologies, no accommodations, no explanations, nothing. When we did eventually get home I requested something, anything, to compensate us for them not doing what we paid them to do and was told no, sucks to be you. I hate Air2Sea and will never use them again. The supposed benefits do not outweigh the crappy job they do once they've got your money.

Still loyal to Royal though 

 

Kate