Air2Sea flight changed

[stopher]

Hello, we booked our flights on Air2Sea, and since then they have changed our flights a few times. One of the flights is now over 2 hours later than the original flight. I tried to see if we could get on an earlier flight because of the 2 hour difference,  but because we are past the paid in full, we would have to pay a substantial fee, plus the difference in flight cost.

Has anyone ever had luck changing their flights because of a substantial itinerary change and paid in full, without having yo pay any fees or airfare difference? 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Have you tried to call them? I book frequently with Air2sea but have never tried to change after final payment. However, with a 2 hour difference, it would not hurt to call and at least ask if they will waive the change fee. 

[smokeybandit]

AIr2Sea doesn't change flights. The airlines do.  If the flight is paid, then you'd be subject to the change rules of the airline (specific to airline-initiated changes).   The airline will usually let you change the flight for free if they changed your itinerary to a flight over a certain amount of time earlier or later.   Since the flight is fully ticketed, I'd see if you can change the flight directly through the airline's website.

If you can't, call back to Air2Sea and get a different agent who might be more familiar with how to handle this.

 

[happy cruisers 2]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Have you tried to call them? I book frequently with Air2sea but have never tried to change after final payment. However, with a 2 hour difference, it would not hurt to call and at least ask if they will waive the change fee. 

This is what I intend to do on Monday.  We booked flights through Air2Sea in Dec. 2023 for a Sept. 2024 cruise.  Original departure time was 1:45pm, which we liked.  After 5 changes by the airline (one in Dec, three in March and now again today), we now depart at 5:14pm and arrive at 10:22pm instead of 6:53.  Of course September is still a few months away, so who knows how many more changes this airline could still come up with?!!  So aggravating.  It makes no difference what you select initially, it seems that it will always change and not in ways you will like.

[Lovetocruise2002]

9 minutes ago, happy cruisers 2 said:

This is what I intend to do on Monday.  We booked flights through Air2Sea in Dec. 2023 for a Sept. 2024 cruise.  Original departure time was 1:45pm, which we liked.  After 5 changes by the airline (one in Dec, three in March and now again today), we now depart at 5:14pm and arrive at 10:22pm instead of 6:53.  Of course September is still a few months away, so who knows how many more changes this airline could still come up with?!!  So aggravating.  It makes no difference what you select initially, it seems that it will always change and not in ways you will like.

For a September sailing, assuming you did not make final payment yet, you are still free to change flights and you would not be charged a change fee by Air2Sea. 

[smokeybandit]

With the huge gap between the old and new flight, you're well within the typical airline rules for being able to change it for free.

[happy cruisers 2]

11 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

For a September sailing, assuming you did not make final payment yet, you are still free to change flights and you would not be charged a change fee by Air2Sea. 

Unfortunately (I guess) we have already paid in full.  This situation is probably another reason to work with a TA, which we now have started doing.

[ChessE4]

When my son flew to Europe and had a major flight change the night before travel, he called Air2sea and got it fixed. Be sure to save their emergency phone number.

[CruiseGus]

19 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said:

Unfortunately (I guess) we have already paid in full.  This situation is probably another reason to work with a TA, which we now have started doing.

Already PAID in full should not matter as long as you're not past the final payment date.  I have a 1 sep 2024 sailing and final payment is not until 3 June 

[smokeybandit]

23 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

Already PAID in full should not matter as long as you're not past the final payment date.  I have a 1 sep 2024 sailing and final payment is not until 3 June 

It shouldn't matter the payment date timeline. If the airline changes your flight more than a couple hours, typically you can change it to any other flight that day for free

[HeWhoWaits]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

It shouldn't matter the payment date timeline. If the airline changes your flight more than a couple hours, typically you can change it to any other flight that day for free

Important to note - this is between you and the airline. Air2Sea has no say in the matter.

[happy cruisers 2]

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

If the airline changes your flight more than a couple hours, typically you can change it to any other flight that day for free

We purchased first class seats on one of only two non-stops.  We originally selected the 1:45 pm flight, as it worked much better for us than the 7:20 am flight.  So....  our only other option now would be the early flight, which doesn't suit us for a couple of reasons.  We will probably just go with what the airline wants us to do, which is leave and arrive much later than we had initially agreed to.

[PhillyLady]

I am going to disagree that Air2Sea has no role in flights, although they cannot control airline itineraries. First of all, the most important thing is that you are supposedly guaranteed "assured arrival" to connect with the ship.  This is a very important issue, although any more I arrive multiple days before my cruises depart, just to ensure luggage arrival, good flights, and sometimes, jet lag recovery. Next, you are told you get the lowest airfare.  Remember, lowest cost does not necessarily mean best connections or best flights.

September is still a way off, and there may be multiple changes before that. I have booked non-stop flights the maximum amount of time in advance (approximately 11-12 months), and half a year later the nonstop flights were completely eliminated and my new flight turned into a terrible connection (I had to cancel, and completely rebook--luckily I used miles).  

I am sorry to say that I do not consider a few hours a major change for flight travel, although of course it may be a bit of an inconvenience.  

You have been keeping an eye on the schedule and all the changes, so that is a very good thing. You should review all the other airlines, and schedules, and become familiar with the various options to your destination. It is always appropriate to call the air department and check in and ask questions. As the date draws closer, you will need to make your final decision. Remember, flying is just the first, sometimes inconvenient few hours of trying to get to the wonderful cruise!  Best wishes!

[twangster]

A lot depends on the specifics of your situation.  

Depending on the cities involved and the airline there may not be any options available without additional fees.  Some airports have few daily flights and some airlines have more restrictive change policies.  Air2Sea doesn't circumvent airline policies.  So long as connections, if any, remain legal and the flight times still allow you to make the ship on time, then the flights as booked are valid.  Changes because you don't like the flight times would require fees if the airline imposes them.  

[Zacharius]

On 4/13/2024 at 8:01 PM, smokeybandit said:

AIr2Sea doesn't change flights. The airlines do.  
 

Legit question - is this 100% fact? As someone who flies constantly, I know that airlines change their schedules frequently...but I also know that Air2Sea is looking for the deal that is best for them, so it wouldn't surprise me if they make changes at times too so that it benefits them financially. 

[smokeybandit]

10 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Legit question - is this 100% fact? As someone who flies constantly, I know that airlines change their schedules frequently...but I also know that Air2Sea is looking for the deal that is best for them, so it wouldn't surprise me if they make changes at times too so that it benefits them financially. 

Air2Sea is nothing but a travel agent for flights. They aren't actively changing flights.

[CruiseGus]

7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Air2Sea is nothing but a travel agent for flights. They aren't actively changing flights.

Actually Air2Sea is a Consolidator.

"Consolidators have contracts with airlines to buy airfare in bulk. They are negotiated at a lower rate, letting the consolidators sell them for less than the publicly listed fares for the same flight"

That is part of the problem in that even when you pick flights from them, they are only a soft reservation and normally not actually ticketed until around actual final payment date.

[HeWhoWaits]

5 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

They are negotiated at a lower rate, letting the consolidators sell them for less than the publicly listed fares for the same flight

Our experience has been that the price we are quoted by Air2Sea matches the lowest price we can see via the airlines' websites or sites like Expedia and Travelocity. If Air2Sea is getting a better price than that from the airlines, Air2Sea is making the difference as a profit.

When we still flew in on departure day, the Air2Sea guarantee to get us to the ship was worthwhile. Now that we travel in at least one day early, there is no need to go that route unless we want to hold off on paying for the airfare until we make final payment on the cruise.

[smokeybandit]

13 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

Actually Air2Sea is a Consolidator.

"Consolidators have contracts with airlines to buy airfare in bulk. They are negotiated at a lower rate, letting the consolidators sell them for less than the publicly listed fares for the same flight"

That is part of the problem in that even when you pick flights from them, they are only a soft reservation and normally not actually ticketed until around actual final payment date.

No different than the big box stores who do the same with cruises.

Also they're not always cheaper. Like right now for a cruise in December, A2S is $50 more expensive per person. Back when I was researching flights for the since-canceled group cruise to Panama, A2S was $1000 more expensive (this for a premium class)

[teddy]

19 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

Actually Air2Sea is a Consolidator.

"Consolidators have contracts with airlines to buy airfare in bulk. They are negotiated at a lower rate, letting the consolidators sell them for less than the publicly listed fares for the same flight"

That is part of the problem in that even when you pick flights from them, they are only a soft reservation and normally not actually ticketed until around actual final payment date.

This ^^

 

We've used Air2Sea a few times since we started traveling in 2019.  The ticket prices were within our budget and the "get you to the ship" part of it comforted us.  Not having to pay for the flights until the cruise final payment was nice, too....until we booked a flight to Europe that we couldn't chose seats on until we paid in full. 

Now that we have some traveling experience under our belts, we've come to realize that we are able to book flights better ourselves.  We can choose the class, route, and fare we want to pay for (even within the basic classes such as "Economy" there are different fares).  We always check Air2Sea when we fly for cruises now, but when comparing apples to apples, we haven't found Air2Sea to be any cheaper.  This may be because we are not flying first class...ymmv.

We are flying to Heathrow for a cruise this coming fall (on another cruise line), and we were able to book flights cheaper than their Cruise/Air packages.....and non-stop from Boston at that.  The only east coast, non-stop options they offered were from the NYC area, but we're a couple hours north of Boston.

There is an informative thread about Cruise Air on the other cruise forum.

 

***Off topic a bit:  The "get you to the ship guarantee" went out the window for us last fall when our connecting flight in Lisbon, Portugal was canceled.  I was on the phone with Air2Sea while my wife and I were in the long "queue" at the ticket desk.  Air2Sea could not verify that the flight was canceled, and until they could, I was told there was nothing that could be done as far as getting us on another flight unless the airline did it....then the call disconnected because all cell service/wifi dropped when we approached the ticket counter.  The airline ended up rebooking us on a flight the next morning as well as giving us hotel and food vouchers.  To Air2Sea's credit, they did follow up with me to make sure we were all set, but the whole experience didn't leave us with a warm fuzzy feeling.