cruisin_tigger

Looking at a cruise that departs Oct 13, 2008. Just curious when air will be available for that date - actually when could I buy or wanted to check out using miles too - when is that available? thanks for any help.

fmpden

Probably available now. Just use one of the seach engines and see what you get.

AAFrequentFlyer

Airlines load up airfares 330 days out.

For paid tickets I would not bother that far out. There will be sales at least couple of times between the 330th day and the day of departure.

OTOH, if using miles and you're sure about your trip then it may be a good idea to try to book as soon as you can, but it doesn't mean that once the few award seats are gone that no more will be released. Award seats get released all the time depending on loads.

rkkwan

Airlines start putting fares either 330 or 331 before travel date. That means you have about a month to wait.

Most airlines won't have good fares released until much later. This far out, often only full fare.

For award tickets, it depends on the airline you're trying to get on. A lot of them do start releasing them at 330/331 days, while others may hold them back for a while.

If you want to use miles, you should definitely start doing your research now on possible routes and schedule. And find out the exact date AND exact time (e.g. midnight of which timezone) you can start requesting award tickets. Then do it at that exact time.

cruisin_tigger

Thanks for the replies. Researching further, looks like offpeak for AA miles starts Oct. 15, so will probably have to switch cruise dates if we decide to use them. Any tips on what airports to connect thru, etc. for ORD to Rome? Thanks!

illnative

we are going direct from ORD to FCO on AA - I don't believe this service is offered daily - but the days they do offer it worked out for us.

AAFrequentFlyer

The non-stops run MON,WED,THU and SAT.

rkkwan

Just a general warning. Flight schedule can change many times in 11 months. By next Oct, AA may not be flying ORD-FCO on those days. Maybe it'll become daily, maybe it won't run at all.

And departure/arrival times can vary too.

So, if your ship is leaving port 2pm Monday, I wouldn't book a flight - whether it's with money or miles, on any airline - that's arriving 10am in FCO same day.

AAFrequentFlyer

That's only half of the story <b>rkkwan</b>.

Once booked the airline is contracted to get you to the destination. If they change their schedule then you either take your money/miles back or agree with the new schedule.

BUT, if they cancel the schedule completely, then they have an obligation to put you on another airline.

If I was going on a cruise, I would not arrive on the same day either, especially on a transatlantic flight where many things can go wrong, but it's not as dire as you seem to portray it.

You do have certain rights as a pax and an airline just can't cancel the schedule and give you your money back and be done with it. Once they take your money they did agreed to get you to the destination, one way or another. They will put you on another airline in that case.

It's possible that the airline goes totally under in which case it doesn't matter how well you planned, how much insurance you purchased, you are basically just next in line of millions of paxes hoping to get back pennies on the dollar at best, but that is an extreme situation.

Still, I agree with you about same day arrival for a cruise - NOT A GOOD IDEA!