Independent Air Information
It ’s all about the transfers!
IMPORTANT - If your passengers are arranging their own air transportation to/from the ship and want to purchase transfers, you must provide an air schedule BEFORE you can sell the Transfers!.
The Independent Air screen can be used to to show actual flights your clients have booked to get to/from the ship’s port city. Additionally, if your clients intend to use cruise line transfers only and are arriving prior to the actual date of the transfer by air or another means, you can let the cruise line know. This will ensure your clients are not left behind!
FLIGHTS to/from the Ship
For flights TO the cruise, you will need to enter ALL flights for Independent Air; for flights FROM the cruise, you will only need to enter the first flight from the disembarkation city. If you are having difficulty remembering these guidelines, it is always acceptable to enter ALL flights to and from the cruise. Provide the following information for Independent Air reservations:
Passenger: | Place a check under the passenger number the flight information is for |
Direction: | Indicate if the flight segment is going TO or FROM the ship |
Airline Code: | Provide the two letter airline code (link to de-code provided). NOTE: if carriers do not participate in the cruise line’s airline system an error will be returned! |
Flight Number: | Provide the ACTUAL airline flight number. For passengers without air but still using the cruise line transfers:
|
Origin City: | Flight origination city (link to de-code provided) |
Dest City: | Flight destination city (link to de-code provided) NOTE: provide connecting information on all flights TO the ship |
Depart Date: | Provide the flight’s date of departure |
Once all information is provided, click SUBMIT. The arrival date and times will populate programmatically from the cruise line’s airline system. Check back within 15 minutes to ensure the cruise line’s airline system has returned correct flight times and dates. If the flights do not meet the cruise line’s guideline to make realistic transfers to/from the ship, or if the flight information is not correct and does not match the airline system used by the cruise line, an error will be returned. The following is a list of possible errors:
| INVL CARR | Invalid air carrier |
| INVL FLIGHT | Invalid flight number |
| DEP CITY | Invalid departure city |
| ARR CITY | Invalid arrival city |
| ARR LATE | Invalid arrival time based on cruise line transfer guidelines* |
| DEP EARLY | Invalid departure time based on cruise line transfer guidelines* |
*Please contact the cruise line for arrival/departure policy to use transfers.
NO FLIGHTS to/from the Ship ... still using the transfers
IMPORTANT! - If your passengers are arranging their own air transportation to/from the ship, you must provide an air schedule BEFORE you sell the Transfers!
If passengers are not arriving on a flight and want to pick up the transfers at the airport - for example, the passengers have rented a car and driven to the port city, and are dropping off the rental car at the airport and would like transfers from airport to pier - you may enter the flight number as BOWN in the Flight Number field. Complete the Origin and Destination with the airport codes being used at the ship’s embarkation and disembarkation ports (i.e.: FLL and FLL or, SEA and ANC).
To cancel a segment, click the CANCEL button next to the segment. � To re-add the segment, type the new flight data in the area provided at the bottom of the page and click SUBMIT.
Transfer Policy Change
Transfers are no longer automatically added to the booking when the booking does not include cruise line air. You can still purchase transfers if your clients have independent air, but now you must supply the air schedule before you can add the transfer to the booking
Transfers may be added to any booking with an air schedule. The schedule may be cruise line air, independent air or the indicator on the independent air screen showing the passengers are using the airport as the transfer pick-up point.
A flight to the ship must be present to add a Before Transfer. A flight from the ship must be present to add an After Transfer. Independent air will be considered if the flights are entered that arrive at the Embark port of the cruise and depart from the disembark port of the cruise. To the ship, the destination city must match the embark port. From the ship, the origin city must match the disembark port.
Once you have supplied the required air schedule details, you may purchase transfers via the "Travel Packages" section of POLAR Online.
To change flight data on bookings that have existing transfers use the following steps:
- If you have Transfers, go to TRAVEL PACKAGES and cancel them first.
- Return to INDEPENDENT AIR and Cancel the air segment(s).
- Re-add the Independent Air segment(s).
- Return to TRAVEL PACKAGES and Re-add the Transfers.