How to Book Your Airline Employee Cruise Deal

You need to contact a travel agency that specializes in dealing with airline employee cruise discounts. Not every agency is authorized by the cruise lines to handle these rates. Some cruise lines deal with many different agencies and some only deal with a handful of these agencies. Find an agency that has the widest selection of cruise lines as possible at the airline employee cruise discount rate. That is a sign that they have been in business for a while and are trust-worthy. These agencies are known as "Interline Travel Agencies".

Most are located in North America with a few in Europe and Australia. The larger ones are in the USA.

By dealing with an agency that can offer you the widest selection possible allows you to pick and choose from many more cruise options than dealing with an agency that only deals with a few cruise lines. Don't make the mistake that only the big cruise lines offer great deals. The smaller upscale cruise lines often offer better deals that the larger mainstream cruise lines. These smaller upscale cruise lines often only deal with a handful of "interline travel agencies" in the world. It is one of these agencies where you will find the largest selection and best options for your interline cruise.

When you finally find the cruise ship, sailing date and price you want you will need to provide proof of your eligibility which for most cruise lines will be a copy of your airline ID and a letter verifying your employment status on airline letterhead.

Most of your better "interline travel agencies" restrict access to their site. You will need to submit some kind of proof of eligibility to gain access to their web sites. If you go to an alleged interline travel agency web site and they do not ask for proof of eligibility before granting you access to their rates, then there is a good chance the rates you are seeing are NOT airline employee cruise discounts.

Now the cruise lines do not offer "bump protection" so you need to be sure you can get to your port of embarkation BEFORE the ship is set to depart. There is nothing fun about being late and getting to the pier as your ship sails off into the sunset.

When you book your airline employee cruise discount make sure you deal with an "interline travel agency" who is not going to charge you a hidden booking fee to do so. Many "interline travel agencies" charge as much as $40 per person to book an airline employee cruise discount. Since some cruises as as low as $199 per person this additional "booking fee" can really add to the cost of your cruise. For a family of 4 it adds another $160 to the cost of a cruise.

This fee is often hidden and airline employees may not be aware of the charge until it is too late. When calling around checking prices this fee is usually not included in the quote. When the airline employee/parent/spouse calls back to book, this "fee" is rolled into the final amount when you are told there are additional taxes and fees such as fuel surcharges and port taxes. Into those "fees" are the booking fee from that interline travel agency.

Save your money! There is one very large (in fact they have the largest interline web site on the internet) interline travel agency that DOES NOT CHARGE A BOOKING FEE. That agency is InterlineTravel.com. You can book online or by calling their office at 800 766-2911 or in the DFW Area at metro 817 481-8631. Since they do not charge any hidden fees and no booking fee, they are a favorite among knowledgeable airline employees.