Domestic First Class Question

So I understand that included business class airline tickets for European itineraries is contractually only supposed to apply to the "over water" portion of the flights.

However, I've read many posts here that say if your entire route is on the same airline, the domestic portion will be ticketed in first class. We will be flying out of Ft. Lauderdale and headed to Nice, FR to meet the Explorer in Monte Carlo.

Based on the above, let's say we deviated to or happened to be placed on a Delta schedule I found, connecting at JFK. In this case, as I understand it, the FLL to JFK segment would most likely be first class as both flights are operated by Delta.

I understand say if our first flight was Delta, and our international flight was on United, then the Delta flight would be coach since it's 2 separate airlines.

But what I am confused about is codeshares. In an alternative schedule I found on Delta's website, we could fly from FLL to Atlanta, and the ATL to Nice flight would be operated by Air France. In this scenario, would our flight to Atlanta still probably be first class? Different airlines, but both sold by Delta.

While I have not heard of this happening with codeshare airlines, we have taken the same airline and had First Class across the U.S. Check with your TA about this. If they aren't sure, they should check with Regent and will let you know.

You should have first class on the domestic portion as DL does not offer first class on international only business.

So I understand that included business class airline tickets for European itineraries is contractually only supposed to apply to the "over water" portion of the flights.

 

However, I've read many posts here that say if your entire route is on the same airline, the domestic portion will be ticketed in first class. We will be flying out of Ft. Lauderdale and headed to Nice, FR to meet the Explorer in Monte Carlo.

 

Based on the above, let's say we deviated to or happened to be placed on a Delta schedule I found, connecting at JFK. In this case, as I understand it, the FLL to JFK segment would most likely be first class as both flights are operated by Delta.

 

I understand say if our first flight was Delta, and our international flight was on United, then the Delta flight would be coach since it's 2 separate airlines.

 

But what I am confused about is codeshares. In an alternative schedule I found on Delta's website, we could fly from FLL to Atlanta, and the ATL to Nice flight would be operated by Air France. In this scenario, would our flight to Atlanta still probably be first class? Different airlines, but both sold by Delta.

Is there some reason you want to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale instead of Miami which has nonstop flights to connections in Europe? If you fly from Miami, both British Airways and Lufthansa (often used by Regent) have nonstop flights, respectively, to Heathrow and Frankfurt. They both have reasonable connection times for their flights to Nice. Using flights from Miami avoids the problem of being assigned coach on the domestic portion of your itinerary.

Since your cruise is less than 270 days away, I suggest you have your TA contact the Regent Air Desk and explore your options if you deviate. You can let Regent propose itineraries or you can request several itineraries you choose. In either case, you don't have to pay the deviation fee until you accept a proposed deviation itinerary. It costs you nothing to look. :)

Good luck.

You are eligible for the First Class Domestic seat but, that doesn't mean you will always get it. It depends on the airline's availability for the particular fare class that Regent books you in at the time of booking. Nobody including your TA or even Regent will be able to tell you before the flights are booked if you will get the First Class seat, only that you are eligible for it and if you don't, you can standby for the upgrade and hopefully get it.

We did this at the 330 day mark and one of us got the first class seat and the other didn't and never cleared the wait list so it's not for sure but, often occurs.

Good luck,

When you book through Regent you get seat assignments and they know availability when they contact the airline. You would certainly not have to go standby. None of us have been able to answer your question but DaveFr had a good suggestion - definitely food for thought.

On our Voyager Baltics cruise last September, we had the "Business Class Free Air" in all categories offer but we also deviated to add a day at either end of the cruise.

Outbound Phoenix to Copenhagen: Codeshare United Airlines Phoenix to Chicago then SAS from ORD to CPH. Our seats were first class domestic on the United flight, then Business Class on the SAS flight.

Return Amsterdam to Phoenix: Delta Business Amsterdam to Salt Lake City then domestic first on a regional jet SLC to PHX. Seemless connection from Int'l to domestic, even with having to pick up luggage for Customs (it also helped we are Global Entry - HIGHLY recommend this program!)

YMMV

On our Voyager Baltics cruise last September, we had the "Business Class Free Air" in all categories offer but we also deviated to add a day at either end of the cruise.

 

Outbound Phoenix to Copenhagen: Codeshare United Airlines Phoenix to Chicago then SAS from ORD to CPH. Our seats were first class domestic on the United flight, then Business Class on the SAS flight.

 

Return Amsterdam to Phoenix: Delta Business Amsterdam to Salt Lake City then domestic first on a regional jet SLC to PHX. Seemless connection from Int'l to domestic, even with having to pick up luggage for Customs (it also helped we are Global Entry - HIGHLY recommend this program!)

 

YMMV

Interesting! Did you know that Regent was ticketing you in domestic first at the time you deviated? Or was this something that you realized later?

Is there some reason you want to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale instead of Miami which has nonstop flights to connections in Europe? If you fly from Miami, both British Airways and Lufthansa (often used by Regent) have nonstop flights, respectively, to Heathrow and Frankfurt. They both have reasonable connection times for their flights to Nice.

I suppose since I live in Fort Lauderdale, I was thinking FLL simply out of convenience of proximity. However you bring up valid points to reconsider MIA.

Using flights from Miami avoids the problem of being assigned coach on the domestic portion of your itinerary.

But to clarify this point, would the connection from Heathrow or Frankfurt to Nice be coach or business class?

I suppose since I live in Fort Lauderdale, I was thinking FLL simply out of convenience of proximity. However you bring up valid points to reconsider MIA.

 

 

 

But to clarify this point, would the connection from Heathrow or Frankfurt to Nice be coach or business class?

I'm not Dave but know that the connection from Heathrow or Frankfurt will be business class. However, having said that, business class within Europe is not the same as international. We fly both British Airways and Lufthansa to Europe and business class out of Frankfurt/Munich/Heathrow are usually in the front of the plane -- three seats across with the middle seat blocked so that only 2 seats are utilized. While not wonderful seats, you do receive drinks, food and good service.

What TC said. :D Luckily, the intra-European flights are relatively short so the cramped seating is not too onerous.

Hi towel-animal,

First off, your bug caught my attention - very creative!

As to your code share question:

We are Canadian and frequently have a domestic leg that has always been in business class when Regent books for us.

Our return from the Monte Carlo to Venice cruise involves a codeshare situation that is business all the way even though it is Swiss VCE-ZRH-YUL and Air Canada YUL - YVR.

I hope you have good luck with this too!

Hi towel-animal' date='

First off, your bug caught my attention - very creative!

 

As to your code share question:

We are Canadian and frequently have a domestic leg that has always been in business class when Regent books for us.

Our return from the Monte Carlo to Venice cruise involves a codeshare situation that is business all the way even though it is Swiss VCE-ZRH-YUL and Air Canada YUL - YVR.

I hope you have good luck with this too![/quote']

 

Your situation is a bit different than the OP's because it does not include flying out of or into the U.S. with a stop within the country. As mentioned above, intra-European flights work differently than flights within the U.S.

Towel-animal:

At the time of requested deviation, the domestic flights were booked in first. We were super excited. Our outbound flights did change once since United did away with an early morning flight, but the new flights United/SAS were also First/Business.

Hope this helps.

Towel-animal:

 

At the time of requested deviation, the domestic flights were booked in first. We were super excited. Our outbound flights did change once since United did away with an early morning flight, but the new flights United/SAS were also First/Business.

 

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the update. This definitely helps! Things change so rapidly with airlines that it is difficult to stay up to date!

I think that a transatlantic non-stop to Nice is more important than the domestic portion being in first or having to make both a domestic and a european connection to get to Nice.

The flight from FLL to ATL is short, domestic economy is bearable if you fly Air France non-stop to Nice, in my opinion.

A Delta flight from FLL to JFK and then a non-stop to Nice is still great.

United no longer flies to JFK, only Newark so no possibility of a connection on United to Delta without a drive from Newark to Queens.

There are no non-stop flights from MIA to Nice.

Just my 2 cents from a fellow South Floridian.

Just to give an update since I originally started this thread...last week we decided to go ahead with an air deviation to ensure that we would arrive in NCE with enough time to fully enjoy Monte Carlo. We ended up choosing an itinerary that contains the very scenario I was posing in my original post.

Pre-cruise:

Flight 1- Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia (American Airlines- First Class)

Flight 2- Philadelphia to London-Heathrow (British Airways- Business Class)

Flight 3- London to Nice (British Airways- Business Class)

For the first flight on American, we were indeed ticketed in First Class. I was told this is usually always the case as long it is available, if that helps any misconceptions that may be out there.

Post Cruise:

Flight 1- Athens to New York (Delta- Business Class)

Flight 2- New York to Fort Lauderdale (Delta- First Class)

towell-animal, thanks for your follow up post--good routing for y'all.

Just to give an update since I originally started this thread...last week we decided to go ahead with an air deviation to ensure that we would arrive in NCE with enough time to fully enjoy Monte Carlo. We ended up choosing an itinerary that contains the very scenario I was posing in my original post.

 

Pre-cruise:

Flight 1- Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia (American Airlines- First Class)

Flight 2- Philadelphia to London-Heathrow (British Airways- Business Class)

Flight 3- London to Nice (British Airways- Business Class)

 

For the first flight on American, we were indeed ticketed in First Class. I was told this is usually always the case as long it is available, if that helps any misconceptions that may be out there.

 

Post Cruise:

Flight 1- Athens to New York (Delta- Business Class)

Flight 2- New York to Fort Lauderdale (Delta- First Class)

Hopefully the LHR to NCE isn't the normal European "Business class" which seems to be 3 coach seats with the middle one blocked off.

Hopefully the LHR to NCE isn't the normal European "Business class" which seems to be 3 coach seats with the middle one blocked off.

While it would be nice, the flight is the normal European "Business class" and won't be a wide body so about 100% chance it will be the 3 coach seats with the middle blocked.

My question is that we are booked on an economy flight to Newark from Tampa, but business class over the water to Iceland. What are the luggage guidelines as the ones for business class is better than economy?:confused:

My question is that we are booked on an economy flight to Newark from Tampa, but business class over the water to Iceland. What are the luggage guidelines as the ones for business class is better than economy?:confused:

Cannot definitely answer your question without knowing how you were ticketed and what airlines are involved. I can guess you are on Icelandair from Newark to Tampa and possibly Jet Blue or another domestic carrier to Newark. Looking at the Icelandair website they do show Jet Blue to Newark. They also show 2 bags at 70 lbs for the fights but, only if Regent booked you thru Jet Blue. Also shows you in economy comfort to Newark.

If Regent booked the flights separately and not with Icelandic for both flights, probably you would not get the 2 bags at 70 lbs on the Newark flight. Hopefully you have your booking number and if only one number for both flights, would expect you to be on the Jet Blue code share and get the Business luggage for both flights.

Suggest you go to the Icelandic site and put in your booking code and see what they say for luggage. If 2 codes, check the domestic flight to see what that airline allows.

All depends on how Regent Air booked your flights. Hope this helps and if my guess is incorrect, please provide your flight numbers and airlines and I'll try to look them up or you can simply check on the airline websites with your booking number and get the info yourself.

My question is that we are booked on an economy flight to Newark from Tampa, but business class over the water to Iceland. What are the luggage guidelines as the ones for business class is better than economy?:confused:

The last post is not making sense to me. I have not heard of Regent ever having a contract with Jet Blue. However, let me give you our experience.

Whenever we fly out of the U.S., we have to take a short flight on Alaska Airlines (economy). We simply show the check-in agents our boarding passes (that we printed the day before) and they book our flights through to the final destination and do not charge for luggage (and they use the luggage requirements for the overseas flights). This policy has nothing to do with Regent but rather with the airlines.

Another interesting part of flying with Regent air is that, when both the domestic and international flights are on the same carrier, we are put in First Class for the domestic portion. Again, this has to do with airline policy rather than Regent.

Hope this helps!

I have a question along these lines. We are considering booking a "Miami to Miami" Regent Caribbean cruise. It will involve no international flights. It also will involve a short commuter jet flight to either Denver or Dallas on which first or business class will not be available, and the involve a flight to Miami from either Denver or Dallas on which first or business is available -- and the reverse on return. With Regent providing the air, how can we upgrade the longer leg to and from Miami to business or first?

I have a question along these lines. We are considering booking a "Miami to Miami" Regent Caribbean cruise. It will involve no international flights. It also will involve a short commuter jet flight to either Denver or Dallas on which first or business class will not be available, and the involve a flight to Miami from either Denver or Dallas on which first or business is available -- and the reverse on return. With Regent providing the air, how can we upgrade the longer leg to and from Miami to business or first?

Think best way is to first do a search on http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ to see what it will cost to book yourself and then subtract the Regent value they will credit to you for not taking their air. Then, have your TA contact the Regent Air desk and see what it will cost for them to provide First Class flights and add $175 pp for the deviation cost.

Can almost guarantee you will be able to purchase yourself with the credit for less than Regent doing the air booking. Don't believe there is a way to upgrade a Regent provided flight so buying yourself is most likely the best and most cost effective approach.