Warning re: O's air w/o deviation

We weren't too concerned about our arrival times for an upcoming cruise and opted to save the $350 so we did not purchase a deviation to come in the day before into Miami.

Just received our flight itinerary.

Outbound: we are both on the same flight #s but oddly DH arrives 15 minutes before me??

Inbound: YIKES

1. they have us on different flights

2. I am to not only change planes but also airlines in LAX. If the flight is delayed or the baggage is slow to arrive I'm stuck by myself in LA. No onward ticket.

Air Canada Rouge connecting with Compass Airlines as American Eagle (no idea what that even is)

I've never seen such wacky itineraries especially booking us on two separate flights.

I know, I know, I know we took our chances but in my wildest dreams I would never have thought they would be this unprofessional.

So a cautionary tale: pay them their 350 bucks or you too might be taught a lesson.

Will be phoning tomorrow to see what we can scrape up for flights.

Those arrangements are so disjointed and bizarre, that there must be something wrong, somewhere.

Traveling on the same plane IS a given.

Definately call asap.

Thanks for the tip Aweigh. And- it has to be a mistake. Please post what you find out.

Just read last night here and posted about a passenger on a Tahiti cruise. Their flight arrived into Papeete at 9:30pm; ship departed 11pm. They barely made it. In the event of a delay (even not a delay!) this would leave a tiny window to get to and board ship. Didn't get the deviation because we've been to Tahiti many times and didn't care about arriving early. Also never would have expected to have a 90 min window before ship's departure. Only two arrival times for flights into Papeete, this flight and the two redeyes which arrive 4-5am. Expected the redeye but once again, lesson for me is NEVER assume!

Calling TA first thing tomorrow morning and air deviation it is. It's only four months away and hoping I'm not too late!

Thanks for the tip Aweigh. And- it has to be a mistake. Please post what you find out.

 

Just read last night here and posted about a passenger on a Tahiti cruise. Their flight arrived into Papeete at 9:30pm; ship departed 11pm. They barely made it. In the event of a delay (even not a delay!) this would leave a tiny window to get to and board ship. Didn't get the deviation because we've been to Tahiti many times and didn't care about arriving early. Also never would have expected to have a 90 min window before ship's departure. Only two arrival times for flights into Papeete, this flight and the two redeyes which arrive 4-5am. Expected the redeye but once again, lesson for me is NEVER assume!

 

Calling TA first thing tomorrow morning and air deviation it is. It's only four months away and hoping I'm not too late!

I was going to respond to your other post, Petoonia, but since you repeat it here:

Tahiti is always a special case because there really aren't any "good" arrival times to coincide with a cruise ship departure.

Passengers who are booked on that early morning arrival generally grouse about sitting around all day in the sweltering heat with nothing to do and unable to swim or sightsee because they have their luggage in tow, so neither option is exactly a panacea.

The ninety minute window for the later flight sounds short, but is actually plenty of time given the tiny airport and its' proximity to the Ship.

I was going to respond to your other post, Petoonia, but since you repeat it here:

 

Tahiti is always a special case because there really aren't any "good" arrival times to coincide with a cruise ship departure.

 

Passengers who are booked on that early morning arrival generally grouse about sitting around all day in the sweltering heat with nothing to do and unable to swim or sightsee because they have their luggage in tow, so neither option is exactly a panacea.

 

The ninety minute window for the later flight sounds short, but is actually plenty of time given the tiny airport and its' proximity to the Ship.

That +

there are likely to be many others on that flight with you and the ship will surely wait for all those passengers on that flight (especially as it is an O air flight)

When we chose O Air, we were given an itinerary and it did not meet our criteria and we called and changed it. It seems to me the in the email about your flights you are given an amount of time to accept or decline those flights.

It did not cost anything to get a better schedule....although afterwards, we chose to deviate to stay extra days in Miami after the cruise and it then cost the deviation fee.

Thanks, yes I will be calling as early as I can tomorrow.

I probably posted sooner than I should've and with more angst but I was pretty taken aback when I saw this. Calmer now.

It does appear something is indeed wrong because just of the difference of the departure / arrival times alone when we are on the same flight.

peter_coach, there is nothing about a time period to accept or decline on our document. I know that there is an expiry date (48 hrs?) to accept a deviation.

I'll report back the result once I have this sorted.

On the few occasions when we used O's air we always took the deviation because we just do NOT fly in on the day the ship leaves. You never know what emergency will come up where you don't make the ship.

Case #1. On our Costa Rica to Miami cruise (very early Oceania days) through the Canal, it was winter time and some people using O's air on the East Coast did not make it in time. The captain couldn't wait because we would have missed our day time slot going through the Canal. I never did hear just when those people caught the ship.

Case #2. We did fly down to Miami for a TA on Regata in 2009 because for us it is a short flight. I was unhappy that they gave us a 7:30 am flight instead of an 11am flight, but in the end that was a good thing because at the last minute I discovered I needed to spent several hours in Miami applying for a new passport. If we'd come in at noon or later, we wouldn't have had enough time.

Even worse, several groups from the Boston area nearly didn't make the ship at all because of a snowstorm there. The only reason they made the ship in time was that our departure was delayed so that the ship could load stores. (Since our first port was about six days later, this seemed like a good idea.)

These are just two examples of what can happen to delay you if you fly in on the day the ship leaves, even if you are using O's air. Even when we are leaving from a port that we know well, we go in at least one day early. And it's one thing for people living in an eastern city gateway as we do getting to Europe and very much another for people living on the west coast. Or just NOT in a gateway city.

Mura

I was going to respond to your other post, Petoonia, but since you repeat it here:

 

Tahiti is always a special case because there really aren't any "good" arrival times to coincide with a cruise ship departure.

 

Passengers who are booked on that early morning arrival generally grouse about sitting around all day in the sweltering heat with nothing to do and unable to swim or sightsee because they have their luggage in tow, so neither option is exactly a panacea.

 

The ninety minute window for the later flight sounds short, but is actually plenty of time given the tiny airport and its' proximity to the Ship.

Thanks Jim and Stan,

Really appreciate your input- you've helped me with so much with everything you do here.

My experience may be different from yours and others but I've been as late as a several hours flying into Faaa in the past. Others may be fine with taking that chance. Myself, unfortunately I'm a big worry wart, and would mess with my head as soon as I got my flight schedule. Silly me, I've already got a hotel room thinking I'd be arriving at 5am and would want to get a couple hours sleep to and freshen-up time before boarding- that we'd just "automatically" get that early AM flight. Duh.

Thankful to you and others who take the time to set me straight. This is the first time in many years cruising haven't done an air deviation or booked my own and it was just stupid.

Not a big deal. Will just do the air deviation and chill. Just hope I'm not too late- four months till sail date. Best to you and everyone.

Nancy

Thanks, yes I will be calling as early as I can tomorrow.

 

I probably posted sooner than I should've and with more angst but I was pretty taken aback when I saw this. Calmer now.

 

It does appear something is indeed wrong because just of the difference of the departure / arrival times alone when we are on the same flight.

 

peter_coach, there is nothing about a time period to accept or decline on our document. I know that there is an expiry date (48 hrs?) to accept a deviation.

 

I'll report back the result once I have this sorted.

The 48 hours is exactly that. This is where you accept or decline the offer to you.

I called and told them the itinerary was not good and they changed it while on the phone and then forwarded the new one by email.

What happened afterwards and the changes we made cost us a deviation fee but, I knew that.

To update: it's all good. Received a new air itinerary today and were both on the same flight now. Hooray!

Yes, Mura, I do know of many problems and reasons why but for some reason decided to roll the dice this time. In fact, as I read your post I have my fingers in my ears and saying out loud no snow, no snow, no snow, no snow, :)

Would be good if I could change the thread title but then if somebody has the same problem they might see this thread and will know that O will get it fixed.

Hoping that AweighToSea posts about how Oceania was able to rectify those flights.

But I do have to retract a few ideas I had earlier. My TA explained that Oceania does used that late flight into Papeete regularly for people like me without a deviation.

It gets in at 9:30pm and ship departure is at 11pm. She that Oceania has held the ship in the past but never any guarantees. It's a blessing to have a good TA.

Made the decision to get the deviation even as late as this (4 months till cruise) a priority. I've never cruised without one and will never do it again :)

Thanks for all the reassurance.

I'm glad it's all working out.

Wasn't trying to freak you out ...just mention possible downsides! It's best to know them in advance ...

When we did our first Renaissance cruise in 1999 we did our own air, but talking on board to others who had used the Ren air they had just horrible routings. I don't think I've ever heard any routings on Oceania air fares that equalled those.

Mura

No worries Mura! :)

I wasn't freaked out. Have heard some doozy horror stories over the years about cruise line air. Hadn't expected O to use that one particular flight to PPT but when hearing the explanation from TA I get it.

I think O tries it's darndest to keep everyone happy, and with only two PPT arrival times, O chooses the "anti- redeye" in an aim to please. I should have been more pro-active initially, and gone with the deviation.

When we chose O Air, we were given an itinerary and it did not meet our criteria and we called and changed it. It seems to me the in the email about your flights you are given an amount of time to accept or decline those flights.

It did not cost anything to get a better schedule....although afterwards, we chose to deviate to stay extra days in Miami after the cruise and it then cost the deviation fee.

I have a question about this procedure. We never received an e-mail about our flights. They are really terrible and we would have opted for something else. By the time I noticed that they had been posted to our account on-line, I called my TA and she said they had already been ticketed & could not be changed, unless we paid a $400 fee. (We could buy direct flights on our own for less than $400.) So this being our 1st Oceania cruise, we are starting out with a negative opinion. My question is, if you book through a TA, does she receive the e-mail about the flights & she is suppose to notify you? Or does Oceania usually let you know when your flights are assigned. I am wondering here if our TA dropped the ball or if Oceania really does not care about their customer's satisfaction.

We're looking forward to a great cruise, but we are disappointed in the handling of the air portion so far.

Hoping that AweighToSea posts about how Oceania was able to rectify those flights.

Agent to O's air department fixed it. Was caused by the way the original booking was made which I had forgotten about. All is good now.

Made the decision to get the deviation even as late as this (4 months till cruise) a priority. I've never cruised without one and will never do it again

I have a question about this procedure. We never received an e-mail about our flights. They are really terrible and we would have opted for something else. By the time I noticed that they had been posted to our account on-line, I called my TA and she said they had already been ticketed & could not be changed, unless we paid a $400 fee. (We could buy direct flights on our own for less than $400.) So this being our 1st Oceania cruise, we are starting out with a negative opinion. My question is, if you book through a TA, does she receive the e-mail about the flights & she is suppose to notify you? Or does Oceania usually let you know when your flights are assigned. I am wondering here if our TA dropped the ball or if Oceania really does not care about their customer's satisfaction.

We're looking forward to a great cruise, but we are disappointed in the handling of the air portion so far.

I have always received my flight information from my TA. Hope those flights work out for you. Get to the port okay, get home okay and enjoy everything in-between

We weren't too concerned about our arrival times for an upcoming cruise and opted to save the $350 so we did not purchase a deviation to come in the day before into Miami.

 

Just received our flight itinerary.

 

Outbound: we are both on the same flight #s but oddly DH arrives 15 minutes before me??

 

Inbound: YIKES

1. they have us on different flights

2. I am to not only change planes but also airlines in LAX. If the flight is delayed or the baggage is slow to arrive I'm stuck by myself in LA. No onward ticket.

Air Canada Rouge connecting with Compass Airlines as American Eagle (no idea what that even is)

 

I've never seen such wacky itineraries especially booking us on two separate flights.

 

I know, I know, I know we took our chances but in my wildest dreams I would never have thought they would be this unprofessional.

 

So a cautionary tale: pay them their 350 bucks or you too might be taught a lesson.

 

Will be phoning tomorrow to see what we can scrape up for flights.

there is a lesson here

1. take the air credit and book your self the air fare is like $450 rt to MIA from SEA or LAX why pay a deviation that is in effect 2 x the fare you could buy

2. use your a airline credit card to pay and get free bags.

2a. use that airline credit card for all domestic purchases from gum to gas and then you will quickly have enough to get free flights... in about a year.

3. changes in LAX will be between airlines with interline bag transfer.

4. book regular airlines not discount ones as they will have depth of resource far better than the cheap-o ones

I have a question about this procedure. We never received an e-mail about our flights. They are really terrible and we would have opted for something else. By the time I noticed that they had been posted to our account on-line, I called my TA and she said they had already been ticketed & could not be changed, unless we paid a $400 fee. (We could buy direct flights on our own for less than $400.) So this being our 1st Oceania cruise, we are starting out with a negative opinion. My question is, if you book through a TA, does she receive the e-mail about the flights & she is suppose to notify you? Or does Oceania usually let you know when your flights are assigned. I am wondering here if our TA dropped the ball or if Oceania really does not care about their customer's satisfaction.

We're looking forward to a great cruise, but we are disappointed in the handling of the air portion so far.

Sorry about your experience. We booked directly with Oceania and all our correspondence was directly with them, including air.

When we booked, we were assigned an agent and communications with her was very good. In respect to the flights, the email I got was entitled "Air Itinerary for 23xxxx RVxxxx: Sxxxxx Pending Acceptance". We did not like the routing so I called and it was changed and when I got the changed itinerary email, i accepted it. Initially we were given a "Reservation Code" and once we paid in full the ticket was issued and we got our airline "Booking Reference" so we could go online and choose our seats. I guess airline tickets are not purchased until we paid (makes sense).

Anyway, if I got this from Oceania, I suspect that your TA would or should have also received this notification. I cannot imagine them just assigning flights (or cabins or anything else on board) without asking the customer......or their representative.

I cannot imagine them just assigning flights (or cabins or anything else on board) without asking the customer......or their representative.

Actually, this has happened to us a few times on flights that we booked on our own ... usually because of an equipment change. And having nothing to do with Oceania. We definitely were not notified in advance of the changes.

I remember one flight a few years ago where we were ready to go hammer and tongs if they didn't give us the premium economy seats we'd paid for months earlier. In the end they did, but it was close. In that case, they were waiting for a flight from Toronto (we were at JFK) that was late. At first they were waiting for that flight to arrive, giving THOSE passengers priority. But in the end they stopped waiting for them so we got our seats.

Another couple was in the same situation and we were both steaming.

Mura

I cannot imagine them just assigning flights (or cabins or anything else on board) without asking the customer......or their representative.

Actually your comment "(or cabins" is ironically not a bad analogy. If you were to purchase a GTY cabin they would assign one without consulting you - that is what you contracted for. Surely one would not expect them to offer this cabin and then that one, a lot of back and forth, on a GTY. Similarily if you were to purchase a cruise that included flights but did not purchase a deviation, like that GTY cabin, they would assign you flights.

The air department does try to supply an itinerary that 'works'. Likely won't be the one you would choose if you were choosing, and paying, but in theory one to get you to the ship on time.

The air department does try to supply an itinerary that 'works'. Likely won't be the one you would choose if you were choosing, and paying, but in theory one to get you to the ship on time.

Exactly. For neophytes reading this:

When one does nothing, i.e. leaves the air arrangements in the hands of the Cruise Line, because they are "included"; they will fly you out on the sailing day, on whatever flight is least expensive, which will still get you to the ship within a reasonable window.

If one can live with those arrangements, fine.

For those who need/prefer more control, Oceania sells, through their "Air Deviation" process, the option of having a say, within reason, over what those air arrangements are.

This is a Summary:

The Deviation process begins when the passenger agree's to pay a Deviation Fee of $175 per person. Once paid, this fee becomes nonrefundable, but no money changes hands until the passenger and Oceania arrive at a meeting of the minds regarding a route which is suitable.

Certain flights which the passenger prefers may be more expensive than the route which Oceania is prepared to offer. Such flights remain an option only when the passenger is willing to pay that difference in cost. This is known as an Upcharge.

These upcharges, if there are any, are a part of the negotiation process, and will be known to the passenger before any routing is decided.

Only when the passenger accepts a particular Air Route does the Deviation Fee kick in, but from that point on, it is nonrefundable.

Actually, this has happened to us a few times on flights that we booked on our own ... usually because of an equipment change. And having nothing to do with Oceania. We definitely were not notified in advance of the changes.

 

........

 

Mura

I traveled for business (and pleasure), hundreds of flights over the years, and was always informed of any change, be it in seating for change of aircraft types or flight times. The only exceptions have been changes due to weather, local or at destination, that altered the flight times.

Of course that is what they do if one does not purchase a deviation. You can't expect them to customize, i.e. "ask the customer", if one doesn't pay the deviation fee.

 

Actually your comment "(or cabins" is ironically not a bad analogy. If you were to purchase a GTY cabin they would assign one without consulting you - that is what you contracted for. Surely one would not expect them to offer this cabin and then that one, a lot of back and forth, on a GTY. Similarily if you were to purchase a cruise that included flights but did not purchase a deviation, like that GTY cabin, they would assign you flights.

 

The air department does try to supply an itinerary that 'works'. Likely won't be the one you would choose if you were choosing, and paying, but in theory one to get you to the ship on time.

As i stated in my post, we were provided with flights "pending acceptance". When I called and expressed my displeasure with that routing, they changed it for a better route and timing. I never paid a deviation fee.

Also as i said, we did later change our mind and wanted to arrive a few days prior to the cruise and stay a few days after the cruise and then had to pay the deviation fee but, I knew that and was willing to pay for that deviation to our previous agreed upon flights.

The key message I am trying to relay is that when you choose O Air, they offer you initial flights but you can, within a particular time frame, change them to better suit you. Once you accept, any changes thereafter become deviations, for a fee and/or any difference in flight costs. Once the cruise/flight package has been paid for, you get your airline booking reference and you then deal with the airline (upgrade to premium seating etc).

This has been my recent experience with O Air (and previously with Celebrity Choice Air).

As i stated in my post, we were provided with flights "pending acceptance". When I called and expressed my displeasure with that routing, they changed it for a better route and timing. I never paid a deviation fee.

It is true that if the passenger is unhappy with the Air Arrangements provided by Oceania that they will almost always attempt to change them as a courtesy.

This should not be confused with having "a right" to change them.