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Business class upgrade


faymuiheng
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Hi ...need some advice.

 

We've decided to upgrade our flights with oceania to business class on our cruise for this OCT. Have yet to reach final payment....

 

1/ is there a deviation fee involved in this?

 

and

 

2/ can we request which routing we would like?

 

First time using air by cruise line, so whatever advice you have would be appreciated!

 

Thanks...

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if you request the flights then I am guessing a deviation fee will be involved

 

 

Unless they have a special deal for Bus Class I would check what you can get on your own

Take the air credit & DIY

I recently asked about getting BUS class it was more $$ to do it with Oceania

Booked our own

JMO

 

recommend flying in a day or more early

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There shouldn't be a deviation fee unless you are going early or coming back later. You can request certain airlines and routing depending on your destination if Oceania uses that airline. Try taking the flights offered then contact the airline directly to upgrade should be cheaper than through Oceania. Maybe use airmiles/reward points for the bump up.

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With one exception I've always found O's fare for biz class to be fare more than booking on our own. Bear in mind O's biz fare will be "restricted" which means it's only biz when you are over water. This is find if you are leaving from a gateway airport (say JFK to Europe). Not so fine if you are flying over the U.S. to a gateway ...

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Unless a promotion is offered, O’s typical charge for upgrade to BC is $3,000 per leg. So $6K plus the value of the air credit. Plus, as earlier stated, it’s only for the over the water phase of the trip. I have never found their pricing anywhere near competitive with DIY.

 

If you are one that either has more money than sense and needs O to book it for you, or wants to maintain the flexibility of adding on a b2b then fine. Otherwise, it makes no sense to use O for the upgrade.

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There shouldn't be a deviation fee unless you are going early or coming back later. You can request certain airlines and routing depending on your destination if Oceania uses that airline. Try taking the flights offered then contact the airline directly to upgrade should be cheaper than through Oceania. Maybe use airmiles/reward points for the bump up.

 

I'm almost sure any request will incur a deviation fee. It's not just about changing the dates.

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I've used Oceania's Business class upgrade several times. Savannah, GA to Barcelona (one way) twice for $1799 on Delta. Since I used the same airline for the whole trip, I was business class from Savannah all the way through. I'm using O's BC again next year for Savannah-Barcelona over, Athens-Savannah back, on Delta. Quoted price is $1799 over, $1899 back. Business Class from start to finish as I'm using the same airline all the way.

Also going Savannah-Copenhagen, Lisbon-Savannah for the same pricing, later in the year.

And, finally, Savannah-Barcelona, Rio-Savannah $1799 over, $2999 back, all flights on Delta.

Beats book-your-own by a long shot, unless you want to use Avianca and have a long layover in Bogota.

On the other hand, Savannah-Lima was cheaper D-I-Y than O's quoted fare.

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I've used Oceania's Business class upgrade several times. Savannah, GA to Barcelona (one way) twice for $1799 on Delta. Since I used the same airline for the whole trip, I was business class from Savannah all the way through. I'm using O's BC again next year for Savannah-Barcelona over, Athens-Savannah back, on Delta. Quoted price is $1799 over, $1899 back. Business Class from start to finish as I'm using the same airline all the way.

Also going Savannah-Copenhagen, Lisbon-Savannah for the same pricing, later in the year.

And, finally, Savannah-Barcelona, Rio-Savannah $1799 over, $2999 back, all flights on Delta.

Beats book-your-own by a long shot, unless you want to use Avianca and have a long layover in Bogota.

On the other hand, Savannah-Lima was cheaper D-I-Y than O's quoted fare.

 

I'm assuming that was in addition to the air credit for those cruises? Were there any deviation fees involved?

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I've used Oceania's Business class upgrade several times. Savannah, GA to Barcelona (one way) twice for $1799 on Delta. Since I used the same airline for the whole trip, I was business class from Savannah all the way through. I'm using O's BC again next year for Savannah-Barcelona over, Athens-Savannah back, on Delta. Quoted price is $1799 over, $1899 back. Business Class from start to finish as I'm using the same airline all the way.

.

Is the Delta Bus class the lay flat seats?

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Orv,

 

Yes, that price was on top of the "Full Price" fare for the cruise (O-Life + air), so no air credit reduction. But I calculated what I would pay if I took the deduction and then paid for BC myself. O's was better.

 

Lyn,

 

Yes, full 180 degree lie-flats.

 

Also, I did not pay any deviation. I did , however, tell my TA which flights I wanted (and which seats) and O's air department agreed they were acceptable to them, so I got what I wanted, plus my miles.

 

Now, there are lower prices available if you want to fly Aer Lingus, Iceland Air, or Norwegian Air, and have some stops/layovers. I flew Delta because that's what I wanted

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Do this yourself.... You can get a Bus class ticket broker ( not O) and they have quoted me around 3600 to 3800 rt LAX to Rome .Current Business fares, are around $4500 each way USA-Europe. I use Austrian and Lufthansa. All use lie flat seats.

Most of us use FF miles to get business class seats. By booking out 330 days you can many times get seats for 140,000 miles ( 70 each way) You can go on line and buy 140,000 miles for around $4900. from an airling if your in their FF club. Paying 1800 to 2000 on top of full fare tickets is crazy. Either buy your miles or do an internet search to using " Discount Business Class fares"

International Business flights fill up fast and almost always have few if any empty seats. People with FF miles jump on any and all flights withing minutes of the seats being made available.. As an example I booked a business class seat 3 days ago for May 1 2019 as of yesterday there were no seats available for any April or May date....

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I've used Oceania's Business class upgrade several times. Savannah, GA to Barcelona (one way) twice for $1799 on Delta. Since I used the same airline for the whole trip, I was business class from Savannah all the way through. I'm using O's BC again next year for Savannah-Barcelona over, Athens-Savannah back, on Delta. Quoted price is $1799 over, $1899 back. Business Class from start to finish as I'm using the same airline all the way.

Also going Savannah-Copenhagen, Lisbon-Savannah for the same pricing, later in the year.

And, finally, Savannah-Barcelona, Rio-Savannah $1799 over, $2999 back, all flights on Delta.

Beats book-your-own by a long shot, unless you want to use Avianca and have a long layover in Bogota.

On the other hand, Savannah-Lima was cheaper D-I-Y than O's quoted fare.

 

So considering the O air credit value + your 3000 and 1800 the ticket ran you about $5800 to $6000 rt figuring in O with a $1200 coach. Mind you your fare from NC is going to a lot cheaper than other areas. I broker could have gotten you ticket on a major carrier, all the bells and whistles for under $4000.00..... Check broker prices or use FF miles

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So weighing all your thoughts and a little digging on my own, this was what I did.

 

Found out that the upgrade from O would cost us $3875/person USD on top of our cruise. If we booked on our own, the credit was $800 per person.

 

Flights we wanted, was from Vancouver , BC to Nice and them from Madrid back to Vancouver.

 

Fare we booked, was with British Airways business class on all legs. cost $4209 / person.

 

with the exchange rate , we found that by booking on our own, we were able to save at least $400 Canadian per person.

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So weighing all your thoughts and a little digging on my own, this was what I did.

 

Found out that the upgrade from O would cost us $3875/person USD on top of our cruise. If we booked on our own, the credit was $800 per person.

 

Flights we wanted, was from Vancouver , BC to Nice and them from Madrid back to Vancouver.

 

Fare we booked, was with British Airways business class on all legs. cost $4209 / person.

 

with the exchange rate , we found that by booking on our own, we were able to save at least $400 Canadian per person.

Glad you got something that worked for you

We saved about $500 cad doing our own BUS air

 

enough to cover the hotel & taxis +

 

always do the math & do what works best for your needs & wants

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For us, the math is typically even more lopsided. Even though there are international flights to London out of Nashville, O wants to charge us extra for flying out of a non gateway city. There there is the deviation fee. Before even looking at the air credit, using O Air carries an extra $575 in fees to consider.

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Have airlines refused to honour tickets?

 

 

Yes...I have seen it, but the person was using an assumed name years back for a domestic flight. If you get someone to "give" you FF miles and the airline issues the ticket , aware of the gift, then you are good to go. There are provisions for giving miles to non relations. Not sure about Canada...thats an entire different world

 

However there are consolidators who have deals with the airlines and do not use FF miles You have to be smart. I myself dont worry as I have many hundreds of thousands in FF miles in the bank and they don't stop accruing even more.

 

4200 CND rt to london is about 3300 USD and thats a darn cheap price Thats what Coach seats are going for on some airlines ( funny as it seems I have seen Business class sold for the same or less than coach on some flights.. you need to be diligent ) Austrian is also a good choice Norwegian has no business class... nor does Iceland what they call business is what others call prem economy. I stick with the Star alliance airlines UAL/LUFT/SWISS/ANA/AUSTRIAN/ as my prime carriers I have never, ever not gotten a saver seat

 

If you are a American/BA and have miles with them Or Delta go with them. ( Delta has the worst charges and poorest seat avail of any airline their miles are called Sky Peso's)_

 

Pick a program today that works for you.. even if you do not fly by getting CC's for that airline you start building miles and in a few years you will be able to quit paying for airfare like many of us now do...Patients.

 

One word of warning if using a FF ticket to fly out of London or any CAA /UK airport... They are going to make you pay $180+ for coach and $320+ PP for Business class on a FF ticket.... That is on top of your air fare. Fly into UK and Out of France or Germany. netherlands

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For us, the math is typically even more lopsided. Even though there are international flights to London out of Nashville, O wants to charge us extra for flying out of a non gateway city. There there is the deviation fee. Before even looking at the air credit, using O Air carries an extra $575 in fees to consider.

Oh forgot about the deviation fee

 

so we saved more $$ :halo:

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