$99 Premium Economy Air Upgrade

Opted for this upgrade for an upcoming voyage in October for Pathways & Piazzas. We have never used this upgrade previously but with a long flight scheduled we thought it may be beneficial. Has anyone used this option and if so can they give an overview of the benefits in terms of whether it is worth the value. Many thanks.

Opted for this upgrade for an upcoming voyage in October for Pathways & Piazzas. We have never used this upgrade previously but with a long flight scheduled we thought it may be beneficial. Has anyone used this option and if so can they give an overview of the benefits in terms of whether it is worth the value. Many thanks.

Impossible to explain or define without knowing the airline. Some airlines it is simply a couple more inches of leg room and others are closer to business class and everything in between.

What Dave said!

I seriously doubt that you'd get true PE on SAS, or as BA calls it World Traveler Plus seating, for an additional $99. Probably a seat with more leg room near the front. If we fly economy, we always go with those seats, but for us, with our status they are free on AA and UA.

I have no idea what your destination is but we took the upgrade to get from Newarkk Airport to Copenhagen via SAS and it was excellent. LOTS of leg room. I can't speak to the food because I didn't eat the dinner ... we had a very light night flight and had eaten enough in the business lounge (for which we qualified as PE passengers) that I wasn't hungry. There was a very nice breakfast.

We leave from Heathrow on BA on July 18th when I could comment on their PE.

But you talk about a lengthy flight, so I have no idea if our experience is at all relevant to you.

Wren, yes, do tell us what airline you're on and from and to where. I see you're in Ontario so maybe Toronto?

We do Premium Economy whenever we can, and love it. Haven't done Air Canada that way, but have done British Airways, Air France and Cathay Pacific. It is certainly worth the upsell, a bargain. Wider seats, more legroom, upgraded meals usually. It's mostly about space.

We did the $99. Prem. upgrade for our upcoming cruise in Oct. We are going on BA. Most of the European carriers have a separate cabin for Prem Econ. United , Delta, and AA only have seats in YC with a bit of extra leg room. We paid $350. pp to have our choice of airlines, dates, connections and seats assigned now. Money well spent. We are flying out of LA to LHR and onto Rome. Without paying more we would have long ground times both ways.

We flew Premium economy on Air France. It was worth it. More leg room, better food and service. As it was a special deal, it worked out better than Air Canada to fly from Vancouver to Istanbul.

Thank you for all your responses. We are departing a day early from YYZ Toronto and staying overnight in Rome followed by Pathways & Piazzas Oct 15th embarkation and then disembarking from Monte Carlo Oct 22nd. I wonder if Maggie.1008 is on this voyage too?

We do not have the flight details to date as Oceania is making the air arrangements for us. I am wondering if we should do the air deviation option as well based on Maggie.1008's advantageous flight scenerio? Thank you again for your advice, very much appreciated.

I am wondering if we should do the air deviation option? Thank you again for your advice, very much appreciated.

The bad thing about NOT doing the Deviation is that you will only be informed of your Air Arrangements at 75 days before your Cruise sails, at which point it may be too late to make other arrangements.

The bad thing about NOT doing the Deviation is that you will only be informed of your Air Arrangements at 75 days before your Cruise sails, at which point it may be too late to make other arrangements.

Thank you StanandJim, I decided we will do the air deviation for this itinerary and I will contact Oceania on Monday to make the arrangements. Will Oceania give me the flight information and options at that time, or at a later date? Does Oceania make a concerted effort to make flight itinerary's better when you pay the air deviation? What is the air deviation cost per person? Thank you.

Does Oceania make a concerted effort to make flights better when you pay the air deviation. Thank you.

Not exactly.

The way that it works is that when you opt to pay the Deviation Fee, Oceania works in concert with you to determine which flights you would prefer.

If your chosen flight costs more than the one which they would otherwise have placed you on, then YOU will have the option of paying the difference in fares as an up-charge, or, selecting another flight entirely.

This process goes on until you and Oceania come to a meeting of the minds, at which point your flight is "set" and the Deviation Fee becomes due (although nonrefundable, the fee does not become payable until you and they have worked out that "mutually acceptable routing").

The next question is ticketing. Because the Passenger has the option of cancelling the cruise up until Final Payment has been made, Oceania typically reserves the Air tickets, but does not purchase them until the Cruise has been paid in full.

Therefore, if you need your air tickets purchased early (some Airlines require a purchased ticket in order to upgrade &/or choose seating), you may want to pay for the cruise earlier than normal.

Not exactly.

 

The way that it works is that when you opt to pay the Deviation Fee, Oceania works in concert with you to determine which flights you would prefer.

 

If your chosen flight costs more than the one which they would otherwise have placed you on, then YOU will have the option of paying the difference in fares as an up-charge, or, selecting another flight entirely.

 

This process goes on until you and Oceania come to a meeting of the minds, at which point your flight is "set" and the Deviation Fee becomes due (although nonrefundable, the fee does not become payable until you and they have worked out that "mutually acceptable routing").

 

The next question is ticketing. Because the Passenger has the option of cancelling the cruise up until Final Payment has been made, Oceania typically reserves the Air tickets, but does not purchase them until the Cruise has been paid in full.

 

Therefore, if you need your air tickets purchased early (some Airlines require a purchased ticket to upgrade &/or choose seating), you may want to pay for the cruise earlier than normal.

Thank you StanandJim, this isn't as simple as I first thought.

I was reading some archived CC posts about air deviations and I read that since we booked our pre cruise hotel through Oceania, that Oceania will waive the air deviation fee for the pre cruise flights. Can anyone confirm this?

I am also wondering if we do the air deviation fee and also the $99 Premium Economy Air Upgrade that we have already purchased, how will it be coordinated and how it will be reflected in the flight itinerary?

Thank you StanandJim, this isn't as simple as I first thought.

I was reading some archived CC posts about air deviations and I read that since we booked our pre cruise hotel through Oceania, that Oceania will waive the air deviation fee for the pre cruise flights. Can anyone confirm this?

I am also wondering if we do the air deviation fee and also the $99 Premium Economy Air Upgrade that we have already purchased, how will it be coordinated and how it will be reflected in the flight itinerary?

When you buy the hotel Package from Oceania, they waive the administrative part of the Deviation Fee, which I believe is up to $175 per person at this point, and if you've purchased the Premium Economy Air Upgrade, then you will be offered Premium Economy Flights without a further up-charge when you and Oceania dicker about which flights you would prefer.

The Deviation Fee is assessed per trip and not per segment, so you will get the "free" deviation for both the outbound and the return flights, and you will also have more leeway on the dates on which you wish to fly.

You won't, for example, be asked to pay an additional Deviation Fee if you choose not to fly home on the same day that the cruise ends....although getting a hotel for that night would be your responsibility.

<font size="3"><font face="Tahoma">When you buy the hotel Package from Oceania, they waive the administrative part of the Deviation Fee, which I believe is up to $175 per person at this point, and if you've purchased the Premium Economy Air Upgrade, then you will be offered Premium Economy Flights without a further up-charge when you and Oceania dicker about which flights you would prefer.

Not sure but, since there could be an upcharge depending on the flights being chosen without the Premium Economy air, couldn't there also be an upcharge for the Premium Economy?? Not sure how one could differentiate between a flight upcharge, a Premium Economy upcharge or a combination of both upcharge so to say no upcharge for Premium Economy might be a bit premature??

We used the premium economy option on our Riviera cruise in late June and it was well worth the cost. We flew from the USA to Europe on Lufthansa and from Europe back to the USA on Air Canada. On both airlines, premium economy was in a separate section of the plane from regular economy. The seats were much wider, lots more leg room, earlier boarding, slightly better food (but airline food is still airline food), and what we considered a big plus - premium economy had its own bathrooms so you didn't have to compete with 100's of passengers to use the toilet, thus they were much cleaner. If memory serves me correctly, on Lufthansa there were 3 bathrooms for about 40 passengers and on Air Canada 2 bathrooms for 24 passengers. Another benefit was that these seats were close to the exit so when the plane arrived you can get off the plane quickly, which was a big help with a tight connection on our return flight.

If it were me

I would pay the deviation fee (check what airlines Oceania is offering PE ) the $99 PE option is each leg so it will be closer to $200 r/t pp

Choose the flights I want... fly in a day or more early & stay longer after the cruise if you choose

pick your own hotel in Rome & after the cruise

transfers could be a lot cheaper booking your own Or sharing with others on your roll Call

The hotel Packages O offers are PP pricing & a lot more expensive than booking your own but if on the other hand you do not mind the extra expense for the hand holding ..it is your money

AC/ have Non stop flights from YUL ..you could always take the train there ..a lot closer than YYZ

Wren, do you have a travel agent? It looks like you need someone knowledgeable to guide you through this.

Not sure but, since there could be an upcharge depending on the flights being chosen without the Premium Economy air, couldn't there also be an upcharge for the Premium Economy?? Not sure how one could differentiate between a flight upcharge, a Premium Economy upcharge or a combination of both upcharge so to say no upcharge for Premium Economy might be a bit premature??

Unless you buy the Premium upgrade, all of the quotes that you get from Oceania would be for Coach seats. The upgrade puts Premium Economy into that mix without additional cost.

For costing purposes, dependent on scheduling, they either use a premium economy flight or the cost of a premium economy flight as the baseline against which upcharges are figured.

Wren3, we are on the Nov. 2nd Rome to Venice cruise. Were you on the Riviera in March ? I was. The best advice is to look on Expedia for flights with the days you want to fly. Look at all the options. Then when you talk to Oceania you can tell them your first choice. I wanted Air New Zealand from LAX to LHR but Oceania did not have an agreement with them. I got my 2nd choice which was BA. We paid $350pp and I am very happy. We could not have a better schedule. I would rather not go then have to sit in a middle seat on a jumbo aircraft for 12 hours. Not worth the misery. Let me know the airline you would like to use. Try and use a European carrier that has a separate cabin for Prem Econ. Well worth the money. Hope this helps. Heather

Wren 3, We were allowed to pick our seats right away on BA. Very good as when we have used miles to upgrade we had to wait until close to the flight date. I look at Seat Guru and decide the best seats on the aircraft I will be on. Know that many Prem. Econ. seats are 2/4/2. Make sure you are on the 2 side if there are only 2 of you flying together. Expedia will show you the aircraft type that you will be on.

a good site to check what flights go where on the days you want is

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Then go to the airline's own website to make sure the flights are still open

I would take a non stop where possible

I agree ..you need a good TA that knows how Oceania works

I totaly agree that at a minimum you should go for any class above coach for any flight over 5-6 hours and Business for any flight over 9 hours

When you request a "deviation" from the standard included coach offering, please understand that the $99 up grade for international flight is no longer part of the offering. You only get the$99 upgrade option when you take the flights which are offered without your "deviation"

When you talk to the air dept they will put together a route and timing that you like best. You need to express, schedule, airline, aircraft type , so that you will get exactly what pleases you. You also need to request what class of service coach, Prem Coach, Business or First Class. Here you need to do some research, go to seat guru and under AIRLINEs, see what each airline offers its passengers in terms of aircraft type , seat design and cabin layout.

There is no real standard for cabin layout and layouts and seat side, spacing and features are very different. Get to know whats offered and see who has the best ...Get to know your planes

Ok you pick the route, schedule and airline that you want... and the class of service,( remember the $99 to Prem Economy is now off the table) The air dept will now price what you requested and tell you how much more you will have to pay to get that schedule over the amount that the Oceania contract fare price . The $175 deviation is just for the service of looking up for you a special schedule...it will not be part of your fare

Know that non stops will be25% more than connections, Non red-eye more than off hours and classes of service all more So, getting it the way you want..is going to in every case, cost way more in extra fare than the included fare... easily hundreds for short trips to thousands for longer trips.

On several recent cruises I requested an up grade fare on an LAx to Rome flight, on a non stop, in a business class full recline seat, and it was some $1800 pp more than was covered by the regular schedule. In a LAX to Singapore the extra fare business class was quoted at $2850 pp more. So you can get what you want....BUT not at the same price with the same cheap upgrades.... and your Dev fee is also extra, and not in the fare

So, kiddo, get smart, get wise and figure if its worth it.

I , a long time ago began a long term travel plan of building airline and hotel miles/points so that I never have to deal with all this.. Its never too late to start your plan....

Wren;

Another piece of advice. When you book with a deviation, be sure to ask O, with whom( which airlines) will they actually ticket each leg with. O sometimes books domestic flights with one carrier and the international flight with another carrier. Some of those international carriers will then not talk to you, period. They will only give notifications to O, who will then relay them through your TA to you.

So let me give you a drill. If a plane makes an aircraft change or other change they will only notify O. If your seat selection gets changed, only O will find out. If you need to make a change, you will have to call your TA, to call O, to call the airlines! Don't expect fast service. The airline may not allow you to make any further changes until 24 hours before the flight and you may be stuck with a new seat assignment you don't like.

For many of those airlines, if O books and tickets the flight, they are the customer, not you, and they don't care about you until you step on the plane.

Additionally, if you book a flight, with deviation with O, you will find that making any upgrades later on are prohibitive cost wise, because of O's lower bulk rates. If you want PE or business class, book it in the beginning and don't attempt to upgrade later with most carriers.

On our last O cruise, we used the deviation on both ends and still received the $99 upgrades.

Yes, there's some information in the last two posts that would be true in one instance and not in another. That's why it's important if you yourself don't really understand the way O's system works to have a TA that does to help you through the ins and outs of each situation.

I just upgraded an Oceania flight with no deviation to Premium Economy on an international flight for $59 pp, directly from the airline. I didn't have to go through my TA or Oceania to book it. Actually it's a preferred seat but according to Seat Guru it's better than most of the PE seats. Works for me. I could have booked the PE seat the same way. What I couldn't do is upgrade to business.