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$99 economy plus


wombatjoey
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Has anyone taken this offer?

 

What was the benefit? Was it worth it?

 

We have booked this class of seat on our last several transatlantic flights. Basically, you get early boarding, more legroom, meals and drinks from first class. It does make air travel a bit more comfortable. Is it worth it? Only you can tell once you try it.

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When air is included, will O put you on the cheapest airline with a stop rather than an expensive one that is direct?

 

We have no experience with this, so I am grateful for any comments.

 

When a passenger opts for the "included air", the Cruise Line pledges to get that person to the ship in what they consider to be a businesslike and timely manner. Read this to mean that they time the flights in such a way as to get the passenger to the embarkation port on the morning of sailing with at least a four hour cushion, before the "All Aboard".

 

If one can live with that guarantee, allow Oceania to handle the flights, and pay nothing more.

 

Should the passenger desire more control over the flights to which they are assigned, they may, by virtue of paying a Deviation Fee of $175, per person, choose their own flights.

 

Itineraries thus selected may involve upcharges, but no money changes hands (including the fee) until the Pasenger accepts a routing, so the decision of paying more for a more desireable flight, or not, always remains with the passenger

Edited by JimandStan
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You entitled this Economy Plus.

 

The $99 upcharge is for Premium Economy on those airlines that offer that service. It is a completely different seating arrangement and service level than US based carriers Economy Plus, Economy Extra, etc currently offers. I have not known of Oceania charging the $99 upgrade for anything other than true Premium Economy seating. Their ads typically discuss having contracts with carriers such as BA, SAS, Air Canada, etc. that offers that PE level of seating.

 

If the passenger doesn't pay the for the upgrade or a deviation, they are typically booked economy. Any further upgrade to Economy Plus type seating is then left to the cruiser to work out with the airlines. Unless one has various levels of status, those seats costs extra.

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For the Economy Plus offer, the process remains the same as I outlined, with the exception that the pool which the passenger may chose from would be limited to those flights which contain Economy plus seating.

 

Which Airlines Oceania holds contracts with is a further consideration, but that would be in play whether flying Economy or Premium Economy.

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PE is also only on over the water portion of the flight like NYC to Europe

It is not on Domestic flights so keep that in mind

 

We have not had the $99 special yet but we have taken PE or whatever the specific airline calls it on KLM & BA

KLM was a better experience but not like first class ;)

both airlines we had 2 seats together some aircraft have 2-3-2 or 2-4-2

so check the aircraft once you know the airline they will be using

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When air is included, will O put you on the cheapest airline with a stop rather than an expensive one that is direct?

 

We have no experience with this, so I am grateful for any comments.

 

While Jim & Stan gave you an excellent response I would like to add in direct answer to your question, not necessarily, but some people sometimes get routings they're not happy with.

 

On our upcoming flight to Santiago I couldn't have got a better flight if I had picked them out myself. I've generally been happy with the Oceania flights on the ones we take with them. I do a mixture of theirs and on my own, just depends on what the best deal for me is and how many airline miles I have at any given time, and where I'm going.

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We have booked this class of seat on our last several transatlantic flights. Basically' date=' you get early boarding, more legroom, meals and drinks from first class. It does make air travel a bit more comfortable. Is it worth it? Only you can tell once you try it.[/quote']

 

The above is generally true except for the "meals and drinks from first class" portion. That part is only wishful thinking :D but probably not the main reason to book economy plus. That would be for more leg room and possibly more recline of seats.

Edited by Paulchili
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Thank you to all for taking the time to give me this information.

 

We are booked on the Barcelona to Lisbon itinerary, for Nov 2018.

 

Will wait for someone to start the Roll call or maybe start it myself and share what I have learned from all of you.

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You don't show where you live but last summer we took the $99 upgrade from San Francisco to Copenhagen. We were on SAS non stop and it was one of the best flights we have been on. More leg room, foot rests, free almost everything. Better quality of meal, 2 carry-ons, etc.

Ask your travel agent, assuming your are in the USA, to explore options. Don't know of you live elsewhere and your handle indicates you may be in Australia or New Zealand and I don't know the rules from there.

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Has anyone taken this offer?

 

What was the benefit? Was it worth it?

 

Yes, $99 is a great deal, especially if it is round trip.

 

We are paying $139 each, each segment, to fly Delta Comfort Plus from ATL to Rome RT. Well worth it IOP.

 

The above is generally true except for the "meals and drinks from first class" portion. That part is only wishful thinking :D but probably not the main reason to book economy plus. That would be for more leg room and possibly more recline of seats.

 

Never heard of getting the First Class food. On Delta, the First Class food is nothing to write home about, either. Wine is free for all, no matter where you sit on the aircraft.

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Yes, $99 is a great deal, especially if it is round trip.

 

We are paying $139 each, each segment, to fly Delta Comfort Plus from ATL to Rome RT. Well worth it IOP.

It is $99 each way. I don't know Delta's Comfort Plus offering but I agree with you about its value if there is more legroom. If I can get a wee bit more leg room on long flight for $139 I'd be very happy.

 

Oh, hope O does not read this. Meant to say, ah, err. Yes, $99 would be a good deal if it were each way.

Edited by YoHoHo
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The Premium Economy was definitely worth it on my trip to Australia. My 6'4" husband thinks it is worth is on overseas flights, also. 4" is worth a lot to him. Just depends on your situation... we would not pay for nor have credits for 1st class.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Each airline is different in terms of what the economy plus includes. No guarantees of anything other than 4 inches of extra leg room. United is the worst but each one varies.

 

 

When United started doing "economy plus," it was to make a few bucks by selling seats that would've gone to their "premier" flyers for no extra cost. IMO, if you want a better flight experience, go business class.

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In recent years we have been booking business fare in general, just because we are older and comfort is important!

 

But we did use PE on a few flights -- sometimes on our own, occasionally through Oceania. When we flew to Copenhagen from NY and back from Heathrow in June/July, we used O's $99 option and it was fine. Not great, but fine.

 

As has been said, some airlines have better PE than others. We were very impressed with Air France's version a few years ago. Just one example.

 

If I were constrained to economy flights, I would ALWAYS take the $99 upgrade to PE if available. You just have to pull the curtain and see how jam packed the economy section is. At least in PE you aren't 3-3-3 seating!

 

I don't mind coach flights for a short trip but when I'm flying a long distance, no, I can't do it anymore. And the food is usually better (not necessarily wonderful), drinks don't cost extra (if you want them)... But basically it's just more comfortable.

 

And comfort is what I am mostly looking for.

 

Mura

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Just another slant to PE. We flew to Australia in September. My DH has claustrophobia issues. PE did not look great and they wanted a ridiculous amount to upgrade to it. The config was 2x4x2. The 2s were fine, the 4 sucked. We booked economy and paid $100 for the bulkhead. We had about three times the amount of leg room compared to PE. I definitely wouldn't pay extra for those 4 middle seats.

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When we did this, the seats were a little roomier and we got on faster. No idea if the meal was better but it was not like business or first we have had before. The best benefit was the lounge in Stockholm which had all kinds of food and entertainment available. I do not know how much better the business/1st lounge was but the PE+ or whatever was worth the extra.

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We just came home on Nov. 9th from O cruise. We paid the deviation fee plus $99. pp each way. BA A380 aircraft upstairs and 2 seat alone was well worth the price. Received the same routing as I would have made on my own. The only problem is on the way home we had a one hour connect time at London` Heathrow. I knew this was tight so checked with TA and BA. Both said no problem it was a legal connect. Well we had to run for our gate and were the last people on board. There were 20 of us that were trying to make the same connect. Worked out fine but I would not do that again. I would only take the upgrade if you had the 2 seat side. Otherwise one of you will be in a middle seat. PE is not F/C or B/C but it sure beats coach !

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IMO well worth the $99 for PE Barcelona to Toronto. Configuration 2 : 2 : 2. Early boarding, more leg room, blankets, drinks before and after take off, meals served on china plates AND stainless steel utensils ...lol

 

Oceania uses Rouge? OMG not taking that chance.

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IMO well worth the $99 for PE Barcelona to Toronto. Configuration 2 : 2 : 2. Early boarding, more leg room, blankets, drinks before and after take off, meals served on china plates AND stainless steel utensils ...lol

 

HMMM sounds like AC Bus class

 

We flew to FLL with them OK in Premium Rouge ... would not do econ with them though

 

will check their PE seating

Edited by LHT28
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