Oceania arranged air

[j!m]

we never ever use air arranged by a cruise line BUT this time it looks like the pricing from oceania is far better than what we can arrange ourselves

 

we will be flying business class and are prepared to pay any deviation fee to pick our flights

 

how does this work exactly? does oceania tell us the airlined they have seats with and we pick and choose or what??? we can reach the embarkation destination with only one stop and are not interested in 2 or more plane changes. on disembarkation there are direct flights to our home city. so obviously we would prefer a direct flight home

 

can anyone tell me how this works???

 

thanks

[riversidecruiser]

You can request an air deviation from Oceania up to 270 days before your cruise date. The air deviation fee is $75 per person. There may be additional charges depending on the cost differences between the flight you have selected and Oceania's usual flights. I believe these fees will be charged to your credit card immediately upon acceptance of your preferred flights.

 

Simply provide your TA with the information regarding your preferred flight (or flights), such as airline, flight number, etc. The TA will contact Oceania requesting the air deviation, and Oceania will usually respond within 48 hours with info as to whether that flight is available and any additional costs. You either accept or not.

[Sharicruz]

The air deviation fee is now $100.00 per person which is non-refundable, plus any additional air fare.

 

Shari

ShariCruz6

[StanandJim]

The air deviation fee is now $100.00 per person which is non-refundable, plus any additional air fare

 

Lets get some clarification of this. Non refundable at what point?

They can't ask us to pay $100pp just to price the Oceania option.

[hondorner]

Oceania will provide a suggested flight plan. You can request it to be modified as many times as you like, and even submit your own suggestions. The fee is not payable until yhou accept one of the proposals. It is then non-refundable. The additional airfare, if any, is not payable until final payment, and is subject to the same cancellation fees as the cruise fare.

[Bruin Steve]

Just a note here:

 

When we cruised on Nautica in 2006, we did this...

Rather than choose exact flights, we just gave Oceania Air the dates we wanted to arrive and depart...We wanted to arrive in Istanbul three days early and leave Venice three days after the cruise ended.

 

Oceania came up with flights for us that were actually better than anything we found on our own...To and from these cities to Los Angeles, there are no non-stops...

 

What we got was Delta leaving LAX at 7:30 am, a hour and ten minute stop with change of planes at JFK and arriving in Istanbul at 10:05 am...'

 

The return was a 10:55 am flight out of Venice to Frankfurt (a really short hop), 1:35 for a change of planes in Frankfurt and a nonstop from there to LAX on Lufthansa, arriving at LAX at 4:30 pm...

 

We couldn't have found any more convenient times or fewer stops on our own...Including deviation fees and price differential, it ended up costing us an additional $200 pp...

 

I had priced out flights on our own and even with the $200 extra, we were at least competitive with what I found ...there was one set of flights that came out slightly cheaper--but included some very long layovers and inconvenient times...I found comparable schedules (none better) with prices slightly higher than what we'd be paying...

 

Plus, remember that even though you might pay these fees when you approve the scheduling, if you buy air on your own, you're likely required to buy a nonrefundable ticket up front...

 

All in all, we were very happy the way it worked out...On our more recent Oceania cruise, we opted out of the air mostly because we had frequent flier miles to cover the trip...

[FlyerTalker]

Recognize that many tickets obtained through a cruiseline are "bulk" or "consolidator" tickets, which have some significant restrictions built into them.

 

I highly recommend that you read the sticky at the top of the Cruise Air forum here at CC.

[j!m]

thanks for input but i am still confused

 

oceania says they will fly us business class for $3700 extra

 

fine, i'm prepared to pay

 

now i pay another $100 to pick a convenient flight, fine

 

then oceania says you us more money because the flight you picked cost more than $3700

 

if that is the case why would i ever deal with oceania??

 

just pay whatever it costs myself and save $100 plus no hastle with O and t/a

 

am i missing something???

[StanandJim]

thanks for input but i am still confused

 

oceania says they will fly us business class for $3700 extra

 

fine, i'm prepared to pay

 

now i pay another $100 to pick a convenient flight, fine

 

then oceania says you us more money because the flight you picked cost more than $3700

 

if that is the case why would i ever deal with oceania??

 

just pay whatever it costs myself and save $100 plus no hastle with O and t/a

 

am i missing something???

There is a blurb in the fine print about Oceania "having the right" to charge you more in cases where the flights that you hand pick are significantly more expensive than the flights they would have picked to get you there.

 

As you know, airline fares can fluctuate wildly, and O would be crazy not to have some sort of a hedge. With the cruise line picking up the tab, you can probably figure how intransigent some people might be.

 

In our six experiences with Oceania organized air arrangements, however, never once has that upcharge been assessed. In one of those cases (a flight from Istanbul to JFK), the flight that we requested was something like $550pp more expensive than the one that O was suggesting. Yet, we only paid the deviation fee.

 

When you are paying Oceanias' Business Class supplement, it is fairly certain that you will not be charged again.

 

Hope this helped-

 

J

[hondorner]

We have requested a deviation twice. In one case, we paid no extra fare beyond the deviation fee, even though the flights, like Bruin Steve's, were the absolute best available. In the second case, also the best flights available, we paid a fare increase of $225 pp. This was entirely acceptable to us, because to book those same flights on our own, it would have cost over $1,000 per person more.

 

I don't know how they handle business class; I have never been willing to spend that much. But, I suspect it will be proportionately the same.

 

The best part is you don't have to be confused and you don;t have to wonder how it would look. Within the 270 days prior time period, all you have to do is request a proposal from Oceania. It will cost you nothing and answer all your questions.

 

My travel agent and I recently submitted a total of eight proposals to get home from Rome, involving two different dates (a Friday and a Saturday) and four different arrival airports (we are fortunate to live approximately equidistant from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa). We selected the one that suited us best. We could not match the proposal if we booked on our own. On the Friday date, we could come close to the value of the Oceania proposal using miles; the miles were 250% more on Saturday, while the Oceania price remained the same. We decided to save our miles to use at a future time and accept Oceania's proposal (we chose the Saturday date and Miami), primarily because Oceania's proposal had only one stop and was over 5 hours faster in total time.

[orchestrapal]

Sorry, double post.

[orchestrapal]

The current fare from Philadelphia to Europe non-stop in April-June is $3000 for business class. Our experience is that Oceania's up-charge for Business Class is more than this total fare. In addition if you have any mileage you can combine coach fares and business and upgrade one leg of the trip and save about $700.

We'll stick to booking our own air.:)

[LHT28]

Best to check with some airline booking sites then discuss with your TA the options from "O".

We like as it gives you some idea of fares & routes

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego;jsessionid=C9AC19CBE38F2E8520BD11E3FAC81A30

 

Sometimes it is not worth doing a deviation/upcharge etc...through the cruise line

Some cases it does work out better.

Each case is different.

 

We have done it both ways & prefer to book our own air

 

Lyn

[j!m]

thanks everyone for the helpful info

 

we have never used cruise line air before and after a little research i remember why

 

we can fly business for far less than the O upcharge

[potterhill]

When you request a deviation you have the right to decline their proposed flights and ask for other options. In one case they asked for $300 each. We declined and then later they offered the same flights for no upcharge.

We have done the deviation twice and never paid more than the deviation fee. We like to use their air because then it's all tied to the one reservation. Works for us and in our case their air has always been the less expensive option.

 

Mo

[Tutuma]

When O arranges air, is it possible to use miles to upgrade to business class?

[merryecho]

Tutuma- I don't know about all airlines, but United requires a certain class of ticket before you can upgrade (I think it is M?) and Oceania books in Y class. You can pay a little more to upgrade your ticket to M- I think it was about $400 last year for west coast usa to europe, then you can use your miles to upgrade. You have to do it when you book your ticket -sometimes they let you pay the extra at the gate, but it depends on the agent.

I have found United is pretty stubborn about this. Again, don't know other airlines rules.

[LHT28]

Tutuma- I don't know about all airlines, but United requires a certain class of ticket before you can upgrade (I think it is M?) and Oceania books in Y class.

Y class is full fare

I do not think O books that

Usually Q class =bulk

[Jancruz]

When O arranges air, is it possible to use miles to upgrade to business class?

 

No

Jancruz1

[merryecho]

Thanks Lh- of course you are right- I need to mind my Y's and Q's.

JanCruz- I know you are an expert, but doing as I described above I have upgraded with miles, using air arranged by O, a couple of times.

[riversidecruiser]

JanCruz- I know you are an expert, but doing as I described above I have upgraded with miles, using air arranged by O, a couple of times.

 

Interesting. I tried to upgrade using Aeroplan miles in November of 2008 but was told I couldn't because the ticket had no monetary value attached to it (I don't remember the exact terms used). Maybe it depends on the mileage program?

[browniecool]

Interesting. I tried to upgrade using Aeroplan miles in November of 2008 but was told I couldn't because the ticket had no monetary value attached to it (I don't remember the exact terms used). Maybe it depends on the mileage program?

 

 

Please do a search on consolidator tickets under "cruise air" forum. You will find a lot of information of these types of tickets that the cruise lines use to offer the included air option. These are the lowest, cheapest class of airline tickets with no monetary value attached to them, i.e. non transferable, non endorsable, and most importantly non upgradeable . With these tickets, there is nothing you can do. If you miss your connection, you are left to fend for yourself. That's why there are a number of cruise critic posters suggested that you either arrange your own air (first option), or pay for the air deviation (second option) so that you have a little more control over your own destiny.

[StanandJim]

Please do a search on consolidator tickets under "cruise air" forum. You will find a lot of information of these types of tickets that the cruise lines use to offer the included air option. These are the lowest, cheapest class of airline tickets with no monetary value attached to them, i.e. non transferable, non endorsable, and most importantly non upgradeable . With these tickets, there is nothing you can do. If you miss your connection, you are left to fend for yourself. That's why there are a number of cruise critic posters suggested that you either arrange your own air (first option), or pay for the air deviation (second option) so that you have a little more control over your own destiny.

 

If you accept the air arrangements exactly as they are dished out by the cruise line, that may be true. This is where Oceania passengers have a distinct advantage in that they may deal with the air deviation dept.

 

We dont wish to make an issue of it, but we also have upgraded to business class using Oceania issued tickets using American Airlines points.

The key, of course, is in discussing your wish to upgrade with the deviation dept. before you authorize the flights chosen.

 

The Oceania Air Deviation Dept. is marvelously cooperative if you deal with them in a direct and businesslike manner.

 

If you are prepared to play by their rules and regulations, you can occasionally stumble across a situation where they can beat ANYTHING that you could book independantly, however, you must know your prices and it helps if you can be flexible, schedule wise.

[happy cruzer]

When you request a deviation you have the right to decline their proposed flights and ask for other options. In one case they asked for $300 each. We declined and then later they offered the same flights for no upcharge.

We have done the deviation twice and never paid more than the deviation fee. We like to use their air because then it's all tied to the one reservation. Works for us and in our case their air has always been the less expensive option.

 

Mo

So does this mean that it is possible to call and try air dev more than one time? For example, I could call in Jan. and check what they can do and if it's not what I want, then I can call back a month later to check what is available then?

 

My previous experience using their air dev department was excellent but I am curious to know if there is the option to wait for a second look.

[hondorner]

Sure. There is no obligation to accept their proposal. You can look at it, turn it down, ask them to come up with a different plan, or even tell them which flights you want to take and see how close they can come. If none of that works for you, say no thanks, then come back again later and try again. I don't talk to them directly; my agent does that for me, but my experience is that they are marvelously patient. It could be that my agent just knows how to talk to them, like Jim said.

 

I've said it before, but it bears repeating -- to me, it's a big deal that I don't have to pay for the flight until final payment, even though I know the flight information as early as 9 months ahead, and that if I have to cancel the cruise before final payment, I don't have to worry about prepaid airline tickets.