Advice for Booking Thru Regent Air

[Dreps]

I just had my first “real” experience booking thru Regent Air, and my initial impression is that it is outstanding, especially, if you do a little homework. (Real is in quotes, because we had used Regent Air several years ago for PG cruises when coach air was included--an unusual inclusion at the time.) In general, we take the air credit, and use FF miles for business class award seats, which are getting harder to come by. However, on long-hauls, I think that Regent’s business class promotions are worth considering. If you decide to try Regent Air, my advice is to incur the $100 per person deviation fee and gain the luxury of proposing an itinerary that is tailored to your preferences. Many of us like to go in a day or two early and/or stay a day or two after a cruise. Based on my experience for an intinerary that involved 3 flights to reach Australia and 3 flights to return from Asia, this is what I’d suggest:

 

First, ask your TA to find out which air carriers are likely to be used for your itinerary. Then, if you have a preference for a particular carrier--for example, you may earn FF miles on one (not guaranteed on cruise air arrangements) or you may have elite status on one--investigate the flights from your gateway, using your chosen carrier’s Web site or a more general site such as Kayak. Using a site such as Kayak enables you to see what else is out there in terms of most direct routing, alternative schedules, and types of equipment on the relevant routes.

 

Then, put together a detailed itinerary with the flights you desire and submit this to your TA. The TA should be able to take it from there and submit the information to Regent Air. In our case, shortly after the itinerary was submitted, Regent discovered a time change that necessitated a minor modification to the itinerary in order to allow enough time for a “legal connection.” After this change was made, the itinerary was finalized, and I received all the information a few hours later, including the record locator and even preliminary seat selection. I had no trouble going into the record and changing the seats according to our preferences.

 

This system worked wonderfully, and I was pleasantly surprised with the relative ease of the process. Now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the airline’s schedules don’t change completely in the months leading up to our cruise.

[rallydave]

I just had my first “real” experience booking thru Regent Air, and my initial impression is that it is outstanding, especially, if you do a little homework. (Real is in quotes, because we had used Regent Air several years ago for PG cruises when coach air was included--an unusual inclusion at the time.) In general, we take the air credit, and use FF miles for business class award seats, which are getting harder to come by. However, on long-hauls, I think that Regent’s business class promotions are worth considering. If you decide to try Regent Air, my advice is to incur the $100 per person deviation fee and gain the luxury of proposing an itinerary that is tailored to your preferences. Many of us like to go in a day or two early and/or stay a day or two after a cruise. Based on my experience for an intinerary that involved 3 flights to reach Australia and 3 flights to return from Asia, this is what I’d suggest:

 

First, ask your TA to find out which air carriers are likely to be used for your itinerary. Then, if you have a preference for a particular carrier--for example, you may earn FF miles on one (not guaranteed on cruise air arrangements) or you may have elite status on one--investigate the flights from your gateway, using your chosen carrier’s Web site or a more general site such as Kayak. Using a site such as Kayak enables you to see what else is out there in terms of most direct routing, alternative schedules, and types of equipment on the relevant routes.

 

Then, put together a detailed itinerary with the flights you desire and submit this to your TA. The TA should be able to take it from there and submit the information to Regent Air. In our case, shortly after the itinerary was submitted, Regent discovered a time change that necessitated a minor modification to the itinerary in order to allow enough time for a “legal connection.” After this change was made, the itinerary was finalized, and I received all the information a few hours later, including the record locator and even preliminary seat selection. I had no trouble going into the record and changing the seats according to our preferences.

 

This system worked wonderfully, and I was pleasantly surprised with the relative ease of the process. Now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the airline’s schedules don’t change completely in the months leading up to our cruise.

 

Great information and I would like to add another site for looking at available flights that is, in my opinion the best site for checking out available flights. Covers airlines the world over including airlines not appearing on Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. Only airlines not shown are Southwest, Jet Blue and a few of the similar European Airlines but, these aren't usually used by Regent or Regent Cruisers.

 

Only thing you can't do on this site is book flights but, it does give you the complete information for booking and allows you to send a copy of the itinerary to you or your TA.

 

The site is ITA Travel.com and the link is http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/

 

It sometimes asks you to log in but you can skip the log in and go in as a guest and get the same data. Signing up is a snap and you don't get junk e-mail from this sign-up if you choose.

 

This company provides the software for most of the world's airlines and as such is very inclusive. You can even pick the time of day, search up to 3 days before and after your intended date and you can choose to include airports up to a user specified number of miles away.

 

A really great free site for checking out your best fare and all of the airlines and schedules for your intended flight without all the crap coming from the familiar search sites.

[WesW]

Eugene, Dave; thanks for the regent air/airline information...dave, concur with using ITA..have used for years as part of homework process for booking flights.

[CruiserFromMaine]

How does the air credit work? It sounds like you get a fare reduction in exchange for booking your own flight but if anyone can shed some light on that I'd appreciate it. We're considering a regent cruise for next year.

 

Thanks.

[rallydave]

How does the air credit work? It sounds like you get a fare reduction in exchange for booking your own flight but if anyone can shed some light on that I'd appreciate it. We're considering a regent cruise for next year.

 

Thanks.

 

Think you've got it as far as air and cruise discount. If you do your own air, you lose transfers from airport to ship and return also. You can buy the transfer on the ship back to the airport but, the price is extremely high!! Getting to the ship you are on your own to find the best way.

 

Also if using Regent air and your plane is late, they will try to get you to the ship on time and the ship may wait a little bit and you might make the ship but, using your own air and your plane is late, the ship won't wait and you will need to make your own way.

[Dreps]

To be a little more specific, on the cruise that we are taking, the air credit would have been a total of $1,200 per person. So we could have purchased our own tickets with those funds, or pocketed the money and used FF miles to obtain award tickets. Sometimes it's a little tricky because most cruises require an open-jaw ticket or award. That is, you embark in one place and disembark in another. However, we've done this many times either by purchasing tickets or using award tickets.

 

In this case, we decided to take advantage of the Regent business class upgrade promotion, so in addition to not receiving the $1,200 per person, we had to kick in the upgrade fee, which usually ranges from $999 to $1499 per person each way depending on the cities involved. It's not inexpensive, but it is a good deal compared with purchasing business class seats or using hundreds of thousands of FF miles, unless you have them to "burn."

 

As rallydave says, if you take the air credit, you are on your own. That's not generally a problem, but it is strongly suggested that you plan to arrive at the embarkation city at least a day early in case there is a delay or other issue with your air arrangements.

[Balliett]

Regent won't "lock in" your flights until 75 days before cruise unless you pay a deviation fee, true. But I think they book tentative flights ASAP after you pay the first deposit.

 

In my case, they booked the round trip (CLE-ANK, PEK-CLE) in January for a September 2010 cruise. My TA, at my request, provided the routing and reservation code from Regent Air, and it was a perfect routing for us, on AA. I chose seats. But then AA and the Chinese govt couldn't agree on landing slots, and the flight time was changed to 10 hours earlier. Not fine. After an exchange of emails with the TA, she called Regent and Regent changed the PEK-CLE to United, which was again nearly a perfect routing. (The best of all scheduled flights in the late afternoon.) Still no deviation fee yet, but I'm choosing to lock in this routing by paying the $100 pp.

 

Jim in Ohio

[Dreps]

Regarding timing, my understanding is that approximately 270 days before your cruise begins, your TA can contact Regent Air about your booking. (Even before that time, you TA can find out which airlines are likely to be relevant for your itinerary.) However, I am unclear as to whether or not a deviation has to be involved for this to occur. Given how often airlines change schedules, it would not surprise me if some aspect of our "locked" itinerary changes before our first flight takes off.

[Balliett]

In my case, Regent booked air on Jan 28 for a Sep 14 flight, with no input or deviation request from me. I think anyone can find out if flights are already booked early, through TA or by calling Regent's air desk directly. I think they (Regent or TAs) don't publicize this ability that the passenger has because flights can be changed up to 75 days before by Regent. One not-to-be named Regent employee told me, "They might change the flights if they find a cheaper route." And as everyone says, you can lock in a flight or pick from Regent's inventory (mostly Star Alliance) well before 75 days out for $100 pp.

[Travelcat2]

Between airline strikes and volcano ash, I would not book air on our own. We are currently on the Navigator with a lot of people from the U.K. that have been informed that they will not be able to fly on British Air next Wednesday from Vancouver as the strike will on at that time. Those passengers are very happy with how Regent is getting them booked on to other flights. Passengers that booked on their own do have a special "line" to call on to assist them in finding their own flights.

[MamaQuack]

We only used Regent (then Radisson) air once when we did the PG13 years ago. It was a lifesaver because there was an airline strike and we were well taken care of. Since then we always took the credit, used our FF miles and went on our merry way. We returned from the March 22 TA just ahead of the volcanic disaster. We had already decided to book Regent for Feb 19 and knew this time we absolutely wanted Regent air. Our TA called Regent, found out they would use Delta as we would - there is only one flight daily but we still chose to spend the $100 deviation just in case another flight is added, etc. We were able to select our seats and were asked for our FF #s. So far, so good.

[rallydave]

We only used Regent (then Radisson) air once when we did the PG13 years ago. It was a lifesaver because there was an airline strike and we were well taken care of. Since then we always took the credit, used our FF miles and went on our merry way. We returned from the March 22 TA just ahead of the volcanic disaster. We had already decided to book Regent for Feb 19 and knew this time we absolutely wanted Regent air. Our TA called Regent, found out they would use Delta as we would - there is only one flight daily but we still chose to spend the $100 deviation just in case another flight is added, etc. We were able to select our seats and were asked for our FF #s. So far, so good.

 

Please, please, we really need the "rest of the story". Please don't leave us all hanging!

 

Thanks,

[CruiserFromMaine]

Thanks for all the insight!

 

Does Regent air usually get you to the port the day before embarkation, or is that a deviation/special request?

[MamaQuack]

Rallydave, we fly Feb 18. So far everything with Regent has been smooth. Will certainly advise after that cruise.

[rallydave]

Rallydave, we fly Feb 18. So far everything with Regent has been smooth. Will certainly advise after that cruise.

 

Thanks Mama Quack,

 

From your message it seemed that there was more to the story and you hadn't posted the add'l info. Thought you were talking about a trip already taken. Have a great cruise next Feb.

 

Thanks,

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Thanks for all the insight!

 

Does Regent air usually get you to the port the day before embarkation, or is that a deviation/special request?

 

No, they try to avoid bringing you in the night before, since when they do, they pick up the hotel tab. So it's a deviation.

 

Once in a while, they can't get you there, so they will fly you in early; it's called a "forced overnight". So if you study destinations you can usually tell if that's the case. We used to get a forced overnight in LAX on the way to Tahiti but the last time they flew us straight through, since the Tahitian carrier had instituted a later departure.

[neviboy]

We are using Regent air for the first time. Departure Sept. 4th. Miami to Istanbul for a Sept. 5th. sailing.

If Regent has a 48 hour prediction of a hurricane at Miami which may close the airport, in someone's experience, is it possible that Regent will advance the flight date ?

( S.Florida has an awful prediction of storms, this season.)

[nanook21]

We got our Regent Air last month for Jan/11, but only because we prepaid a deviation fee of $100 pp, otherwise they won't start looking at air bookings until 75 days in advance. We wanted to 'lock in' our flight itinerary, with Bus.class upgrades in advance. We got flights close to what we wanted, and have already selected seats and advised the airlines of FF numbers. If you want to use a certain airline, or get a preferred routing, the deviation fee is worth it. Regent doesn't always use Star Alliance carriers though, its whoever they might have a contract with. For our return from Peru we're on Delta - not a Star Alliance carrier (we would have preferred Lan or Continental but they were not available).

[Stevealan]

I just had my first “real” experience booking thru Regent Air, and my initial impression is that it is outstanding, especially, if you do a little homework. (Real is in quotes, because we had used Regent Air several years ago for PG cruises when coach air was included--an unusual inclusion at the time.) In general, we take the air credit, and use FF miles for business class award seats, which are getting harder to come by. However, on long-hauls, I think that Regent’s business class promotions are worth considering. If you decide to try Regent Air, my advice is to incur the $100 per person deviation fee and gain the luxury of proposing an itinerary that is tailored to your preferences. Many of us like to go in a day or two early and/or stay a day or two after a cruise. Based on my experience for an intinerary that involved 3 flights to reach Australia and 3 flights to return from Asia, this is what I’d suggest:

 

First, ask your TA to find out which air carriers are likely to be used for your itinerary. Then, if you have a preference for a particular carrier--for example, you may earn FF miles on one (not guaranteed on cruise air arrangements) or you may have elite status on one--investigate the flights from your gateway, using your chosen carrier’s Web site or a more general site such as Kayak. Using a site such as Kayak enables you to see what else is out there in terms of most direct routing, alternative schedules, and types of equipment on the relevant routes.

 

Then, put together a detailed itinerary with the flights you desire and submit this to your TA. The TA should be able to take it from there and submit the information to Regent Air. In our case, shortly after the itinerary was submitted, Regent discovered a time change that necessitated a minor modification to the itinerary in order to allow enough time for a “legal connection.” After this change was made, the itinerary was finalized, and I received all the information a few hours later, including the record locator and even preliminary seat selection. I had no trouble going into the record and changing the seats according to our preferences.

 

This system worked wonderfully, and I was pleasantly surprised with the relative ease of the process. Now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the airline’s schedules don’t change completely in the months leading up to our cruise.

 

I would agree with the advice to book early using the "air deviation" option. We just booked a flight from Washington Dulles to Capetown on Delta/KLM with a reasonable two hour layover in Amsterdam. We opted for the business class option (a bargin for $999). Most airlines have a long layover in europe for these flights. You may be stuck with one of these if you wait for Regent to book your flight since they have contracts with the airlines and the better flights "sell out" since there are a limited number of seats for the "contract fare" Regent has with the airlines. Interestingly, I had more difficulty getting a decent return flight from Fort Lauderdale. We have to fly to Detroit and connect back to Dulles January 5. Flights through Atlanta were not available. Hopefully, I can change this later.

[FlyerTalker]

I would highly suggest you all read the sticky at the top of the Cruise Air forum here at CC. Even if you are purchasing a "deviation", you are likely getting consolidator tickets which have some severe limitations. Cruiseline tickets are not apples-to-apples with tickets you would purchase on your own.

 

Most importantly, read the Terms & Conditions on Regent provided air, which are in the printed brochure. A few choice nuggets from the RSSC website:

 

Airline tickets issued by RSSC are restricted by contract and may not be reissued or exchanged for another air carrier or routing.

Which means those tickets cannot be endorsed to another carrier in case of mechanical or other IROPs. You are limited to flights on the ticketed carrier - and to the routing ticketed. No changes for IROPs - you wait for available seats on the original airline and routing.

 

RSSC uses contracted fares, which do not allow mileage upgrades

Sorry...no seat up front for you.

 

Q: May I choose specific airlines, flights and times?

A: Yes, as long as we have a contract with the requested carrier or it is one we are using as a preferred carrier.

Which means that even "deviation" doesn't give you a full choice of airlines.

 

Especially be aware of the restrictions on the business class promotions, which carry very heavy limitations. Caveat emptor.

[Travelcat2]

We have had very good experiences using Regent Air (always Business Class). If you feel stongly about a certain airline, you may have to pay an additional fee to get that airline (as we did when we wanted British Air from Vancouver to Cape Town). Using deviation, Regent booked us on LAN Airlines out of Lima (exactly what we wanted). However, we decided to book the rest of the flights on our own (a rather complicated way to do things).

 

If you are flexible, Regent Air -- without deviation is the best way to go. On the other hand, you can deviate and hopefully stay with their contraacted carriers. Just don't wait too long or there will be few choices left.

[FlyerTalker]

If you are flexible, Regent Air -- without deviation is the best way to go.

I highly beg to differ. First off, much depends on what the definition and criteria are for "best". If you mean "cheapest", then that is not always the case. And I suspect that "flexible" is code for "if you're willing to take whatever they give you, no matter how bad it may be".

 

There is a great deal of hype surrounding the business and free air promotions offered by RSSC as well as other lines. As with all free lunches, there are catches involved. If you are willing to accept those conditions, with both eyes wide open, then go ahead. That's what a free market is all about - individual free choice. But know that what you are getting is not the same as what you can purchase on your own. It's not apples to apples, and a personal evaluation of the differences is needed to go beyond dollars and cents to a true analysis of the values involved.

[JACKHAWK]

We are going on RSSC to NZ-OZ in Feb.

 

I spent a lot of time on KAYAK checking out all the possibilities (we fly out of SAV which makes it complicated). I picked the flights I wanted (which used 4 different carriers -AA, ANZ, Q, & USA.)

 

I told my TA which flights. She contacted Regent & with the $100 per person deviation fee - I got exactly want I wanted including seat numbers. My original reservation included Business class.

 

Every time that I have used the deviation route - I have been very happy!

[poss]

Just to say: Using Regent air and paying deviation (the very day that we were able to ask for flights), we're very satisfied with our return flight (non-stop from Rome to Phila), but quite disappointed that our outbound has an almost 5 hour layover in Frankfurt and gets us to Istanbul quite late (no time to walk around outside and unjetlag). Still, we'd not have been able to afford business class if we'd booked ourselves, so the trade-off is worth it (I hope.) I've read repeatedly of people getting exactly the flights they wanted; didn't work for us-- happy for the folks for whom it did.

[Dreps]

Reading some of the later posts on this thread, which I began, I want to clarify my view. My purpose was to provide information for those who decide that they are interested in pursuing air through Regent. I didn't mean to suggest that Regent air was definitely the way to go. As I mentioned at the outset, we usually have taken the air credit, and then I arrange our air travel--sometimes using FF miles and other times purchasing tickets--always ensuring that we allow sufficient time in case of unanticipated delays. If using FF miles, I normally arrange business class, which is a strong motivator when feasible. If purchasing tickets, we usually travel coach, and the air credit is almost always greater than the airline ticket costs.

 

I offered my advice because my Regent air experience was up-to-date and very positive, and I know that some prefer to let Regent take care of everything, including air arrangements, pre-cruise hotels and/or other excursions. In addition, I think that many Regent passengers now take advantage of Regent's business class promotions, especially if very long flights are involved. In our case, FF miles were not a realistic option, and we had a strong preference for business class, so the promotion was very enticing.