Oceania Air Question.

[trvlfan]

No they won't, because the tickets are not actually purchased until after you make your final payment.

 

But.... if I prepay today, say 145 days out, will they ticket me now on the flights they have chosen (and I have agreed to?). Or do I still have to pay the additional deviation fee just to have them ticket me (now - after full payment), for my requested itinerary which may be different then the flights they had offered me? Do you have to take the first offered flight, in order to avoid the deviation fee, or will they consider other variations you may submit?

[JimandStan]

But.... if I prepay today, say 145 days out, will they ticket me now on the flights they have chosen (and I have agreed to?). Or do I still have to pay the additional deviation fee just to have them ticket me (now - after full payment), for my requested itinerary which may be different then the flights they had offered me? Do you have to take the first offered flight, in order to avoid the deviation fee, or will they consider other variations you may submit?

 

It sounds like you do not understand the process fully.

 

I'll try again...

 

If you don't pay the deviation then you won't have the option of "agreeing to" anything. Flights are simply assigned in your name.

 

Once you have paid the Deviation Fee, you may request any routing which you desire and Oceania will get back to you with availability information as well as a quote regarding any additional costs involved.

 

The passenger then has the option of accepting that itinerary or requesting another.

 

This process continues until a Route has been established.

 

To be ticketed early, one must pay the Deviation fee as well as make payment in full.

[LHT28]

Once you have paid the Deviation Fee, you may request any routing which you desire and Oceania will get back to you with availability information as well as a quote regarding any additional costs involved.

 

One error

You make the requests for the routing you want

Once you accept the flight then & only then do you pay the deviation fee

[trvlfan]

"It sounds like you do not understand the process fully."

That is true - naive newbie here!

 

I'll try again...

Thank you-

If you don't pay the deviation then you won't have the option of "agreeing to" anything. Flights are simply assigned in your name.

 

I understand now- looks like I will probably have to ante up the deviation fee...

[LHT28]

I understand now- looks like I will probably have to ante up the deviation fee...

If you want to fly in early or stay on after the cruise or NEED to know your flight details then yes pay the deviation fee

Another option is just to book your own air

Oceania will deduct a few$$ from the total price

 

You can check what which way works best for you

 

Yes if you ask for a deviation you can request flights & if you are not happy with the 1st offer ask again

I usually ask what they will give me for the specific dates (via my TA)

if I like the flights I pay the fee ..we are done

If I do not like the flights I give my TA the ones I want & see if Oceania can get those ...they may come with an upcharge but I still have the option of declining those

 

It is a bit complicated until you have done it a few times ;)

 

Lyn

[trvlfan]

Thanks Lyn for a sample scenario. I probably made a mistake by booking this first cruise coming up in October directly with O, and so will be on the phone to them this week, right after I pay for the cruise in full. Since I won't have any hand holding with a TA, all my arrangements will be directly with them. Since we decided the $799 upgrade to business was so much better then what we could get on our own (alas we do not have sufficient FF miles to get a better deal), we are using O's air, and with no pre or post cruise added days. The itinerary starts and finishes with 2 days in each beginning and ending port, so we decided not to extend the trip. Thought I could get away without the deviation, and there was some flexibility on choosing air - but apparently "flexibility" always comes with a cost! So be it. I guess we will just have to cut out a couple of those bottles of wine with dinner;)

[LHT28]

Thanks Lyn for a sample scenario. I probably made a mistake by booking this first cruise coming up in October directly with O, and so will be on the phone to them this week, right after I pay for the cruise in full. Since I won't have any hand holding with a TA, all my arrangements will be directly with them. Since we decided the $799 upgrade to business was so much better then what we could get on our own

Since you are going to deal with the air dept directly you could always ask first about the flights with Business class upgrades ;)

All they can do is say they do not know the schedules then you can ask about the deviation fee for choosing your flights

 

Enjoy the cruise

 

Lyn

[pmacher61]

Sorry, I'm lost. Am I to understand that O provides free air on every cruise... or is all this confabulation about only those cruises on which air is included as a promotion?

[LHT28]

Sorry, I'm lost. Am I to understand that O provides free air on every cruise... or is all this confabulation about only those cruises on which air is included as a promotion?

Marketing

 

Yes up to a certain time prior to sailing air is included should you choose to use it

Or you can book "cruise only" the price you see online/brochure will be reduced a bit

 

You can check the website for details

 

Lyn

[hondorner]

As Lyn said, it's marketing. "Free Air" and "2 for 1 fares" are ALWAYS available on EVERY Oceania cruise, at least when the itineraries are first announced. In days past, when the economy was stronger, they would sometimes modify the 50% fare discount (2 for 1) with a 40% discount when the ship was filling up closer to the actual cruise date. then, as they cruise date got closer and the ship was nearly full, they would sometimmes remove the "free air".

 

However, I haven't seen either situation in recent years. Instead they often offer even greater incentives. For example, some cruises are now neing marketed with free internet, pre-paid gratuities and $799 Business Clss air upgrades. These, however ARE special promotions and are not always available. But, "Free Air" and "2 for 1 fares" are standard.

 

Note that the air is not really "free"; as Lyn said, if you choose to book your own air, the cruise fare will be reduced by a certain amount which differs on every cruise. Most of the time booking your own air will not pay, as the credit Oceania offers is not enough to pay for a standard ticket, unless you have enough frequent flyer miles to make the booking.

[ellasabe]

How it worked with me:

 

When I booked my cruise 11 months out, and paid only the $1500- deposit (for 2), I opted for O's air, knowing that during the meantime and up until final payment I would be doing research on my own to see if I could beat O's airfare fee, which is the "credit" they offer you.

 

If I could not, on my own, beat O's airfare charge (which is built into the cruise fee), then I would pay the full cruise (which includes airfare) fee at final payment.

 

If I could do better on my own, meaning, I could pay less on my own for the airfare than O was charging me (which was the "credit" they would give if I were cruise only), then I would purchase those air tickets, and then call O to change FROM cruise & air TO air only, and pocket the savings. Of course this savings is going to pay for the air I purchased on my own.

 

When I discovered that O's "free" airfare, which is actually an upcharge built into the cruise fee, was lower than what I could do on my own, then I went with O.

 

Deviation:

 

I knew I wanted to deviate on both ends, coming in early and departing late. ATL-BCN-FCO-ATL. I also knew this would cost me a minimum of $150 per person, administrative fee. I say "minimum" because there might have been an additional surcharge by the airline O contracts with, had I decided to pick a flight on a popular day, such as a Sunday, when flights traditionally cost more than, say a Tuesday.

 

To work around the possibility of a surcharge, I searched for a variety of airports close to BCN. As an example: if the ship was departing from Barcelona BCN, I knew alternative airports to fly into might be Paris CDG, Madrid MAD, and Zurich ZRH. These three alternatives are good locations from which one can depart via high-speed train for BCN, or short-hop flight like Vuelig or AirBerlin. In addition, they are places I would have enjoyed spending a few days in prior to stepping foot into Barcelona.

 

From my research I knew that the very cheapest multi-city air from ATL to CDG or MAD or ZRH or BCN, and then back from FCO, that I could get on my own, was $1200-. O was offering an $800 air credit, per person. So, my break even point would be $400 per person. Subtract $150 per person if I chose to deviate from the flight O was offering me, and I would be left with $250 p/p that would "cover" my cost to get to BCN, for example, if I chose to deviate into Paris 3 days before the ship departure in BCN

 

I had all my choices in hand when I called O. If O could not do it without adding a surcharge---meaning, O had to tack on an extra XXX dollars because there was no consolidator T class available to them on my desired flight into Paris, then I could decline what O offered. By doing so I would NOT pay their $150 p/p deviation fee, because I had declined their service. I could then ask the O air rep to see if she could find a T class airfare into Madrid, instead, that was still within the T consolidator fare that O had contracted at a consolidator rate. If there were seats on the ATL-MAD leg a few days early, at a T class that O could utilize, and I was happy with the flight times, etc. then this leg was put on hold.

 

I would do the same for my return: if I wanted to linger in Rome for 3 days after disembarkation, but the cheap seats were all taken on the contracted airlines O was using, and the only seats available were full-fare economy Y rates, then I was given the opportunity to 1) pay the difference between T fare and Y fare or 2) change my flight. Knowing that MXP (Milan) is a short train ride from Rome, and there are almost always cheap seats on this route, I suggested the rep look into MXP. She did so and found me a T fare MXP-ATL, which would work for me.

 

It was agreed I would pay the $300 total ($150 p/p administrative fee for the O air rep's time) on my credit card immediately. The tickets were processed within 72 hours, and they were now MY air tix, NOT O's. I was free to go online and switch my seat (and upgrade it, also, for a fee paid by me and directly to the airline).

 

Airfare Values and how they are determined:

 

Initially I had believed that the flights that O contracts with airlines were based on a dollar value per seat. I was wrong. I was told by O that they, O, contract with the airlines a certain number of fare class seats, like T. This means O is purchasing, say, 5000 T class seats a year at $400 per seat per region, NOT city. So as long as the T class is available, and the region (or mileage value) is within a certain range, those seats will incur no extra charge.

 

If anyone knows more about how this works, please advise.

Edited June 11, 2013 by ellasabe

[pmacher61]

Thank you for clearing that up.

[garryann]

We are booked on the same CT-CT Dec 2016 and concerned about such long flights, but more so about the weather that time of year. Have read that if weather is bad and you cannot get there you are out of luck and Oceania does nothing about it. The discount they allow to book your own, does not begin to cover the cost. Have researched many airlines and all are way more than the 1,200 pp they allow. We are not spring chickens and 35 - 40 hours of flying and arriving on day of departure is not good. Our agent said we could not do the deviation until final payment in July. Would like to know before then. Any suggestions? Thanks

[jw_406]

We are booked on the same CT-CT Dec 2016 and concerned about such long flights, but more so about the weather that time of year. Have read that if weather is bad and you cannot get there you are out of luck and Oceania does nothing about it. The discount they allow to book your own, does not begin to cover the cost. Have researched many airlines and all are way more than the 1,200 pp they allow. We are not spring chickens and 35 - 40 hours of flying and arriving on day of departure is not good. Our agent said we could not do the deviation until final payment in July. Would like to know before then. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

We arranged for the air deviation, agreed on mutual flights w/ Oceania, paid the deviation fee and received our flight itinerary before our final payment. We too are working with a travel agent. You may want to inquire with your travel agent again. Granted, we weren't as far out/as many months prior to our final payment as you.

Edited January 25, 2016 by jw_406

[LHT28]

We are booked on the same CT-CT Dec 2016 and concerned about such long flights, but more so about the weather that time of year. Have read that if weather is bad and you cannot get there you are out of luck and Oceania does nothing about it. The discount they allow to book your own, does not begin to cover the cost. Have researched many airlines and all are way more than the 1,200 pp they allow. We are not spring chickens and 35 - 40 hours of flying and arriving on day of departure is not good. Our agent said we could not do the deviation until final payment in July. Would like to know before then. Any suggestions? Thanks

First you need a new TA

 

You can do the deviation at 270 days out if Oceania has the contract in place for the airlines that do that route

I would look at routings you would prefer ..a good site is

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Then get your TA to submit them to Oceania's air dept

See what they come back with

Fly in a day or more early so you can rest up before the cruise

A long layover someplace might help with the jetlag

 

Not sure what airport you fly from but check Emirates they have flights under $2000 if you decide to book your own air some with 8 hr layovers so you can rest up

Edited January 25, 2016 by LHT28

[arima22]

You can do the deviation routine a maximum of 270 days ahead of embarkation date. I will be submitted a request for flights in February for an Oct. 2016 cruise.

 

You can request specific flight dates, routes, airlines, and specific flights. Sometimes there will be a charge if what you request is more expensive than Oceania's normal booking, but I have not had an increase in airline fees yet- experience limited to just 4 cruises. If there is an increase in airline fare, you can accept your requested routing and pay the fee or go back for an alternate route. Once you agree on the flight schedule you will be charged $175 each for the total deviation.

(your TA does not appear to be familiar with the Oceania procedures).