current Air carriers used in O air

[Hawaiidan]

Yes ! I know things change...However,  from  your recent experience using the O Air option ,  what carriers are they using from the west coast to Amsterdam   and also from Barcelona to the west coast.?   AND ,were these flights a 1 stop or many , if traveling say LAX or SFO to say AMS       and returns    BCN to SFO or LAx 

 

Second question:    Did any of these carriers offer Prem-economy  and for what leg of the journey   ( I assume it will be a 1 stop  to EWR ot IAD  Or ATL/DFW and then on to final destination     

I need see what carriers and equipment  is being offered to evaluate their offers

 

Finally, if selecting "Prem Economy" ,I realize there are a very small number of seats in any carrier  Prem econ seats.   Getting a locked in seat assignment is thus Hyper-critical    

 

 If booking O air, are you guaranteed a Prem econ seat?    OR do they not actually pick your seat till final payment. risking that inventory on your flights  will be gone if you pay only 90 days out?     Have people been shut out of those seats due to inventory not being available?     Is the only viable solution to pay in full as soon as possible.    

 

Thanks  in advance for any  current or recent experience

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Hawaiidan

[pinotlover]

Dan;

 

You know the drill as well as anyone. Have your TA call O Air at 270 days out and O will give all your options!

 

I’m also aware that you know the PE portion is over the water only. FWIW, AA is now offering PE in many of its transatlantic flights, especially from DFW. So SFO or LAX to DFW in economy, then DFW to AMS in PE.

 

I thought you only fly BC on miles??? UA has been having a large route sale with discounted Ft mileage requirements!

Edited December 15, 2019 by pinotlover

[Paulchili]

Dan - are you running out of miles or is it UA’s new outrageous redemptions that are killing you?

I feel your pain 😊

Edited December 15, 2019 by Paulchili

[FlyerTalker]

There are reports that some cruiselines are stretching the definition of thier "premium economy" selections to simply involve the extra legroom seats (comfort+, main cabin extra, economy plus) and not the true premium economy seating with different seats plus legroom.

 

Caveat emptor.

[Hawaiidan]

32 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Dan - are you running out of miles or is it UA’s new outrageous redemptions that are killing you?

I feel your pain 😊

both... for my dates UA  wants 240K each way bus !!!  thast almost 1 million Rt/x2    Jist flew back form SYD    Got a ticket for 80K  Ual lost the reservation  to get back I had to pony up 200k....OW !  

I have never even thought about O air as I was rolling in miles  240/270 days out ???  I know zip

Looks lihe AA is the ticket for a short flight coach and a longer flight DFW AMS

Merry Christmas/ Dan

[Hawaiidan]

31 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

There are reports that some cruiselines are stretching the definition of thier "premium economy" selections to simply involve the extra legroom seats (comfort+, main cabin extra, economy plus) and not the true premium economy seating with different seats plus legroom.

 

Caveat emptor.

I am fearful of that....not all airlines are created equal.... Some months ago I  flew LOT in business..... it was an experience to say the least....       So I might end up with a Econ + seat billed at a PE seat?         Wise words to ponder   Thanks.

Merry Christmas

[Paulchili]

37 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

Some months ago I  flew LOT in business....it was an experience to say the least....

Tell me more as I have considered them as an option for the future

Edited December 15, 2019 by Paulchili

[Hawaiidan]

44 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Tell me more as I have considered them as an option for the future

Well  Warsaw is an excellent airport today,   good connestions with Swiss, Seat is pretty nice.... the food...  well.. NO. 

 If returning ,eat  in the LOT business lounge... and be thankful you did.    make make sandwiches..  only one brand of beer 2 wines   lot of vodka.. anything  A 787   WAR-LAX  In flight ent......HA .......  in your dreams

you can get it for 70K miles Bus.

My current delema is  do I book a PH and take O air and life and the prem econ seats for the over water,    OR  do I book a B2-veranda and......actually pay for business.  (and get   real polaris on the  return and air canada Bus  outbound (        

( a first in 15 years  about $7K).     Both choices would cost about the same.....     my quandary..   Arriving rested is winning out VS a larger cabin

Your comment   

Edited December 15, 2019 by Hawaiidan

[Paulchili]

Thanks Dan.

As long as the seats are business class quality I am OK with that - food and even entertainment are secondary. That being the case, if LOT is the only thing I can get it would work.

[no fuss travel]

I can only speak from Canada. They flew us economy to Montreal and then PE to London.  Coming back, economy to London from Barcelona and then PE back to Vancouver.

[Hawaiidan]

4 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Thanks Dan.

As long as the seats are business class quality I am OK with that - food and even entertainment are secondary. That being the case, if LOT is the only thing I can get it would work.

Ok Paul.... now could you help me with my question

[Hawaiidan]

2 minutes ago, no fuss travel said:

I can only speak from Canada. They flew us economy to Montreal and then PE to London.  Coming back, economy to London from Barcelona and then PE back to Vancouver.

Thank you no -Fuss.....   So you had one change.      PE still worries me   its a  crap shoot  and there are very few seats and the  config of 2-4-2 really is  horrible if you get stuck in the 4 row.... !!!!!    Did O book that for you?

[no fuss travel]

No my TA got the seat selection.  She does it as soon as the tickets are confirmed.  We flew Air Canada over and British Air back.  We had problems going over with a broken seat in front of me that came to far back and the passenger sitting in it would not put it up to make it easier to get out of my seat.  His seat mate was apologizing for him the entire flight.  On the way back they served the economy seats dinner before they served PE dinner on the side of the plane I was sitting on.  They had to get a leftover dinner from first class as I was allergic to the dinner they had left.  I refused to take it and they were a bit unhappy about that.  The other side of PE was fed before the economy.  If you fly BA, make sure you make your meal selection before you board.

[Paulchili]

26 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

Ok Paul.... now could you help me with my question

 

6 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

Arriving rested is winning out VS a larger cabin

Your comment   

I guess you answered your own question.

It’s a tough choice.

Not knowing the exact price breakdown but I can’t imagine that the difference between PH and balcony is $7K.

Personally, I would take the PH and fly Premium economy. Flight back is a daytime flight so PE is OK and I believe that you would save some money.

This will not help you but may help others.

This is why I use Chase Reserve card and not United. Reserve gives me 3X points for ALL travel and food. Those points in turn can be converted to multiple airlines.

In your case, I can convert them to KLM miles and KLM has been pretty good on bus. availability. Coming back I could use Iberia Avios for direct flights from Madrid to LAX or SFO at about 50K Avios and low fees and good availability. Last choice would be BA both ways with high taxes (but much, much less than $7K) and excellent availability.

[Paulchili]

PS. The point I tried to make is that with Ultimate Rewards from Chase I can use all 3 Alliances vs only Star Alliance with United card.

[pinotlover]

We typically save considerable money by flying BC over to Europe on the overnight flight and true PE home for the daylight flights.

[Hawaiidan]

11 hours ago, Paulchili said:

PS. The point I tried to make is that with Ultimate Rewards from Chase I can use all 3 Alliances vs only Star Alliance with United card.

I changed last year to Marriott Select Business card...40 airlines access.    you get 6X for hotel 4X all others.   $95 a year.   They stopped  letting people getting it...  and today it 4X  on all.       I am down to mys last 300K....   Used to be that was good for 2 rt BUS to europe at 70K........ On the other hand  I got almost 20 years of Business class awards world wide   So I can NOT complain...  

 

28 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

We typically save considerable money by flying BC over to Europe on the overnight flight and true PE home for the daylight flights.

 That is indeed a good idea........Thank You sincerely       That could save  a lot.      Your right..  return from BCN  is all day time  and I could tolerate it.... but a overnight with a negative jet lag too...  Gimmie a lie flat bed...    Getting old. and not as chipper.

Merry Christmas

[osandomir]

12 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

 

 That is indeed a good idea........Thank You sincerely       That could save  a lot.      Your right..  return from BCN  is all day time  and I could tolerate it.... but a overnight with a negative jet lag too...  Gimmie a lie flat bed...    Getting old. and not as chipper.

Merry Christmas

Dan - we’re on the cruise from Stockholm to Barcelona. Originally we reserved Oceania PE upgrade, but recently I found unpublished BA sale and booked multi city tickets LAX -  LHR in PE and then continue to Stockholm in economy. The same from Barcelona on return. It was cheaper than Oceania charges and several hundreds less than was ongoing price from several others sources at the same time. 

 

It would be nice to fly BUS over on miles and PE on return, but one way PE tickets are always too expensive (cash or miles) so that doesn’t make sense. Also, we are trying to save miles for much longer BUS flights like to Nepal next year and later over to India and back from Burma for our next cruise. And we flew to Europe overnight  in PE before - for us it was not ideal but doable.

[Paulchili]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:12 AM, Hawaiidan said:

what carriers are they using from the west coast to Amsterdam   

Hey, Dan - TAP books 352 days out and their business seats are $1600 SFO - AMS in A330neo lie flat seats.

Looks like a great deal to me.

[PaulMCO]

Dan you can also pay for PE on UA.  Especially to EU the prices are very low.  MCO to VIE  (Via EWR) was $1200 for roundtrip in January.  Booked that last month.

 

Also UA partner flights are still cheap on miles.  AC to Hong Kong was 70K

 

We are flying in Polaris to Egypt next week via AMS for 75K -- there are still deals out there but you have to keep looking and looking...

[Hawaiidan]

thanks to everyone.......After looking at the HUGE difference in what is called PREM  Economy and seeing the route I would have to take ( 17-18 hours  travel each way) AND the cost to buy  myself or use O. is just not worth it..... I hoped for better but  it is what it is.     Prem Econ like NY/IAD to Europe and back  with 6 hour  domestic flights in economy economy  just is not worth it.    I can get  from UA and Delta/Air france /KLM   3200 to 3600$ pp  rt  vs 2300 in PE   the cost savings is just not worth it considering  both the jet lag, over night and  baggage restrictions for coach.     Miles are out as for the dates I need UA wants 240K each way !

Well  it sounded like a good idea  but  looks like I  am going to buy business and arrive sane and on a non stop.

Happy new year and travels

[Wishing on a star]

I am a total newbie also, and have similar questions.

How much control do you have when you use the 'O' air with the Olife?

I know that with Princess and HAL,  which of course are similar,  you have a LOT of control.

You get to choose which days, which flights. (within reason...  some overpriced options will not be offered)

Is this how it works with Oceania?

How much would we get to choose?

 

I understand that with these other lines, you can request to be ticketed, and then the booking is all yours.  Which we would consider, in order to book, and then use miles to upgrade.

 

It looks like we could use Olife Choice to book air, and then do the offer to upgrade to premium/comfort for $149.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Wishing on a star

[Shawnino]

Take a look at Norwegian Air from JFK. 

Their premium product is well priced.

We were happy with it on our last cruise and will be taking it to Stockholm to join you on the cruise in September (well, Premium to Oslo, and then economy for the last hop). Good legroom, seats recline pretty well. Roughly $700 from JFK including the hop from Oslo, one way.

 

What did annoy us was was 4 weeks out they changed the departure from EWR to JFK,m but we made lemonade from lemons.

[LHT28]

36 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I am a total newbie also, and have similar questions.

How much control do you have when you use the 'O' air with the Olife?

I know that with Princess and HAL,  which of course are similar,  you have a LOT of control.

You get to choose which days, which flights. (within reason...  some overpriced options will not be offered)

Is this how it works with Oceania?

How much would we get to choose?

 

I understand that with these other lines, you can request to be ticketed, and then the booking is all yours.  Which we would consider, in order to book, and then use miles to upgrade.

 

It looks like we could use Olife Choice to book air, and then do the offer to upgrade to premium/comfort for $149.

 

 

OLIFE  is not connected to the airfares

If you want to choose days/times/ carriers you can ask for  a deviation  which incurs a fee of $175 pp

You can submit requests for flights  about 270 days out   ask your TA or  Oceania  depending on how you booked

the fee is not charged until you agree on the flight details  & then it becomes non refundable

[Hawaiidan]

3 hours ago, Shawnino said:

Take a look at Norwegian Air from JFK. 

Their premium product is well priced.

We were happy with it on our last cruise and will be taking it to Stockholm to join you on the cruise in September (well, Premium to Oslo, and then economy for the last hop). Good legroom, seats recline pretty well. Roughly $700 from JFK including the hop from Oslo, one way.

 

What did annoy us was was 4 weeks out they changed the departure from EWR to JFK,m but we made lemonade from lemons.

I am glad you enjoyed it.....however ,I would  very strongly encourage anyone considering Norwegian air  to take a good long look at their reviews...... before making a decision..  they are , to me very worry some. 

In fact if your ever considering Prem Economy do a LOT of research as there is NO standard.   Picking Prem Economy  via O, may  not get you what you think.     Only you can  assure  thingsby making a reservation yourself and not via a 3rd party.  and where YOU  own the ticket...  not someone else.