Silversea Air - A Good Report

[gcornell]

Pleasantly surprised so far.  Last year I transferred all my reservations to a Virtuoso agent so I think that may have helped as they seem to have the inside track and provide exceptional service.   Exactly 270 days prior to my upcoming Med cruise my agent submitted my requests to SS.  Direct flights on either United or Delta from Newark to Athens and return from Venice to Newark.  SS responded within a day.  They don't have a contract with Delta but gave me my United fights for a $330 "fair difference pp" plus a $150 deviation fee pp as I am flying in early and staying longer.  In total it works out to $11,000 for my family of 4 to book through SS vs $16,000 buying directly from United.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Hope it will work out equally well for our New Zealand/Australia flights in Jan. 2024.  Silversea's business upgrade is significantly cheaper than buying from United would be.

[gcornell]

Yes, best wishes Jazzbeau.  I just looked again and the price I paid was what United would charge for Economy booking directly.  I am guessing I saved a lot of time by using my agent and requesting specific flights.

[Gourmet Gal]

It never hurts to request the exact flights you want and then go from there.  Glad it worked out for you.

[cruiseej]

Glad to hear a positive report. Silver Air gets bashed pretty regularly around here, and for good reasons most of the time. But that doesn't mean they create bad routings or mess up every time! Probably the majority of travelers have a great or at least okay experience with Silver Air; the ones we hear most about are the ones where they met sup and complicate people's lives immeasurably.

 

I hope I won't jinx it by sharing that our Antartica cruise next month includes business class air booked through Silversea — and it so far appears to be working out fine. 🙂

 

We couldn't get our flights booked at 270 days, as they used to do; as of this spring, they were booking at 160-200 days because of the rapid changes and meltdowns in the airline industry. But I told my travel agent the flights we preferred, as well as two alternates, and she submitted them to Silver Air even though they wouldn't act on the request immediately.  (It would be great news if they have moved back to 270 days now that air stable has stabilized a bit.) At about 210 days, I discovered SS had reserved our air — and it was a horrible routing. (Philadelphia to Atlanta, with an 8-hour layover in Atlanta, a switch to Delta to fly to Miami, and then a tight transfer to LATAM for the flight to Santiago. It was ridiculous, because there are nonstop flights PHL to MIA, with no long layover, no double-connection, and no tight connection.)

 

I reached out to my travel agent, who reached out to Silver Air, and a few days later, our air was changed to the flights we had originally requested: PHL-MIA-SCL and back on American. Straight though on one airline means the domestic flights are in first class, where if we had to switch airlines we would have been in economy. I don't know if it was because we had submitted our request early and someone hadn't acted on it, or because I complained to my TA who complained to SS, but it was all taken care of quickly and to our satisfaction. We had decided to arrive an extra day early in Santiago, and when we booked that night through SS, it resulted in no deviation fee being charged for the air, making the extra hotel night a bargain. As regularly happens, American subsequently changed their schedule and aircraft, but our connections were still okay going and coming, and our booking stayed intact. SS finally ticketed us about two months before the cruise, locking in our booking. We're now 35 days from our first flight, and all is in order. Just crowing my fingers and toes for no unexpected late changes, and no bad east coast weather to throw a wrinkle into the travel plans. 

 

It is annoying that we can't talk to Silver Air, and even our travel agent can't call them and has to communicate via email. And it is annoying that they originally kicked out a ridiculous flight routing which took my breath away, before changing it to what we asked for a few days later. But the business class upgrade price was far lower than what we could have gotten on our own, and if the end result plays out as it is currently lined up, then I'll give an overall thumbs up to booking through SS in this instance. 

[les37b]

12 hours ago, cruiseej said:

It is annoying that we can't talk to Silver Air, and even our travel agent can't call them and has to communicate via email. 

 

That's probably the biggest annoyance. Writing a long email giving specific parameters you are happy with giving your preferences, doesn't get very far. A verbal conversation makes sure no one is misunderstood and quicker.

 

I had thought my Japan / Alaska flights were finally resolved after over 2 months of asking, but I'm back again.

 

My outbound flight has already been penciled for cancellation by KLM,  so best to get in with a change before options dry up.

 

In inbound, we have a 6 hour connection in Seattle. (A change from the 1h7m we had)

 

I asked if we might be able to get a later departure from Anchorage or maybe a earlier second leg and told no there was nothing available.

 

Some other guests in the RC have been discussing flights and amazingly have been given the same departure as mine but with a 4 hour connection at no extra cost. I'd seriously like to know how much effort they're making and if they realise guests do speak to each other and find out these things.

 

So it's back with the agent and another 2 weeks to hear back from the SilverAir team.

 

Ironically also, my original outbound had us arriving late at night using JAL. We said if there is an earlier option for that route, we'd be happy to take. The replacement we are now requesting is the same request... and this time we know the flight numbers so they can no longer say they don't depart earlier. We know they do znd prices shown on JAL are identical for all flights.

 

6* shouldn't give Ryanair levels of service.

 

Generally, flights we've been given in the past have not been a problem and not encountered this before, but this has left a pretty sour taste and we are effectively back where we started.

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by les37b

[commodoredave]

I think the question that needs to be addressed is why Silver Air does not put the best interest of the customer first when choosing air routes for them. There are just too many instances of bad routing, long lay-overs, difficult departure times, etc. when other more acceptable options are available, and sometimes provided after a complaint. Is it because the more difficult routing is cheaper for Silver Air to provide? Or are they saving the better routing for passengers with more expensive cabins? If the mantra at Silver Air became "always choose what is best for the customer", perhaps the over-all level of customer satisfaction would be higher.

[gcornell]

So just a quick update.  I have a price alert set up on my preferred flights and once SS booked my 4 seats the remaining available seats jumped from $16,000 (for 4) to $25,000 so makes me feel like I got a heck of a deal.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

We are booked on Silver Whisper in Jan. 2024, Auckland to Sydney.  I took the Business air upgrade because I was told I can cancel that part if I decided to book air on my own.  The total cost is $8,498 per person (upgrade plus the rebate for not taking coach), which is much better than anything I've been seeing to book my own Bus class.

 

What could we expect from Silversea for this routing?  We will be at our winter home; nearest airports are Pensacola and Mobile although we could drive to Atlanta if we had to.  Ideal routing would be from PNS to IAH to AKL, and SYD to IAH to PNS [each leg non-stop] on United.  Any chance of that?–or would they send us all around the US to places like ORD and SFO?

[jimdee3636]

@FlyerTalker

This is not specific to Silversea, but I'm addressing it to you because you seem uncommonly well-informed about airline matters. When you're dealing with foreign flights to and from the U.S., and you prefer to do your own bookings, are you better off "pouncing" on the first good flights you see once they get loaded on the airlines' websites, or are you better off waiting? I've been frustrated quite a few times in recent years with flights that looked great when I booked them nine or ten months in advance, only to have them be radically changed or even cancelled closer to departure. On the other hand, it's comforting to lock in a price (if it's a good one), seat assignments, etc.

 

Any advice?

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, jimdee3636 said:

@FlyerTalker

This is not specific to Silversea, but I'm addressing it to you because you seem uncommonly well-informed about airline matters. When you're dealing with foreign flights to and from the U.S., and you prefer to do your own bookings, are you better off "pouncing" on the first good flights you see once they get loaded on the airlines' websites, or are you better off waiting? I've been frustrated quite a few times in recent years with flights that looked great when I booked them nine or ten months in advance, only to have them be radically changed or even cancelled closer to departure. On the other hand, it's comforting to lock in a price (if it's a good one), seat assignments, etc.

 

Any advice?

 

Take a look at this thread.

 

 

Applies not just to USA or foreign carriers. 

 

 

[Accessor]

Why doesn't SS just provide a flight booking engine online (they can use the tech Celebrity already has and rebrand to match). Flights by Celebrity is a great tool we used, it provided us with contracted rates and the ability for US to choose flights. Most travelers have preferences, and giving us the control we want would FREE UP massive resources, improve customer satisfaction, and fix the issue

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/find-your-reservation/flights-by-celebrity

 

Switch to a cruise only fare, then pick your flights, and add transfers. Everyone is happy. I for one was given a 6pm international arrival time for a 7pm ship departure. We did the management dog and pony SS show with air, even got human to call us (VP's). We were flexible. SS was not. It was all price driven, as we verified the flights assigned were the absolute cheapest you could buy.

[cruiseej]

On 11/11/2022 at 12:26 PM, gcornell said:

So just a quick update.  I have a price alert set up on my preferred flights and once SS booked my 4 seats the remaining available seats jumped from $16,000 (for 4) to $25,000 so makes me feel like I got a heck of a deal.  

 

I think this illustrates the other side of what people report when others on their cruise got a certain flight but Silver Air says it's not available. Silversea has contract which allow them a certain number of seats at a certain price point. If a plane has 16 empty business class seats, SS may be able to get two seats at its contracted rate; if the plane has 8 empty business class seats, SS may not be able to do so because the airline prices the remaining seats much higher. 

 

I agree that an online booking engine, for customers who would be happy to have that option, would be great. Seabourn also offers this, and it eliminates a lot of back and forth between customer-travel agent-cruise line. (And if half the customers choose to do it themselves, it would free their agents to have more time to work with those customers who prefer to work with a human in the air department.)

[harbourside]

On 11/12/2022 at 11:15 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

We are booked on Silver Whisper in Jan. 2024, Auckland to Sydney.  I took the Business air upgrade because I was told I can cancel that part if I decided to book air on my own.  The total cost is $8,498 per person (upgrade plus the rebate for not taking coach), which is much better than anything I've been seeing to book my own Bus class.

 

What could we expect from Silversea for this routing?  We will be at our winter home; nearest airports are Pensacola and Mobile although we could drive to Atlanta if we had to.  Ideal routing would be from PNS to IAH to AKL, and SYD to IAH to PNS [each leg non-stop] on United.  Any chance of that?–or would they send us all around the US to places like ORD and SFO?

I would be interested to see what flights they put you on. I am interested in a cruise LA to Papeete. Flying to and from Auckland Business class. Air New Zealand is direct from both ports. I do not want a 12 hr flight from Auckland to LA to turn into 27 hours with 3 stops on an American carrier.  (Air New Zealand now fly direct to Auckland from New York).  I doubt if Air New Zealand is a carrier used by Silver Seas.

[silkismom]

As of now, our Japan in Apr. cruise seems to be a go. They did our air DEN-LAX with  59 MIN. CONNECTION,  is that even possible? Skywest embraer to a 787?  After stressing the past few months, I checked and UA still has a DEN-NRT nonstop, easy connections to Osaka. I emailed my TA this morning.

[gcornell]

36 minutes ago, silkismom said:

As of now, our Japan in Apr. cruise seems to be a go. They did our air DEN-LAX with  59 MIN. CONNECTION,  is that even possible? Skywest embraer to a 787?  After stressing the past few months, I checked and UA still has a DEN-NRT nonstop, easy connections to Osaka. I emailed my TA this morning.

It’s possible sure but I wouldn’t take it. If the stars, moon and sun are aligned. No one sneezes or coughs on the plane. Your gates are adjacent to each other. You don’t have checked luggage and finally you are an Olympic sprinter you can do it. Lol. The stress alone thinking about it would ruin the run up to the trip for me. 

[les37b]

1 hour ago, silkismom said:

As of now, our Japan in Apr. cruise seems to be a go. They did our air DEN-LAX with  59 MIN. CONNECTION,  is that even possible? Skywest embraer to a 787?  After stressing the past few months, I checked and UA still has a DEN-NRT nonstop, easy connections to Osaka. I emailed my TA this morning.yikes

Yikes. I thought the 1h15m I had was tight!! Though at least that was JAL to a JAL flight in Haneda, so may have been feasible. 

 

Which Osaka sailing are you on? 

[silkismom]

les, we're on Apr 12-26,  Muse, Kobe to Osaka. Wish we could continue back to US, but can't be gone that long with 2 14 yr old kitties.

[Stumblefoot]

12 hours ago, silkismom said:

They did our air DEN-LAX with  59 MIN. CONNECTION,  is that even possible? Skywest embraer to a 787?

As a longtime DEN-LAX flyer to Asia international (pre-Covid) via SkyWest and AA, it would be virtually impossible. So, I can’t imagine it working any easier, post-Covid.  
 

You’ll arrive at the Eagles Nest (regional carrier terminal) and have to take a bus transfer to the main terminal.  Then you have to get to the International Terminal.  I just can’t imagine making your connection.

[Nuka]

13 hours ago, silkismom said:

As of now, our Japan in Apr. cruise seems to be a go. They did our air DEN-LAX with  59 MIN. CONNECTION,  is that even possible? Skywest embraer to a 787?  After stressing the past few months, I checked and UA still has a DEN-NRT nonstop, easy connections to Osaka. I emailed my TA this morning.

At LAX?  Yikes.

[les37b]

20 hours ago, silkismom said:

les, we're on Apr 12-26,  Muse, Kobe to Osaka. Wish we could continue back to US, but can't be gone that long with 2 14 yr old kitties.

 

Ah OK. Knew it would be that or our one. 

 

That said, maybe not. Our booking has disappeared from my.silversea and no one knows why. They've replaced it with the inaugural silver Ray cruise out of Southampton in 2024..... No interest in that itinerary, the ship or being an inaugural sailing. 

 

 

[silkismom]

My cruise still shows the same as before the "improved" My Silversea, have to do some digging to find everything.