Experience with booked air through Oceania

[Woofa]

I wonder if this will get worse.  I seem to remember a post a few months back on the Regent boards where someone said (apologize if I am getting this wrong) that Regent now charged a fee to speak to them about deviations.  That fee would go towards your deviation fee but if you chose to go another route it was unclear if you got a refund.  I had the impression that trying to figure out so many air questions and options was monopolizing their customer service agents and many chose not to take the air anyway. 

Again I may be mistaken here but I am sure someone with knowledge will chime in.  

[ORV]

When did the Deviation fee go from $175 a person to $299? Since I don't pay it I must have missed it. 

 

[shepherd really]

1 minute ago, ORV said:

When did the Deviation fee go from $175 a person to $299? Since I don't pay it I must have missed it. 

 

It's $199 US, or $299 Canadian

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, ORV said:

When did the Deviation fee go from $175 a person to $299? Since I don't pay it I must have missed it. 

 

I think  for Canadians  it is now $299    there was a thread earlier  about the fee going up  but like you we have the wavier

[1985rz1]

41 minutes ago, Panama111 said:

No kidding strange bookkeeping. We booked air in our original booking. No business class was mentioned. Premium economy in our original booking.

“By accepting this Custom Air you are authorizing Oceania Cruises to charge the non-refundable Custom Air Fee of $299.00 per person to the credit card on file for your reservation. Any differential in airfare will be added to your invoice and will be collected at the time your final payment is due.”

“598.00 + 1,440.00 = 2,038.00” in addition to air paid”

I guess I don't see the basis for you complaint against Oceania.  They are upfront pretty clear about deviation fees and differential airfare. If you request a deviation, there is a fee to book the new flight.  If you specify flights and the flights you want are not covered by their contracts, you have to pay the difference that the airline charges over the contract amount.  If you don't like and don't accept the new flights, you don't have to pay either the deviation fee and the differential cost, and you can get the air credit for the original flight if you don't take O's air.  It sound like you got fully refunded for the included flight and didn't have to pay the deviation fee or the differential airfare.  Am I missing something?

[basor]

2 hours ago, Panama111 said:

The $3096 was  original payment with booking [ this was  refunded when I cancelled air]

the $550 was the fee to use custom air. The $1440. was  the cost difference between the flights we wanted and the flights we were offered by Oceania.  Economy  tickets. Paying custom air  lets us choose between whatever seats Oceania has available. We did not want to leave for the airport in the middle of the night  and wait 7 hours in Frankfurt to change planes. To get better departure times with shorter layover on return  was a deviation fee. To fly Toronto to Amsterdam direct instead of changing  flights was a deviation fee. I had numerous calls and quotes and then gave up.

You paid $3096.00 for economy air above and beyond the cost of the cruise?  And then air deviation and custom air?   

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, basor said:

You paid $3096.00 for economy air above and beyond the cost of the cruise?  And then air deviation and custom air?   

I think he's quoting prices for two, and he indicated it was premium economy.

[basor]

1 hour ago, 1985rz1 said:

I think he's quoting prices for two, and he indicated it was premium economy.

I only saw where he said economy tickets...

[1985rz1]

13 hours ago, basor said:

I only saw where he said economy tickets...

He said Premium Economy was in his original fare in post #99:

 

"No kidding strange bookkeeping. We booked air in our original booking. No business class was mentioned. Premium economy in our original booking."

[jonthomas]

We just got our air assignment. Going 2 days ahead from Toronto to Barcelona then home from Miami to Toronto.

 

We were given, American, Premium air,  Toronto to Heathrow,  2hr 40 min layover,  British Air to bcn.

 

On the way back American 2 pm, direct to Toronto.

 

It is not what we asked for, we wanted a longer 4 hour layover in Heathrow, but we are happy with the assignment O gave us.

Amazing air price with PE, half of what it would have cost us to do it ourselves.

Just hope it all goes smoothly, but we do have 2 days as a buffer.

We did not pay extra for deviation and only 149pp for PE.

Any comments or question?

 

[jazznruby]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

We just got our air assignment. Going 2 days ahead from Toronto to Barcelona then home from Miami to Toronto.

 

We were given, American, Premium air,  Toronto to Heathrow,  2hr 40 min layover,  British Air to bcn.

 

On the way back American 2 pm, direct to Toronto.

 

It is not what we asked for, we wanted a longer 4 hour layover in Heathrow, but we are happy with the assignment O gave us.

Amazing air price with PE, half of what it would have cost us to do it ourselves.

Just hope it all goes smoothly, but we do have 2 days as a buffer.

We did not pay extra for deviation and only 149pp for PE.

Any comments or question?

 

Apologies if addressed earlier in the thread. When is your cruise and when did you submit air request? I know this is for the 'no deviation fee' option, so assuming you requested arrival 2 days prior, but did you also request a particular itinerary, other than a long layover at LHR? Policy stated at the outset earlier this year that all flight arrangements were at O's discretion, and that's still the case. But did it help to submit your preferences, nonetheless? 

 

Agree that sometimes, certainly not always, O's air is a great deal. (We don't fly Business.) I booked a Nov. 2024 sailing July last year with PE air SEA-ATH (was then $199/pp; now $499 pp when you can get it), and debating whether to do the 3 days arrival without deviation fee. Will probably just ask for it, and see what they come back with, and decide at that point. Thanks for your input.

 

 

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

It is not what we asked for, we wanted a longer 4 hour layover in Heathrow, but we are happy with the assignment O gave us.

Amazing air price with PE, half of what it would have cost us to do it ourselves.

Just hope it all goes smoothly, but we do have 2 days as a buffer.

We did not pay extra for deviation and only 149pp for PE.

Any comments or question?

 

Well if you did not pay the deviation fee  any requests you make  have no bearing on the outcome

JMO

 

 

[jazznruby]

7 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Well if you did not pay the deviation fee  any requests you make  have no bearing on the outcome

JMO

 

 

Thought I'd read somewhere that a request was made and accommodated, without paying the fee. As in all things, never hurts to ask. 

[LHT28]

35 minutes ago, jazznruby said:

Thought I'd read somewhere that a request was made and accommodated, without paying the fee. As in all things, never hurts to ask. 

It never hurts to ask  but do not be upset  when you do not get what you asked for

 

Just  to add  

I have read mny time here  when people get their air schedule  45 -60 days  how they are not happy with the routings

 If you like surprises  go for it

I prefer to pay the deviation fee & pick the flights I want  several months in advance

JMO

[jonthomas]

Our cruise is on Nov 13.

We are flying Nov 10.

 

We submitted the air request before the 90 day window closed.7

 

We requested two diff air carriers, but same layover in Heathrow.

 

We are OK with AA, instead of aircanada, or BA.

And direct home, is very good

[jazznruby]

Just now, LHT28 said:

It never hurts to ask  but do not be upset  when you do not get what you asked for

JMO

OK. 😊

[ORV]

I'd say you did good, hopefully the airlines won't mess it up by changing things between now and then. 

[AMHuntFerry]

5 hours ago, jonthomas said:

We just got our air assignment. Going 2 days ahead from Toronto to Barcelona then home from Miami to Toronto.

 

We were given, American, Premium air,  Toronto to Heathrow,  2hr 40 min layover,  British Air to bcn.

 

On the way back American 2 pm, direct to Toronto.

 

It is not what we asked for, we wanted a longer 4 hour layover in Heathrow, but we are happy with the assignment O gave us.

Amazing air price with PE, half of what it would have cost us to do it ourselves.

Just hope it all goes smoothly, but we do have 2 days as a buffer.

We did not pay extra for deviation and only 149pp for PE.

Any comments or question?

 

As ORV pointed out, there is a good chance your flight schedule will change before/during your trip. When booking directly with the airline, if the schedule changes more than a certain amount (mine have been 30 minutes), then you can switch to a different schedule for zero cost difference (sometimes to a better itinerary/fare-class than the original). I don't know if this is available when booked through O, but can't hurt to ask if the itinerary is changed for the worse by the airline. Also, I'd recommend knowing the later BA flights (and which ones show available seats) so you can ask for them if you miss the connection (downloading an app may help too...again, don't know if the normal strategies apply when booked via O, or any other consolidator for that matter).

[osandomir]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Our cruise is on Nov 13.

We are flying Nov 10.

 

We submitted the air request before the 90 day window closed.7

 

We requested two diff air carriers, but same layover in Heathrow.

 

We are OK with AA, instead of aircanada, or BA.

And direct home, is very good

As it was already stated to you, you can’t request a carrier or anything else except earlier arrival unless you pay the deviation fee. I wonder even how you were able to put your request without using air deviation. Anyway, I believe that you got what you wanted - your AA flight well might be a codeshare flight with BA on the same route. But again, it’s not because of your request but something that Oceania choose for you within their contracts.

[jazznruby]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

It never hurts to ask  but do not be upset  when you do not get what you asked for

 

Just  to add  

I have read mny time here  when people get their air schedule  45 -60 days  how they are not happy with the routings

 If you like surprises  go for it

I prefer to pay the deviation fee & pick the flights I want  several months in advance

JMO

Always paid the deviation fee as well; and even with that, saved lots of $$ over DIY. In all likelihood, will do it again for next year's trip. Was just curious about jonthomas's experience. 🙄

[jonthomas]

3 hours ago, osandomir said:

As it was already stated to you, you can’t request a carrier or anything else except earlier arrival unless you pay the deviation fee. I wonder even how you were able to put your request without using air deviation. Anyway, I believe that you got what you wanted - your AA flight well might be a codeshare flight with BA on the same route. But again, it’s not because of your request but something that Oceania choose for you within their contracts.

O allows a deviation request without a fee, up to a couple of days. That's how we were able to do it.

[osandomir]

6 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

O allows a deviation request without a fee, up to a couple of days. That's how we were able to do it.

We know that. It’s correct, I questioned how you managed to request something else beyond that - airline carriers, layover time etc… We never ask for something we’re not supposed to request without paying a fee.

[jonthomas]

Our agent asked but we didn't get the two options of carriers, nor a 4 hour layovers. What we did get, was good enough.

[jonthomas]

I need to augment the above information.

 

I have since learned that BA has merged with AA for this flight. BA is what we asked for and O gave it to us. Not sure why they gave us a 3 hour layover instead of the 4 that we asked for, but hope it is good enough.

 

So all in all we are pleased. 

[Cruisingagain2022]

On 9/1/2023 at 4:50 PM, jonthomas said:

I need to augment the above information.

 

I have since learned that BA has merged with AA for this flight. BA is what we asked for and O gave it to us. Not sure why they gave us a 3 hour layover instead of the 4 that we asked for, but hope it is good enough.

 

So all in all we are pleased. 

BA and AA are code share partners.

I usually find the code share partners will make the layovers sufficient for all to get to connecting flights.

If you look at AA website I am sure you will find flights are operated by BA and vice versa 

Hopefully your bags will go straight through and you will just have to follow the transit sign.

Enjoy  the cruise