Fee to talk to Regent Custom Air Department

[bbstx]

I had a question about the routing on my not-yet-accepted flights.  My Regent cruise consultant told me that as of today, I have to call the Regent Air Department instead of his handling it for me.  Not what I wanted to do, but I did it.  I got a recording that said I would have to pay $75 to talk to someone in the Air Department.  😳

Wow.  The nickel-and-diming has started….  Or did I misunderstand?

[annapolitan369]

The $75 will be charged if you don't accept their proposed routing.  If you accept, it will be taken off of the usual $175 fee.  I do agree that this looks like part of the trend to increase fees, little by little, which IMHO flies directly in the face of Regent's all-inclusive policy and their increased cruise rates.

 

[Anchorbuoy]

 

Dear Valued Guest and Travel Advisor,

We pride ourselves on delivering the best possible service, and as we continue to work through challenges with air services due to the combination of strong demand for air travel, reduced airline capacity and major airline schedule changes, we have decided to revise our Custom Air policy to help reduce long call hold times to our Custom Air Department.

 

Currently, there is a $175 per person fee to customize fights through Regent’s Custom Air Department.

 

Beginning today, March 27, 2023, to speak directly to our Air Concierges a $75 non-refundable Custom Air call service fee will be applied to reservations which, if the Custom Air flight option presented is accepted within three days, will become part of the existing $175 per person air customization fee.

 

If guests choose not to accept the Custom Air flight option presented within 3 days, the option will be automatically canceled, and the $75 fee will not be refunded.

 

To accept the presented Custom Air flight options, guests can simply reply to the Custom Air email. It is not required to call Regent to confirm any Custom Air flight options.

 

After the Custom Air flight option expires, to search for additional flight options an additional $75 non-refundable fee will be added to the reservation.

 

Platinum, Titanium, Diamond, and Commodore guests will continue to receive a complimentary one-time Custom Air deviation.

 

Please note, schedule changes made by the airlines are outside of our control. If there is a significant change in schedule, our Air Concierge will find a better alternative without charging a new custom air fee.

 

What should I do before calling the Custom Air Department?

 

While our teams are committed to delivering An Unrivaled Experience from time of booking all the way through to your cruise and beyond, there are some considerations that will help us provide the best possible service.

 

Before calling our Custom Air Department, we recommend the following steps to allow you to finalize your air arrangements in one call.

 

·          Check availability online – this will show you flight options from your departure city. If the lowest business class fare does not show available, it is not likely available within our contracts.

·          Note any options that are your preferred schedule and routing - including the pricing of each of those flights.

·          Now that you have the price to purchase air independently, you can make an educated decision to use Regent air or book on your own, utilizing our air credit.  

·          If you have a preferred carrier or route where Regent requires a price differential, you will also be able to decide between purchasing independent air and taking the air credit or accepting the differential to book the air with Regent. Regent does not profit on air differentials.

·          It helps to be flexible - can you travel an extra day or two prior or stay a day or two later?

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we provide a new solution to processing Custom Air requests efficiently, while delivering the best service possible.

 

 

Your Regent Custom Air Department

[cruiseej]

I understand the problems they face, with a higher volume of calls to their air department due to ongoing airline industry turmoil (more frequent changes, reduced capacity). And I appreciate they want to try to cut down on long hold times. But I have never heard of a company — a luxury travel company, at that — charging a significant fee just for the privilege of calling them and speaking to a representative! Yikes. I hope this isn't the start of a new trend in customer service. 

[Lonedaddy]

12 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

I understand the problems they face, with a higher volume of calls to their air department due to ongoing airline industry turmoil (more frequent changes, reduced capacity). And I appreciate they want to try to cut down on long hold times. But I have never heard of a company — a luxury travel company, at that — charging a significant fee just for the privilege of calling them and speaking to a representative! Yikes. I hope this isn't the start of a new trend in customer service. 

Agree, Horrible customer service - and if they offer you some crappy flights you still have to pay the $75.  What next a $75 charge to make a cruise booking? 

 

 

[Lonedaddy]

I wonder if they are charging travel agents to make the call ?

[cruiseej]

55 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

I wonder if they are charging travel agents to make the call ?

 

The same email from Regent went to me and my travel agent. So I'd guess yes. But the charge isn't to the TA, it's to the customer's Regent account. 

[scuba diver]

I didn't get the email, but assume that is because I do not have a cruise booked at the present time.  Have to say that this is a straw that breaks the relationship between Regent and my cruise account.

[rcandkc]

I think they are gently persuading us to do our own flights instead of dealing with them. 

[pappy1022]

My goodness, this is ludicrous. Charging us to just talk to someone in customer service at Regent. The incentive on their part is to give us crappy flights so we have to call again and again and keep the $75 meter going. Surely they could have come up with a different process. Regent must be desperate to generate revenue to pay for all that debt they incurred during the height of COVID. They are rapidly losing their shine. Maybe this is the beginning of the end for luxury cruising. If people are abusing this process just limit the number of air deviations to 2 or 3 rounds and then charge for any additional customer service contacts.

[pappy1022]

41 minutes ago, rcandkc said:

I think they are gently persuading us to do our own flights instead of dealing with them. 

Gently? This looks more like a kick in the ………

[rcandkc]

4 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

Gently? This looks more like a kick in the ………

I was being lady like 😜

[bbstx]

My specific facts are that the initial return routing the Air Department gave me included an 8 hour layover in EWR getting me home at midnight.  I sent them an alternate routing which would have been one 2.5 hour layover getting me home at 10p.  They responded with a 2 stop flight but didn’t include any ridiculously long layovers and gets me home at 10p.  Rather than pay $75 to reject whatever nonsense they would offer, I accepted the 2 stop offer.  I’m quite disappointed, but it probably is the best I was going to get out of them.  

 

Nevertheless, it is my opinion that low cost carriers charge to speak to a human.  Is Regent on the road to becoming a Low Cost Carrier?

[pappy1022]

I think we are starting to see some cost cutting from the new management team. I suspect that people cost are a big part of their expenses and maybe they are trying to cut down on the number of calls because they intend to have fewer people manning the phones. I don’t know that for a fact but it sure feels like there is something going on with trying to make the NCL family more profitable. After all they are in business to make money. They as well as all other cruise lines that stayed in business have taken on a very large debt load and it’s time to start paying that back. It’s like a gigantic credit card and the interest keeps piling up. It’s worth keeping an eye out for other signs of reducing cost. I’ve been active on the Regent discussion boards for many years and it feels like recently there have been a lot more complaints about service and excursions than ever before. Maybe it’s a fallout from COVID times but it’s time to put that reason/excuse behind us.

[labonnevie]

Sometimes we use Regent air (November Navigator cruise), sometimes we don’t (April Explorer cruise). But we usually check with Regent to see what they propose for us. Not sure if $75 will change that, but we’ll certainly think about it before having our TA call. 
Personally, I’d prefer they increased our fare by $75 and ditched this fee. We’d never be the wiser. 😳

[irishwitchy]

We never have taken Regent Air, no change or charge for me.  

[sanne]

A different perspective…..

 

We are Titanium ( many short to medium cruises ) but due to not living in the States or Canada have never had the luxury of included flights. Instead given a flight credit which no way was the full cost of our air. I would be more than happy to pay to talk to Regent to sort out our included flights. 

[ysolde]

Are these the decisions of a luxury cruise line?  I don't know whether to be surprised or disappointed.

[Lonedaddy]

Regent got in a pickle when air prices went up and capacity decreased.  The air credit is a joke compared to what it costs now and they are contractually bound by their lack of planning.  So they are trying to force people in to booking their own air, at a much higher cost than their credit because they are hemorrhaging trying to find air contracts for what their credit is. They screwed up and are now trying to make their customers pay.  This will cost them and the brand they worked hard to get.  Reminds me of coach selling their branded products without the same quality at outlet malls.  
 

the included biz air was a big plus but now it is not and if you make me get my own I’ll definitely look at silverseas seaborn and others as regent decided to offer rotten apples to apples.

[tine-tine]

What they need is more staff, problem solved! 

[broccoli robin]

I didn't think we needed any particular flights since I didn't see any bad ones. However, I am a little worried that they will not get us to our destination one day before boarding. Has anyone ever experienced Regent not booking air to a destination in time to use the included hotel?

[PaulMCO]

5 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

Regent got in a pickle when air prices went up and capacity decreased.  The air credit is a joke compared to what it costs now and they are contractually bound by their lack of planning.  So they are trying to force people in to booking their own air, at a much higher cost than their credit because they are hemorrhaging trying to find air contracts for what their credit is. They screwed up and are now trying to make their customers pay.  This will cost them and the brand they worked hard to get.  Reminds me of coach selling their branded products without the same quality at outlet malls.  
 

the included biz air was a big plus but now it is not and if you make me get my own I’ll definitely look at silverseas seaborn and others as regent decided to offer rotten apples to apples.

100 percent correct on the point especially on Biz air.   Our included air is $4500 RT to Japan for March 2024.   Can you purchase any biztickets to Japan during the main spring tourist season for $4500 ?  The current air credit for new bookings is now $6400, with the associated increase in the cruise price.  Cheapest DIY air so far has been $6000 with most at 8k.  Someone has to pay for that delta -- won't be me.

 

Of course with all of the schedule changes the Air department is very busy with this aspect.

[papaflamingo]

5 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

Regent got in a pickle when air prices went up and capacity decreased.  The air credit is a joke compared to what it costs now and they are contractually bound by their lack of planning.  So they are trying to force people in to booking their own air, at a much higher cost than their credit because they are hemorrhaging trying to find air contracts for what their credit is. They screwed up and are now trying to make their customers pay.  

Just gotta ask... how exactly did Regent "screw up?"  How was Regent, in 2020 or 2021 to know that fuel costs for airlines would rise, pilots would be at a shortage, and travel would be at a maximum in 2023?  Honestly, if you read the email (we got one for each cruise we have booked) it only affects flight deviations and only if you don't accept any of their deviations.  So if you call Regent to book a flight deviation you pay $75.  They give you all your options, if you agree with one, which is most likely why you called in the first place, you pay an additional $100 for the same total of $175 that has always been charged.  I'm pretty sure that this policy won't be much of a windfall, but might free up the phone lines.  

No, I don't like it either, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.  My wife and I went out for dinner last night. We shared an appetizer then she ordered 2 sides for a "main" and I ordered an appetizer and one side for a "main," we had 2 drinks each (wine for her, a cocktail for me).  The bill was over $90.  If I call Regent and don't accept their air offer I'll just eat at home one night instead of dinner out.  

[pappy1022]

I’m not sure why Regent is implementing this change. Is it to save money by reducing staff, to discourage customers who take advantage of the system by going back time and time again to arrange flights, or those people who take up a lot of their time looking for options only to take the credit and do their own thing? Or is it something else? Regent has contracted rates with the airlines. I don’t know what time period those rates are for but if they don’t coincide with the timing they publish their cruise rates for, it could be a problem for them. I’m sure we will never know the underlying reason for this change but it seems like a petty move on Regent’s part that is sure to get some customers riled up. Why would they do that for $100 when the cost of the cruise is tens of thousands of dollars? Are they starting to move away from an all inclusive model? Doesn’t seem like a smart customer relations move over a trivial amount of money.

[Ladys Mom]

When we first started sailing with Regent we just took their air offer to fly out of Atlanta, rather than Birmingham, and go from there.  Over time we found the two hour drive to Atlanta to be too much, so we switched to flying out of Birmingham.  This resulted in the air deviation charge.  We would investigate the best connections for us and offer that as an option to Regent.  After Covid, we had to do this all through our travel agent.  This new method is better because we can talk to Regent directly.  If someone doesn't want to pay the $75 or $175 extra on a multi 10's of thousands on a trip, then just let Regent pick your flights. It seems to me the $175 is a small  price to pay to get what you want.