Flight Deviation... my experience

[puppyluv1]

Thank you, Pappy 1022!!

[Gray Lady]

I want to let everyone know about my experience this morning with the Regent Air department. I was out of bed early to call right away when they opened. We live out West, and it was 210 days out for our cruise. I called right when the clock turned over at 6 AM. The phone was answered immediately and I was connected with an agent. I had done lots of homework on flights thanks to the cruise critic community. I was asked which airline/flights I preferred. She offered me one that had no up charge right away. She then looked through many other flights to find one that had a small up charge ($400) with a good layover time. It goes directly to Frankfort from SFO and has a 3 hour layover/cushion before going to Barcelona. She worked diligently to find us this itinerary with good arrival and departure times. On the way back, we were able to book the one nonstop flight from Rome with no up charge. She was very patient and our interactions were wonderful! I was immediately sent an email confirming our flights and seats. I can’t say enough about how great she was. My experience was awesome!! Kudos to the air department!!

[PhD-iva]

Thx Gray Lady, great to hear! Quick Q, when you called, did you first pay the $75 fee, or had you pre-paid it earlier?

Enjoy your cruise!

[Gray Lady]

5 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Thx Gray Lady, great to hear! Quick Q, when you called, did you first pay the $75 fee, or had you pre-paid it earlier?

Enjoy your cruise!

I paid when I called. They had a recording asking if you know about the new policy first. Because I did know, I went straight to a representative. She did reiterate that I needed to pay the $75, and charged me right then. Afterwards, I confirmed that I wanted the flights and she charged the rest of the deviation fees. I couldn’t have done this without all the wonderful info and tips I have received on this forum! 

[snorkle lover]

18 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

I paid when I called. They had a recording asking if you know about the new policy first. Because I did know, I went straight to a representative. She did reiterate that I needed to pay the $75, and charged me right then. Afterwards, I confirmed that I wanted the flights and she charged the rest of the deviation fees. I couldn’t have done this without all the wonderful info and tips I have received on this forum! 

Hi Gray Lady, I think we are on the same cruise Barcelona to Rome April 14 to 24. Just curious about your flights. We have been offered United ( operated by Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then on to Barcelona. Which airline are you flying?

[snorkle lover]

Hi Gray Lady, I think we are on the same cruise Barcelona to Rome April 14 to 24. Just curious about your flights. We have been offered United ( operated by Lufthansa)  to Frankfurt and then on to Barcelona( with Lufthansa but different flight).

Our return is a direct flight from Rome on Delta ( our preferred airline).Which airline are you flying?

[Gray Lady]

38 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Thx Gray Lady, great to hear! Quick Q, when you called, did you first pay the $75 fee, or had you pre-paid it earlier?

Enjoy your cruise!

 

2 minutes ago, snorkle lover said:

Hi Gray Lady, I think we are on the same cruise Barcelona to Rome April 14 to 24. Just curious about your flights. We have been offered United ( operated by Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then on to Barcelona. Which airline are you flying?

Yes, that is the same cruise. We are flying United to Frankfort, then Lufthansa to Barcelona. Flying home we doing ITA. We could have had Air Canada/United through Toronto, but preferred to get to Europe first. 

[Boats07]

3 hours ago, Gray Lady said:

I want to let everyone know about my experience this morning with the Regent Air department. I was out of bed early to call right away when they opened. We live out West, and it was 210 days out for our cruise. I called right when the clock turned over at 6 AM. The phone was answered immediately and I was connected with an agent. I had done lots of homework on flights thanks to the cruise critic community. I was asked which airline/flights I preferred. She offered me one that had no up charge right away. She then looked through many other flights to find one that had a small up charge ($400) with a good layover time. It goes directly to Frankfort from SFO and has a 3 hour layover/cushion before going to Barcelona. She worked diligently to find us this itinerary with good arrival and departure times. On the way back, we were able to book the one nonstop flight from Rome with no up charge. She was very patient and our interactions were wonderful! I was immediately sent an email confirming our flights and seats. I can’t say enough about how great she was. My experience was awesome!! Kudos to the air department!!

Would you please share the direct phone number for the Regent Air department?

Thank you

[Lonedaddy]

3 hours ago, Gray Lady said:

 

Yes, that is the same cruise. We are flying United to Frankfort, then Lufthansa to Barcelona. Flying home we doing ITA. We could have had Air Canada/United through Toronto, but preferred to get to Europe first. 

Check your ticket or you might be going to Kentucky CCA vs FRA.  😉

[edgee]

57 minutes ago, Boats07 said:

Would you please share the direct phone number for the Regent Air department?

Thank you

I am not Gray Lady, but it is 877 722-7772. Hope your luck is more like Gray Lady than mine. As detailed earlier, I could not get any of 3 nonstop flights for return from a transatlantic on Regent without too high a surcharge so booked premium economy on my own using points to get a NS and taking air credit. So it goes...

[Gray Lady]

1 hour ago, Boats07 said:

1 minute ago, edgee said:

I am not Gray Lady, but it is 877 722-7772. Hope your luck is more like Gray Lady than mine. As detailed earlier, I could not get any of 3 nonstop flights for return from a transatlantic on Regent without too high a surcharge so booked premium economy on my own using points to get a NS and taking air credit. So it goes...

Thank you for sharing the phone number. I am just curious. Did you call on 210 days out? Maybe it is because of where we are leaving from? I am making a huge assumption, but it may also be because there are so many people going across the pond from the East coast? I don’t think there are that many people going out of San Francisco. Also, we are leaving after all spring breaks next April. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Gray Lady]

17 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

Check your ticket or you might be going to Kentucky CCA vs FRA.  😉

Hey, if it close to the Maker’s Mark distillery, then I am all in!

[edgee]

2 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

 

I live in NY area and called 206 days out because I was traveling overseas and just returned at 206 day point. Doubt 210 day point would have made a difference. I was looking at 3 NS flights from Barcelona to NY area. Only one was even available for me to book (American) and they wanted 800 bucks per person. They said they had no contract for United and no availability on Delta. Offered me Swiss connecting through Zurich at no surcharge, but since I had already booked United Premium Economy for just 50000 miles per ticket on nonstop as a backup, I decided fly that nonstop a little less comfortable (considering it is a day flight), and take the $3000 air credit plus save the $375 deviation fee and not worry about a connection. I booked the NY Miami outbound flight also using a small number of points on Delta.

 

[papaflamingo]

16 hours ago, edgee said:

I am not Gray Lady, but it is 877 722-7772. Hope your luck is more like Gray Lady than mine. As detailed earlier, I could not get any of 3 nonstop flights for return from a transatlantic on Regent without too high a surcharge so booked premium economy on my own using points to get a NS and taking air credit. So it goes...

The problem is that non-stop flights are a premium these days, so Regent is having trouble getting them at straight contract rates.  We're going Atlanta-Athens then Rome-Atlanta in a few weeks.  We were able to get the non-stop Rome-Atlanta for no additional cost, but to get to Athens there was an up charge or we could opt to change somewhere in Europe.  For me it was worth the additional up charge to go non-stop.  However for our flight to Asia next Feb. we could get the flight to Hong Kong with a stop in SFO for no additional, but the non-stop Tokyo-Atlanta had an up charge.  It is really route and airline dependent. 

I'm retired airlines and currently the airlines are fully booked and expensive.  They are so short of crews that one or two of them have emailed Fed Ex pilots offering guaranteed interviews (my son flies for Fed Ex an they are in contract negotiations and reducing their pilot force after over hiring during Covid).  This is unprecedented in the airline industry and shows the need for flight crews.  Unfortunately it'll just be like this for the near future until they can again get fully staffed. So if you want a desirable routing, especially the premium seats (business class) then plan to pay an up charge or go on a "weird" routing. 

[mj_holiday]

I finished our flights last week for our Tokyo-Vancouver next year.  I had been looking on line at various flights including one that had a transfer in Korea where you also changed airports!!

 

Our TA worked with Regent for us and pretty much understands what we would like.  We did take a nonstop DFW to Tokyo BC with an upcharge, on a 787.  Our seats are in the center and the heads of our little rooms for 14 hours are close enough we can talk to each other without getting up.  Using miles to get from Vancouver to DFW, so got a $300 credit for that.

 

We are happy with these flights, would have been nicer without the upcharge, but realize the realities of the times.

[edgee]

3 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

I finished our flights last week for our Tokyo-Vancouver next year.  I had been looking on line at various flights including one that had a transfer in Korea where you also changed airports!!

 

Our TA worked with Regent for us and pretty much understands what we would like.  We did take a nonstop DFW to Tokyo BC with an upcharge, on a 787.  Our seats are in the center and the heads of our little rooms for 14 hours are close enough we can talk to each other without getting up.  Using miles to get from Vancouver to DFW, so got a $300 credit for that.

 

We are happy with these flights, would have been nicer without the upcharge, but realize the realities of the times.

You are a very patient person. I would have tried to avoid a routing that involves a 3 plus hour two time zone flight in the wrong direction even to get a non stop from that point on.. On the other hand, I do not know what all of your options were, Enjoy your trip and hope all goes well. 

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, edgee said:

I would have tried to avoid a routing that involves a 3 plus hour two time zone flight in the wrong direction even to get a non stop from that point on.

 

I think maybe you misread something. Were you thinking they were flying from Vancouver to Dallas in order to then fly nonstop to Tokyo? The poster said they paid an uncharge to book Dallas to Tokyo nonstop before the cruise; after the cruise, they used miles for the shorter flight from Vancouver to Dallas. Nothing is going in the wrong direction, adding time, or adding time zones of travel. 😀