Regent - Unreasonable Air Itineraries - Never Again

[kirtihk]

On 10/12/2023 at 11:45 AM, mrlevin said:

32 Regent cruises and we have never used Regent air; just took the credit.  We have used included hotel only once; last year at the Plaza before Grand Voyage.  Regent is a damn good cruise line; why would anyone expect they are great at hotels or air just because they are great at cruising?

 

Marc

If no one use Regent air (because it's presumably horrible), I think Regent would drop it a long time ago as their advertisement feature.

Edited October 19, 2023 by kirtihk

[kirtihk]

1 minute ago, kirtihk said:

If no one use Regent air (because it's presumably horrible), I think Regent would drop it a long time ago as their feature.

It appears you are a very virtuous agent.

[kirtihk]

On 10/12/2023 at 12:13 PM, pingpong1 said:

Hi Marc - I guess people are (sometimes mistakenly) expecting the highest level of luxury from "End-to-End" (which also encompasses the flights on both ends and any "included" hotel stay experience).  Those initial expectations are "set" by Regent's advertising literature and not by the customers themselves.  You and I are both long-time Regent cruisers so we know that those initial advertising expectations are probably unreasonable and not reality-based in a lot of circumstances.

 

But for the new cruiser who is just beginning with Regent...they look through the "glitzy" cruise brochures, watch the short videos, and absorb the lovely glossy pictures and descriptions on each page.  They focus on all the superlative adjectives used in the product descriptions...and they swallow it all "hook, line, and sinker".  Regent wouldn't be advertising themselves this way if it didn't work.  It certainly caught our attention when I first "discovered" Regent back in 2011!

 

For some, if their first or second (Regent) experience doesn't (fully or approximately) measure up to their own initial expectations (which were initially set in place by Regent's own advertising)...they then have two options.  They either reset those initial expectations (now based on some of their own actual experience with Regent), or they "leave" Regent completely...having felt completely "snookered" and cheated... and take with them a lot of disappointment and animosity.

 

Like you and many other, we have never used Regent air, and have only a couple of times used Regent's "included" pre-cruise hotel (which, all in all, haven't been too bad for just the one night), if it came with suite level we had booked.

 

We still cruise exclusively with Regent...but our own "expectation yardstick" has become more accurately reset over the years through actual experience.  Best Regards.

Beginners would expect a proper service for anything being advertised from any company.  Otherwise, there is no reason to deal with a company (who don't provide such a service) at all.

 

PS. If it's up to me (as a cruise line providing air), I would book tickets to arrive a day prior to the embarkation date and charge a deviation fee for those who "desperately" want to arrive on the embarkation day.

Edited October 19, 2023 by kirtihk

[papaflamingo]

36 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

If no one use Regent air (because it's presumably horrible), I think Regent would drop it a long time ago as their advertisement feature.

We use Regent Air on all our Regent cruises (well the international one's).  We love it and have nothing but great experiences from Regent.  We deviate on all our cruises (I'll never fly in the day of the cruise), but for domestic departures and arrivals I take the air allowance and book my own air or drive.  I am retired Delta and have access to an employee discount of at least 25% of any published Delta rate.  Even with that I find I can't come near the cost of a business class seat through Regent.  We have paid some up charge for non stop flights on some itineraries, but that's my choice as non up charge flights had stopovers that I simply didn't want to deal with.  And even with the up charge the flights were minimum $1000 per person cheaper than I could get with my employee discount.  

I fly domestic on my own because I find that with my discount,  it isn't much more to fly First Class when I consider the Air Credit, the $175 deviation fee, and baggage fees for coach class domestic.  And again, I will not fly the day of the cruise.  

So anyway, I have not found Regent Air to be anything but easy to work with and we've been totally satisfied (so far).  We do have a flight to Hong Kong in Feb. that only has 1 hr, 49 min stopover in SFO so we'll see how that goes.   But that wasn't Regent's fault, I deviated to the flight at my request when it was a 4 hour stopover, and United changed the departure from SFO leaving us only 1 hour and 49 minutes.  Still wondering how we'll handle that one.

But I will say, when I called Regent Air up they were very helpful in looking at alternatives and there was no additional $75 charge since we were calling about an earlier deviation.  

[Gray Lady]

As I’ve stated before, as have others, we had no issues whatsoever with booking flights through Regent Air. Our flight times may change, but that will not be Regent’s fault. Right now, the cost of the air is just $2000 less than our base cruise price! We couldn’t afford that if we took the air credit. We don’t have points or frequent flier miles, so using Regent Air is a no brainer. 

[kirtihk]

10 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

As I’ve stated before, as have others, we had no issues whatsoever with booking flights through Regent Air. Our flight times may change, but that will not be Regent’s fault. Right now, the cost of the air is just $2000 less than our base cruise price! We couldn’t afford that if we took the air credit. We don’t have points or frequent flier miles, so using Regent Air is a no brainer. 

It doesn't make sense to me. If, say air is $7,000, and you take it as a credit, how cannot you afford it to buy on your own, if it's the same amount whether you buy it on your own or as a part (which you apparently could afford, since, as you stated, you are happy with it) of your total cruise fare? 

Edited October 19, 2023 by kirtihk

[papaflamingo]

4 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

It doesn't make sense to me. If, say air is $7,000, and you take it as a credit, how cannot you afford it to buy on your own, if it's the same amount whether you buy it on your own or as a part (which you apparently could afford, since, as you stated, you are happy with it) of your total cruise fare? 

Regent gets air at a deep discount.  I've priced it with an employee discount of at least 25% and can't come close to touching Regent's cost.  I have also priced it via Royal Caribbean Air and they have been right at the amount Regent credits, so they also get it at very deep discount.  

[Gray Lady]

2 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

It doesn't make sense to me. If, say air is $7,000, and you take it as a credit, how cannot you afford it to buy on your own, if it's the same amount whether you buy it on your own or as a part (which you apparently could afford, since, as you stated, you are happy with it) of your total cruise fare? 

Our air credit was only $2800 per person. We did pay a $400 pp up-charge, but $2800 isn’t even close to the $10,400 pp if we had to buy tickets on our own. You only get the credit that Regent allows for your airfare based on your cruise. 

 

[PaulaJK]

The air credit is set by Regent. In my experiences it does not cover the cost of your booking your own flight.

having now read these many posts, I think that we will try deviating next time, up-charge or not..at least to compare options. Flights have become breath takingly expensive.

[kirtihk]

On 10/12/2023 at 8:21 PM, papaflamingo said:

 You can deviate at 210 days before departure of your cruise. The cost is $175 per person deviation fee (non refundable) and then any up charged depending on the flights you select. 

I thought that Regent doesn't charge for a fare difference between an advertised air fare and deviated air.  I thought they charge the $175 deviation fee ONLY.

[tubeamps]

3 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

I thought that Regent doesn't charge for a fare difference between an advertised air fare and deviated air.  I thought they charge the $175 deviation fee ONLY.

Where did you get that idea?

[kirtihk]

13 minutes ago, tubeamps said:

Where did you get that idea?

From few calls to Regent couple years ago regarding this topic (prior to my first booking with them to familiarize myself with their air program in details) and post # 69.

[papaflamingo]

35 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

I thought that Regent doesn't charge for a fare difference between an advertised air fare and deviated air.  I thought they charge the $175 deviation fee ONLY.

Correct...IF you select a flight itinerary that Regent has contract seats on.  If they don't have contract seats on the flight they will offer it to you with an up charge.  You can take it or leave it at your choice.  You are only charged the $175 per person if you accept the deviation.  The $75 call charge will still stand.  

To give you an idea, we booked our desired flight Atlanta  to Hong Kong with NO up charge.  The return from Tokyo to Atlanta had an up charge for the non stop or we could connect on Japan Airlines to the East Coast then JetBlue in coach to Atlanta.  I chose the up charge as it was worth it to me.  But I didn't have to.

When you look at flights, look for flights that have two Business Class fares, one refundable, one non refundable.  It is more likely that Regent will have contract seats on flights that offer two Business Class fares.  Also have at least 3 choices when you call, and don't hesitate to ask what they can book you in for no additional.  They are very easy to work with. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

26 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

To give you an idea, we booked our desired flight Atlanta  to Hong Kong with NO up charge.  The return from Tokyo to Atlanta had an up charge for the non stop or we could connect on Japan Airlines to the East Coast then JetBlue in coach to Atlanta.

I was under the impression that all legs of the journey were in either first class or business class.  Is this not the case?

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, Gray Lady said:

As I’ve stated before, as have others, we had no issues whatsoever with booking flights through Regent Air. Our flight times may change, but that will not be Regent’s fault. Right now, the cost of the air is just $2000 less than our base cruise price! We couldn’t afford that if we took the air credit. We don’t have points or frequent flier miles, so using Regent Air is a no brainer. 

This is exactly my thinking as well.  I'd rather deviate and possibly pay the upcharge, still deeply discounted over the regular fare if I were to book it myself.  

 

I do think it's a shame what happened to the OP but I feel like if this was the norm in working with RA, we'd be reading many more posts like his.  I have no personal experience with this...yet.

[wcsdkqh]

12 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I was under the impression that all legs of the journey were in either first class or business class.  Is this not the case?

It is not the case. The domestic leg(s) may be first class if you are flying on the same airline for both the domestic and international legs and the legs are ticketed together. No guarantee on the domestic leg, unless of course the first class domestic flight is advertised as such. There is a current promotion underway that does include first class domestic air

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I was under the impression that all legs of the journey were in either first class or business class.  Is this not the case?

To add to what wcsdkqh said, in this particular case JetBlue has no first class.  Had Japan Airlines code shared with Delta or United, then it would have been a first class seat.  As mentioned, as long as it's a "Business Class" ticket all the way through.  One thing... when you talk to Regent Air and are setting up a deviation, they'll not only tell you that it's First Class or not, but on U.S. airlines, at least, you can select your seats while on the phone with them so you'll seats assigned as much as 210 days out.

[Georgia_Peaches]

12 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

To add to what wcsdkqh said, in this particular case JetBlue has no first class.  Had Japan Airlines code shared with Delta or United, then it would have been a first class seat.  As mentioned, as long as it's a "Business Class" ticket all the way through.  One thing... when you talk to Regent Air and are setting up a deviation, they'll not only tell you that it's First Class or not, but on U.S. airlines, at least, you can select your seats while on the phone with them so you'll seats assigned as much as 210 days out.

You are a wealth of information and I am so grateful!

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

You are a wealth of information and I am so grateful!

Thanks...not sure my wife would agree though. 🤣

[Techno123]

I have found this thread very interesting. As a UK customer, we fly to Tokyo in 3 weeks but for us Regent fly us in the day before (we are in a F1 not concierge or above) and put us up in a hotel - known as a 'forced' overnight. I wonder why they do it for some but not all.
 

We have certainly hopped across to Europe on the day (although prefer not to) but absolutely couldn't contemplate flying that far and arriving on the day. 😱

[traveljkkk]

We have an international flight connection in Japan at Narita (NRT).  Flight in from Bangkok and out to USA.  Connection time 1 hour and 15 minutes - same airline both flights (JAL).  Is this an easy connection or does it require a lot of technical delay (inspections, etc)?  Will we make the connection?  Regent booked the flights.

[kirtihk]

On 10/18/2023 at 7:43 AM, papaflamingo said:

The Travel Insurance will always kick in first.  Since they were fully compensated, why would Regent ALSO compensate them?  You don't get paid twice.  And any money's, be it refund or FCC, would be deducted from the Travel Insurance.    

Really?  When one makes an insurance claim, they request to submit a document from provider (a cruise- or air-line or a hotel) stated an amount (if any) that was compensated and pay the difference between the claim amount and the amount having been compensated by the provider.

[mrstanley]

Regent passengers who are Platinum and above do not pay the deviation fees.

[Steve Q]

We are booked on the Rio to Lisbon cruise in March 2024. This will be our third Regent cruise. With our travel agent, we spent 35 minutes on the phone yesterday with a Regent Air service representative trying to arrange our flights. There were no available one stop flights from DFW without an additional cost of several thousand dollars (she even quoted us an additional $4,000 for just the DFW-RIO flight on one particular flight). The only flight available without an additional fee departed from DFW to Miami to Lima to Rio. The Lima leg would also  have been in coach. We were shocked as Lima is on the West coast of the continent! Lima is almost 3,000 miles from Rio! While we paid our $75, we were very surprised and disappointed. We have decided to just wait until 70 days from our cruise date to have them assign our flights. It is difficult to believe that they could be any worse than what they were offering.

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, kirtihk said:

Really?  When one makes an insurance claim, they request to submit a document from provider (a cruise- or air-line or a hotel) stated an amount (if any) that was compensated and pay the difference between the claim amount and the amount having been compensated by the provider.

Isn't that what I said when I said that "any money's, be it refund or FCC, would be deducted from the Travel Insurance?"  The poster didn't get a refund from Regent but did get full refund from their Travel Insurance.  So what difference would it be if they got FCC from Regent or not?  In fact, isn't it better to get 100% refund from the insurance company rather than a FCC that needs to be used within a year?