New Oceania Air Program

[jazznruby]

18 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The post says the custom air option opens 270 days prior to prior to sailing.  That flies (pun intended) in face of the normal airline reservation system which opens 330 days in advance of a flight.  By having custom air use 270, anyone using custom air would be disadvantaged since reservations for specific flights would have been opened up to 2 months prior to when O would even look at the flight(s).  When booking international air (especially first, business and premium economy) timing can be very important. 

It's always been 270 days. We've used O air for PE, either to or from Europe whenever possible. Always much cheaper than DIY even with the fees for custom air, PE, and any differential. (Remains to be seen if that's still the case since the PE option, when it's offered, is now $499/pp vs the $199/pp we last paid.) Have always been able to book exactly what we wanted and get the desired seats without a problem. 

[Hanoj]

16 hours ago, ORV said:

Maybe we should hold the assumptions until the details are released. 

 

What fun is there in that?

[mauibabes]

I am definitely looking forward to the “DETAILS”  because we have historically booked O Air when it was beneficial to us but we were always tied to booking flights 270 days out. We too use it for the Discounted Premium Economy Option when we were flying to Europe. In the past year those $99, $199 PE flights have been Long Gone and replaced with $499 to $999 PE prices for the Upgrade. When flying to South America, Asia or Australia, we always did our own thing because we caught some flight deals, whether cash or mileage credits. 
I visited my Travel Agency today to discuss this major policy change and they had yet to receive any specific details. I guess we all must wait until July 1 or a bootlegged posting from O. 
 

When talking to the Agent, she remarked that based on the airlines pricing since Covid and the addition of Dynamic Pricing, she did not understand how any cruise line could continue to offer flights with locked in prices, especially when selling cruises 2 years into the future. She expected Oceania is just on the front end of this change in flight policies coming in the industry. While many lines are offering flight programs, it will be interesting to see what is on the horizon with other lines and how long they hold on to their costly programs. I am afraid I have to agree as I search flight prices for some upcoming cruises.  Even if I can get DW to agree to fly in the back of the bus/Economy, I have not been able to beat the Oceania sM with Air prices. JMHO’s 

At least it is a “Short Wait and See” 😇🤞🤙

Mauibabes

[terrydtx]

When we booked our Marina cruise for next March, O wanted $5500pp air add on for BC on top of the $1700 charged for the coach air included in SM. That would have made our BC flights next March cost $7200pp more than the no air added pricing of SM. We booked our own BC air on American in early May direct with AA at $3889pp almost 50% of what O wanted. Plus we have 100% control of the flights, connections, seats and any changes. Now 6 weeks later the same flights are now over $5500 in cost. This is why we never book air with O, they are ok with SM coach, but we only fly internationally in BC.

Edited June 19 by terrydtx

[Psoque]

Perhaps this has been mentioned already (I’m too lazy to read all of the posts here…sorry!), but this, I believe, is in response to a new California law nicknamed “Honest Pricing Law,” which will become effective on July 1, 2024.  Virtually all cruise lines are making a change for all (US?) customers to comply with this law, instead of making a change just for California customers.  It is my understanding that NCL/Oceania is going to make some changes in which cruise prices are advertised, mainly to list all ancillary fees upfront.

[ORV]

3 hours ago, Psoque said:

Perhaps this has been mentioned already (I’m too lazy to read all of the posts here…sorry!), but this, I believe, is in response to a new California law nicknamed “Honest Pricing Law,” which will become effective on July 1, 2024.  Virtually all cruise lines are making a change for all (US?) customers to comply with this law, instead of making a change just for California customers.  It is my understanding that NCL/Oceania is going to make some changes in which cruise prices are advertised, mainly to list all ancillary fees upfront.

 

On 6/21/2024 at 5:42 PM, ORV said:

As you might have noticed, Oceania doesn't break out taxes and port fees separately. 

 

That might change after July 1st when they no longer have a price with air. I think this has to with the California Honest Pricing Law that takes effect then. 

Yes, I do think someone said that a few days ago on another thread. 

[Tranquility Base]

Will that also mean you can go to a grocery store and the price displayed for an item will be the price paid at checkout ?

[Psoque]

1 hour ago, Tranquility Base said:

Will that also mean you can go to a grocery store and the price displayed for an item will be the price paid at checkout ?

California state taxes are specifically exempt from this particular California law.