What is a Deviation Fee

[jbmurr]

I have booked a cruise to S.A. (Santiage to Buenos Aires) in Feb.'08 and will be flying from Toronto on the airlines that Oceania selects....whatever that is! I have read several postings in which people talk about paying deviation fees. Would someone kindly explain that to me and how doing so would benefit me. This will be the first time that I have not arranged my own air and am a little apprehensive.

Thanks!

[Andee]

The two times we sailed Oceania, I priced my own airfare, but could not find flights for the amount Oceania would have refunded me for airfare and taxes. So, we booked with Oceania. I selected the flights I wanted, and paid the $75 per person deviation fee. One time, there was no additional charge, and one time the charge was $50 per person because the flights I selected cost that much more than the ones they would have booked.

[jbmurr]

From what I've read the fee seems always to be $50 or $75. I'm sure the difference between airfare with Oceania and an airline of your choice would not always be that amount. I'm still confused.

[LHT28]

From what I've read the fee seems always to be $50 or $75. I'm sure the difference between airfare with Oceania and an airline of your choice would not always be that amount. I'm still confused.

 

the fee with Oceania is $75. pp and any other charges for the air price differance (if any)

There was a thread not long ago that explained it much better than i can ...if you do a search here for "deviation fees" it should pop up.

[Rickey 88]

Consider that the Deviation fee is what Oceania charges to make the sort of changes you ask for - whether that is travelling on a different day, using a different airline or other special requests.

 

Any difference that is encountered after making your changes, such as higher fares, etc. will be extra.....

 

Consider the deviation fee as a "processing" charge ....

 

Hope this helps. :)

[hrprof]

JB

 

We, too, always book our own air. While this doesn't have a bearing on deviation fees, it is a startling story (to us anyway). We are booked on a B2B Santiago - Rio in February - a 28 day cruise - same first leg as yours. Called Delta to book Charleston - Atlanta -Santiago - Rio - Atlanta - Charleston. - Business class.

 

Agent pushed the keys and said $7800 pp. Book it, I said. Please hold, she said. Agent came back - if you cut your itinerary back to 30 days, the fare is $2900 pp, she said. After a 3 nanosecond pause, done, I said!

 

First time i have ever had an airline try to save me money and it seems counter intuitive that shortening the trip would yield a lower fare. Still puzzling about this!

[jbmurr]

Thanks very much for the explanation. It makes sense now.

[drwong]

Go to an online travel website to see what a "comparable" flight would cost, and to see what flight schedules are available. Having that knowledge in hand, you can decide whether to take the cash and book your own fare, or whether it would be less expensive to let Oceania select a flight itinerary for you. Keep in mind that it's not just the credit you'll get back, but you'll also save on the taxes that you would have been charged for the "free" air.

 

Given that you're a little apprehensive about booking your own air (and rightfully so, given all the hiccups that could occur flying a non-domestic itinerary), give your travel agent two or three of your preferred flight schedules and see if Oceania can book you on those flights for only the deviation charge. If the cost differential is signficantly higher than what Oceania's contract air carriers would charge, you can either pay the difference or accept Oceania's free air offer and wait for your tickets (they usually book your tickets 30 days before departure).

 

Sometimes this causes problems because the late booking won't give you an assigned seat on one or more of the flights - instead, you'll have a "guaranteed" seat, i.e. the airline will guarantee you a seat on the plane, but you won't be able to reserve a specific one ahead of time to sit with your family and friends, near a window, or along an aisle. On one Oceania-booked trans-Atlantic United flight, my pregnant wife and I were assigned middle seats in different rows, and an elderly couple on their honeymoon cruise were seated on opposite sides of the aircraft, despite their pleas to the gate agent. And premier frequent-flyer status with United was of no use because of the category of tickets Oceania booked for us.

[amencher]

The deviation fee only applies if you want Oceania to arrange your air but you want to specify a particular airline or time. Thisis often where you want to arrive or depart a day or two earlier or later, but want to arrange your own hotel package instead of accepting their pre/post package. You can ofetn save more than the deviation fee by doing this.

 

Art

[taxare]

drwong,

Perhaps its because I am 1K on United, but they let me book seats as soon as the air deviation reservation was made, many months before they actually ticketed the flight (as you said 30 days in advance).

[conan]

If you choose to book air transport with Oceania (especially if they offer you "free" air), then the deviation fee is a processing fee paid if you want flights that are different from what Oceania has arranged on your behalf. This desired change may be because you have air miles you'd like to use; because you don't like the flight times, airline or connections; you want to arrive earlier or depart later etc. In addition to this $75 processing fee, you will pay the difference that the seat costs. For instance, a seat on a plane on Tuesday usually costs less than the same seat on the same flight that departs on a Saturday. Each airline has classes of service. Persons sitting beside each other can have paid differing amounts for the seats, usually depending on when they were bought. The fewer, cheaper, lower classified seats in coach are usually sold first. You pay the differential.

You can also elect not to take advantage of Oceania's "free air" and arrange your own flights. Oceania will reimburse what you would have paid for the seats they arranged. Usually the amount refunded is considerably less than you can arrange on your own because of Oceania's preferred agreements and volume discounts from the airlines.

This is how my TA explained it to me last year.