Oceania Air Experience?

[jaga04]

The one time we used Oceania Air, they totally changed the itinerary in one direction after we'd gotten the initial flight information. Different airline, different layover city. The second itinerary was slightly worse than the original, but still fine.

[JimandStan]

Glad to see that some people have had luck with the Oceania air deviation program. So far I have had no luck with this program. I spoke to a supervisor yesterday and they are not letting us pick our itinerary even with paying the fee. My experience with them so far has not been a positive one, but I am hoping that this improves. I originally asked to come back one day later, and they told me "no". No reason, no excuse, just "no". I priced the tix and there is no difference in price for the ticket they want to give me from one day to another, so I have to assume that this has something to do with their getting a group rate, because there are seats on both flights. They also would not guarantee the itinerary that they are offering me. I am sort at a loss as to what to do at this point, since I don't want to pay a fee and then end up with a terrible itinerary. I may just book my own air. My parents used their air program two years ago and had a totally different experience. They got the flights they wanted and did not pay any fee.

 

I also recently booked a trip on Azamara and that is a whole different experience, since they use Choice Air and let you pick your own flights through a website. I really want to love Oceania, and I am hoping this all works out in the end.

 

There must have been some confusion when MR210 spoke to Oceania for this simple reason:

 

If the itinerary that you pick is more expensive than the route that Oceania would pick for you, then Oceania has the option of passing those additional costs on to you.

 

There isn't any incentive for them to refuse to book a route that you chose.

[burm]

I phoned my TA 270 days before our cruise and asked if I could have a specific flight. I gave the exact number, date, time. He said "hold the line and I will call Oceania." Within 2 min he said "done." We will fly direct, arrive one day early and have 3 extra days after.

 

Has anyone asked if they could have an extra month at the destination port?

[LHT28]

Has anyone asked if they could have an extra month at the destination port?

I seem to recall another post & the time frame is maximum 2 wks from cruise dates

 

2wks pre or post cruise dates

 

You could check with your TA to be sure

 

Lyn

[burm]

I seem to recall another post & the time frame is maximum 2 wks from cruise dates

 

2wks pre or post cruise dates

 

You could check with your TA to be sure

 

Lyn

 

Thanks Lyn. I am just tossing ideas around about 2012 so I will call exactly 270 days before the cruise to discuss it. I hope it works out as well for us as it did this year.

[happy cruzer]

The cruise air forum here on CC has an excellent sticky about cruise air. Lots of good info there.

[mrr210]

I have spoken to three Oceania reps at this point and they are not saying that the itinerary is more expensive. They just aren't giving me any reason for not allowing me to fly back one day later. That is what I have so frustrating about this experience. I understand that they have no incentives to give us the other flight, but I thought they were supposed to give us the option of paying the difference. They won't even do that. We wanted the extra day so that we could celebrate my mother's 70th birthday in Rio and not at the airport, but it looks like that won't happen at this point. It has all been very disappointing, and I agree with prior posters that using travel agents is the way to go. Of course these cabins got pulled from my agent for some reason and we were only able to book this trip through Oceania itself.

[LHT28]

I have spoken to three Oceania reps at this point and they are not saying that the itinerary is more expensive. They just aren't giving me any reason for not allowing me to fly back one day later.

 

. Of course these cabins got pulled from my agent for some reason and we were only able to book this trip through Oceania itself.

 

seems very strange..

When is your cruise?

 

If the cabins were available why would they pull them from your TA?

Something fishy with the TA???

 

Maybe you need to go higher up the chain of command ;)

[burm]

I have spoken to three Oceania reps at this point and they are not saying that the itinerary is more expensive. They just aren't giving me any reason for not allowing me to fly back one day later. That is what I have so frustrating about this experience. I understand that they have no incentives to give us the other flight, but I thought they were supposed to give us the option of paying the difference. They won't even do that. We wanted the extra day so that we could celebrate my mother's 70th birthday in Rio and not at the airport, but it looks like that won't happen at this point. It has all been very disappointing, and I agree with prior posters that using travel agents is the way to go. Of course these cabins got pulled from my agent for some reason and we were only able to book this trip through Oceania itself.

 

Mr Del Rio has said that he reads every one of these posts. It would be nice if he would help you out.

 

The whole point of air deviation is to give you what you want. Your request is reasonable so it is hard to guess why they can't accomodate you.

[JimandStan]

Mr Del Rio has said that he reads every one of these posts. It would be nice if he would help you out.

 

The whole point of air deviation is to give you what you want. Your request is reasonable so it is hard to guess why they can't accommodate you.

 

Has anyone considered (or has mrr210 ever asked) if the "preferred flights" are simply sold out?

 

Once the Deviation fee is paid, that is the only reason that I've ever heard of a request being denied.

 

Oceania will do their best to accommodate you, but they cannot manufacture space on a fully reserved airplane.

 

Anyway. this whole situation could be resolved with one word. If somebody says that they can't or won't do something for you, ask WHY.

[aohkay]

We used Oceania's air, and paid $100 per person deviation. We didn't suffer any extreme waiting periods and the flights were seamless. We flew into Portugual 2 days prior to sailing, and stayed an extra 5 days in Greece after the cruise, hence the deviation.

 

SAT 21AUG2010 ZGY98V BA 0086 VANCOUVER, BC 5:55 PM

SUN 22AUG2010 LONDON, HEATHROW 11:00 AM

 

SUN 22AUG2010 ZGY98V BA 0502 LONDON, HEATHROW 2:55 PM

SUN 22AUG2010 LISBON, PORTUGAL 5:35 PM

 

FRI 10SEP2010 ZGY98V BA 0639 ATHENS, GREECE 1:40 PM

FRI 10SEP2010 LONDON, HEATHROW 3:35 PM

FRI 10SEP2010 ZGY98V BA 0085 LONDON, HEATHROW 5:10 PM

FRI 10SEP2010 VANCOUVER, BC 6:35 PM

[burm]

I have spoken to three Oceania reps at this point and they are not saying that the itinerary is more expensive. They just aren't giving me any reason for not allowing me to fly back one day later.

 

 

Has anyone considered (or has mrr210 ever asked) if the "preferred flights" are simply sold out?

 

Once the Deviation fee is paid, that is the only reason that I've ever heard of a request being denied.

 

Oceania will do their best to accommodate you, but they cannot manufacture space on a fully reserved airplane.

 

Anyway. this whole situation could be resolved with one word. If somebody says that they can't or won't do something for you, ask WHY.

 

I naturally assumed that over the course of 3 conversations, mrr210 would have asked "why?". I assumed they were being stonewalled. Even if this were not the case, you would think that at least one out of 3 cruiseline reps would be good enough at their job to communicate what the problem is and what the best solution would be.

[IguanaJ]

From following the posts, I find some questions myself facing air deviation fees for a cruise with cruise air over three hundred days out. I am aware of researching flights at the 330 day point for the return air date. I am unaware of the significance of 270 days for air return dates. Would you not have to fully pay for your cruise in full at 270 days for you to be discussing air flights w/O associated with your cruise? Or do you begin at that point (270 days prior to return flights) discussing air deviation flights prior to final payment.

[JimandStan]

originally posted by burm

I naturally assumed that over the course of 3 conversations, mrr210 would have asked "why?".

This might be a natural assumption except that mrr210 repeatedly tells us that "no reason was given"

 

originally posted by burm

Even if this were not the case, you would think that at least one out of 3 cruiseline reps would be good enough at their job to communicate what the problem is and what the best solution would be.

 

It is far more likely that "I was not given an answer" is code-speak for "I was not given the answer that I wanted".

 

Then again, this may be a situation where mrr210 really needs a Travel Agent to interpret the rules to his best advantage.

 

It's a free service, mrr210, why not call one up see what they can arrange something that works for you? You have nothing to lose.

[LHT28]

From following the posts, I find some questions myself facing air deviation fees for a cruise with cruise air over three hundred days out. I am aware of researching flights at the 330 day point for the return air date. I am unaware of the significance of 270 days for air return dates.

You can request an air deviation starting at 270 days... (I am assuming and I could be offbase) because Oceania may have their contracts with the airlines in place at that time.

Your cruise final payment is due 90 days from sailing unless it is a holiday sailing then due earlier & if you book air through Oceania the air is included with the cruise fare due at final payment

The deviation fee is due at the time you accept the flights & is non refundable

 

You can compare flights with the airlines to see what works best for you

1) take the Oceania air as is (you will not know your details until closer to sailing)

2) take the Oceania air with a deviation of dates, pay the fee ( maybe an additional up charge)

3)take the air credit & book your own air

 

Hope that helps & does not confuse further ( I need more coffee) ;)

 

If confused ask your TA to give you the details

Lyn

[Mura]

Has anyone considered (or has mrr210 ever asked) if the "preferred flights" are simply sold out?

 

Once the Deviation fee is paid, that is the only reason that I've ever heard of a request being denied.

 

Oceania will do their best to accommodate you, but they cannot manufacture space on a fully reserved airplane.

 

Anyway. this whole situation could be resolved with one word. If somebody says that they can't or won't do something for you, ask WHY.

 

 

I was wondering along the same lines as Jim&Stan but let's say the reason is that the next day is sold out. Wouldn't the logical thing be to say, "Sold out on that day but you can come back on Day x?" I know that the very few times we've used Oceania's air we had no problems with deviations. And we have returned as much as 2 weeks later, but that may be the outer limit as Lyn said. We never tried for longer than that that I can recall. We came back a week later on our Miami-BCN T/A in March 2009 and we only had to pay the usual deviation fee, there was no change in fare.

 

People who ask for deviations usually want more than the next day, wouldn't you think? Not necessarily a week or two but more time than the next day. How much of a port city can you see in one day, unless it's Puerto Chacabuco, Chile ... population 100.

[ORV]

Can you wait until O gives you your air assignments and then if they are not acceptable to your schedule then request the deviation?

 

Following up on this, how soon before your cruise do they issue your flights if you use their air without deviation?

 

We're looking at using miles to get to one on the "included" airports and hope we would be there in time to connect to the assigned flights. Otherwise we would have to overnight at DFW which is an hour flight away from our home base.

 

Of course if we book the flight with miles we would do so well in advance of when O issue the arrangements. We would go with the earliest flight of the day which is around 5 or 6 in the am.

[JimandStan]

Can you wait until O gives you your air assignments and then if they are not acceptable to your schedule then request the deviation?

 

Yes, you may request a deviation if the assigned flights are not to your liking.

 

Following up on this, how soon before your cruise do they issue your flights if you use their air without deviation?

 

Oceania does not specify how long before the cruise the air arrangements will be made. Having said that, both times that we used this service, Oceania had already made our air arrangements by the time that we made our final payment at 90 days out (although we did not know what the details were, until then).

 

We're looking at using miles to get to one on the "included" airports and hope we would be there in time to connect to the assigned flights. Otherwise we would have to overnight at DFW which is an hour flight away from our home base.

 

I would never chance doing anything this complicated without paying for the deviation so that I had my choice of flights for the second leg of the journey. There are just too many variables at work to take a chance.

 

 

Of course if we book the flight with miles we would do so well in advance of when O issue the arrangements. We would go with the earliest flight of the day which is around 5 or 6 in the am.

 

Sure, you could take a chance and maybe get away with it, but for $100 more per guest you can have the security of handpicking the flight that works best for you.

[ORV]

Thanks for the quick answer.

[jaga04]

Following up on this, how soon before your cruise do they issue your flights if you use their air without deviation?

 

Oceania does not specify how long before the cruise the air arrangements will be made. Having said that, both times that we used this service, Oceania had already made our air arrangements by the time that we made our final payment at 90 days out (although we did not know what the details were, until then).

 

I mentioned earlier in this thread that Oceania changed our flights, but here are some more details. When we got our cruise documents on 5/2 for a 6/15 cruise, they still had the original flights that we were told about about when we made final payment.

 

I don't have the date, but some time AFTER that, we got an email with our final information, and there were different flights going to Europe, leaving 1/2 hour earlier. So, they can change things pretty close to the time of the cruise.

[JimandStan]

I don't have the date, but some time AFTER that, we got an email with our final information, and there were different flights going to Europe, leaving 1/2 hour earlier. So, they can change things pretty close to the time of the cruise.

 

Welcome to flying in the 21st Century! We booked the air privately for our 2011 Marina Cruise, and we've already had FOUR flight time corrections.

[jaga04]

Yes, time changes are pretty common these days. We took one flight recently where they kept changing it and changing it back and....

 

In this case with our O cruise, there were bigger changes, in that they changed the whole itinerary on us---different layover city. None of this mattered much except that we had to wake up a 1/2 hour earlier and the whole trip took slightly longer. I mainly wanted ORV to realize that even though it looks like things are settled at a certain point, they may not be. For us, the changes were no big deal, but if ORV has an earlier flight on the same day booked separately, a late change might cause problems.

[ORV]

It seems the 200 deviation fee might be cheap piece of mind. We're looking at a Tahiti cruise so it might be better to just get to LA the day before as I'm pretty sure they'll be using ATN to get to Papeete, and there is only one or two flights on most days. Should be easy to figure out which one they'll put you on from there.

[burm]

It seems the 200 deviation fee might be cheap piece of mind. We're looking at a Tahiti cruise so it might be better to just get to LA the day before as I'm pretty sure they'll be using ATN to get to Papeete, and there is only one or two flights on most days. Should be easy to figure out which one they'll put you on from there.

 

Why don't you do as I did, do your homework, pick the exact flight you want, call your TA immediately while it is still available, and ask if it is possible.

 

My entire converstion with my TA, including the 2 min it took for him to call Oceania while I held, took no more than 5 minutes total. Quick and painless.

 

I got a direct flight with 4 extra nights in Miami, one before, 3 after. There was no charge on top of the normal deviation fee.

[wripro]

Considering the price of the cruise I think $100 deviation fee is well worth it for the peace of mind and convenience it provides.