Using Oceania to arrange airfare - good or bad?

[mike35]

I've said it before, and I'll repeat it again -- find a GOOD TA who will go to bat for you if your cruise-arranged air isn't to your liking. On our recent return flight from Athens to L.A., Oceania had us departing Athens airport at 8 a.m., meaning we would have had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. in order to disembark, get transportation to Athens Airport (1 hour drive from the port), and still arrive at the airport 2 hours before departure. As soon as our TA saw that, he immediately raised hell with O's air travel department, saying that was no way to treat an Oceania cruiser ending a 12-day cruise. They "somehow" found a better flight that departed Athens at noon, and arrived in L.A. at the same time as the 8 a.m. departure.

 

Mike

[digby]

"So if you book cruise only, can you actually book one way fares cheaper yourself?"

 

If you mean flying to one city and leaving at the end of the cruise from another, you can do it on your own. I just did that for my next Oceania cruise. I'll fly to Beijing and return from Hong Kong. I bought my own tickets from UAL, upgraded to Business Class using FF points, and got $1000./person off the cost of the cruise.

[meow!]

May I ask how many of those FF points per person do you need for those upgrades? Thank you.

[drwong]

May I ask how many of those FF points per person do you need for those upgrades? Thank you.

 

United charges 15,000 miles for an upgrade from full-fare economy class tickets (Y and B class) to Business Class; or 30,000 miles for discount economy (M and H class) to Business Class, or from Business Class to First Class.

 

Note that in order to purchase the upgrade, you'll have to book the airline tickets on your own, as Digby did - Oceania's free air class is so discounted that it's nearly impossible to buy yourself an upgrade.

[meow!]

That doesn't sound too bad .. I was under the impression that to get a business class ticket for free, you need 100,000 points. Given the difference in price between discounted economy (say $1000) and business (say $3000) to Asia, for example, it would be more like 60,000 points by ratio!

[digby]

"May I ask how many of those FF points per person do you need for those upgrades? Thank you."

 

I paid about $1200/person for a round trip ticket (SFO to PEK and HKG to SFO both nonstop flights). We then used 60,000 FF points each to upgrade to Business Class worth $7000. EACH. Not a bad deal!