Regent Flights - with and without deviation

[DGK]

Thank you so much wcsdkgh and Lonedaddy for taking the time to respond to my questions.

I think we are going to try and book through Regent Air with a deviation and will be prepared with many choices. Fingers crossed we only have to do one layover as there are many options direct Calgary to Europe and we are flexible regarding dates and definitely plan on arriving prior. 

Your assistance is greatly appreciated

[TheShag]

Add on question, if you are taking a pre-cruise excursion through Regent, is it 210 days before the cruise or prior to the excursion date?

[Lonedaddy]

29 minutes ago, DGK said:

Thank you so much wcsdkgh and Lonedaddy for taking the time to respond to my questions.

I think we are going to try and book through Regent Air with a deviation and will be prepared with many choices. Fingers crossed we only have to do one layover as there are many options direct Calgary to Europe and we are flexible regarding dates and definitely plan on arriving prior. 

Your assistance is greatly appreciated

If you do go to Milan and take the train try to book on the north side the views of the alps/dolomites are beautiful.  

[rallydave]

Kayak or any of the third party travel company are the last place to look for flights.  ITSMATRIX is the best place. Has almost all airlines except the high discount who regent doesn’t use

 

thid site is used by airlines and travel agents with lots of options.  Can’t book here but does tell you the booking code and all info to use for booking direct yourself or thru your ta 

 

a significant potential booking thru third parties lik kayak is any flight issues you mostly cannot fix with airline but have to live with third party you booked thru and most have poor customer service with long waits. 
 

good luck 

[DGK]

Great, good to know Lonedaddy....never been to Milan , thanks for the suggestion...learning lots and taking many notes

 

[Lonedaddy]

9 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Kayak or any of the third party travel company are the last place to look for flights.  ITSMATRIX is the best place. Has almost all airlines except the high discount who regent doesn’t use

 

thid site is used by airlines and travel agents with lots of options.  Can’t book here but does tell you the booking code and all info to use for booking direct yourself or thru your ta 

 

a significant potential booking thru third parties lik kayak is any flight issues you mostly cannot fix with airline but have to live with third party you booked thru and most have poor customer service with long waits. 
 

good luck 

Kayak is easy to use and you can set alerts.  You don't need to book with them.  Expert flyer is also very good - but needs a subscription for all the services.

Edited April 28 by Lonedaddy

[wcsdkqh]

1 hour ago, TheShag said:

Add on question, if you are taking a pre-cruise excursion through Regent, is it 210 days before the cruise or prior to the excursion date?

It’s still 210 days prior to embarkation.

[Oregonangelwings]

I have another question for all you experienced Regent cruisers. Our Sept. Cruise departs from Southampton. Does Regent contract with any airlines in and out of Southampton? Or only in and out of London? It would be much easier to fly into Southampton, if we are to deviate the air. We are flying in and out of Portland, OR. Thank you so much.  You are so knowledgeable!

[rallydave]

26 minutes ago, Oregonangelwings said:

I have another question for all you experienced Regent cruisers. Our Sept. Cruise departs from Southampton. Does Regent contract with any airlines in and out of Southampton? Or only in and out of London? It would be much easier to fly into Southampton, if we are to deviate the air. We are flying in and out of Portland, OR. Thank you so much.  You are so knowledgeable!

Nobody knows who regent contracts with and never will. A closely held secret. 
 

as to flying into Southampton likely any airlines on that route are short flight from UK and perhaps EU. Nothing long haul from the states 

[edgee]

Booked Splendor March of 2025 Rio to Lisbon. Regent Air allowance is $4300 pp. Live near JFK, so when Business Class NS JFK to RIO became available for just $2100 pp, I booked it paying just $100 per person extra to make it refundable. I am finding, however, that the LIS to New York fares for March are extremely high unless I book TAP (about $2100 pp) which has an iffy reputation. Questions:

1. How does Regent calculate the portion of air allowance for return home if you choose to do the outbound portion of air on your own? Do they give me air credit for half the $4300 which is $2150 and then book the return portion under their portion?

2. Does anyone know if Regent is likely to put us on TAP under a contract they may have with that airline. (Airfares for Delta and United are $4000 or more one way.)

Thanks for any advice.

 

Ed

[edgee]

On 4/22/2013 at 11:52 AM, TedC said:

On recent cruise from Rio to Miami I wanted United, not that it's a good airline but United is where our miles are. My TA checked Regent and they said NOt using United to Rio!

 

Met couple who flew to Rio on UNITED without any deviation fee? I can't remember where they flew from but might have been Houston?

 

 

Go figure?

I live on Long Island and loads of miles on United. Thought of booking United for cruise from Rio in 2025, but found that they only seem to fly to South America via Houston which adds a connection and about 4 hours of extra flying. Will do nonstop on AA!

[rallydave]

51 minutes ago, edgee said:

Booked Splendor March of 2025 Rio to Lisbon. Regent Air allowance is $4300 pp. Live near JFK, so when Business Class NS JFK to RIO became available for just $2100 pp, I booked it paying just $100 per person extra to make it refundable. I am finding, however, that the LIS to New York fares for March are extremely high unless I book TAP (about $2100 pp) which has an iffy reputation. Questions:

1. How does Regent calculate the portion of air allowance for return home if you choose to do the outbound portion of air on your own? Do they give me air credit for half the $4300 which is $2150 and then book the return portion under their portion?

2. Does anyone know if Regent is likely to put us on TAP under a contract they may have with that airline. (Airfares for Delta and United are $4000 or more one way.)

Thanks for any advice.

 

Ed

First of all it is not an air allowance it is what they will credit you if yo decline their flights. Since that credit is the same where ever you live in the US they may pay more or lesss for your flights and no way to determine that. A regent secret

 

as far as splitting your flights payin for one and regent for the other with your itinerary may be equal amount or may not. Only way to find out is to ask your TA TO CHECK WITH REGENT 

 

HOPE THIS HELPS O

 

 

[Lonedaddy]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Booked Splendor March of 2025 Rio to Lisbon. Regent Air allowance is $4300 pp. Live near JFK, so when Business Class NS JFK to RIO became available for just $2100 pp, I booked it paying just $100 per person extra to make it refundable. I am finding, however, that the LIS to New York fares for March are extremely high unless I book TAP (about $2100 pp) which has an iffy reputation. Questions:

1. How does Regent calculate the portion of air allowance for return home if you choose to do the outbound portion of air on your own? Do they give me air credit for half the $4300 which is $2150 and then book the return portion under their portion?

2. Does anyone know if Regent is likely to put us on TAP under a contract they may have with that airline. (Airfares for Delta and United are $4000 or more one way.)

Thanks for any advice.

 

Ed

As rallydave said check with TA on allowance for each leg.  As march is just showing up for flights give it a month or so and fares will change.  Problem is the one way fares, but you can always fall back on regent air for the return.  You might look at using United miles out of Lisbon as an option.

[Lonedaddy]

Might also look at multi city fares jfk-gig lis-jfk

[Oregonangelwings]

Is there anyone on here, who went ahead and waited for Regent to do the air at 75 days, and were happy with the results? Just curious. Do they really make it so bad that people regretted having Regent choose the flights? Also, if Regent flies people in the morning of the cruise,and one of the flights is late, does Regent take the responsibility of getting the people to the ship?

[Lonedaddy]

5 minutes ago, Oregonangelwings said:

Also, if Regent flies people in the morning of the cruise,and one of the flights is late, does Regent take the responsibility of getting the people to the ship?

Can’t answer the first part as I never have but they do have to get you to the ship usually the ships depart in the evening so only a cancellation would usually impact missing the ship on a scheduled morning arrival.

Edited April 29 by Lonedaddy

[rallydave]

30 minutes ago, Oregonangelwings said:

Is there anyone on here, who went ahead and waited for Regent to do the air at 75 days, and were happy with the results? Just curious. Do they really make it so bad that people regretted having Regent choose the flights? Also, if Regent flies people in the morning of the cruise,and one of the flights is late, does Regent take the responsibility of getting the people to the ship?

As fo missing the ship flying in day of embarkation. Per the terms and conditions regent is not responsible for issues with third parties that regent had booked and airlines are third parties 

 

that said regent in the past has hrlpdd with third party issues so the answer is wish ways but legally they don’t have to help. 

[edgee]

46 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

Might also look at multi city fares jfk-gig lis-jfk

Thanks, thought of that, but Delta is only airline that flies both routes without crazy connections on at least one of them and their system will not accept a multi city fare for those routes.

[Shoreviewgirl]

45 minutes ago, rallydave said:

As fo missing the ship flying in day of embarkation. Per the terms and conditions regent is not responsible for issues with third parties that regent had booked and airlines are third parties 

 

that said regent in the past has hrlpdd with third party issues so the answer is wish ways but legally they don’t have to help. 

So, are you saying, Regent isn’t responsible for helping us if a flight they booked for us is delayed and we miss the embarkation? I thought that was one of the main reasons we would use them.

[FL Wolfpacker]

8 hours ago, Oregonangelwings said:

Is there anyone on here, who went ahead and waited for Regent to do the air at 75 days, and were happy with the results? Just curious. Do they really make it so bad that people regretted having Regent choose the flights? Also, if Regent flies people in the morning of the cruise,and one of the flights is late, does Regent take the responsibility of getting the people to the ship?

I tried deviation early and the connections and timing were poor. Waited for Regent to do the flights and they look good. 
 

My travel is the end of June so hopefully they work out

[papaflamingo]

On 4/25/2024 at 3:09 PM, 2rogues said:

they did not give us a ‘no additional cost option’.

Sorry to jump in.  If you phoned Custom Air with your requests, you can ask them if they have any "no additional cost" options available.  I have done that within the last year and found the agents extremely helpful.  It could be there just isn't any available on the day you want to fly.  

Regent contract air has been severely limited by the airlines since Covid.  The airlines are experiencing a shortage of crews and aircraft and extremely high passenger loads.  So they price accordingly.  Their Business Class flights are their "bread and butter" so they are reluctant to discount the desirable routes.  So Regent has to struggle to find flights with contract rates. 

[papaflamingo]

9 hours ago, Oregonangelwings said:

Do they really make it so bad that people regretted having Regent choose the flights?

Regent contracts for deeply discounted fares.  Since Covid, the airlines are understaffed and oversold.  So contract fares are very hard to find, especially in Business Class.  The only way to get those fares is to fly on the less desirable itineraries.  So it isn't actually Regent "making it bad," it's simply a function of economics 101... high demand, low supply equals high prices. 

[TheShag]

I have noticed a lot of references to using Kayak. In the past, ITA Matrix was suggested. When using ITA, i see a more fulsome [but less desirable] selection of available flights. I am looking to go RSW-SYD on 15/12/24 and returning AKL-RSW on 3/1/25. As I do my homework in anticipation for the 210 booking date, is it wrong to only use Kayak? Thanks folks.

[rallydave]

9 hours ago, Shoreviewgirl said:

So, are you saying, Regent isn’t responsible for helping us if a flight they booked for us is delayed and we miss the embarkation? I thought that was one of the main reasons we would use them.

That’s exactly what I am saying based on their written terms a conditions. I will repeat there have been reports that regent has helped people in the past but remember cruise critic is not a very representative group of cruise passengers maybe 10% so not a good sampling 

 

hoping regent will help but no guarantee like many people  believe. 
 

also have had reports from people with airline probkk k end while traveling at airports who only phone regent for flight help and sometimes no answer or help 

 

The first thing to do with airline issues is to phone the airline while getting in the line at customer service to get your flights fixed. The airline is responsible and knows this  contacting regent simply delays the fix as they have to go thru the airline as well. With time differences regent may not be available.  God luck your flights are in time 

[2rogues]

1 hour ago, papaflamingo said:

Sorry to jump in.  If you phoned Custom Air with your requests, you can ask them if they have any "no additional cost" options available.  I have done that within the last year and found the agents extremely helpful.  It could be there just isn't any available on the day you want to fly.  

Regent contract air has been severely limited by the airlines since Covid.  The airlines are experiencing a shortage of crews and aircraft and extremely high passenger loads.  So they price accordingly.  Their Business Class flights are their "bread and butter" so they are reluctant to discount the desirable routes.  So Regent has to struggle to find flights with contract rates. 

We did call back the next day and they found one of our choices with ‘no upcharge’.  Don’t know what to make of that, but we’re good with it.  Thanks for the continuing updates and input.  Very much appreciated.