adriand100 Posted October 7, 2013 #1 Share Posted October 7, 2013 We have been considering an Oceania cruise, as yet to be decided. The free flights offer is from London and we are near Edinburgh. I contacted head office to ask if we could fly direct if there was a direct flight available. I used Barcelona as an an example. The girl I spoke to was non committal only to say that there would be a surcharge of £149/person from regional airports but couldn't say if we would have to travel via London until we made a booking. Seems a bit strange to me. Can anyone shed any light on this. :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_uk Posted October 7, 2013 #2 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I guess it depends on where you are flying to. Oceania may credit you with an allowance if you book your own flights but the destination is important to make a considered judgement. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rallydave Posted October 7, 2013 #3 Share Posted October 7, 2013 We have been considering an Oceania cruise, as yet to be decided. The free flights offer is from London and we are near Edinburgh. I contacted head office to ask if we could fly direct if there was a direct flight available. I used Barcelona as an an example. The girl I spoke to was non committal only to say that there would be a surcharge of £149/person from regional airports but couldn't say if we would have to travel via London until we made a booking. Seems a bit strange to me. Can anyone shed any light on this. :confused: They are saying that if you fly out of Edinburgh, depending on their available flights, you may or may not fly thru London. Oceania is going to find the least expensive flights for you from the location you choose and charge you 149 lbs if you fly from Edinburgh no matter if the fare is less or more. They don't assign flights until you make final payment so a lot depends on the available flights and pricing at that time. Even if they get a less expensive fare non-stop from Edinburgh, you still pay the extra fee. And, please remember this, a direct flight is not necessarily a non-stop flight. You could take a direct flight to Barcelona that stops in London. The airlines definition of a direct flight is one where the flight number doesn't change, you don't change aircraft but, you do make at least one stop before getting to your destination. Non stop means no stops between your start point and destination. There is a difference and using the incorrect terminology might be annoying when you stop one or more times when you thought direct meant non-stop; it doesn't Hope this helps from a Yank!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnip eater Posted October 7, 2013 #4 Share Posted October 7, 2013 It also depends which airlines O have 'arrangements' with. E.g. British Airways(BA). They may not have any 'arrangements' with airlines which fly non-stop from Edinburgh to Barcelona(your example). I believe Ryanair(:eek:) and Vueling fly this route. I believe that Vueling are now owned by IAG(International Airlines Group), which are the parent company of BA and Iberia. I think the best thing would be to take the money from O for the inclusive air and book your own flights directly from/to Edinburgh, but be aware that if you are delayed,it's up to you to get yourselves to the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seascot Posted October 7, 2013 #5 Share Posted October 7, 2013 We are from Edinburgh as well and have booked our own flights for our 2014 cruise from Barcelona. We have always booked our own air. Whilst onboard Riviera in September, we overheard a conversation between an english couple and the future cruise specialist. The couple were asking if a London to Miami flight would be direct and she replied that she was certain it would be as most flights are direct. The couple then said that it was not the case with the cruise they were on as they had to change at Paris enroute to Venice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthC Posted October 7, 2013 #6 Share Posted October 7, 2013 The airlines definition of a direct flight is one where the flight number doesn't change, you don't change aircraft but, you do make at least one stop before getting to your destination. Non stop means no stops between your start point and destination. Believe it or not, a "direct" flight could even involve a change of aircraft! :eek: So long as the flight number doesn't change, it is still "direct". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rallydave Posted October 7, 2013 #7 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Believe it or not, a "direct" flight could even involve a change of aircraft! :eek: So long as the flight number doesn't change, it is still "direct". You are absolutely correct Ruth. In fact I have been on direct flights with planned and even unplanned plane changes. Simply thought it was easier to not confuse people with this added nuance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriand100 Posted October 7, 2013 Author #8 Share Posted October 7, 2013 All very interesting and thanks for the many responses. To sum up.... It seems if I take up the free flight offer we will pay £149 each but in the event of some problem with cancellations/delays, will have the peace of mind of the cruise line getting us to the ship no matter what. I can understand that. We seem to have confusion re the term direct and non stop. Direct flights with no stops and change of aircraft are common place from low cost carriers such as Ryanair :eek: Easyjet and others from the UK to a wide range of European destinations and are always direct and non stop. You can have multi hop flights from the likes of BA but normally these are to be avoided due to cost and time involved. Possibly the USA being much bigger makes things a bit different for you guys over there.. Having said all that I do take the point about the Venice via Paris case. I can only surmise that they allowed the cruise line to book their flights and were put on scheduled flights and of course availability of seats, costs etc. I may, if they allow a credit on the airfare, take them up on that offer and travel independently. Can anybody confirm that a credit is commonly done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaiidan Posted October 7, 2013 #9 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Airlines today now charge a premium, some as much as 40% for non stop flights and to sell them to the business traveler. Seldom today will you see anything but full fare/non discount tickets on nonstop. The contract fares for Oceana will not be the prime flights To add to "direct flights" in addition to change of planes, they can include layovers up to 1-:eek:16 hours and still be direct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairbourne Posted October 7, 2013 #10 Share Posted October 7, 2013 All very interesting and thanks for the many responses. To sum up.... It seems if I take up the free flight offer we will pay £149 each but in the event of some problem with cancellations/delays, will have the peace of mind of the cruise line getting us to the ship no matter what. I can understand that. We seem to have confusion re the term direct and non stop. Direct flights with no stops and change of aircraft are common place from low cost carriers such as Ryanair :eek: Easyjet and others from the UK to a wide range of European destinations and are always direct and non stop. You can have multi hop flights from the likes of BA but normally these are to be avoided due to cost and time involved. Possibly the USA being much bigger makes things a bit different for you guys over there.. Having said all that I do take the point about the Venice via Paris case. I can only surmise that they allowed the cruise line to book their flights and were put on scheduled flights and of course availability of seats, costs etc. I may, if they allow a credit on the airfare, take them up on that offer and travel independently. Can anybody confirm that a credit is commonly done? A good specialist cruise travel agent can talk this through with you and give you your options. We always book our own flights (usually arriving 2/3 days to our departure area pre-cruise and we stay at least one night post-cruise) and are given what we consider a pretty decent deduction on the flight inclusive cruise fare. I can't imagine any cruise line using low cost carriers for their flights e.g. Ryanair. We live north of you and we just have to accept transferring through London or Amsterdam. We would never fly low cost carriers to go on a cruise - I dread to think how much Ryanair would charge for luggage? Especially with all the luggage the DH takes with him!!! ;):D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 7, 2013 #11 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I may, if they allow a credit on the airfare, take them up on that offer and travel independently. Can anybody confirm that a credit is commonly done? Credit is ALWAYS given, provided your cruise had "free" air. Caveat - offers in UK differ from those in US and the amount of air credit has been getting less and less (but always given if one books their own flights). We have 10+ O cruises and have never used their air - always get credit and fly for miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriand100 Posted October 7, 2013 Author #12 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Thanks again. We have sailed Royal Caribbean and Celebrity from Southampton and flew Flybe direct from Edinburgh to Southampton. They arranged the flights with this low cost airline. I have no problems with travelling by this method and do understand the possible pitfalls. I guess my original question should have been, can I arrange my own flights, whether direct or not and get a credit from Oceania. If I allow them to arrange them, I take what they offer with the comfort of knowing they are responsible for getting us to the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 7, 2013 #13 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I guess my original question should have been, can I arrange my own flights, whether direct or not and get a credit from Oceania. If I allow them to arrange them, I take what they offer with the comfort of knowing they are responsible for getting us to the ship. If they are offering UK residents an air credit for not using the included air then yes you can get the cruise only price & book your own air I usually compare O air with the deviation fee added to what it will cost if I DIY Then choose what works best Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShopperfiendTO Posted October 7, 2013 #14 Share Posted October 7, 2013 We are from Edinburgh as well and have booked our own flights for our 2014 cruise from Barcelona. We have always booked our own air. Whilst onboard Riviera in September, we overheard a conversation between an english couple and the future cruise specialist. The couple were asking if a London to Miami flight would be direct and she replied that she was certain it would be as most flights are direct. The couple then said that it was not the case with the cruise they were on as they had to change at Paris enroute to Venice. I would not count on it (at least without a deviation fee), even if there is a non-stop flight arriving the day of embarkation. Well, at least for North America to Europe travel I would not count on it, even if your hub is a major one. Perhaps it is easier with relatively fewer cruisers flying in the other direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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