Using Oceania's Air

[rodan]

We have not as yet used Oceania's air but may do so on our next cruise. We are going in July to the Med and we were wondering how the arrangements and flights are that Oceania books for you. Are they the flights from hell or are they reasonable. We live in the Boston area for a reference point. Any replies to this or your experiences with Oceania would be most helpful.

 

 

Thank You,

Rodan

[JimandStan]

The Oceania Air Arrangements are fairly reasonable, keeping in mind that they are trying to keep their costs down and that their primary goal is to get you to the embarkation port in plenty of time to catch the ship. You may find yourself flying through an odd city, but Oceania does try to avoid long layovers or obnoxiously early departure times.

 

Boston is one of their Free Air gateways, so you are slightly ahead of the game on that score.

 

If all of that is still not enough to make you feel secure, you may choose to customize your air arrangements. yet remain under the Oceania umbrella, by paying a "Deviation Fee" of $150 per person.

 

This gives the Passenger the ability to determine their own Itinerary, with the caveat that if the flights which are chosen are more expensive than those which Oceania would have used, the differential is the responsibility of the passenger.

 

The true beauty of this system is that the Deviation Fee, which is non refundable, does not kick in until the Passenger and Oceania have come to a meeting of the minds regarding the Itinerary. There are never ANY surprises.

[Barrheadlass]

We too live in MA...

One thing with the included air is they fly you in the day of your cruise embarkation. We like to get to the port a day or 2 early, so we paid the deviation fee of $150 per person to get to Miami early and to stay an extra couple of days in Barcelona at the end. I was very happy with what we got and could not have gotten the same rate on my own.

[smwp]

we are on the sydney to auckland cruise in february......using oceania air with deviation...flying in one day early. very happy with our flights. i did research and found i could not have done any better on my own.

[ICUQT]

The Oceania Air Arrangements are fairly reasonable, keeping in mind that they are trying to keep their costs down and that their primary goal is to get you to the embarkation port in plenty of time to catch the ship. You may find yourself flying through an odd city, but Oceania does try to avoid long layovers or obnoxiously early departure times.

 

Boston is one of their Free Air gateways, so you are slightly ahead of the game on that score.

 

If all of that is still not enough to make you feel secure, you may choose to customize your air arrangements. yet remain under the Oceania umbrella, by paying a "Deviation Fee" of $150 per person.

 

This gives the Passenger the ability to determine their own Itinerary, with the caveat that if the flights which are chosen are more expensive than those which Oceania would have used, the differential is the responsibility of the passenger.

 

The true beauty of this system is that the Deviation Fee, which is non refundable, does not kick in until the Passenger and Oceania have come to a meeting of the minds regarding the Itinerary. There are never ANY surprises.

 

Jim & Stan

 

I am in the same position as Rodan leaving out of BOS next September for Southampton. I have never cruised Oceania before. I have been reading the various threads and done a little research and will be taking Oceania air. I understand the deviation fee which I have no problem with. I too usually fly in a couple of days early. At what point do I notify Oceania that I would like a "flight deviation" and is it possible for them (Oceania) to upgrade my flight to "Premium Economy". I need the additional leg room as I have replacement knees. Any advice is appreciated.

 

bob

[LHT28]

At what point do I notify Oceania that I would like a "flight deviation"

bob

 

You can request the deviation at 270 days out

I usually research what flights I want & see what O will give me with no upcharge

 

Then go from there

[JimandStan]

Jim & Stan

 

I am in the same position as Rodan leaving out of BOS next September for Southampton. I have never cruised Oceania before. I have been reading the various threads and done a little research and will be taking Oceania air. I understand the deviation fee which I have no problem with. I too usually fly in a couple of days early. At what point do I notify Oceania that I would like a "flight deviation" and is it possible for them (Oceania) to upgrade my flight to "Premium Economy". I need the additional leg room as I have replacement knees. Any advice is appreciated.

 

bob

 

You need to notify Oceania that you want to deviate at the point when you want them to make the reservation on your behalf.

 

A key point here, is that the Airline Tickets are not actually purchased by Oceania until your cruise is paid for in full.

 

Some Airlines won't sell an upgrade on a ticket that is reserved but not yet paid for, but some will.

 

Check with your carrier before forming a strategy.

[ShopperfiendTO]

The Oceania Air Arrangements are fairly reasonable, keeping in mind that they are trying to keep their costs down and that their primary goal is to get you to the embarkation port in plenty of time to catch the ship. You may find yourself flying through an odd city, but Oceania does try to avoid long layovers or obnoxiously early departure times.

 

Boston is one of their Free Air gateways, so you are slightly ahead of the game on that score.

 

If all of that is still not enough to make you feel secure, you may choose to customize your air arrangements. yet remain under the Oceania umbrella, by paying a "Deviation Fee" of $150 per person.

 

This gives the Passenger the ability to determine their own Itinerary, with the caveat that if the flights which are chosen are more expensive than those which Oceania would have used, the differential is the responsibility of the passenger.

 

The true beauty of this system is that the Deviation Fee, which is non refundable, does not kick in until the Passenger and Oceania have come to a meeting of the minds regarding the Itinerary. There are never ANY surprises.

 

Being a free airport only saves you the $199 or whatever the supplement is. In my most recent experience on a North America-Europe itinerary, having a free gateway airport has not translated to better flights than those departing from a secondary airport.

 

So the flights will be fairly reasonable but you're not going to be ahead of the game just because it's a free gateway you're leaving from.

 

It may very well be that the best flight for you, perhaps a non-stop from Boston to the embarkation airport, will be allocated to another cruiser leaving from a secondary airport connecting to Boston for that non-stop flight, while you get assigned a flight that connects somewhere in Europe to that embarkation airport (e.g., Frankfurt or Heathrow), so that both of you have connections even though you could have had a non-stop and that other cruiser had to connect one way or another anyway.

[JimandStan]

It may very well be that the best flight for you, perhaps a non-stop from Boston to the embarkation airport, will be allocated to another cruiser leaving from a secondary airport connecting to Boston for that non-stop flight, while you get assigned a flight that connects somewhere in Europe to that embarkation airport (e.g., Frankfurt or Heathrow), so that both of you have connections even though you could have had a non-stop and that other cruiser had to connect one way or another anyway.

 

LOL, it may be, or it may not be, but it has long been my experience, since long before Oceania even existed, that the best way to ruin a vacation is to worry about other peoples airline arrangements.

 

Airline rules are quixotic, fares and schedules change with the wind, half of what you think that you know is conjecture anyway; there literally isn't ANY upside to doing it.

[crowpro]

We used Oceania Air on a South America cruise this year and was very happy with the flights. I think they do a pretty darn good job. Enjoy your cruise.

[ShopperfiendTO]

LOL, it may be, or it may not be, but it has long been my experience, since long before Oceania even existed, that the best way to ruin a vacation is to worry about other peoples airline arrangements.

 

Airline rules are quixotic, fares and schedules change with the wind, half of what you think that you know is conjecture anyway; there literally isn't ANY upside to doing it.

 

The OP was wondering if the air schedules would be reasonable or from hell.

 

You indicated because he/she is from a free gateway, the flights assigned would be more favorable ("you are slightly ahead of the game on that score").

 

I was simply advising the OP not to get his/her hopes up because the OP is not guaranteed a more favorable flight assignment just because he/she departs from an airport that is a free gateway.

 

I don't know what your "airline rules are quixotic..." diatribe refers to because unless the cruiser pays the deviation, the assignments are all done at the same time, so at that time everything would be the same for everyone, and some get dealt the short stick of flight assignments, even if they are from a free gateway.

 

The flight assignments are a gamble. If one is particular (not just wanting to get there early or leave later), better to pay for the deviation.

[corpkid]

WHEN do you finalize air arrangements? We are looking at Australia (Orlando - Sydney; Auckland - Orlando) Feb 2015. This is the first time we elected to use their airfare, but...

 

1) We want to arrive a few days earlier than embarkation in Sydney

2) We want to fly "premium economy"

3) In a perfect world we'd fly Quantas Premium Economy

 

Also, how do we find out what the credit would be if we went on our own? I recall we took the credit for Orlando - London (r/t) and it was pretty pathetic akin to $750 pp... We are looking at $3k pp for premium economy for the AUS/NZ flight on Quantas if we book outright.

[Paulchili]

WHEN do you finalize air arrangements? We are looking at Australia (Orlando - Sydney; Auckland - Orlando) Feb 2015. This is the first time we elected to use their airfare, but...

 

1) We want to arrive a few days earlier than embarkation in Sydney

2) We want to fly "premium economy"

3) In a perfect world we'd fly Quantas Premium Economy

 

Also, how do we find out what the credit would be if we went on our own? I recall we took the credit for Orlando - London (r/t) and it was pretty pathetic akin to $750 pp... We are looking at $3k pp for premium economy for the AUS/NZ flight on Quantas if we book outright.

 

A few things:

1) it's Qantas (no U) - Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service :)

2) Qantas no longer has direct flights from NZ to US - you'd have to backtrack to Sydney. Thus you would probably want to fly with Air New Zealand (or UA)

3) wouldn't count on an air credit anywhere near $3K

Good news - you'll love the cruise :)

Edited November 3, 2013 by Paulchili

[GJH123]

A couple of years ago we had booked a cruise from Tahiti to New Zealand using Oceania Air. Once receiving my locator number, I was able to go in and secure seat assignments on all the flights we were using with the exception of Qantas, those seats were to be assigned at the airport the day of the flight. So be sure to check the airlines' policy on upgrades if you purchase through Oceania and especially if your flight is considered a codeshare which may impact your flexibility of seat assignments. On all of our other cruises, since we are not in gateway city, the cost of the flight including deviation and supplemental fees and fares were comparable to what I could do independently. As an independent, I could book the better available seats much earlier.

[Mura]

I'm backtracking to the earlier question ... we usually book our own air, but we have ON OCCASION used the cruiseline's air. When we do, we take a deviation. Our experience with O's air (bearing in mind that we fly from NYC) has been excellent connections. (When we first sailed on Renaissance and heard the stories from passengers who'd used the cruise air -- they had absolutely nightmare connections. I've never encountered that with O.)

 

Would we if coming from a non-gateway city? Maybe.

 

When we did the Auckland-Sydney cruise in Jan '08 we flew first to L.A. and spent a few days with family. Then we flew in premium economy on Air New Zealand for a very reasonable fare. (Those were the best seats I've had on any airline.) When we returned, we spent a few more days in L.A. before returning to NY. There's no way I'd fly straight through to NZ or Australia from NYC!

 

Bear in mind that while O has a reasonable refund if you opt out of their "free" air - it used to be much better, I have to admit - if you want to upgrade to business, it's super expensive and not necessarily business all the way.

 

If you are flying over water, you'll be in business. But if you have a leg over land, you'll be in coach ... and for super premium prices. My personal experience has been that if I'm seeking business air fares I'm just about always better off booking my own -- UNLESS you are lucky enough to be on one of those cruises where they have deeply discounted bizair. But that doesn't happen often.

 

We are using O's bizair from London to NYC in June because we only need one-way fare, and that is very difficult to find on your own. For $2000 pp it's reasonable. But on our Nov/Dec 2013 cruise (flying to Barcelona and returning from Rio), we booked our own using FF miles.

 

Mura

[smwp]

we are using the deviation option and flying from knoxville, tn to sydney early and leaving 18 days after the end of the cruise. our connections are great!!!!

 

sandy

[TERRIER1]

WHEN do you finalize air arrangements? We are looking at Australia (Orlando - Sydney; Auckland - Orlando) Feb 2015. This is the first time we elected to use their airfare, but...

 

1) We want to arrive a few days earlier than embarkation in Sydney

2) We want to fly "premium economy"

3) In a perfect world we'd fly Quantas Premium Economy

 

Also, how do we find out what the credit would be if we went on our own? I recall we took the credit for Orlando - London (r/t) and it was pretty pathetic akin to $750 pp... We are looking at $3k pp for premium economy for the AUS/NZ flight on Quantas if we book outright.

 

I believe we on this first leg of the cruise with you guys. We are doing the Grand Voyage and the air credit is dismal at $1250 pp. We fly NYC to Sydney and return Papeeti to NYC. It's is too early to do a deviation or to even get airline quotes since it is more than 330 days out. I am looking at airfares in 2014 during February to get an idea of costs if I book versus O but I know they are not really representative since we are too far out.

 

When we went to Tahiti this past April we flew O air with a deviation. They flew us NYC to LA on American and then Air Tahiti Nui from LA to Papeeti. The deviation was $150pp plus $100 pp up charge for the air.

[alexspepa]

here is ours coming out of charlotte to Athens in may and returning from Istanbul, Charlotte to Munich to Athens - we are also checking to see if usair has something since that is a hub in Charlotte.

 

 

 

TUE 13MAY14 64P94T LH 0429 CHARLOTTE, NC 06:55P

WED 14MAY14 MUNICH, GERMANY 09:45A

WED 14MAY14 64P94T LH 5916 MUNICH, GERMANY 11:15A Aegean Airlines

WED 14MAY14 ATHENS, GREECE 02:45P

FRI 23MAY14 GZPTGL DL 0273 ISTANBUL, TURKEY 12:15P

FRI 23MAY14 NEW YORK, JOHN F KENNEDY 04:35P

FRI 23MAY14 GZPTGL DL 2945 NEW YORK, JOHN F KENNEDY 06:30P Endeavor Air Dba Delta Connection

FRI 23MAY14 CHARLOTTE, NC 08:56P

 

because we are going a day earlier and staying a day later the total deviation was $500 per couple - $150 deviation and $100 increase.

[smwp]

here is ours coming out of knoxville (and you can't get anywhere from here without too many connections). i think oceania did a great job!! $150 each deviation fee with no additional cost for flights.

 

Thursday

Feb 20

Knoxville, Tn

5:50 PM

 

Thursday

Feb 20

Dallas Ft. Worth

7:25 PM

 

Thursday

Feb 20

Dallas Ft. Worth

10:00 PM

 

Saturday

Feb 22

Brisbane, Australia

6:15 AM

 

Saturday

Feb 22

Brisbane, Australia

7:45 AM

 

Saturday

Feb 22

Sydney, Australia

10:20 AM

 

Friday

Mar 28

Auckland, New Zealand

7:30 PM

 

Friday

Mar 28

San Francisco, Ca

11:45 AM

 

Friday

Mar 28

San Francisco, Ca

1:30 PM

 

Friday

Mar 28

Chicago, Il

7:37 PM

 

Friday

Mar 28

Chicago, Il

9:00 PM

 

Friday

Mar 28

Knoxville, Tn

11:27 PM

Edited November 5, 2013 by smwp
too many spaces!

[sitraveler]

We've generally been quite pleased with O's travel arrangements. We were going Barcelona to Istanbul and at EWR found another couple on the same cruise with O arrangements.

 

We were scheduled EWR to Germany - Germany to BCN. They were scheduled non stop.

 

They were scheduled Istanbul to London, London to EWR. We were nonstop return.

[GeorgesGal]

Does anyone know if British Air is one of the airlines O contracts with? I'm looking at flights MIA/Monte Carlo, LHR/MIA for a Sept 6 sailing on board Insignia.

 

Thanks.

[forshping]

You can request the deviation at 270 days out

I usually research what flights I want & see what O will give me with no upcharge

 

Then go from there

 

 

We will be flying from SFO in Nov. 2014 to Rio. For the return back to SFO, we will be departing Buenos Aires. I've been researching airlines and schedules and United will fly us to Houston and the to Rio; there are various flight times to choose from. However, their flights leaving Buenos Aires do not depart until around midnight. Is it possible when paying for air deviation to ask Oceania to book us on two different airlines, one outbound and a different one for the return? Many thanks.........

[Paulchili]

We will be flying from SFO in Nov. 2014 to Rio. For the return back to SFO, we will be departing Buenos Aires. I've been researching airlines and schedules and United will fly us to Houston and the to Rio; there are various flight times to choose from. However, their flights leaving Buenos Aires do not depart until around midnight. Is it possible when paying for air deviation to ask Oceania to book us on two different airlines, one outbound and a different one for the return? Many thanks.........

 

Although I always fly for miles, I believe that not only is it possible but it is done commonly. Others will correct me if I am wrong.

I also believe that most flights from B.A. to US leave late in the day (the only notable exception is an AA flight around 11 AM via Miami).

[LAexNY]

We will be flying from SFO in Nov. 2014 to Rio. For the return back to SFO, we will be departing Buenos Aires. I've been researching airlines and schedules and United will fly us to Houston and the to Rio; there are various flight times to choose from. However, their flights leaving Buenos Aires do not depart until around midnight. Is it possible when paying for air deviation to ask Oceania to book us on two different airlines, one outbound and a different one for the return? Many thanks.........

 

Yes, it is possible and we have done it.

We used O air for our Australia-New Zealand cruise. We flew United non-stop LAX-Sydney and Air N.Z. non-stop Auckland-LAX.

[Michael@ssrp]

Yes you can. Indeed we have done so out of SFO. We did AA via Dallas to BA and home on US Air out of GIG/Rio via Charlotte. US Air was actually quite nice... we were pleasantly surprised. None of the UA schedules worked for us....