Question/Frustration with Oceania Air Deviation

[rallydave]

I am flying home on United from Newark to Cincinnati. That leg of my trip is not international.

 

According to your countdown clocks you will be coming home from Europe after your Baltic trip and the domestic portion of an International trip is booked based on an International Contract so while you are traveling the last leg within the US, you will be on an International trip thus the lack of a domestic contract does not affect you.

[spindrift]

Even on Regent, we requested a deviation Houston direct to Amsterdam (multiple flights), and they said they didn't have the seats and we had to fly Detroit to Amsterdam and then on to Cape Town. I'm very disappointed as we made these reservations a long, long time ago. O & R are the same company, basically. they give you what they want

 

Often we do our own air, but because of the length of this trip, we went through Regent. I am very, very disappointed, and I will have to be exceptionally pleased with this trip before I book them again. time will tell. We are 75 and 81, and they are making the beginning of our long trip very, very difficult for us.

 

Good luck to you all who get the air you want, or at least reasonable air.

[kimanjo]

Even on Regent, we requested a deviation Houston direct to Amsterdam (multiple flights), and they said they didn't have the seats and we had to fly Detroit to Amsterdam and then on to Cape Town. I'm very disappointed as we made these reservations a long, long time ago. O & R are the same company, basically. they give you what they want

 

Often we do our own air, but because of the length of this trip, we went through Regent. I am very, very disappointed, and I will have to be exceptionally pleased with this trip before I book them again. time will tell. We are 75 and 81, and they are making the beginning of our long trip very, very difficult for us.

 

Good luck to you all who get the air you want, or at least reasonable air.

 

 

1. How long ago did you book the cruise?

 

2. When is the cruise?

 

3. Are you now just booking the air?

 

The reason I ask is that this year I am booking O's air for the first time. I always do my own air. BUT, this year, even with additional fees (deviation & gateway), I saved between 600-800 PER PERSON on my flights using O's air.

 

I didn't get perfect flights (there are no non-stop flights to Europe from Memphis), but I got perfectly reasonable flights as far as whats available for USA-EUR in June.

 

What I did do, is take the advice of MANY people and book as soon as the window opened. 270 days out from date of departure.

 

I would assume the closer in to the date of the departure, the fewer air choices??

[Travelcat2]

As a follow-up to my previous post, I learned that Regent has signed contracts with British Airways but not American (yet). Assuming that this affects both Oceania and Regent - but not 100% certain.

[spindrift]

kimanjo, the cruise was booked a year ago, and it is Cape Town to Singapore. The cruise was booked to include air.

[Jancruz]

I checked with Oceania Air staff regarding when United Airline domestic contracts for 2015 would be finalized. I was told that it is entirely possible that Oceania will not be signing any contracts for domestic air for the coming year with United, as Oceania already has all of the domestic air contracts they need.

 

I dont know who you talked to but this is apparently incorrect...I spoke to my friend in the air department and she told me they constantly review their air agreements and look for reputable carriers that will provide them the volume based on their itineraries for any given season. So they are always getting new space..

Jancruz1

Edited November 6, 2014 by Jancruz

[pinotlover]

Travelcat2;

 

It sounds amazing that they don't have a deal with American. I did my own travel early, going to AU, because all the PE seats were disappearing at 330 days out. However, a lot of people on our cruise seem to be booked on Quantas. I just seems illogical that Regent or O would not put them on a Oneworld partner for the US leg. So, if they aren't using American or United, who are they using? Just Delta, USAirways is now American.

 

Moral of the story for me is, this AU/NZ cruise in Feb will be our only ocean cruise (we're doing a river cruise in Sep) for 2015. We are planning an O cruise for 2016. I just hope that after NCL takes over the system, a bit of logic is restored. We have acquaintances going on our cruise that took the cheap way out with O air. They are being flown from Nashville to JFK, then JFK to LAX. This is an all day event and then they get on the 14+ hour flight to Sydney! :eek:

[Travelcat2]

pinotlover: It is probably good that you did your own air to Australia. As you know, it is one heck of a long trip. Earlier this year we did non-stop from Sydney to Vancouver (close to 15 hours).

 

The way my TA sounded was as if the American contract would be signed soon. I really doubt if they would drop American Airlines unless they raised their prices dramatically. Our TA also indicated that they are not contacted by Oceania or Regent when the contracts are signed. They need to contact the air departments and ask. So, if any of you are waiting, suggest you contact your TA's to find out the latest.

 

I understand that many people are hoping that NCL will improve things on Oceania and Regent. Some of us are hoping that "we" are just left alone. In terms of flights, to my knowledge, NCL does not offer included air to their passengers and would therefore know less than our current air department. Anything they did know would probably be for the lowest possible level of air transportation (just my opinion but look at the cost of their cruises compared to Oceania -- many of their passengers seem to just want whatever is the cheapest).

 

I'll check with our TA in early December and will ask him to check on the American contract. We are flying them to Rio in April.

 

Hope you have a great cruise "down under":)

[edgee]

Quick update…I am likely to go with United coach for Transatlantic London to Dulles, but before accepting it, I asked for prices on premium economy from Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. Virgin proposal came through at too high a price, so I asked about British Airways World Traveler Plus. Oceania air just told my TA to wait before submitting deviation request on British Airways. While they do not have any contracts yet, they should be forthcoming in the next month or so. They suggested that I wait until January to submit deviation request on BA for our May sailing.

[TERRIER1]

Travelcat2;

 

 

 

Moral of the story for me is, this AU/NZ cruise in Feb will be our only ocean cruise (we're doing a river cruise in Sep) for 2015. We are planning an O cruise for 2016. I just hope that after NCL takes over the system, a bit of logic is restored. We have acquaintances going on our cruise that took the cheap way out with O air. They are being flown from Nashville to JFK, then JFK to LAX. This is an all day event and then they get on the 14+ hour flight to Sydney! :eek:

 

We are on this cruise and used O air since I couldn't come close to airfare credit that O would have given us. I gave them the flights I wanted and we got them with no up charge other than the deviation fee. We are Qantas from NYC to LAX and LAX to Sydney. We fly home from Tahiti and are on ATN to LAX and Delta from LAX to NYC. We were given our flights awhile ago.

Edited November 7, 2014 by TERRIER1