Air ticketing on Oceania

[Pirouette]

We have booked our third cruise on Oceania, the second within the last 6 months. We always fly early to the departure destination and pay a deviation fee. We have not had any problem with previous flight arrangements but this time I am concerned. We made our final payment in November for a cruise leaving in February. We approved and paid for the deviation. We were provided with our booking reference and flight details on Air Canada. I tried to access the booking today to add our frequent flyer numbers and deal with seat selection but the Air Canada website could not find the booking reference. I called our TA and she had the same issues when she tried to access the booking. She did some investigating and spoke with the airline. Apparently O has not yet had the flight ticketed and we are just over 45 days from departure. I find this odd. The longer O waits to pay for the ticket, fewer desirable seats will be available. As it stands, O has requested dreaded middle seats on each of our flights. The TA is trying to fix things but the O air department is closed for the weekend. I assumed (wrongly) that because this was a spur of the moment booking by us in mid November, that flights would be ticketed upon receipt of final payment. They have had our money since November 22nd. I recall an earlier thread where O unilaterally cancelled disclosed flight arrangements and booked different and less convenient flights last minute. Those passengers were stuck with the few remaining seats left on those flights due to the late booking. I do not want this to happen to us. Any thoughts?

[LHT28]

I had the same problem

I called AC to add our AEROPLAN numbers but no go on the seats

I ended up getting seats when I checked in online

Some phone agents are nice & will let you change the seats

 

 

 

I booked my own flights in Nov to FLL but because I booked the Tango fare I had to wait to get seats ..ended up paying $40 pp for Preferred seats at check in just so we could sit together ..that was my own fault for trying to save a few $$ :o

Edited January 3, 2015 by LHT28

[StanandJim]

We have booked our third cruise on Oceania, the second within the last 6 months. We always fly early to the departure destination and pay a deviation fee. We have not had any problem with previous flight arrangements but this time I am concerned. We made our final payment in November for a cruise leaving in February. We approved and paid for the deviation. We were provided with our booking reference and flight details on Air Canada. I tried to access the booking today to add our frequent flyer numbers and deal with seat selection but the Air Canada website could not find the booking reference. I called our TA and she had the same issues when she tried to access the booking. She did some investigating and spoke with the airline. Apparently O has not yet had the flight ticketed and we are just over 45 days from departure. I find this odd. The longer O waits to pay for the ticket, fewer desirable seats will be available. As it stands, O has requested dreaded middle seats on each of our flights. The TA is trying to fix things but the O air department is closed for the weekend. I assumed (wrongly) that because this was a spur of the moment booking by us in mid November, that flights would be ticketed upon receipt of final payment. They have had our money since November 22nd. I recall an earlier thread where O unilaterally cancelled disclosed flight arrangements and booked different and less convenient flights last minute. Those passengers were stuck with the few remaining seats left on those flights due to the late booking. I do not want this to happen to us. Any thoughts?

 

Because you purchased the Deviation, you could have asked to be ticketed as early as when your cruise was paid in full, otherwise, they ticket at "about" thirty days out.

 

If you make the request now, they will accelerate the process and buy the tickets immediately.

[sitraveler]

I have booked on Air Canada myself and could not get seat assignment until airport check in.

Now I have tickets through Viking, I paid in 2013, and am unable to get seats. Let me know how you make out.

 

Thanks

[MVPinBoynton]

We used deviation for our upcoming China/Asia cruise. We picked out the flights 6 months before the flight and were able to select seats on United. We were thrilled, since it is a loooooong flight.

 

Unfortunately, we just got a change on our flights to Chicago and there is only 53 minutes between arrival and departure. :eek: We originally had 3 hours. Hopefully they can fix. O deviation service has been great for us so far.

[Mura]

When we flew to Beijing from NYC for our Viking China cruise in 2008 we originally had a whole hour between flights in Vancouver but our flight left JFK about two hours late (they needed to have an engine inspected and there was no one available to do it until they brought someone over from LaGuardia to do it). Obviously we missed our flight in Vancouver ... fortunately there was space on an Air China flight that waited for us to get there -- at the totally opposite end of the airport.

 

Mura

[MVPinBoynton]

When we flew to Beijing from NYC for our Viking China cruise in 2008 we originally had a whole hour between flights in Vancouver but our flight left JFK about two hours late (they needed to have an engine inspected and there was no one available to do it until they brought someone over from LaGuardia to do it). Obviously we missed our flight in Vancouver ... fortunately there was space on an Air China flight that waited for us to get there -- at the totally opposite end of the airport.

 

Mura

 

That is what I am worrying about. I hope O can change the flight.

[rallydave]

I regards to the OP's initial post, believe the responses so far have missed the point of the OP!!

 

The OP booked, paid the deviation fee and then made full payment however the airline does not show the confirmation number that was provided by O. Talking about not being ticketed has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the confirmation number provided is apparently non-existent.

 

Once the booking is made, the confirmation number is available on the airlines system and depending on the airline, the customer may or may not be able to choose seats, etc. Ticketing can come later depending on the agreement between O and the airline however, a reservation should be in the airlines computer system.

 

The missing confirmation number is of concern and potentially means the OP might not really be on that flight. While getting good seats is a concern, not being on the flight at all is a much bigger concern especially since the OP paid the deviation fee for this service and also is fully paid.

 

Have thought in the past Jim and Stan have stated that flights are booked once the deviation is approved and the fee paid. Now they are playing word games regarding ticketing or not and ignoring the OP's concern.

 

No reason I can think of why the confirmation number is not in the airlines system other than the flight has not yet been booked which should have occurred once the deviation fee was paid back in November.

 

Certainly hope the OP has seats on the agreed to flight and good ones at that.

[LHT28]

I have booked on Air Canada myself and could not get seat assignment until airport check in.

Now I have tickets through Viking, I paid in 2013, and am unable to get seats. Let me know how you make out.

 

Thanks

Lou

Can you not buy seats now?

When I booked my AC flights I could buy seats but decided to wait ...wrong move as the flight was overbooked :eek:

[pinotlover]

O could have just given the OP the wrong booking number by mistake. The airlines will require O to give them a final head count 60 days before the flight. O will have to pay for the flight and provide the names of the passengers by 30 days before flight. Final Seat assignments are not made until payment is made to the airlines. At 45 days out, it is very possible that O has not provided the OP's name to the airlines, but only has a seat held.

 

However, if one flies on a deviation, as part of that deviation, and any other costs thereof, the cruiser can typically get a seat assignment, at time booking, if they ask, depending upon the airlines.

 

Seat assignments are becoming very snarky issues with the airlines for a multitude of reasons, particularly on international flights.

 

My last O arranged air was via a deviation on United. I ensured that O had my United ff# upfront. O did book my deviation with my FF #, at the time of cruise booking and payment. Since I was in the system, I immediately got an email from United confirming my flights and seats. However, even with status, (which I didn't understand) United would not allow me to change seats, or even buy upgrades. Everything had to come through O air. I did get the seats agreed to with the deviation.

[LHT28]

There are 2 booking numbers one is for the PNR of Oceania & when you go to Virtually There website you see the airline booking number which is different

 

You could ask your TA for the airline res #

 

Since we have 2 different airlines we are using (with deviation) I have 4 different numbers ;)

1 is all numerical that is the cruise booking number then you have alpha number for Oceania air PNR

then the airline alpha numeric res number

Make sure you have a 6 digit alpha/numeric code you are using for the airline ..it is a bit confusing

Edited January 4, 2015 by LHT28

[arima22]

Could it be that booking was with a partner airline? When I book through AA but flight is actually Alaska there is the AA number and the Alaska number- you can do certain things with one number but not seats, etc.

 

Also, seat assignment policy is different on CA and BA vs. Delta as example.

I did a deviation for July 2015 cruise at the beginning of Dec. 2014- requesting Delta with early arrival in UK and a delayed departure. Delta seats were assigned at that time- and good seats for the class. However, if I want to upgrade I have to wait until final payment is made, then request that Oceania buy the tickets immediately- 90 days out, not wait until 45 days or whatever is normal. This worked fine on our August 2014 cruise flights.