Regent Air to Cape Town

[penfriend]

Does anyone know what airlines and routings Regent uses to fly passengers from Toronto/Montreal to Cape Town? I have just noticed that the journey can take three calendar days from start to finish with long stop-overs in Europe. This appears to be the case with AC, BA and Lufthansa.Flying out of New York may change the picture. Anyone?

penfriend

[FlyerTalker]

Past air contracts have little bearing on what you may receive in the future. With cruiseline provided air, you may have a non-stop routing or one with multiple stops, depending on what inventory the cruiiseline has negotiated/contracted for.

 

For an excellent description of cruiseline air, you might want to go to the Cruise Air forum here at CC and read the sticky at the top of the forum.

[Travelcat2]

Not sure what the last post is about but I can tell you that we just went through routing from Vancouver to Cape Town and ended up changing our departure city to Seattle (the first time we had to do that in several years). Really suggest that you get your TA involved in learning your options for these flights. Alternatively, give Regent Air call and they will try to help.

[FlyerTalker]

Not sure what the last post is about.

It's about the realities of cruiseline provided air. How past arrangements have no bearing on what is currently offered. How even if one passenger gets a particular routing, there may or may not be the same availability for others. And about how your routing and airline may range from excellent to "over the river and through the woods", depending on what the cruiseline has previously negotiated.

 

Sufficient explanation?

[Travelcat2]

Yes -- have understood that for a long time. However, there is a pattern, based on current contracts, that Regent does follow. For instance, Regent Air indicated (in writing) that British Airlines is contracted in the U.S. in 2015 (this is not the case every year). Therefore, if someone else is flying Seattle to Cape Town and is a little less than 270 days out, there is a good chance that they could deviate (as we did) and get flights on BA.

 

For years posters suggested that there is higher than normal probability that flights from major cities in the U.S. to Europe would be put on Lufthansa. It was a pretty safe bet (no longer the case -- now you would likely be on KLM).

 

You have far much more expertise in this area than I do. However, when a group of people (typically on Roll Call) approach the 270 day mark and plan to deviate, we share a lot of information and, for that short period of time, have fairly good information.

 

Some posters do find it helpful to know what other people have been booked on through Regent Air - with and without deviation. Nothing is for certain-- we can always hope for certain flights. Plus, with additional $$$, you sometimes get exactly what you want (not in our case for Cape Town however - tho it was perfect last time). :)

[newlondon]

penfriend, DW and I were not able to get on the Mariner CPT/CPT so we switched to Oceania, leaving the same day and doing the same ports. Since the upgrade to business was quite expensive we did our own on Emirates out of BOS. We were able to get Business saver fares round trip on 11/20 returning from Joberg 12/13 for $5550 pp. This was less than the upgrade and we got an air credit into the bargain. I see you are in Ottawa, not too far from Boston. You might want to at least see if that option is available:D

[PaulaJK]

and Emirates Air does a fabulous job in flight!

[Travelcat2]

penfriend, DW and I were not able to get on the Mariner CPT/CPT so we switched to Oceania, leaving the same day and doing the same ports. Since the upgrade to business was quite expensive we did our own on Emirates out of BOS. We were able to get Business saver fares round trip on 11/20 returning from Joberg 12/13 for $5550 pp. This was less than the upgrade and we got an air credit into the bargain. I see you are in Ottawa, not too far from Boston. You might want to at least see if that option is available:D

 

Out of curiosity, how long is your layover in Dubai? We could have opted for Emirates through Regent but the layover in Dubai was extremely long.

[newlondon]

We had a choice and opted for 8 hrs in each direction. Does not bother us at all. Could have done 3 hrs each way and turned it down. We expect to enjoy good food and also to take a shower in their super bc lounge. No desire to be OJ Simpson or to worry about it.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

We booked our own flights for the CPT - CPT cruise and are flying IAD - CPT with one change in Johannesburg. Layover is about one and a half hours. Did it with United mileage. Flying South African Airlines. They have been delightful to deal with.

[alidor]

Bellagio - my husband and I might be on the same flight as yours. What day are you leaving? We are leaving on the 17th.

[newlondon]

Bellagio and alidor, You guys may be the bravest fliers I know. 1.5 hrs after a flight of that length? I wouldn't be able to enjoy my wine or lie flat seat. At least you are going with the wind. Wouldn't even consider it in the other direction:eek:

[RachelG]

We are not going on a cruise, but are going to CPT on safari in May. Using Qatar Airline business class from Tulsa was approx $5000 pp. And you get AA miles. QA business class is excellent, probably the best I have flown, so you might check on that as a possibility as well.

[newlondon]

Rachel, Very similar price. Qatar, however, at this time does not fly out of Boston. We certainly thought about it as their bc has a great rep.

[mbpaul]

Our travel agent has been working on Regent flights to Cape Town for a group of about 20 mostly from Albuquerque but a few from Phoenix. She says Regent has offered a different option for most every couple. We probably won't be flying with our friends! Most any airline you can think of--BA, Lufthansa, Delta and a few more. Our particular flights are mostly Lufthansa going to Cape Town, mostly Delta on the return. With this in mind, I think it is not easy to predict what they might do for any particular customer.

[pingpong1]

mbpaul - Thanks for the clarity. I think your experience with the flight options/choices of your group are exactly as FlyerTalker was trying to get across in his posts of March 2 & 3.... specifically, that various couples flying to/from the same place (even on the same day and from the same origination point) are presented with different options/selections.

 

As financial planners always tell us....."past performance is no indicator of future results". Regards.

[Travelcat2]

mbpaul - Thanks for the clarity. I think your experience with the flight options/choices of your group are exactly as FlyerTalker was trying to get across in his posts of March 2 & 3.... specifically, that various couples flying to/from the same place (even on the same day and from the same origination point) are presented with different options/selections.

 

As financial planners always tell us....."past performance is no indicator of future results". Regards.

 

Just wanted to comment that this has not been our experience.