A Good Reason to Choose O-Life Air

[jimdee3636]

My wife and I just completed a 14-night transatlantic on the Marina (Barcelona to Miami). It was a great cruise in every respect, until we arrived at the Miami airport on Sunday, December 17 for our flights home (Miami to Atlanta, Atlanta to Tucson, both on Delta) and heard about the power-outage chaos going on at the Atlanta airport that eventually resulted in both of our flights being cancelled.

 

Delta was not too helpful. The best re-booking option they could offer us was for Tuesday, December 19 (two days later), with a ridiculous routing that went through Minneapolis. Then we remembered that, because we booked our air arrangements through Oceania, there was an after-hours hotline we could call in the event of flight cancellations or other airline problems. We called them, and 45 minutes later we were re-booked for the following morning on American Airlines flights to DFW and on to Tucson. We arrived at our home, with our luggage, at 1:00PM on Monday the 18th.

 

I'm not saying it always makes sense to use O-Life Air, but it sure did this time. Congratulations to them for making a difficult situation a lot less stressful.

[Paulchili]

I am glad it worked out for you.

However, just to clarify for those that are new to Oceania - there is no such thing as O Life air.

O Life and Oceania air are separate issues and one can choose either without the other.

[LHT28]

Glad it worked out ..sounds like it was a nightmare at ATL

 

I agree with Paul

O Life perks has no relationship to the air dept

[jimdee3636]

I stand corrected. I was confusing Oceania's air arrangements with those of Silversea and HAL, in which you pay separately if you want the cruise line to make the air arrangements for you.

[LHT28]

I stand corrected. I was confusing Oceania's air arrangements with those of Silversea and HAL, in which you pay separately if you want the cruise line to make the air arrangements for you.

:confused:

 

So you booked your own air ?

You used the included air from Oceania? (BTW you do pay for that in the cruise fare)

[grmmybtty]

I think that the OP chose the included air option. It is helpful in case of unforeseen events. On a Med cruise returning from Venus, Lufthansa went on strike. The Oceania rep made all the changes for the cruise passengers. Again on another cruise, the Regatta was 5 hours late coming into San Francisco. Those passengers with Oceania flights were rebooked on later flights, those passengers who made their own bookings had to change them and then get their travel insurance company to compensate them for the changes (if they bought travel insurance or had credit card coverage).

 

 

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[Paulchili]

Just to be clear - sometimes the O air works out well - like in cases of cancelled/delayed flights above but other times one can do better with your own flights with fewer and better connections and better times.

So - sometimes you win with O flights, other times you don't.

To each their own.

[buggins0402]

For our next cruise we took the air compensation for our way there. It allows us to go to the embarkation city a few days early without paying the deviation. But, we decided to use O air for the return, since the cruise will be an east coast cruise during hurricane season. If the ship is late, I’d rather O handle it.

 

It did work better not to have O air on a cruise that was cut short by 5 days. We were able to finish our vacation in Miami, while everyone with O air was sent back home early.

[edgee]

We rarely use Oceania air, but it often makes sense financially for transatlantic fares. Oceania offers one way across the pond fares for 1/2 of RT in most cases. Rarely can you purchase one way fares on your own as inexpensively.

[jo-b]

I think that the OP chose the included air option. It is helpful in case of unforeseen events. On a Med cruise returning from Venus, Lufthansa went on strike. The Oceania rep made all the changes for the cruise passengers. Again on another cruise, the Regatta was 5 hours late coming into San Francisco. Those passengers with Oceania flights were rebooked on later flights, those passengers who made their own bookings had to change them and then get their travel insurance company to compensate them for the changes (if they bought travel insurance or had credit card coverage).

 

 

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Wow that's a new port for us!! ;)

[cswhistler]

We almost always take O air, living in BC Canada airfares are usually higher than in USA

one occasion ships departure from Barcelona- due to Spanish local strikes O flew us in a day early (would have missed cruise otherwise as Frankfurt connections required work stoppage at BCN airport ) O arranged two days prior to fly us in early no extra charge, no trouble

another time we were able to take advantage of an O offer to change to a longer cruise, they took care of all changes

another re arranged flight was to Valparaiso during the earthquake a few years ago, rerouted through Lima in case we couldn't go further (some passengers chose to get on there, we went on and were looked after fabulously deplaneing on tarmac as building not safe) O reps took excellent care of us, while ship stood by out at sea

As we have gold club status we no longer pay deviation fees which certainly helps for an early arrival with no cost in most cases.

[grmmybtty]

Wow that's a new port for us!! ;)

 

 

 

I blame autocorrect on that. I meant Venice.

 

 

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[Flatbush Flyer]

My wife and I just completed a 14-night transatlantic on the Marina (Barcelona to Miami). It was a great cruise in every respect, until we arrived at the Miami airport on Sunday, December 17 for our flights home (Miami to Atlanta, Atlanta to Tucson, both on Delta) and heard about the power-outage chaos going on at the Atlanta airport that eventually resulted in both of our flights being cancelled.

 

 

 

Delta was not too helpful. The best re-booking option they could offer us was for Tuesday, December 19 (two days later), with a ridiculous routing that went through Minneapolis. Then we remembered that, because we booked our air arrangements through Oceania, there was an after-hours hotline we could call in the event of flight cancellations or other airline problems. We called them, and 45 minutes later we were re-booked for the following morning on American Airlines flights to DFW and on to Tucson. We arrived at our home, with our luggage, at 1:00PM on Monday the 18th.

 

 

 

I'm not saying it always makes sense to use O-Life Air, but it sure did this time. Congratulations to them for making a difficult situation a lot less stressful.

 

 

 

There was another rebooking option had you made your own flight arrangements:

Due to your flights being cancelled, you could've asked Delta to assign your ticket to a Sky Team Alliance partner airline flying a different route. There would've been no additional charge.

 

 

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[edgee]

There was another rebooking option had you made your own flight arrangements:

Due to your flights being cancelled, you could've asked Delta to assign your ticket to a Sky Team Alliance partner airline flying a different route. There would've been no additional charge.

 

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No Skyteam airlines fly domestic routes other than Delta so I do not believe your suggestion would have worked.

[Flatbush Flyer]

No Skyteam airlines fly domestic routes other than Delta so I do not believe your suggestion would have worked.

 

 

 

Though a touch more difficult in negotiating, it could be assigned to a non-partner airline. Biggest issue is who was responsible for the problem.

 

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

Wow that's a new port for us!! ;)

Women are from Venice, Men are from Venus. :D