I wish Regent offered upgradable flights in N. America.

[Dolebludger]

Those of us who live in the middle of N. America have a problem with those “free” flight legs that are not intercontinental. They can’t be upgraded for points or cash. And the credit we get for  not taking them is “beer money” and that is about what they are worth as they are basic ecinomy. Now what person who pays for Regent wants to fly basic economy? Not for even 10 miles! For many of us basic economy is just not doable. Passenger space is getting really cramped, shrinking every month. And in the “main cabin” restrooms have been reduced to one for 100 to 200 passengers. Not upgradable in any way. I think intracontinental “free” flights provided by Regent mood at least to be in an upgradable ticket class. What do you think?

[Travelcat2]

It is already upgradable (we have done it) but you will pay more than if you booked it yourself!

 

Most U.S. based airlines have tiny First Class/Business Class sections and likely could not accommodate Regent passengers (if Regent could even get a contract with them in the U.S. which is questionable).

 

We fly international carriers and make sure that we have no stops in the U.S.  If we have to fly to Miami, we just have to pay the piper or use credit card points which limits our choices.  

 

 

[Dolebludger]

Yes, most US airlines have tiny business/first seating, and it is usually no more spacious than “coach” was in the 80s. I feel that Regent should at least book us US flights that can be upgraded for less than starting from scratch. Such “economy” ticket categories do exist, as I have upgraded on them before. At least to economy plus, hopefully with enough leg room to not kill you! If Regent alone can’t make a decent deal with US airlines, maybe they could team up with other lux lines and negotiate as a group. More bargaining power that way. And US airlines certainly deserve to have a group come up against them with heightened bargaining power. 

[wcsdkqh]

Perhaps you are using the wrong airline.  In every case of booking air travel thru Regent for multiple cruises over the past 8 years, and deviating at the 270 day mark, all domestic segments between BHM and ATL or JFK were first class.  Of course, in the deviation process, I specified all Delta or one of their partner carriers (KLM or AirFrance). Whether this was a result of booking Delta or simply the stars being aligned, I am not sure. Obviously, if the travel only involved domestic flights, then that would be different, and it would be nice to have the ability to upgrade.  I have no experience with cruises that involved only domestic flights so am not aware of what upgrades may or may not be available.  I am booked on the Splendor SanDiego -> Miami cruise next Spring that will only involve domestic flights, and would envision me taking the paltry $300 credit, and book my own first class travel.

[Dolebludger]

Well, yes, when we used Regent air from Lima, Peru there was a direct TRUE FIRST CLASS  Delta from Lima to Denver, and we were on it with no problem and it was great.As I understand it, if a flight  goes to or comes from another continent, but still goes far into N America, it will be first class. What I’m talking about here are flights to cruises that have ports totally in N America. Like a New England cruise, or an Alaska cruise. For these, non-upgradable economy class is all that is “free”, and it is worthless to us. 

We are old and have just about stopped cruising. At first I thought it was the prices on good cruises these days. Wrong! It is that air travel is actually making us sick and hurting. So we need the best class of seating that can be had for our routing.. For cruises with N American departure and return ports, this makes Regent’s advertised “free”air totally worthless to us. You see, Denver is one of our “gateway” airports here in Durango, Co — as is Dallas. For us, we understand that air from the Gateway airport to home is on us, but is a very short class in what they call first class, but isn’t really. 

 

Now, I read elsewhere on this board that the average age of Regent guests is 70. If true, very few of that age or above can stand basic economy air for very long. I am a few years older, so if Regent advertises “free” air that I cannot use or reasonably upgrade for some rather long US flight legs, it makes me feel like staying home.

[Travelcat2]

12 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes, most US airlines have tiny business/first seating, and it is usually no more spacious than “coach” was in the 80s. I feel that Regent should at least book us US flights that can be upgraded for less than starting from scratch. Such “economy” ticket categories do exist, as I have upgraded on them before. At least to economy plus, hopefully with enough leg room to not kill you! If Regent alone can’t make a decent deal with US airlines, maybe they could team up with other lux lines and negotiate as a group. More bargaining power that way. And US airlines certainly deserve to have a group come up against them with heightened bargaining power. 

 

Good ideas but........ if there are not enough First/Business Class seats, how would having a larger group with bargaining power help?  Most importantly, to my knowledge, Regent is the only "lux line" that includes any air.

[Dolebludger]

Airlines have various classes of "economy" these days, including some that have more space. Some of these would be acceptable to us for short domestic flight legs. But our experience has been that with the basic economy Regent provides on these flights, we can't even upgrade to these. 

 

Airlines have "dug their own grave" by making some classes of economy seating cramped and unbearable. This has increased the demand for more space, So like many travelers to Regent, I need my "basic economy " to be upgradable to something (anything) better. It is true that airlines don't have sufficient first/business seating and need to add more to respond to the market. But even now, if I am booking my own flights far enough in advance, I have little problem getting business/first.

[Travelcat2]

I would check with your TA.  Someone recently said that they were able to upgrade to Economy Plus (or whatever it is called).  It may be possible.  In the meantime, we all should be thankful that Regent has air included - whether we use it or not.  We were going to take a cruise on Oceania, however, after adding Business Class air, we could have come on Regent.

 

 

[LynnRuns]

It was a couple of years ago, but we were able to upgrade our flights to Alaska on United.

[poss]

LynnRuns (or anyone):  Do you remember exactly how that upgrade happened?

We'd like to do another Alaska cruise (esp. while Mariner is still there), but my husband (89) has mucho trouble in economy seats, and I, at a mere 75, but with a bad back, have trouble also.   Just can't manage economy anymore.   (And the flight for us from Miami would be about the length of flying to London.) 

[LynnRuns]

33 minutes ago, poss said:

LynnRuns (or anyone):  Do you remember exactly how that upgrade happened?

We'd like to do another Alaska cruise (esp. while Mariner is still there), but my husband (89) has mucho trouble in economy seats, and I, at a mere 75, but with a bad back, have trouble also.   Just can't manage economy anymore.   (And the flight for us from Miami would be about the length of flying to London.) 

Once Regent booked the flight, it showed up in my United account and I was able to select an upgrade for each leg. Perhaps it is because I have high elite status on United, but I thought anyone could upgrade.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

For us it's the price of travel.  Yes, air travel is getting increasingly difficult--one of the reasons we booked a world cruise.

 

Within N.A. we just take the credit and book business using ff points.  If we arrange our cruise payments so that the rewards feed into ff points for our favoured carriers, then we can usually swing it.  And if it's three hours or less, we will put up with Economy.

[Travelcat2]

Since an answer is not forthcoming, I did a search and found the answer - from Jason O'Keefe.  See post #10 on this thread https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2610536-quick-air-question/?tab=comments#comment-56259304

 

[Gray Eagle02]

I’m confused. We have been cruising on Regent Ships since 2012.  We have always travelled first class to the gateway airport, usually JFK. Yes, we pay for it but it is always booked through Regent air. I’m just too old to fight for overhead space and my husband is 6’2” and is really crammed in economy. 

[Travelcat2]

5 minutes ago, Gray Eagle02 said:

I’m confused. We have been cruising on Regent Ships since 2012.  We have always travelled first class to the gateway airport, usually JFK. Yes, we pay for it but it is always booked through Regent air. I’m just too old to fight for overhead space and my husband is 6’2” and is really crammed in economy. 

 

Have you ever checked what it would cost you to fly First Class to JFK if you paid for it on your own rather than booking through Regent?  We paid to book through Regent once but but now book it on our own for less money.

[Dolebludger]

Booking your own domestic air legs and taking a credit from Regent always works, except for one thing. We find that the credit is less than the cost of basic economy. And if one loses ground transfers for just booking one domestic leg, it really becomes a bad thing for the guest. Much worse than if the guest could simply pay the airline an upgrade charge (if the upgrade is available).

[Gray Eagle02]

I haven’t booked on my own domestic leg because I was under the impression the flights had to be booked together for the entire booking to be linked. Additionally, if Regent books the flights they are responsible if problems occur. I booked my flights to Paris for a Uniworld cruise and the flight was cancelled. I learned from this experience to let the tour company book the flights and if problems occur they will rebook the flight. The alternative is that I spend many hours on the phone trying to clear up the mess. On a recent Tauck tour our tour had to be aborted. Tauck arranged our flights and with the assistance of our TA our flights were changed quickly. Those clients who booked their own flights had tremendous problems; some were delayed in Germany for days. This was particularly true of passengers who used their miles to book flights. One couple used miles to book business class seats and to get home after the tour was aborted  they had to cough up $2000.00 to fly economy. Trying to book last minuted business class tickets, or even economy tickets, can be very expensive.   I will always allow the tour company to book our flights. For me, at least, saving the money  by booking my own flights is a false economy.

[Travelcat2]

In my opinion, it is better to book with Regent for the reasons mentioned in the last post (even though we do not book domestic flights with them).  

 

Dolebludger - this is your second thread with a similar subject.  Either you are going to fly Coach for no additional cost or you are going to pay for a higher level of Coach/Business Class/First Class.  No matter how many times you start a post on this subject, this fact will not change.  You have mentioned sailing on other cruise lines and I am fairly certain that the cruise line does not provide included air of any type.

 

If you want to sail on Regent, you have to pay for it and it "ain't" cheap.  

 

In my opinion, discussing this over and over again is not going to change anything.  There is a reason that other luxury cruise lines do not include International Business Class air and it is likely related to the cost.  

 

 

[ronrick1943]

Most people book their cruise early, like a year or more out.  I find that if you also book your domestic flights as soon as they come out (within a week or two) you'll find large discounted first class flights.  Same when you book international.  AA offers nice discounted mileage awards early on also.  That's why we book our own flights both when we pay and when we use miles and take the $$$ credit from Regent.

[Dolebludger]

TC2, I’ve learned a lot on this thread, actually. US airlines are just making up their own rules as they go along on upgrades of “cruise line” tickets. Sometimes they will upgrade for points or cash, and sometimes they say “no upgrades possible on restricted tickets”. How many times have you heard it announced on a plane “Federal regulations prohibit”. Sometimes this is correct, but many times there is no such regulation. I should have known this, but Regent isn’t at fault here, but our US airlines are!  And, on a plane, it is never mentioned what Federal regulations actually say about airline’s treatment of passengers. 

 

The only way Regent (and other cruise lines) enter the picture is that if airlines get any worse, people that have to fly to get to a cruise will just stop flying — and thus will have to stop cruising. We are betting close to that point now.

[papaflamingo]

7 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

TC2, I’ve learned a lot on this thread, actually. US airlines are just making up their own rules as they go along on upgrades of “cruise line” tickets. Sometimes they will upgrade for points or cash, and sometimes they say “no upgrades possible on restricted tickets”. How many times have you heard it announced on a plane “Federal regulations prohibit”. Sometimes this is correct, but many times there is no such regulation. I should have known this, but Regent isn’t at fault here, but our US airlines are!  And, on a plane, it is never mentioned what Federal regulations actually say about airline’s treatment of passengers. 

 

The only way Regent (and other cruise lines) enter the picture is that if airlines get any worse, people that have to fly to get to a cruise will just stop flying — and thus will have to stop cruising. We are betting close to that point now.

I don't mean to be in anyway disrespectful.  But I am a retired Airline Pilot, 29 years with a Major Airlines and retired as a Captain on International Widebody aircraft.  You are simply incorrect.  First, Regent, and all other cruiselines, have contracted rates with the airlines.  These include price of ticket, upgrade options, and number of seats per flight.  Example.. we flew via Regent Air, back from Sydney.  I deviated to stay in Sydney for 4 days.  When I called Regent Air to deviate, they gave me the flight out of Sydney because they had contracted seats with the airline and flight of my choice.   For my domestic leg home, they gave me a First Class seat because they had contracted rates and seats available for that leg.  When I requested a different flight for the domestic leg, they were unable to do it because they had "no contracted seats on that flight."  So it is more likely that Regent's Contract with the airlines dictates.  

As to your statement  "How many times have you heard it announced on a plane “Federal regulations prohibit”. Sometimes this is correct, but many times there is no such regulation," in my 29 years of flying for a major airline I have never heard any announcement or comment from any crewmember or employee for that matter, claiming an FAA Regulation that didn't exist.  I'm not saying that this has never occurred, but I would need examples to accept that the airlines "many times" cite FAA regulations as an excuse when it isn't the case.   

Edited April 4, 2019 by papaflamingo

[rallydave]

16 hours ago, Gray Eagle02 said:

I haven’t booked on my own domestic leg because I was under the impression the flights had to be booked together for the entire booking to be linked. Additionally, if Regent books the flights they are responsible if problems occur. I booked my flights to Paris for a Uniworld cruise and the flight was cancelled. I learned from this experience to let the tour company book the flights and if problems occur they will rebook the flight. The alternative is that I spend many hours on the phone trying to clear up the mess. On a recent Tauck tour our tour had to be aborted. Tauck arranged our flights and with the assistance of our TA our flights were changed quickly. Those clients who booked their own flights had tremendous problems; some were delayed in Germany for days. This was particularly true of passengers who used their miles to book flights. One couple used miles to book business class seats and to get home after the tour was aborted  they had to cough up $2000.00 to fly economy. Trying to book last minuted business class tickets, or even economy tickets, can be very expensive.   I will always allow the tour company to book our flights. For me, at least, saving the money  by booking my own flights is a false economy.

Sorry Gray Eagle02 but, you are incorrect in saying "if Regent books the flights they are responsible if problems occur.  This is a common misconception and all determined by the Terms and Conditions of the particular Cruise Line/Tour Company.  While there have been reports on CC of Regent/Oceania helping people with travel issues, there also have been reports of not being able to get ahold of Regent/Oceania and/or not getting any help.  This is because the Regent and Oceania Terms and Conditions clearly state that Regent/Oceania are not responsible for third party suppliers   

 

Cannot speak to other Cruise Lines or tour companies but, strongly recommend reading the fine print (Terms and Conditions) and not assuming anything.

[Travelcat2]

Regardless of what the fine print says, Regent has a history of assisting passengers who are having flight difficulties.  As is typical of Regent, they go above and beyond whenever possible.

 

The few times that a Regent ship has had to cancel mid-cruise, they took care of the air for passengers that booked with Regent first and then assisted the rest of the passengers.  They provided hotels, etc. despite the fact that they did not need to do that.  So, do read the fine print but understand that Regent is there to assist - they do care about their customers!!!!!

[UUNetBill]

The one time we had a flight issue on a Regent-booked flight (weather in the connecting airport), one call to the Regent Air desk had them scrambling to get us out as soon as possible.  We still ended up sitting in CLT overnight and took a more circuitous route but we ended up arriving just about 8 hours later than we'd expected.  Considering the disruption to overall air traffic due to the storms, we were very happy with the assistance the Regent Air desk provided.  

 

And as to the mis-quoting of FAA regs, I'd be surprised if anyone quoted any regs that didn't exist.  As a student pilot who's been reading the FAR/AIM like a new bible, I'm amazed with the number of Federal Regs there are that cover just about every conceivable situation...

[rallydave]

8 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Can sombody give me a legal citation to the FAA rule that governs what can be put in the seat back pouch on the seat in front of you? Can anybody give me a citation to the rule that allow airlines to keep the seatbelt sign on after the plane has reached cruising altitude and all is smooth as silk, thus denying passengers to use the restroom, possibly in violation of ADA? I could go on about what flight attendants are “FAA regulations” that I can’t find in the CFR. So if anybody has citations for these, please educate me.

OK a simple google came up with the following for seat pocket.  https://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/info/all_infos/media/2009/InFO09018.pdf

 

As far a turning off the seat belt sign, sincerely doubt there is any possible rule to cover that.  Most likely it is at the Captain's discretion based on the current and projected conditions from his POV.  After all, he may have gotten a message that there is turbulence coming up on your flight track that the passenger has no idea about even though at the present time it is smooth.

 

Could not write a specific rule to cover all situations with so many unknowns in the air.  Have no idea regarding your next to last question regarding flight attendants are FAA regulations???

 

Hope this helps.