Air Advice

[kim826]

I am looking at paying the deviation fee so I can arrive 1-2 days prior to our November Med cruise.  I am looking at Chicago to Nice, then Barcelona to Chicago.  My agent is saying I pay the $175 per person upfront and give them my air wishes, then they will get back to me with a schedule and any extra fees.  I also have premium economy.  I looked at the cheapest options which are TAP, Air Canada and LOT going to Nice  and basically just American Airlines coming back.  Can any of you experts out there give me an opinion on the Chicago to Nice route (TAP, Air Canada or LOT)?  I haven't flown on either one of them.  Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

[PaulMCO]

First off your TA is wrong.   You pay the $175 -- after you have agreed to the flight changes and not before.

 

As far as PE -- I have flown UA, LH, AF and AC Premium Economy.   So far my preference is the AC followed by UA.

[Classiccruiser777]

Consider taking the air credit for that segment and booking your own flights.

[pinotlover]

Got to ita matrix and look at the various routing options. If you want true PE, you must input that as class of service. See what works for you and all the options.

[kim826]

Thank you all for your help!

[StanandJim]

For those who are wondering about how all of this works:

 

A) When a Passenger (or their Agent) contacts Oceania about using their Airline arrangements, step one is establishing an Airline Route and/or  preferred Dates of Travel.

 

B) Based on those prefrerences, Oceania Air will respond by "suggesting" Air Routing  and pricing until a meeting of the minds occurs.  

 

C) At the point where the route and the money are agreed to, the non-refundable Deviation Fee comes into play.  

 

D) Paying the Air Deviation Fee grants Oceania permission to make Airline Reservations for your Cruise, but the Airline Tickets are typically not purchased until Final Payment on the Cruise is made.  Some Airlines will allow Seating to be chosen based on "reserved" tickets, other Airlines only allow seat selection for purchased tickets. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pinotlover]

Excellent recap Stan&Jim! I wish that would become a Stickie.

 

Also seats on popular routes are not unlimited. Make contact with Oceania Air, via your TA, as close to the 270 day pre cruise timelines as possible. If one waits unti day 90-70, don’t come here crying about your flight arrangements. Your inaction created the issue.

[pauon]

4 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Excellent recap Stan&Jim! I wish that would become a Stickie.

 

Also seats on popular routes are not unlimited. Make contact with Oceania Air, via your TA, as close to the 270 day pre cruise timelines as possible. If one waits unti day 90-70, don’t come here crying about your flight arrangements. Your inaction created the issue.

It’s posts like this that make  Oceania Cruise Critic wildly amusing on one hand and utterly worthless on the other.   

[Classiccruiser777]

2 hours ago, pauon said:

It’s posts like this that make  Oceania Cruise Critic wildly amusing on one hand and utterly worthless on the other.   

 

Thus Spoke Zarathustra!

[Sopwith]

I am a frequent flyer with Air Canada, have flown with them extensively.  Mainline AC is as good or slightly better than the major US airlines.  What you need to be aware of is that the most likely routing from ORD to NCE is through Montreal (YUL).  The AC flight from YUL to NCE is not AC, it is AC Rouge, which is the low-cost version of AC.  You will fly on a 767-300 that was built by Noah just before he built the ark.  The economy cabin is okay, seat pitch is 30", likely the same as most other competing airlines.  There is no business class.  It is "Premium Rouge", which is more or less like the old style business class with better seats, somewhat more recline, but nothing close to the lie-flat seats or pods that you get with international business class on mainline AC or other major airlines.

 

Other routing options offered by AC are code-share flights on Swissair or others.  I can't comment on those.

[AZjohn]

On 5/22/2019 at 12:19 PM, kim826 said:

I also have premium economy.  I looked at the cheapest options which are TAP, Air Canada and LOT going to Nice  and basically just American Airlines coming back....  Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

I'm not aware of any Premium Econ on TAP.

As mentioned previously, also look on how much $ credit you can get from O to purchase your own PE flights. Flying ORD-CDG and then BCN-ORD can be < $1,200 in PE. Getting a flight CDG-NCE is cheap, even with checked bag.

 

Side note, Nice is a fantastic town and glad you are spending a few days there before your cruise.

 

Cheers,

John

[Sopwith]

9 hours ago, Sopwith said:

I am a frequent flyer with Air Canada, have flown with them extensively.  Mainline AC is as good or slightly better than the major US airlines.  What you need to be aware of is that the most likely routing from ORD to NCE is through Montreal (YUL).  The AC flight from YUL to NCE is not AC, it is AC Rouge, which is the low-cost version of AC.  You will fly on a 767-300 that was built by Noah just before he built the ark.  The economy cabin is okay, seat pitch is 30", likely the same as most other competing airlines.  There is no business class.  It is "Premium Rouge", which is more or less like the old style business class with better seats, somewhat more recline, but nothing close to the lie-flat seats or pods that you get with international business class on mainline AC or other major airlines.

 

Other routing options offered by AC are code-share flights on Swissair or others.  I can't comment on those.

I just noticed you said you have premium economy.  I doubt this gets you into the Premium Rouge cabin, more likely the so-called "Preferred Seats" at the front of the economy cabin.  If so, you might get a couple of inches extra leg room but not much else.  Check before you book.  (BTW, we AC frequent flyers usually try to avoid Rouge at all cost.  It is known in the community as "Rogue".)

[ORV]

If you purchase Premium Economy through Oceania you will not be in Preferred Seating. You will be in Premium Economy. It seems some people have a vested interest in seeing the worst in cruise line supplied air. Over 20 cruises with Oceania and I've used their air over 50 percent of them and have been quite happy with the routing and seats. 

[pinotlover]

ORV;

 

1. Do you typically do a deviation?

 

2.  Do you typically arrange your Oceania Air as early as possible, or do you wait to see what is assigned to you?

 

Thanks.

[ORV]

23 hours ago, pinotlover said:

ORV;

 

1. Do you typically do a deviation?

 

2.  Do you typically arrange your Oceania Air as early as possible, or do you wait to see what is assigned to you?

 

Thanks.

Since I been eligible for the free deviation I'll always used it when I use O's air. And yes I do it as early as possible. BUT, in the past, before we got the included deviation, we waited and had the assigned flights at 70 days and never got some of the crazy routings I've heard some people talk about. 

[Hawaiidan]

Just did LOT.. new 787. and they route through Warsaw, on all the flights I took last week.    Meals and IFE  terrible even in Business !   30-31  pitch is torture.    NO  prem economy.     Thats AA and UAL stuff.  NO on LOT

 

For a cruise in April  2020  I just secured the last seats out of NICE for my needed dates  they go fast.      Procrastination is not your friend.   

Un like ORV   I always take my own flight reservations and make out far better  as I need Business class lie flats for the 10-11 hour flights from the west.as it is an overnight.    east coast people I suppose can endure 7-8 hours....      Depends on where your flying as to the class that you can tolerate.

Prem econ  wont cut it....I looked at a UAL  787 last week  and would never pay that much for that little.