Some help with Regent flights

[howiefrommd]

We have been on other Regent cruises, but they have been out of Miami. We are booked on a NYC to Venice cruise next April/May.  We would like to fly from FLL to NY (as this cruise departs NY) then fly home to FLL from Venice. I am a neophyte when it comes to figuring out the whole airline thing. Would like to go to NY a few days early and stay a few days in Venice post cruise.  Additionally, would like to have the option to have some control over the flight schedule.  Does anyone know which airlines Regent uses for this itinerary?  Also any assistance or guidance would be greatly appreciated.  Thanking everyone in advance.

[Travelcat2]

Hi and welcome to the Regent board. You have selected the best ship in the world (in my humble opinion).  Although she hasn't launched yet, we have sailed on her sister ship (Explorer) several times and it is amazing.

 

Having said that, your questions are not easy to answer but I'll do my best to make it simple.  

 

1.  In order to go a few days early and/or departing from a different airport requires "Custom Air" (also known as flight deviation).  The cost for this is $175/person and it is well worth it.  With Custom Air, you can book flights 270 days prior to embarkation while people that do not deviate are given flights about 75 days before embarkation.  Obviously, the best flights will be taken by then.

 

2.  Not sure if you know that flights within the U.S. are Coach rather than Business Class.  If we were going to fly from Florida to New York, we would do our own Business/First Class air.  If you do your own booking, Regent will give you an air credit of $500/person (i.e. they decrease your fare by this amount).   

 

3.  Regent has contracts with most airlines.  Unfortunately, when checking my source (not a secret - you can check which airlines go where on this site http://matrix.itasoftware.com ), there are only three airlines that fly from Venice to Ft. Lauderdale - Air France, Delta and KLM.  And, all flights are at night.  While you can select your flights (based on contracts but when you deviate, you generally get what you want), you do not have many choices here.  It does help that you want to spend time after the cruise in Venice.

 

We do not care for U.S. based airlines so we would likely select, in order of preference, Air France, KLM and Delta.

 

Based on the date of your cruise, you could deviate as early as next month (here is another helpful site - put in the date you want to leave and subtract 270 days https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html)

 

Hoping that you have a TA that regularly books Regent - one that will give you a percentage back on your cruise fare and sometimes on board credits as well.  We do research on flights, send the details to our TA and they work with Regent.  While we generally get the flights that we want, if there is an issue, they will get back with us with an alternate suggestion.  Note:  I do this via email so that I have a record of what we requested, Regent's response, etc.

 

If you did book through Regent, you can contact their Air Department directly and work with them (actually, you can call Regent Air with the approval of your TA but we would not bother doing that).

 

Well, I told you that it was not an easy question to answer.  If anything is not clear, feel free to ask additional questions.  There are several of us on this board that will be happy to answer your questions.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Travelcat2

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

3.  Regent has contracts with most airlines.  Unfortunately, when checking my source (not a secret - you can check which airlines go where on this site http://matrix.itasoftware.com ), there are only three airlines that fly from Venice to Ft. Lauderdale - Air France, Delta and KLM.  And, all flights are at night.  While you can select your flights (based on contracts but when you deviate, you generally get what you want), you do not have many choices here.  It does help that you want to spend time after the cruise in Venice.

 

We do not care for U.S. based airlines so we would likely select, in order of preference, Air France, KLM and Delta.

 

A couple of corrections.

 

First off, there are no non-stops between VCE and either FLL or MIA.  The only non-stop flight from VCE to the USA is a once-daily flight on Delta to JFK.  So if one wants to fly into FLL, there's only one option for a one-connection itinerary.  Delta going VCE-JFK-FLL.  (Caveat: AA has run VCE-PHL in the past, but it's not showing up for early May 2020.  It may happen, but that's the only other possible)

 

The AF and KL flights are just codeshares on the one DL flight out of VCE.  And the flight, like almost all westbound trans-Atlantics, is a daytime flight.

 

If the OP is willing to fly home into MIA, there are a huge number of one-stop routings available.  Aside from going DL through JFK, one can connect in Lisbon, Warsaw, Casablanca, Madrid, Rome, Vienna and Zurich, along with the usual suspects of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.  And even more with double connects.

Edited June 26, 2019 by FlyerTalker

[papaflamingo]

We did our first Regent Cruise last Nov-Dec., Honolulu to Sydney.  We deviated but only used Regent Air one way,  Sydney to Atlanta.  As TC2 said, domestic is in coach.  We were going Atlanta to Honolulu, a 9 hour flight, and it is considered "domestic," so I applied the Regent credit and for not that much more I was able to book Delta One to Honolulu.  Well worth it for sure.  As for the Sydney to Atlanta portion,  I was concerned that the LAX to ATL would be in coach.  Researching on Cruise Critic, the consensus is that if you remain on the same airline, you'll get First Class for a domestic leg after an International leg.  Since we were staying in Sydney for 4 days, I picked my return flight on Delta as it would go SYD-LAX-ATL (I'm retired Delta anyway so... stay with the known).  I handled my flight personally with Regent Air.  As TC2 said, you need to get your TA to approve you working with Regent directly.   Since I knew the flights I wanted, and I wanted to verify that the LAX-ATL leg was First Class, I chose this method.  Regent Air was wonderful to work with.  While I was talking to the agent, I was looking at the flights on the Delta website to be sure I had the correct Flight numbers.  I told her my requests.  She verified that they do have a contract with Delta and the flights I wanted had contract seats available.  She said I would have 48 hours to confirm. While I was talking to her I saw 2 seats disappear.  Low and behold, as I was talking to her, I  had confirmed seats on the flights of my choice!  I would prefer to handle my own flights as they are instantly confirmed, so no lag time.  And it's well worth the $175 deviation fee to get the flights and seats you want 270 days out.  Hope this helps.  I was incredibly impressed with the service that the Regent Air Agent provided.  

Edited June 26, 2019 by papaflamingo

[SWFLAOK]

16 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

A couple of corrections.

 

First off, there are no non-stops between VCE and either FLL or MIA.  The only non-stop flight from VCE to the USA is a once-daily flight on Delta to JFK.  So if one wants to fly into FLL, there's only one option for a one-connection itinerary.  Delta going VCE-JFK-FLL.  (Caveat: AA has run VCE-PHL in the past, but it's not showing up for early May 2020.  It may happen, but that's the only other possible)

 

The AF and KL flights are just codeshares on the one DL flight out of VCE.  And the flight, like almost all westbound trans-Atlantics, is a daytime flight.

 

If the OP is willing to fly home into MIA, there are a huge number of one-stop routings available.  Aside from going DL through JFK, one can connect in Lisbon, Warsaw, Casablanca, Madrid, Rome, Vienna and Zurich, along with the usual suspects of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.  And even more with double connects.

We have a Regent cruise from Barcelona to Venice next week.  We booked Regent airfare as part of our cruise. We have business class American Airlines from Miami to Barcelona on Sunday, with free transfers to the Fairmont (not what I would have picked, but it's included with a concierge cabin).

On our way back from Venice, we have business class on Iberia around noon from Venice to Madrid, and then back to Miami in business class with an arrival time just before 9 PM in Miami. I would never fly through Newark or JFK if I didn't have to. Been there and done that, and avoid it at all costs.

We decided to stay overnight in the Miami Airport Hotel (125 for the night), and take the ride back to Park 'N Fly at 9 in the morning to pick up our car and drive back to Fort Myers. It was cheaper than 2 rentals, and more convenient than finding a parking spot at MIA, so we're trying the Park 'N Fly.

Our next Regent cruise is FLL to Dubai, and it's business class on Emirates. MIA, FLL, PBI and TPA are all just over 2 hours from where we live. We wish we could take flights from RSW, but that normally doesn't work out well with Regent.

[Focused1]

17 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

A couple of corrections.

 

First off, there are no non-stops between VCE and either FLL or MIA.  The only non-stop flight from VCE to the USA is a once-daily flight on Delta to JFK.  So if one wants to fly into FLL, there's only one option for a one-connection itinerary.  Delta going VCE-JFK-FLL.  (Caveat: AA has run VCE-PHL in the past, but it's not showing up for early May 2020.  It may happen, but that's the only other possible)

 

The AF and KL flights are just codeshares on the one DL flight out of VCE.  And the flight, like almost all westbound trans-Atlantics, is a daytime flight.

 

If the OP is willing to fly home into MIA, there are a huge number of one-stop routings available.  Aside from going DL through JFK, one can connect in Lisbon, Warsaw, Casablanca, Madrid, Rome, Vienna and Zurich, along with the usual suspects of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.  And even more with double connects.

 

17 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

A couple of corrections.

 

First off, there are no non-stops between VCE and either FLL or MIA.  The only non-stop flight from VCE to the USA is a once-daily flight on Delta to JFK.  So if one wants to fly into FLL, there's only one option for a one-connection itinerary.  Delta going VCE-JFK-FLL.  (Caveat: AA has run VCE-PHL in the past, but it's not showing up for early May 2020.  It may happen, but that's the only other possible)

 

The AF and KL flights are just codeshares on the one DL flight out of VCE.  And the flight, like almost all westbound trans-Atlantics, is a daytime flight.

 

If the OP is willing to fly home into MIA, there are a huge number of one-stop routings available.  Aside from going DL through JFK, one can connect in Lisbon, Warsaw, Casablanca, Madrid, Rome, Vienna and Zurich, along with the usual suspects of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.  And even more with double connects.

If I had the choices you mention above to connect through, I would definitely choose Zurich or Vienna which means you would probably fly on Swiss or Austrian Airlines, respectively. Both excellent airlines and airports.  The other options are not ideal especially Madrid. I have to go through there often and it is a very difficult airport to transit through especially if you are coming from an intra Europe flight in one terminal with a flight departing from the international terminal. It takes at least 30 minutes or more to make your way. 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, SWFLAOK said:

Our next Regent cruise is FLL to Dubai, and it's business class on Emirates.

 

Hope you are aware that you are going to be flying in a dated business class.  Unless you manage to get an updated 777 interior (which is only on a few of their 777s), you will have a 2-3-2 layout with slantboard seats.  No onboard bar and 42% of the seats do not have aisle access - meaning you're either climbing over someone or being climbed over.  And none of them are full-flat seats.   And even the new seats are still in a 2-3-2 configuration, albeit with flat seats.

 

 

 

Personally, I'd take a flight up to JFK or Toronto to be able to ride in an A380.

 

 

[cruiseluv]

18 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

A couple of corrections.

 

First off, there are no non-stops between VCE and either FLL or MIA.  The only non-stop flight from VCE to the USA is a once-daily flight on Delta to JFK.  So if one wants to fly into FLL, there's only one option for a one-connection itinerary.  Delta going VCE-JFK-FLL.  (Caveat: AA has run VCE-PHL in the past, but it's not showing up for early May 2020.  It may happen, but that's the only other possible)

 

 

 

 AA has seasonal non stop VCE to Philadelphia starting in early May (in 2020 as early as 5/8), continuing at least thru end of Sept. Likewise, United also has seasonal non stop VCE to EWR starting in early May. I'm aware of these two because I've done it in the past. Just checked and they're still offering them. I dont know the OP return date from VCE, so cant tell if this helps them or not.

[Boats07]

1 hour ago, cruiseluv said:

 

 AA has seasonal non stop VCE to Philadelphia starting in early May (in 2020 as early as 5/8), continuing at least thru end of Sept. Likewise, United also has seasonal non stop VCE to EWR starting in early May. I'm aware of these two because I've done it in the past. Just checked and they're still offering them. I dont know the OP return date from VCE, so cant tell if this helps them or not.

cruiseluv....thank you for the information, AA does have a non-stop from VCE to Phili and then non-stop Phili to PHX.   Works perfect for us 5/2020.   Thanks again!

[cruiseluv]

10 minutes ago, Boats07 said:

cruiseluv....thank you for the information, AA does have a non-stop from VCE to Phili and then non-stop Phili to PHX.   Works perfect for us 5/2020.   Thanks again!

 

Glad that works for you! PHL is an easy airport

[Sharle]

12 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

We have a Regent cruise from Barcelona to Venice next week.  We booked Regent airfare as part of our cruise. We have business class American Airlines from Miami to Barcelona on Sunday, with free transfers to the Fairmont (not what I would have picked, but it's included with a concierge cabin).

On our way back from Venice, we have business class on Iberia around noon from Venice to Madrid, and then back to Miami in business class with an arrival time just before 9 PM in Miami. I would never fly through Newark or JFK if I didn't have to. Been there and done that, and avoid it at all costs.

We decided to stay overnight in the Miami Airport Hotel (125 for the night), and take the ride back to Park 'N Fly at 9 in the morning to pick up our car and drive back to Fort Myers. It was cheaper than 2 rentals, and more convenient than finding a parking spot at MIA, so we're trying the Park 'N Fly.

Our next Regent cruise is FLL to Dubai, and it's business class on Emirates. MIA, FLL, PBI and TPA are all just over 2 hours from where we live. We wish we could take flights from RSW, but that normally doesn't work out well with Regent.

2 points. You can fly from RSW, we often do, for a payment of about $250 per person. Worth it to us to avoid the drive to Miami. Also, business class within in Europe, on Iberia, is essentially coach with the middle seat not used. This seems to be traditional within Europe. thought it was kinda strange the first time I saw this but have seen it on many different airlines. Its ok for the short flights.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Sharle

[SWFLAOK]

11 hours ago, Sharle said:

2 points. You can fly from RSW, we often do, for a payment of about $250 per person. Worth it to us to avoid the drive to Miami. Also, business class within in Europe, on Iberia, is essentially coach with the middle seat not used. This seems to be traditional within Europe. thought it was kinda strange the first time I saw this but have seen it on many different airlines. Its ok for the short flights.

Which airline do you use to fly from RSW to MIA? The local news reported last year that American was starting 2 flights per day beginning last December, but we were not able to find them on the American website.

We tried asking Regent to do RSW to Vancouver last year for an Alaska cruise, but they said they could not do it. Instead, they gave us a 7AM flight from FLL to ATL, with 20 minutes to connect in Atlanta. We had to drive to FLL the night before and stay overnight, and I was really worried about making the connection in Atlanta until the flight attendant told me that the same flight crew was transferring to the Atlanta to Vancouver flight. Needless to say, since they had to make the connection, we made it too.

We probably should have made our own reservations instead of having Regent do it. We could have flown from RSW to Atlanta the day before and stayed there for the night, and not had to get up at 4 in the morning. We weren't going to get business class anyway, and had to pay to upgrade for more legroom on the Atlanta to Vancouver flight. It was our first experience with Regent, and since I couldn't find any flights from RSW to MIA, I didn't even bother asking them this time.

As for business class from Venice to Madrid being the middle seat unused, that should work for us. It's not a long flight and it's the middle of the day so not rubbing arms and legs with a stranger will be fine for the 2 of us on that flight.

Edited June 27, 2019 by SWFLAOK
added last paragraph

[Sharle]

3 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

Which airline do you use to fly from RSW to MIA? The local news reported last year that American was starting 2 flights per day beginning last December, but we were not able to find them on the American website.

We tried asking Regent to do RSW to Vancouver last year for an Alaska cruise, but they said they could not do it. Instead, they gave us a 7AM flight from FLL to ATL, with 20 minutes to connect in Atlanta. We had to drive to FLL the night before and stay overnight, and I was really worried about making the connection in Atlanta until the flight attendant told me that the same flight crew was transferring to the Atlanta to Vancouver flight. Needless to say, since they had to make the connection, we made it too.

We probably should have made our own reservations instead of having Regent do it. We could have flown from RSW to Atlanta the day before and stayed there for the night, and not had to get up at 4 in the morning. We weren't going to get business class anyway, and had to pay to upgrade for more legroom on the Atlanta to Vancouver flight. It was our first experience with Regent, and since I couldn't find any flights from RSW to MIA, I didn't even bother asking them this time.

As for business class from Venice to Madrid being the middle seat unused, that should work for us. It's not a long flight and it's the middle of the day so not rubbing arms and legs with a stranger will be fine for the 2 of us on that flight.

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. We don't fly from RSW to Miami. We fly out of RSW to wherever. You have to pay a deviation fee, I think it is $250 per person, to originate in RSW. this is in addition to the $175 deviation per person to choose your flights.

For example, 2 year's ago we flew from RSW to Beijing. We connected in Detroit. The same connection would have been made from Miami but at least we didn't have to drive there or back. Next March we are flying to Hong Kong and home from Tokyo and are using RSW as well. The only downside is that sometimes there is an extra connection. 

[SWFLAOK]

7 minutes ago, Sharle said:

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. We don't fly from RSW to Miami. We fly out of RSW to wherever. You have to pay a deviation fee, I think it is $250 per person, to originate in RSW. this is in addition to the $175 deviation per person to choose your flights.

For example, 2 year's ago we flew from RSW to Beijing. We connected in Detroit. The same connection would have been made from Miami but at least we didn't have to drive there or back. Next March we are flying to Hong Kong and home from Tokyo and are using RSW as well. The only downside is that sometimes there is an extra connection. 

OK. That's what we tried to do last year for our Alaska cruise, and they said they couldn't find anything from RSW, even though we could find something that was acceptable to us. I guess they didn't want to give us an overnight along the way. We would much rather drive to FLL or MIA than have an extra connection.

[SWFLAOK]

23 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Hope you are aware that you are going to be flying in a dated business class.  Unless you manage to get an updated 777 interior (which is only on a few of their 777s), you will have a 2-3-2 layout with slantboard seats.  No onboard bar and 42% of the seats do not have aisle access - meaning you're either climbing over someone or being climbed over.  And none of them are full-flat seats.   And even the new seats are still in a 2-3-2 configuration, albeit with flat seats.

 

 

 

Personally, I'd take a flight up to JFK or Toronto to be able to ride in an A380.

 

Boards

 

Traveling as a couple, our preferred seating is 2 seats with a window. We don't both need aisle access, and really don't want 2 middle seats with a barrier between us.

I'm not sure what you mean by not having an onboard bar. It seems that their website shows people drinking wine, which would be good enough for us.

And as I already mentioned, I would never willingly fly through JFK or EWR again after suffering through them many times in the past , and Toronto is also not an option to fly through in December, or any other winter month.

If we didn't accept Regent's air, the amount they give for airfare would not pay for anything other than economy, and that would not work for us for a flight from Florida to Singapore, and a flight back to Florida from Sydney.

Edited June 27, 2019 by SWFLAOK
typo

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Just a couple of points to the OP that might have been lost in the detail.

 

You can get a partial air credit, if you want to use Regent Air only one way.  You could use that to fly into and out of New York, for instance.  Since you can't fly non-stop from Venice to FLL, flying through NY would give you plenty or routes, and allow you to book a round-trip flight NYC-FLL.  

 

This might be the best way to get back from Venice, given that FLL is not a hub, and flying back from Venice, as you've seen above, would involve probably two connections.

 

Whatever you do, you'll need to pay the deviation fee since you want to stay over a few days in both directions. But then you can study the routes you wish, and present them to Regent to see if they will accept them--sometimes this involves a further fee, but often not.

[SWFLAOK]

18 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

Traveling as a couple, our preferred seating is 2 seats with a window. We don't both need aisle access, and really don't want 2 middle seats with a barrier between us.

I'm not sure what you mean by not having an onboard bar. It seems that their website shows people drinking wine, which would be good enough for us.

And as I already mentioned, I would never willingly fly through JFK or EWR again after suffering through them many times in the past , and Toronto is also not an option to fly through in December, or any other winter month.

If we didn't accept Regent's air, the amount they give for airfare would not pay for anything other than economy, and that would not work for us for a flight from Florida to Singapore, and a flight back to Florida from Sydney.

FlyerTalker originally replied to me with this:

"Hope you are aware that you are going to be flying in a dated business class.  Unless you manage to get an updated 777 interior (which is only on a few of their 777s), you will have a 2-3-2 layout with slantboard seats.  No onboard bar and 42% of the seats do not have aisle access - meaning you're either climbing over someone or being climbed over.  And none of them are full-flat seats.   And even the new seats are still in a 2-3-2 configuration, albeit with flat seats."

Since our seats are in row 2, I assume this is an updated 777 interior which no longer has any first class seating and is 2-2-2 with lay flat seats and a lounge area. I found an article from 2018 that indicated the refurbished 777-200LR went into service on Emirates FLL route on March 6, 2018.

[howiefrommd]

I would like to thank everyone for their assistance.  Somehow towards the end I got a bit confused, but hopefully I will not end up in Dubai or Fort Meyers lol 

[bebop bonnie]

FlyerTalker, any idea about when the 777's FLL to MXP or DBX will be all updated?? Thank you!

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, bebop bonnie said:

FlyerTalker, any idea about when the 777's FLL to MXP or DBX will be all updated?? Thank you!

 

Can't speak to specific routes and aircraft for the -300, as that is an ongoing project and will take years.   Here's a link to a guide for EK routes/seating that is unfortunately not dated, but I believe is somewhat recent.

 

https://upgradedpoints.com/emirates-us-routes

 

However, that info is superceded by this article from April, which says that the entire 777-200 fleet have been converted.  And the -200 is used for the FLL run.

 

https://airlinegeeks.com/2019/04/17/emirates-finishes-777-200lr-refresh-retires-class-boeing-777-300-fleet/

 

And while the -200 is now 2-2-2 in business, even the newer -300 seats stay as 2-3-2.

 

Two small nits....the flight to Milan does not go from FLL, but rather from JFK, and it's DXB.

 

 

[bebop bonnie]

27 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Can't speak to specific routes and aircraft for the -300, as that is an ongoing project and will take years.   Here's a link to a guide for EK routes/seating that is unfortunately not dated, but I believe is somewhat recent.

 

https://upgradedpoints.com/emirates-us-routes

 

However, that info is superceded by this article from April, which says that the entire 777-200 fleet have been converted.  And the -200 is used for the FLL run.

 

https://airlinegeeks.com/2019/04/17/emirates-finishes-777-200lr-refresh-retires-class-boeing-777-300-fleet/

 

And while the -200 is now 2-2-2 in business, even the newer -300 seats stay as 2-3-2.

 

Two small nits....the flight to Milan does not go from FLL, but rather from JFK, and it's DXB.

 

 

Thanks so much for your advise!!  Do love love the 380 in J....worth connecting at  JFK.  And once again to DXB.