Oceania Air

[Gismofla]

Has anyone ever taken air with a Oceania Cruise and how did you find it? Did they use better airlines and not bad connections in regards to longer wait times between flights? I booked it for business class one way from south Florida to Venice and was concerned about this 

thank you

[bbtondo]

I am going on my first Oceania cruise next Spring.  I have chosen to book my flights on my own.  The cost was lower than Oceania, I could pick my seats, I could pick my airline, etc.

 

A few of my friends that have cruised Oceania before and used Ocenia air, were not happy.  Bad connections and higher price was what they experienced.  

 

Go on Travelocity and put in your dates for air and see what choices they list.  This will let you know what the options are.  I don't believe there are many good flights from SWF.  Good luck!

Edited October 7, 2019 by bbtondo
misspelling

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, Gismofla said:

Has anyone ever taken air with a Oceania Cruise and how did you find it? Did they use better airlines and not bad connections in regards to longer wait times between flights? I booked it for business class one way from south Florida to Venice and was concerned about this

 

Unless you have paid the deviation fee and selected your own flight arrangements, you have NO idea what your flights will be until Oceania tells you.

 

The choice of carriers, routings and flights is completely dependent upon the contracts that the cruiseline has with various airlines and the inventory of available seats applicable to the contracts.  And those are trade secrets that are not available to the outside world.

 

You could get a "better" airline or routing or you could get "worse".  This is a roll of the dice.  Perhaps not as significant with coach tickets, but for business class, it's another story.  Wide differences in both hard and soft product in biz.

 

Caveat emptor.  Or maybe "Do you feel lucky??"

 

[mhb1757]

If you are doing a transatlantic cruise and just flying one way you may get a much better price via the cruise line than on your own. One way flights to or from Europe are typically priced outrageously and cruise lines often offer much better fares. 

 

Look at one way fares for your dates on your own and see if you are getting a better deal via Oceania. Then Call Oceania Air and ask them what airlines they use, if you can pick your own flights, etc. sometimes they are your best option for 1 way tickets. 

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

If you are doing a transatlantic cruise and just flying one way you may get a much better price via the cruise line than on your own. One way flights to or from Europe are typically priced outrageously and cruise lines often offer much better fares.

 

There are a number of carriers with reasonable one-way pricing across the Atlantic.  One may have to do a little bit of research to find them, and it may involve some connections.

 

3 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

Look at one way fares for your dates on your own and see if you are getting a better deal via Oceania. Then Call Oceania Air and ask them what airlines they use, if you can pick your own flights, etc.

 

You won't be able to get the name of the airline they will use for their non-deviation tickets, because those won't actually be ticketed until payment is made on the complete cruise.  Same with routing and times.

 

You will be able to request a deviation, which would give you options from which to choose - along with the additional costs (deviation fee plus any price differential).  You are not obligated to take the deviation options and there is no charge for the request.  You only pay if you accept the alternative flights.

 

[waterbug123]

Define "better" airlines please.  Opinions on airlines are highly subjective.  Transatlantic flights from south Florida are pretty much limited to either American or Air France out of Miami, unless I'm forgetting something.  Whether either flies from there to Venice I don't know.  Otherwise you'll have to connect somewhere on this side of the Atlantic, and there's no telling whether you'd be put on Delta, United or Air Canada for that.  You could possibly end up with a connection in Europe too, which could mean a codeshare flight on any number of airlines, including Air France, KLM, British Air Lufthansa, Alitalia etc.

[babysteps]

We've usually skipped O's air and done our own for $ or miles.  We did use it once, EWR-MIA and then LIS-EWR (no intermediate stops).  We were assigned AA domestic, TAP return, coach in all cases; no deviations (same day flights both ways). 

 

There was a slight glitch in getting seat assignments, our TA had to bug O to release our tickets or some such so that we could select seats ahead of time.  Our flight to MIA was the first one in the morning (that is, quite early - but I'd been worried they would give us a "late" flight without too much cushion, so no real complaint).

 

Consensus is to always run the numbers - sometimes it's better to use O, more often (but not always) it is less $ and/or more control to DIY.

[Hlitner]

On 10/8/2019 at 6:12 AM, waterbug123 said:

Define "better" airlines please.  Opinions on airlines are highly subjective.  Transatlantic flights from south Florida are pretty much limited to either American or Air France out of Miami, unless I'm forgetting something.  Whether either flies from there to Venice I don't know.  Otherwise you'll have to connect somewhere on this side of the Atlantic, and there's no telling whether you'd be put on Delta, United or Air Canada for that.  You could possibly end up with a connection in Europe too, which could mean a codeshare flight on any number of airlines, including Air France, KLM, British Air Lufthansa, Alitalia etc.

There are quite a few other options from MIA such as Lufthansa, British Air, Swiss, TAP, and more.  Whether any of these are "better" is certainly a matter for the airline blogs...although there are significant differences if one is flying Business or Premium Economy.

 

Hank