Air upgrade

[rinshin]

Hi there  Oceania veteran cruisers.  Looking at a 12 day cruise in June for Baltic regions.  This will be our first on Oceania if we decide to go.  We use to cruise more often in the past, but have not recently.  Our last cruise was on Azmara Asia in 2015.  
 

We normally make our own air reservations since we decided  we will not fly longer distances unless we fly business class because of my husband’s issues with his back in a a confined space.  Looking at the brochure, there is something called Qlife choice fare with $199 premium upgrade.  If possible, we like to upgrade to business at a higher fare.  Is that possible with Oceania?  Also, we have not flown premium economy transoceanic, how is the comfort level?   Also, what airline is normally selected by Oceania?

 

Your info is much appreciated. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by rinshin

[LHT28]

 

You  can do BUS class  but it  will be more than you can get yourself.

Take the air credit  & book your own BUS class

 

The O Life perks  has nothing to do with the airfare

 

[rinshin]

In the brochure it shows Qlife Choice includes roundtrip airfare plus  choice of free 6 shore excursions, free beverage package, or free $600 shipboard credit.  Also $199 premium economy air upgrade available.  

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, rinshin said:

In the brochure it shows Qlife Choice includes roundtrip airfare plus  choice of free 6 shore excursions, free beverage package, or free $600 shipboard credit.  Also $199 premium economy air upgrade available.  

You can  opt out of the included  air  & still take one of the O Life perks

You get  a discount for not taking the air

The included air you fly in on the same day as the cruise begins & out on disembarkation day  unless you pay a deviation fee of $175 PP  to pick your flights & fly in early or stay longer after the cruise

 

I would  do the math & see what works best for you

Several threads on this topic 

I would find  a TA  that is well versed in Oceania & they way they do things

JMO

[rinshin]

• Thank you, that helps.  We are planning to do pre and post hotel stays on our own, so it makes sense to do air on our own.  I will go find other threads related to this.  I have never used TA in the past, but will check that option as well.  

[pinotlover]

Real Premium Economy seats are mostly equivalent to a US domestic 1st Class seat. We find them comfortable enough for the day time return trips from Europe. Going over for the overnight portion, we still prefer the Business Class seats. 

 

You do fail to tell us where you fly from. If from the US East Coast, you may find PE acceptable going both ways whereas if from Chicago or further west BC would probably be the best option. 

 

As Lyn has suggested, you can probably buy BC yourself less expensively than through Oceania Air.

[Kate-AHF]

With Oceania, by the time I have to pay for air deviation fees to get decent fights (No, I do not want to fly from Barcelona to Frankfort to Dulles.... when there is a direct with seats available from BCN to Dulles) and then pay the $199 pp premium economy (Which airline and which plane?  It makes a big difference) I have not found it a good idea to use Oceania's air.

 

Now, this past spring with Seabourn, I've never gotten such a deal in my life for business class.  I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

[rinshin]

My home airport is San Francisco, though we sometimes go overseas from LAX or Vancouver on BC since those two airports offer much more competitive prices  than S FO with high proportion of business class travelers paid by their companies in silicon valley.  
 

Looks like I also need to check Seabourn if flight options are better with them.  

[warburg]

Greetings, Everyone, from South Beach. Lyn is right that up to now using points or buying our own BC worked very well. I just booked first class domestic with points.Super simple. However, HawaiiDan alerted me to a change that goes into effect October 31st. After that date, loyalty point upgrades will be subject to dynamic pricing or something similar. No longer will a points per destination chart be applicable. I also expect the change will impact discounter prices as well. Our next cruise is October 28, 2020.. Because of the uncertainty we booked BC with O. HawaiiDan switched to the March 2020 TA because he was able to book flights under the current rules. The November TA concurs with a significant birthday for us, though. I hope the new system isn't as horrible as it sounds.

Mary

[Paulchili]

Why not explore Regent that includes business air in some categories.

Of course, it’s not “free” and you may find you can do better with Oceania and doing your own BC air but it’s worth exploring.

[marylovestotravel]

I find Premium Economy pretty acceptable. As has been mentioned, they are not the lay-flat seats that are so nice in BC. The benefit of flying from the west coast to the Baltics is that on a direct flight you will fly over the Arctic, cutting and hour or more off the flight time. Sometimes if you do your homework and find the flights you want, Oceania will just rubber stamp it. Fingers crossed! The fewer connections the better. (I learned my lesson coming home from Rio de Janerio!)

 

Mia

[Issyalex]

We use Premium economy on long haul and IMO is very comfortable. We usually use BA or Virgin Atlantic. The seats are wider, more recline, comfortable and the cabin smaller. 

 

For our first cruise Edinburgh to Athens they used KLM via Manchester. For our next cruise I’ve had the air removed and have booked my own flights from Glasgow to Miami which means I could book 1 night pre cruise and 4 nights post cruise. You can ask Oceania to remove the ‘free’ airfare which reduces the cost of your fare and then book your own flights.  

[rinshin]

Lots to consider.  Really appreciate the info - thank you. Much has changed since we last cruised.  Looked at BC fare from SFO to London and returning from Copenhagen to SFO and it is not as expensive as some fares to Asia on better airlines.  Btw, Regent does look very good.  Still looking at that as well. I said in June, but it is in August departure from Southampton with Oceania. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by rinshin
Addition

[DeeniEncinitas]

5 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Why not explore Regent that includes business air in some categories.

Of course, it’s not “free” and you may find you can do better with Oceania and doing your own BC air but it’s worth exploring.

I agree!!!! We have done Regent buisness👍 Yes you pay more for the cruise but get wonderful benefits! Now we have done premium economy and the seats are wider like in first class domestic and very comfortable depending on location!

Denise😊

[Flatbush Flyer]

OP:

if you want bizclass from O, you cannot pay the difference from the value of their supplied economy or premium economy. Rather, you have to pay for the bizclass fare they are offering without getting the air credit for the lesser seat. In essence, you are paying for two airfares.

if you call Oceania's air department (which apparently also handles NCL and Regent), some of the reps will actually tell you that you can do much better on your own (i.e, take the air credit and DIY bizclass). That's what we do.

[JPR]

We are flying nonstop from LAX to Montreal to pick up an Oceania cruise and then back from Miami,, and did significantly better by booking premium economy OURSELVES through United, with AN Air Canada codeshare on the outbound flight. We are going to arrive a few days early in Montreal, so we also saved the deviation fees.

 

Of course, we booked the flights nine months in advance...

[Wynterwynd]

I’ve always found it best to book my own flights and take the credit.  Use google.com/flights and filter for business class (and your preferred airlines) and then set up an alert so you know when the price is in your acceptable range.  

 

Also, know that ‘business class’ on flights within Europe (on European airlines such as KLM, Air France, etc.) generally just means an unoccupied middle seat next to you—the seats themselves are no different.  But, these flights are usually pretty short.  

 

For a flight of 7-8 hours trans-Atlantic, premium economy is often comfortable enough, but as most are overnights, it’s not that easy to sleep.  My personal choice is to buy business class...and I often ‘position’ to an airport in the US that has a better price than flying from my closest airport (example, Boston and NY-JFK often have better prices in business class to Europe, so I buy a ticket from there and then a separate ticket from my airport to BOS or JFK, with plenty of time for the connection).  A savvy travel agent or a lot of time in front of your computer are necessary.