Never read this happening to anyone else.......

[Boats07]

We are new to Regent and booked on our first cruise on the Splendor, April 16 to Venice.  We have been reading a lot of recommendations and cautions from the board here on Cruise Critic, which as been very helpful.  

We have not seen anything like what we discovered this past week.  Last Saturday I was reviewing our trip on Regent’s website.  I was looking at our flights that we had arranged through Regent’s deviation (if that is what it is called) and the flights had all changed.  The leg for my husband showed a flight from London to Phoenix but no flight from Venice to London, as previously booked.  My flight was on a different airline ending in Seattle, we fly to Phoenix.  The flights had been booked by Regent with British Airways, I went onto Brtitish Airways website and the flights were not even showing up.  I told my husband there was nothing that could be done till Monday. Meanwhile, I looked up flights to see what else would be available.  

 Patiently, I waited till Monday morning to call.  I was not surprised I was on hold for over 30 minutes but was very fortunate to speak to a very professional, kind and helpful representative.  She reviewed the flights and said “this is a mess, your husband doesn’t even have a flight to London, and you are going to Seattle”.  She apologized for having to put me back on hold and contacted the airline or whomever.  She found out British Airways canceled the flight from Venice to London.  She also told me there was only one flight with one stop so we would not have to be traveling all day.  It happened to be the same flight I had found.  She also let me know she grabbed the flight with only two seats next to each other in Business Class and the second leg of the flight as well.  I felt like I could not thank her enough.  

I felt like we truly witnessed the Regent Seven Seas experience.  Within the hour, we received the confirmations and everything was updated on Regent’s and the airline’s websites.

I did send an email to Regent’s CEO just to let him know what an amazing employee he has.  I do realize he may never read the email but at least I feel better knowing I had sent it.

We are truly even more excited for our cruise and looking forward to more bookings with Regent Seven Seas.

[ronrick1943]

Wow! but things happen.  That's why you always check and re-check just to make sure.  Glad to hear the person you talked too at Regent knew what they were doing---and it all worked out.  But check again because you never know.  Schedules of airlines do change from time to time.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

That's great, but I wonder what would have happened if you hadn't noticed the screw-up.  Would they have contacted you?  Hopefully the answer is yes.  In any case, glad it worked out, and it's definitely a cautionary tale.

[Sharle]

out flights to Hong Kong in February got changed by the airline. Got an email from Korean Air to that affect. Had booked through Regent and the flights we have are all either Delta or Delta code share operated by Korean air. It took

5 days for the Delta website to show the change, I was really confused in the meantime. I contacted my TA to check with Regent and Regent still had the original flights. Upon further prodding they said there might be changes. It took 3 more days for them to get confirmation, a total of 7 days from my initial email and show the new flights on the web site In the meanwhile on the Regent web site it looked like we were ending our trip in Seoul. I don't know when we would have been notified if I had not gotten the email but it sure was confusing. It sounds a lot like the posters situation, except that I was notified by Korean Air (in an email in Korean, with a link to a translation). At one point I thought it was a scam mail except that they had all our other flights listed correctly. 

[FlyerTalker]

A couple of fact points for all to consider:

 

1) You aren't actually booked into an airline seat until you have a 13-digit ticket number.  Not the six character locator, as that is merely a pointer.  And until you have that number, you are technically still in limbo.  Keep that number with you - it's the magic key.

 

2) Even with a ticket number, you are not guaranteed to be flying on that date, time, flight number or routing.  Due to schedule changes and operational requirements, all of that is subject to change.  The only obligation of the carrier is to get you from point A to point B - at some time.

 

3) One should never be using a cruiseline website to be checking the status of flights, itineraries and ticketing.  Go directly to the airline website, as that is the most current public status obtained directly from the airline's own reservation/ticketing system.

 

4) At best, the cruiseline website is only reflecting data that they have received from the airline.  It may or may not be current and/or accurate.  By way of analogy, would you want to go to an airline website to check on cruiseline schedule data?

 

5) On the airline website, confirm that you are actually ticketed (13 digit number) and that the number corresponds to your records.  Further, if you have code-shares or multiple carriers, be sure to confirm the locators for those carriers and confirm the data on their websites as well.

 

6) If you are expecting to be informed of everything by someone else, at some time you will be highly disappointed.  There is a certain amount of individual responsibility to go directly to the source and confirm arrangements on a regular basis.

 

[Boats07]

40 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

A couple of fact points for all to consider:

 

1) You aren't actually booked into an airline seat until you have a 13-digit ticket number.  Not the six character locator, as that is merely a pointer.  And until you have that number, you are technically still in limbo.  Keep that number with you - it's the magic key.

 

2) Even with a ticket number, you are not guaranteed to be flying on that date, time, flight number or routing.  Due to schedule changes and operational requirements, all of that is subject to change.  The only obligation of the carrier is to get you from point A to point B - at some time.

 

3) One should never be using a cruiseline website to be checking the status of flights, itineraries and ticketing.  Go directly to the airline website, as that is the most current public status obtained directly from the airline's own reservation/ticketing system.

 

4) At best, the cruiseline website is only reflecting data that they have received from the airline.  It may or may not be current and/or accurate.  By way of analogy, would you want to go to an airline website to check on cruiseline schedule data?

 

5) On the airline website, confirm that you are actually ticketed (13 digit number) and that the number corresponds to your records.  Further, if you have code-shares or multiple carriers, be sure to confirm the locators for those carriers and confirm the data on their websites as well.

 

6) If you are expecting to be informed of everything by someone else, at some time you will be highly disappointed.  There is a certain amount of individual responsibility to go directly to the source and confirm arrangements on a regular basis.

 

FlyerTalker, Thank You!  Your information is very useful.

I did locate the 13 digit number on the airlines website.  Thank you again for your feedback.

 

[FlyerTalker]

47 minutes ago, Boats07 said:

FlyerTalker, Thank You!  Your information is very useful.

I did locate the 13 digit number on the airlines website.  Thank you again for your feedback.

 

 

It is especially important to have that number in addition to the six character locator.  Just note it somewhere and keep it with you and your documents.

 

For whatever reason, the major Chinese airlines and a number of other smaller Asian carriers have their systems oriented around the ticket number.  Sometimes they will want that from you.

 

In addition, if you end up in a snafu situation, the number is the ultimate reference to your ticketing.  Had a situation with DL where the ticket number was the lifesaver (as the locator had somehow been corrupted).

 

And, as mentioned....no number, no ticket.  It's merely a booking reference until then - which is often the case with cruiseline provided/arranged air.

[Boats07]

34 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

It is especially important to have that number in addition to the six character locator.  Just note it somewhere and keep it with you and your documents.

 

For whatever reason, the major Chinese airlines and a number of other smaller Asian carriers have their systems oriented around the ticket number.  Sometimes they will want that from you.

 

In addition, if you end up in a snafu situation, the number is the ultimate reference to your ticketing.  Had a situation with DL where the ticket number was the lifesaver (as the locator had somehow been corrupted).

 

And, as mentioned....no number, no ticket.  It's merely a booking reference until then - which is often the case with cruiseline provided/arranged air.

I have printed out the paperwork and it is currently with all of our docs.

Thank you again!

[JMARINER]

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

 

J

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by JMARINER

[JMARINER]

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, JMARINER said:

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

 

I highly doubt that any travel agent is regularly monitoring the flight arrangements for all of their clients.  A good TA might (and I say might) have done proper assistance - but only after the problem was brought to their attention.  In a situation like this, cutting out the middle man can be the most efficient way to resolve the problem.  Especially if the guest needs to make a decision about new options, and any delay may preclude the most desirable.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, JMARINER said:

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

 

Furthermore, how do you know the OP hadn't already engaged a TA, but chose to deal with this issue directly?  Big assumption on your part.

 

I can tell you....if I had the similar issue, I would not be getting a TA into the middle.  But then, I'm not someone who just hands off everything to others.

[alexandra cruiser]

Thank you Flyer Talker, you have helped me in the past.Now I make all my own flight arrangements and follow the guidelines you posted. It has saved me time and trouble. Do use TA for cruise stuff and discounts,but not for air.Get own travel insurance,,,too.

Get own hotel,,,get the credit from cruiseline and get cheaper one.Get own taxi,etc. If mistakes made,,,can t blame anyone but myself.

Learned the hard way.

[Boats07]

12 hours ago, JMARINER said:

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

As FlyerTalker mentioned, I do have a trusted TA and I was able to call Regent on Monday at 7 am CDT or wait until 9 am CDT to contact the TA, it didn't make sense to have the TA call Regent as the middleman. (our TA had contacted Regent early on in the booking to advise I would be able to act on my own and not through the TA for handling all flights).  I knew what the problem was and had it all handled by the time I would have been able to call the TA.   

[Boats07]

10 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Furthermore, how do you know the OP hadn't already engaged a TA, but chose to deal with this issue directly?  Big assumption on your part.

 

I can tell you....if I had the similar issue, I would not be getting a TA into the middle.  But then, I'm not someone who just hands off everything to others.

Thank you again FlightTalker, as you mentioned we do have a trusted TA and I was able to have everything handled by the time the TA would have been open for business.  I am not a person to use a middleman if I am able to handle myself.  

Just a little back ground...my husband was in the military for 24 years and if I did not handle things myself we would have been bankrupt, homeless and I can't imagine what else.  I am grateful my husband appreciates my independence.  

Thank you again for your wealth of knowledge.    

[JMARINER]

19 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Furthermore, how do you know the OP hadn't already engaged a TA, but chose to deal with this issue directly?  Big assumption on your part.

 

I can tell you....if I had the similar issue, I would not be getting a TA into the middle.  But then, I'm not someone who just hands off everything to others.

Yep. I assumed that.

 

Fixing air is what my Agent gets paid the big bucks for.  My Agent monitors the flights for me and I suspect that most others who post/read here who have  long time Agents have the same experience. My Agent has been booking with Regent for 19 years and she knows who to contact at Regent to get things done. The OP said she waited on hold for 30 minutes to get an answer; that is crazy. My time is far to valuable to me to be doing this myself and that is why I hire an Agent to do this.

 

J

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, JMARINER said:

Fixing air is what my Agent gets paid the big bucks for.  My Agent monitors the flights for me and I suspect that most others who post/read here who have  long time Agents have the same experience.

 

Reality check with some math.  Let's say your agent has 50 active clients with pending departures over the next year.  Assume 5 minutes to check air arrangements per booking.  That's 250 minutes to run through everyone - over 4 hours.  Do you believe your agent does that every day, checking for half of their working hours?  Or are they only doing that "for you"?

 

OK. Maybe they don't do it every day.  Every other day means that it would still be 25% of each workday.  And that's assuming that they only have 50 pending client trips over the next 330 days (the window for air travel reservations).

 

My suspicion - they just wait for either the airline or cruiseline to advise them of a schedule change, calling that "monitoring".

 

3 hours ago, JMARINER said:

The OP said she waited on hold for 30 minutes to get an answer; that is crazy. My time is far to valuable to me to be doing this myself and that is why I hire an Agent to do this.

 

You know...there is this wonderful new invention called the speakerphone.  Let's you set the handset down and you can still hear the other party.  Amazingly, I find that I can use that and continue to do things at my desk or around the house if on hold.  And when they come on, then I can switch focus to that new task with the other party.

 

 

[fudgbug]

On 1/1/2020 at 9:33 PM, JMARINER said:

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

 

J

 

Better yet.  Do your own booking.  We do.

[alexandra cruiser]

Only use the TA for cruise ,,plus get a discount and lower price than direct booking with Regent.

She can get problems dealt with better than wasting my time...such as,,,shore exc. When I find one already filled,,call her,,and gets me on.

Also, sends reminder s re booking dining res,,,shore exc..etc. final payments ...

Did use online one, but was given brick and mortar agent that deals only in luxury lines,,,from Regent guest we had dinner with onboard. Now give their name to others onboard and they have thanked me.But I basically do my own research,pick own cabin,etc. Just have her deal with things I prefer not to.

Luckily we can all do what we feel best about,right.

[poss]

Wow!   A TA that can get you on an already-booked excursion.    I've never even thought of asking our TA to do that, but I suspect she couldn't manage the trick.    Can't imagine how it could happen.

[JMARINER]

12 hours ago, fudgbug said:

Better yet.  Do your own booking.  We do.

You do your own booking?

 

I don't and here is why. You and I will pay the say fare for any give cabin.  But my Agent will give me a substantial rebate of fare. Her Agency often has added OBC offered, and/or extras like exclusive Free Excursion. You don't get that.

 

My Agent knows all the ships, all the classes of cabins and has been on all the ships as a paying passenger. She has contacts in Regents offices that are unavailable to me.

 

If I have a problem while on travel one call the my Agent get action. She has the expertise to get thing solved far faster than me.  I know that there is someone cover for us that has a phone/computer/internet that works 100% of the the time.

 

J

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by JMARINER
add info

[JMARINER]

 

17 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

You know...there is this wonderful new invention called the speakerphone.  Let's you set the handset down and you can still hear the other party.  Amazingly, I find that I can use that and continue to do things at my desk or around the house if on hold.  And when they come on, then I can switch focus to that new task with the other party.

 

 

I can't do neurosurgery and listen to a speaker phone at the same time. 😉

 

J

[Mask-1234]

2 hours ago, JMARINER said:

You do your own booking?

 

I don't and here is why. You and I will pay the say fare for any give cabin.  But my Agent will give me a substantial rebate of fare. Her Agency often has added OBC offered, and/or extras like exclusive Free Excursion. You don't get that.

 

My Agent knows all the ships, all the classes of cabins and has been on all the ships as a paying passenger. She has contacts in Regents offices that are unavailable to me.

 

If I have a problem while on travel one call the my Agent get action. She has the expertise to get thing solved far faster than me.  I know that there is someone cover for us that has a phone/computer/internet that works 100% of the the time.

 

J

 

In total agreement with you.  Our agent has been mentioned in Forbes for many years and we know them well.  Good agents go above and beyond try getting help directly with a cruise line or a direct call center...good luck with that.  Try getting a rebate or a good OBC or an upgrade guaranteed in a five star hotel.  You get what you pay for booking directly with any cruise line.  Great agency’s create miracles.

[fudgbug]

3 hours ago, JMARINER said:

You do your own booking?

 

I don't and here is why. You and I will pay the say fare for any give cabin.  But my Agent will give me a substantial rebate of fare. Her Agency often has added OBC offered, and/or extras like exclusive Free Excursion. You don't get that.

 

My Agent knows all the ships, all the classes of cabins and has been on all the ships as a paying passenger. She has contacts in Regents offices that are unavailable to me.

 

If I have a problem while on travel one call the my Agent get action. She has the expertise to get thing solved far faster than me.  I know that there is someone cover for us that has a phone/computer/internet that works 100% of the the time.

 

J

 

We use a TA too for all of the reasons you state for a cruise.  We book our own air. :-)

[RachelG]

On 1/3/2020 at 9:31 PM, fudgbug said:

We use a TA too for all of the reasons you state for a cruise.  We book our own air. 🙂

Same here.  And I personally check the flight schedules periodically prior to travel to monitor for any changes.  I have had many over the years, some which would have required time travel to achieve, such as when American Airlines had me flying out of LAX before my incoming flight even landed.