Finding an accurate airline schedule for future flights

[amusea]

In addition to today's headlines regarding sharp layoffs by US airlines  (American and Delta are preparing for potentially massive layoffs) there is a major problem for anyone contemplating airline travel in the future in connection with a cruise. According to a trade publication, airlines are booking flights into next year showing a full schedule of flights that they know will mostly never fly - How Airlines Are Generating Revenue on Flights That Will Never Take Off.  Since I have booked my November Regent cruise using FF miles I have decided that there are too many unknowns regarding the flights I have booked since they use international airports.  I don't think anyone who has booked their flights with Regent is in a much better position because airlines are not cancelling flights until near departure date.  Therefore Regent may not know about cancelled flights until days or weeks before departure and availability may be scarce or non-existant at that point.  This could become a huge problem because so many Regent bookings are made with their included air.

 

There seems to be a feeling that many potential cruisers will book cruises nearer to home rather than gamble on international destinations until the situation is more settled.  This seems to be confirmed by the fact that Seabourn's first cruise in October from LA to Miami through the Canal is sold out - if its sails -  but their sailings to distant ports through November and December are available.  In any case I have regrettably just cancelled my Regent November 6th sailing from Barcelona.

[Travelcat2]

First, sorry to learn that you canceled your November cruise. We are on that sailing and am crossing our fingers that it sails.

 

Right now, we will only book flights through Regent for the reasons that you mentioned (one exception is a one way first class flight to MIA that is an amazing $404/person and there are no "change fees").  If a flight is canceled, Regent will take care of it for you.  Most of our future flights are on Air Canada.  I'm not sure how they are doing in terms of canceling fights.  

 

There are some people that seem to want cruises nearer to home but, according to Frank Del Rio, many cruisers are booking cruisers that are quite far away (like the November cruise out of Barcelona going to Dubai).  Our Australia/New Zealand cruise is also fairly booked (around 30 suites available).

[tubeamps]

Your points are well taken. We were booked on the  11/6 Barcelona cruise , we booked our customized flights on 3/6 and cancelled about a week later largely over our concerns on the reliability of air travel.

 

I absolutely hate missing this cruise.

 

[amusea]

22 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

First, sorry to learn that you canceled your November cruise. We are on that sailing and am crossing our fingers that it sails.

 

Right now, we will only book flights through Regent for the reasons that you mentioned (one exception is a one way first class flight to MIA that is an amazing $404/person and there are no "change fees").  If a flight is canceled, Regent will take care of it for you.  Most of our future flights are on Air Canada.  I'm not sure how they are doing in terms of canceling fights.  

 

There are some people that seem to want cruises nearer to home but, according to Frank Del Rio, many cruisers are booking cruisers that are quite far away (like the November cruise out of Barcelona going to Dubai).  Our Australia/New Zealand cruise is also fairly booked (around 30 suites available).

 

[amusea]

26 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

First, sorry to learn that you canceled your November cruise. We are on that sailing and am crossing our fingers that it sails.

 

Right now, we will only book flights through Regent for the reasons that you mentioned (one exception is a one way first class flight to MIA that is an amazing $404/person and there are no "change fees").  If a flight is canceled, Regent will take care of it for you.  Most of our future flights are on Air Canada.  I'm not sure how they are doing in terms of canceling fights.  

 

There are some people that seem to want cruises nearer to home but, according to Frank Del Rio, many cruisers are booking cruisers that are quite far away (like the November cruise out of Barcelona going to Dubai).  Our Australia/New Zealand cruise is also fairly booked (around 30 suites available).

 

I know I can't divulge my source but there is a cruise agency online that displays the actual count of available rooms every day.  For the Nov. 6 Barcelona to Dubai cruise today the ship has very good availability.  In the lower categories there are a total of over 100 and here are the counts:

 

G2  17

G1   8

F2  19

F1  36

E    36

 

I have retained my FF flights for the time being and if things turn around there seems to be plenty of opportunity to rebook -  assuming the cruise sails and the itinerary is not changed radically.

 

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, amusea said:

 

I know I can't divulge my source but there is a cruise agency online that displays the actual count of available rooms every day.  For the Nov. 6 Barcelona to Dubai cruise today the ship has very good availability.  In the lower categories there are a total of over 100 and here are the counts:

 

G2  17

G1   8

F2  19

F1  36

E    36

 

I have retained my FF flights for the time being and if things turn around there seems to be plenty of opportunity to rebook -  assuming the cruise sails and the itinerary is not changed radically.

 

 

I am familiar with that website but really appreciate your listing the available of the suites.  I'm sure that you remember that this cruise was Wait-Listed for months.  When I see the top suites sold out, I cannot help but assume that people with 125% FCC's have booked them.  It will be interesting to learn what ports will be changed.  We have done this itinerary before (except that we departed from Istanbul) and are anxious to be on Explorer for 22 nights (a long cruise for us since our cats do not like us to be away....... at this point, they are likely sick of us:-). It would be nice if you and some other people that cancelled rebooked!

[tubeamps]

Rebooking is a possibility, we’ll see.

[amusea]

We will keep an eye on this cruise and the whole Middle East region.  Dubai is really struggling financially at the moment and the cancellation (or postponement) of the Expo has added to the already depressed real estate market and the plunge in the price of oil has not helped either.  I wonder if hotel services will be adequate if many staff decide to leave Dubai.  Also COVID-19 is still on the increase in the UAE but hopefully it will hit its peak soon.

We were hoping to spend at least a week in the UAE including time in Abu Dhabi and Qatar.  We still have not cancelled our return non-stop flight from Doha to Los Angeles and on to Tucson with FF miles on Dec. 7 but those miles can always be returned to our AA account.  We felt that 70,000 AA miles for business class on a new Qatar A350-1000 was a good bargain.  Without the Expo it might prove to be a little too long for lingering in the UAE.  There are so many variables at the moment and we were thinking that if cruising is possible by November we might just fly to Barcelona since that flight is already booked and just take the Splendor TA to Miami which leaves Barcelona on Nov. 13 IF that is one of the ships that has been put back into service by then.

I think that if Carnival is allowed to put a couple of ships into service in the Caribbean in August it will give us all a better idea as to whether they are able to develop safe protocol that the CDC finds acceptable.  If those test sailings develop problems it could set back all the cruises that are hoping to start during the last quarter of the year.