Change in Custom Air Procedures

[bitob]

We just booked our first ever flight with Regent (to Cape Town) - in fact with any cruise line -- because the number of miles required for business class was absurd.  I relied on my TA to explain the process and my options.  Although we live in Tucson, I consulted with my TA and told him to get us a flight out of LA.  We can hop on Southwest and be in LA in an hour.  Even when we book mileage flights, they always depart from a large city (hard to get anywhere from Tucson)  My TA told me to look at my options for flights to Cape Town from LA.  I chose Qatar flights because I wanted to try a Qsuite and I got exactly the flights I requested.  I found the process easy.  

[RJ2002]

51 minutes ago, bitob said:

We just booked our first ever flight with Regent (to Cape Town) - in fact with any cruise line -- because the number of miles required for business class was absurd.  I relied on my TA to explain the process and my options.  Although we live in Tucson, I consulted with my TA and told him to get us a flight out of LA.  We can hop on Southwest and be in LA in an hour.  Even when we book mileage flights, they always depart from a large city (hard to get anywhere from Tucson)  My TA told me to look at my options for flights to Cape Town from LA.  I chose Qatar flights because I wanted to try a Qsuite and I got exactly the flights I requested.  I found the process easy.  

 

Always good to read these types of reports.  Glad you received your first choice.  How long did it take Regent to respond to your TA with your flights, and did you have to pay any fare differential?  

[bitob]

2 hours ago, RJ2002 said:

 

Always good to read these types of reports.  Glad you received your first choice.  How long did it take Regent to respond to your TA with your flights, and did you have to pay any fare differential?  

It was quick. No fare differential

[jjs217]

I'm at 16 business days and still haven't heard anything.  This is my first time to request an air deviation.  How exactly is one informed as to approval/disapproval?

[1982CruzStart]

On 9/8/2022 at 2:33 PM, jjs217 said:

I'm at 16 business days and still haven't heard anything.  This is my first time to request an air deviation.  How exactly is one informed as to approval/disapproval?

If you are working with a TA they will be notified by Regent Air and then the TA is to send the info to you for your approval or disapproval. If you are working directly with Regent then they will notify you by email (or at least that was done in the past) to get your approval or disapproval. 

Good luck, hope you get notified soon. 

[SusieQft]

On 9/6/2022 at 2:39 AM, Gilly said:

Whilst I'm not saying the luggage issue is completely resolved, we've noticed during the six flights we've taken within Europe in the last few weeks that where there were piles of unclaimed luggage stacked in baggage halls here and there, those are no longer to be seen and I no longer have quite the same anxiety as I did about such things.

That is very good to hear.  Although DH says he hopes it is not just because the airlines are now hiding the unclaimed bags in less public areas to keep the horror photos off of social media.

[jjs217]

On 9/10/2022 at 10:10 AM, 1982CruzStart said:

If you are working with a TA they will be notified by Regent Air and then the TA is to send the info to you for your approval or disapproval. If you are working directly with Regent then they will notify you by email (or at least that was done in the past) to get your approval or disapproval. 

Good luck, hope you get notified soon. 

Thank you for your response.  I work directly with Regent.  I just received approval yesterday by e-mail, with no upgrade charges - just the deviation fee.  It was worth it to me to have seats, have the opportunity to change seats (I'm kind of picky where I sit) and have an air program that meets my needs (layovers, segments, etc.)  I will probably do this again on future cruises.

[RetroRod]

Just got this email regarding a change in custom air

Dear Valued Guest and Travel Partner,

 We would like to advise you of a change to our custom air process. 

As our airline partners continue to rebuild their operations, we have found that customizing air at 270 days prior to sailing can result in significant schedule changes.  

Therefore, to minimize the number of changes and to avoid the need to rebook flights, we are moving the date where guests can submit a custom air request to 210 days from departure. 

 At Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we strive to provide An Unrivalled Experience, which includes providing the best possible service before you have even stepped on board, and with this change we are confident we can help streamline your custom air needs in the future.

 Thank you for your continued patronage, loyalty, and understanding as we continue to improve our custom air reservation policies and procedures.

 Your Regent Custom Air Department Team

 

 

[BQEC]

55 minutes ago, RetroRod said:

Just got this email regarding a change in custom air

Dear Valued Guest and Travel Partner,

 We would like to advise you of a change to our custom air process. 

As our airline partners continue to rebuild their operations, we have found that customizing air at 270 days prior to sailing can result in significant schedule changes.  

Therefore, to minimize the number of changes and to avoid the need to rebook flights, we are moving the date where guests can submit a custom air request to 210 days from departure. 

 At Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we strive to provide An Unrivalled Experience, which includes providing the best possible service before you have even stepped on board, and with this change we are confident we can help streamline your custom air needs in the future.

 Thank you for your continued patronage, loyalty, and understanding as we continue to improve our custom air reservation policies and procedures.

 Your Regent Custom Air Department Team

 

 

Thank you. 

[labonnevie]

2 hours ago, RetroRod said:

Just got this email regarding a change in custom air

Dear Valued Guest and Travel Partner,

 We would like to advise you of a change to our custom air process. 

As our airline partners continue to rebuild their operations, we have found that customizing air at 270 days prior to sailing can result in significant schedule changes.  

Therefore, to minimize the number of changes and to avoid the need to rebook flights, we are moving the date where guests can submit a custom air request to 210 days from departure. 

 At Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we strive to provide An Unrivalled Experience, which includes providing the best possible service before you have even stepped on board, and with this change we are confident we can help streamline your custom air needs in the future.

 Thank you for your continued patronage, loyalty, and understanding as we continue to improve our custom air reservation policies and procedures.

 Your Regent Custom Air Department Team

 

 

Got the same email.

Monday was 270  days out from our Navigator Istanbul to Dubai cruise. ☹️

[SWFLAOK]

Will they be delaying cruise payments by 60 days to make up for this? If I can't book a flight that's acceptable until 210 days out, then I need to be able to cancel without penalty until 60 days later than usual as well. We already have a cruise booked for April 2024, with a waitlist after that. which could be affected by this since they're long flights each way, and we're not going if they're not what we want. Changes in policy like this for those who already have reservations, and have made significant down payments well in advance, are really not acceptable to us.

[rallydave]

21 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

Will they be delaying cruise payments by 60 days to make up for this? If I can't book a flight that's acceptable until 210 days out, then I need to be able to cancel without penalty until 60 days later than usual as well.

This change of deviation flight booking doesn't affect start of penalty phase as penalties don't start until a minimum of 59 days after the new booking date of deviation air fares.so no harm no foul with this change in regards to cancel without penalty other than possibly the administrative fee.

[papaflamingo]

13 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

Will they be delaying cruise payments by 60 days to make up for this? If I can't book a flight that's acceptable until 210 days out, then I need to be able to cancel without penalty until 60 days later than usual as well. We already have a cruise booked for April 2024, with a waitlist after that. which could be affected by this since they're long flights each way, and we're not going if they're not what we want. Changes in policy like this for those who already have reservations, and have made significant down payments well in advance, are really not acceptable to us.

Why would they change final payment day?  If you deviate 210 days out you'll know WELL AHEAD of your final payment date whether or not you have your requested flights.  

[SWFLAOK]

10 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Why would they change final payment day?  If you deviate 210 days out you'll know WELL AHEAD of your final payment date whether or not you have your requested flights.  

Our final payment date for April 2024 is November 2023. We will deviate as soon as we can, but we haven't always had luck in getting booked tickets soon after deviating. No booked tickets means to us that we don't want to pay in full.

[rallydave]

1 minute ago, SWFLAOK said:

Our final payment date for April 2024 is November 2023. We will deviate as soon as we can, but we haven't always had luck in getting booked tickets soon after deviating. No booked tickets means to us that we don't want to pay in full.

Seems like you believe 59 calendar days is not enough time to get your flights. 

[SWFLAOK]

23 hours ago, rallydave said:

This change of deviation flight booking doesn't affect start of penalty phase as penalties don't start until a minimum of 59 days after the new booking date of deviation air fares.so no harm no foul with this change in regards to cancel without penalty other than possibly the administrative fee.

Hmm. Can you point me to the start of the penalty phase being a minimum of 59 days. That has definitely not been our experience with Regent, especially during Covid where we had to decide whether to rebook much earlier than 59 days, or take a chance on what would happen. We've seen others give their dates for final payment, as well as penalties, on this forum, and they have not matched with what we've experienced. We always book very far in advance, and from what we experienced during Covid, we were not being offered what others were who were booking later as far as final payment and cancellation penalties.

[SWFLAOK]

3 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Seems like you believe 59 calendar days is not enough time to get your flights. 

It's absolutely not if you're flying to places like Thailand, or Abu Dhabi, from Florida. In fact, it's hard to get flights from South Florida to anywhere without booking well ahead of time, including the East Coast of the US,  LAX, and Caribbean destinations.

That's why I'm concerned. It's always been worth it to get flights as early as possible through Regent, because business flights are very hard to get, to and from Florida. Maybe we should move to Houston? We do have some good friends who live there when they're not living on their yacht in Florida.

[rallydave]

32 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

Hmm. Can you point me to the start of the penalty phase being a minimum of 59 days. That has definitely not been our experience with Regent, especially during Covid where we had to decide whether to rebook much earlier than 59 days, or take a chance on what would happen. We've seen others give their dates for final payment, as well as penalties, on this forum, and they have not matched with what we've experienced. We always book very far in advance, and from what we experienced during Covid, we were not being offered what others were who were booking later as far as final payment and cancellation penalties.

Not talking about 59 days being the starting point of penalties.  From looking at the Regent T's and C's the longest time before embarkation to when penalties begin is 151 days.  The new amount of time before embarkation  that  deviations can be requested is 210 days.  Subtracting 150 from 210 is 59 days that you have to get your flights before penalties kick in and you cannot cancel without penalties other than the $200 administrative fee.

 

Yes, shorting the time from 270 to 210 could mean the difference from getting good flights or bad however it has nothing to do with causing a problem getting flights before penalties kick in and penalize you for canceling.

 

And the 151 days is for extended cruises so for shorter cruises you will have more than 59 days to get your flights before penalties.Hope is post explains the booking flights vs penalties and do understand what you are saying about the shortening possibly impacting the getting of flights which could be a problem.

Edited February 12, 2023 by rallydave

[Portolan]

And let me stress again that Regent's deal with the airlines allows payments as late as 30 days before the flight.  You will have a firm reservation sometime after (now) 210 days out, but it has never been nor will it be paid for until close in.

 

Only negative effect that we've experienced is that until paid for, the booking won't show the mileage earning though with United and probably all the others, the basis for mileage earning (cost and status) is well know so I have a pretty good idea anyway.

 

A problem that some may have is if your TA (or Regent if directly booked) may not have and ensure your frequent flyer number is on the reservation which means it should immediately show up in your FF account with the airline.  It is possible to add it after the fact if you have the booking number (6 characters).

 

Then for many, you'll be able to see the seat map and choose anything your fare class is eligible for.  If a foreign airline, but a member of one of the alliances where you are a member of their domestic partner, try logging into the domestic airline and you also may be able to select/change seats on the foreign partner.  Going through United to access Lufthansa (both Star Alliance), for example.

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

Our final payment date for April 2024 is November 2023. We will deviate as soon as we can, but we haven't always had luck in getting booked tickets soon after deviating. No booked tickets means to us that we don't want to pay in full.

The rules of the cruise line is completely clear, you need to make final payment a certain number of days out depending on length of cruise.  If getting exactly what you want on a flight is a deal breaker, then you either going to have to pay the deviation fee and book your flight 210 days out (it's never taken me more than a week to get the answer to my requested flights), or you can simply allow Regent to book your flights 60-70 days out, or you can take the credit and book your own flights.  But Regent isn't going to change their final payment date based on passengers wanting to wait to see what flights they're getting.  

  

Edited February 12, 2023 by papaflamingo

[SWFLAOK]

On 2/12/2023 at 6:48 AM, papaflamingo said:

The rules of the cruise line is completely clear, you need to make final payment a certain number of days out depending on length of cruise.  If getting exactly what you want on a flight is a deal breaker, then you either going to have to pay the deviation fee and book your flight 210 days out (it's never taken me more than a week to get the answer to my requested flights), or you can simply allow Regent to book your flights 60-70 days out, or you can take the credit and book your own flights.  But Regent isn't going to change their final payment date based on passengers wanting to wait to see what flights they're getting.  

  

Did you not understand me when I said " We will deviate as soon as we can"? We have always paid the deviation fee on all of our cruises.  Compared to the price of the cruise, it's trivial. We have never waited until Regent books us at 60 -70 days, and never will. We like Regent for its luxury. If we didn't care about the flights as part of the cruise, we would book elsewhere. We will not pay in full until we know we have an acceptable flight. We will cancel the cruise and ask for a refund. We did this recently on a Ponant Cruise (previously a PG cruise), but they don't force you to pay in full so far in advance the way that Regent does.

The credit given for booking our own air fare has always been so little, even when they advertise business class. It's almost nothing.

On our next Regent Cruise (we're already gold), we have a relative and a friend joining us as first time Regent guests,  in their own separate single cabins. It's from Miami to Miami so we're driving from the west coast of Florida. For the the credit we were given, I doubt we could fly from anywhere to Miami, unless we took spirit, frontier or allegiant from an airport that would be an even longer drive than from Ft. Myers to Miami, and would definitely take much longer.

If Regent keeps it's final payment date out further than their ability to book flights, even for those willing to pay for a deviation, and any upgrade fee they ask for to book the flights we want, then we won't be sailing on them again in the future.

[SWFLAOK]

After all of you guys on this forum (Rallydave, Portolan and Papaflamingo) have jumped all over me for wanting to feel comfortable with our Regent provided  air reservations before we have to pay in full and have to pay a penalty to cancel after that,  I'm seriously considering cancelling our 2024 cruise on Regent, and not booking anymore. You've done a really poor job of representing Regent to the rest of us. Regent has been our favorite cruise line since we started cruising back in 2017. Thank you for making me feel dumb to have stayed with Regent this long, and making me realize there are other cruise lines to check out in the future.

[rallydave]

11 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

After all of you guys on this forum (Rallydave, Portolan and Papaflamingo) have jumped all over me for wanting to feel comfortable with our Regent provided  air reservations before we have to pay in full and have to pay a penalty to cancel after that,  I'm seriously considering cancelling our 2024 cruise on Regent, and not booking anymore. You've done a really poor job of representing Regent to the rest of us. Regent has been our favorite cruise line since we started cruising back in 2017. Thank you for making me feel dumb to have stayed with Regent this long, and making me realize there are other cruise lines to check out in the future.

I wasn’t going to respond after your previous post but now that you have gone too far in accusing me of making you uncomfortable and not representing Regent. To be blunt you are 100% incorrect in your accusations

 

what I tried unsuccessfully according to you was to explain why the change in when you can deviate to210 days. 
 

This change ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT FORCE YOU TO MAKE FINal PAYMENT before you get your confirmed deviated flights. Please try with an open mind what I and others write and you will see the errors of what you have been saying

[irishwitchy]

• Or, just go book your own flights at any time when you feel comfortable. I never use Regent Air.   I hate putting another layer of people in the middle.  Some folks will respond that Regent will fix things when a flight goes south, but we all know if that happens at midnight on a Saturday night - no one will be manning a phone in Miami to fix your flight issue.
   
• Keep in mind that Regent is a excellent cruise line,  not an airline.  Good luck! 
•  

[seaknots]

2 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

I'm seriously considering cancelling our 2024 cruise on Regent, and not booking anymore. You've done a really poor job of representing Regent to the rest of us. Regent has been our favorite cruise line since we started cruising back in 2017.

so you will cancel your favorite cruise line on the basis of perceived slights on social media from others trying to help 🤔

nose v face