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Upgrading OLife Air to Business Class?


FolsomMike
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I am considering booking my first Oceania cruise for next year and would like to hear from anyone who upgraded their included air to Business Class (assuming that’s possible). Do you have any flexibility in the Airline and/or choice of flights? Did it seem like a good value? Can you schedule the arrival/departure several days before or after the cruise? Thanks in advance. 

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DO NOT DO IT

You can find  it cheaper than O

JMO

 

If you pay the non refundable deviation fee you can choose to fly in/out on different days than the cruise   you can ask for specific flight times/airline  there may be a upcharge   but until both you & Oceania agree to them  there is no charge

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FolsomMike,

The consensus around the CC board is that the Oceania Business Class Upgrade is NOT a good deal as it is about $2700 on top of the Economy fare. If you have FF miles or other another loyalty program, use it. We have only ever used the Premium Economy Upgrade from Oceania to Europe for anywhere from $99 to $199. Those flights on Lufthansa, British Air or Air France have been great for us as we are not inclined to pay an extra $3000-$5000 per person.  We are flying to South America in January and the prices for PE and BC are quite costly. We have used FF miles to fly FC and that was great from Sydney. 
 

Since you are going next year, initially book your cruise with PE air and that can be changed right down to the Final Payment. If you find a great deal, grab it but worst case you have a PE and then you cancel it.  
Is Folsom Mike a California resident? If so you are just around the corner as we are actually in Lincoln. 
Definitely book your cruise.  We have a CC friend on board Riviera now for their first Oceania cruise.  They are Celebrity refugees and his first email back to us, “We are Converts”. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

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14 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

DO NOT DO IT

You can find  it cheaper than O

JMO

 

If you pay the non refundable deviation fee you can choose to fly in/out on different days than the cruise   you can ask for specific flight times/airline  there may be a upcharge   but until both you & Oceania agree to them  there is no charge

If you don’t use their air, do you get a credit off of the OLife fare? If not, I guess the ‘cruise only’ fare is a better option. 

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3 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

FolsomMike,

The consensus around the CC board is that the Oceania Business Class Upgrade is NOT a good deal as it is about $2700 on top of the Economy fare. If you have FF miles or other another loyalty program, use it. We have only ever used the Premium Economy Upgrade from Oceania to Europe for anywhere from $99 to $199. Those flights on Lufthansa, British Air or Air France have been great for us as we are not inclined to pay an extra $3000-$5000 per person.  We are flying to South America in January and the prices for PE and BC are quite costly. We have used FF miles to fly FC and that was great from Sydney. 
 

Since you are going next year, initially book your cruise with PE air and that can be changed right down to the Final Payment. If you find a great deal, grab it but worst case you have a PE and then you cancel it.  
Is Folsom Mike a California resident? If so you are just around the corner as we are actually in Lincoln. 
Definitely book your cruise.  We have a CC friend on board Riviera now for their first Oceania cruise.  They are Celebrity refugees and his first email back to us, “We are Converts”. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

Thanks for all the good info. Actually, we moved two years ago from Folsom up the hill to EDH. 😉 

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5 minutes ago, FolsomMike said:

If you don’t use their air, do you get a credit off of the OLife fare? If not, I guess the ‘cruise only’ fare is a better option. 

Yes there is  a credit if you do not use their air

the amount  is different on each cruise  just ask your TA what the air credit is

 Airfare is not really part of O Life  nor is the internet

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I would suggest that you do the math and compare the cost of purchasing your business class air through O versus finding it on your own. If you have frequent flyer miles, that’s a no-brainer.
However, business class air fares are going through the roof, crazy dollars. Perhaps O’s contract fares can compare favorably. Only you can decide. 
I upgraded to business class air last year on my one-way transAtlantic. One-way fares is when O’s pricing can be favorable. I flew business-class to Rome, transatlantic cruise Rome to Miami, economy air from Miami to Austin. 
One thing you have to realize is that all of the airlines are struggling and you will probably get bounced around three or four different times with flight schedule changes, etc. O can’t control that.

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FolsomMike,

EDH is still almost around the corner. Heading to EDH in August to go to a Hot August Nights party a friend is throwing. 
If you need any O help, drop me a line, gerryesker@gmail.com

Ciao, Mauibabes

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FolsomMike, I agree with all of the comments above.  The only time that Oceania air business class worked for me was on a cruise from Athens to Miami (similar to PhD-iva) in 2018.  The regular air fare from LAX to Athens one-way was the same as round-trip on every airline. I gave Oceania my flights of choice and they booked them for me at half the round-trip price.  It worked out that time, but not since.  As stated above, do the math.  Find your best deal, then you can have your travel agent present it to Oceania.  That way you will know what your options are.

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36 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

FolsomMike,

The consensus around the CC board is that the Oceania Business Class Upgrade is NOT a good deal as it is about $2700 on top of the Economy fare. If you have FF miles or other another loyalty program, use it. We have only ever used the Premium Economy Upgrade from Oceania to Europe for anywhere from $99 to $199. Those flights on Lufthansa, British Air or Air France have been great for us as we are not inclined to pay an extra $3000-$5000 per person.  We are flying to South America in January and the prices for PE and BC are quite costly. We have used FF miles to fly FC and that was great from Sydney. 
 

Since you are going next year, initially book your cruise with PE air and that can be changed right down to the Final Payment. If you find a great deal, grab it but worst case you have a PE and then you cancel it.  
Is Folsom Mike a California resident? If so you are just around the corner as we are actually in Lincoln. 
Definitely book your cruise.  We have a CC friend on board Riviera now for their first Oceania cruise.  They are Celebrity refugees and his first email back to us, “We are Converts”. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

Agree with Mauibabes regarding PE and we have booked this when O had an upgrade promotion. Last year, we booked a 2023 cruise and O had a promotion for PE $199 pp CDN and Business $2499 pp CDN (Vancouver to Istanbul). When our TA priced a Business ticket through her wholesaler, we were ahead using O Business by a few thousand. Hence, we added Business outbound and PE inbound to our booking. Airlines are increasing their fares and we felt it best to lock in last year and then reassess/compare the cost closer to the date as our TA can easily remove the extra upgrades from your booking.

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Just my Opinion

If someone wants  BIZ  class  PE  is no where close  to that experience

 

 For long haul flights  we enjoyed the lie flat seats  where I had the best sleep on a plane ever

 coming home last trip we did PE   ..no way to sleep on a plane

It was worth the extra $$$ for us to fly BIZ class  

YMMV

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Folsom Mike:

Take it from an old East Sac resident: NEVER ever use O bizclass air. If you call their air dept., the right person will say the same thing. O’s biz class quote is on top of the economy fare you already pay (in order to get the biz class upgrade. 
The O routings/contract carriers often leave much to be desired. Take the “air credit” (From O Life with air and SBC option: choose “no air” on the O web when you do a mock booking. From that number (next page), subtract the value of the O Life SBC from that cruise. The remaining difference is the “air credit.”

 

 

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18 hours ago, FolsomMike said:

If you don’t use their air, do you get a credit off of the OLife fare? If not, I guess the ‘cruise only’ fare is a better option. 

maybe.......you need to check current air fares as they are rising faster than the national debt !   in 6 months  I saw my fare jump $2500  increase  per person.     If your going to use $$ to buy your own  do it NOW  or take it in the shorts by waiting.   Same with cruise fares..... in this economy for the next few years things are not likely to get better than today.....    

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14 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Just my Opinion

If someone wants  BIZ  class  PE  is no where close  to that experience

 

 For long haul flights  we enjoyed the lie flat seats  where I had the best sleep on a plane ever

 coming home last trip we did PE   ..no way to sleep on a plane

It was worth the extra $$$ for us to fly BIZ class  

YMMV

Correct.... PE=  Premimun Extortion.    There is no standard like lie flats    seating  4 across ! on some   seat pitch maybe 3-4 inches more, recline 3 inches and width 1 inch  and oh a cute foot rest.    Some airlines  not even that much !     Starting out on a cruise, arriving well fed, rested is far better than  enduring 11-12 hours in  contorted anguish beat jet lagged and cranky!.   

 When you buy Business class you also get the ground services  like lux lounges, and meals and  support services in the airport, that PE does not !    Arrive and take a shower and have a sit down breakfast ...  all part of the Business Class service     

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We are using O's BC air from London to Portland, one way on our return from our cruise on Sept. 17. Airfares were crazy when I was trying to book this so I asked O what they could do for us. Turns out, and I did the math, they could do better right now than I could. We got great flights and BC on all, rather than limited over land. It actually is the second time I have used O for BC air ,recently,  and been pleased. So it isn't a solid rule. Yes, you do have to pay the 175 fee. Yes, you can choose which flight you want if you pay that fee. We negotiated back and forth until we got what we wanted. Soon we will have gold status and won't have to pay the air deviation fee, yeah!

There is a small bonus in it including transfer to the airport in London from Southhampton.

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14 minutes ago, khuselid said:

We are using O's BC air from London to Portland, one way on our return from our cruise on Sept. 17. Airfares were crazy when I was trying to book this so I asked O what they could do for us. Turns out, and I did the math, they could do better right now than I could. We got great flights and BC on all, rather than limited over land. It actually is the second time I have used O for BC air ,recently,  and been pleased. So it isn't a solid rule. Yes, you do have to pay the 175 fee. Yes, you can choose which flight you want if you pay that fee. We negotiated back and forth until we got what we wanted. Soon we will have gold status and won't have to pay the air deviation fee, yeah!

There is a small bonus in it including transfer to the airport in London from Southhampton.

what is BC Air????        If your doing a 1 way trans atlantic flight  and have no ff miles to use... then  the O one way air will almost always  be far better option.    Most carriers charge about the same for a one way trans atlantic as a full round trip !!!    Taking O's air option in these cases is far better   Too flying east to west is  far easier on  the body than the  west to east overnight.   So you can get by returning, whereas   going can be an ordeal.   

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51 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

what is BC Air????        If your doing a 1 way trans atlantic flight  and have no ff miles to use... then  the O one way air will almost always  be far better option.    Most carriers charge about the same for a one way trans atlantic as a full round trip !!!    Taking O's air option in these cases is far better   Too flying east to west is  far easier on  the body than the  west to east overnight.   So you can get by returning, whereas   going can be an ordeal.   

Yes, business class. Sorry new to the lingo. I think these are such different travel times.....

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4 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

When you buy Business class you also get the ground services  like lux lounges, and meals and  support services in the airport,

Well, unless they use covid as an excuse to shutter these services, all in the name of our safety. Sure wish I had one of the $500+ a year credit cards giving me access to these non available services. It's getting better though. 

 

I was in a Marriott less than a month ago that the lounge was closed, as well as the business center.  Seems almost like more services in the lower end properties, Springhill, Residence Inn, etc. 

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7 minutes ago, ORV said:

Well, unless they use covid as an excuse to shutter these services, all in the name of our safety. Sure wish I had one of the $500+ a year credit cards giving me access to these non available services. It's getting better though. 

 

I was in a Marriott less than a month ago that the lounge was closed, as well as the business center.  Seems almost like more services in the lower end properties, Springhill, Residence Inn, etc. 

Just recently (end of May) was at a high end Marriott in Stockholm- everything available. Also, United Polaris lounge was open at SFO and Lufthansa Business Class lounges at FRA were all open and fully operational.  
 

Surely, some places are using Covid as an excuse for all sorts of practices - some of which are legitimate.

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2 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Surely, some places are using Covid as an excuse for all sorts of practices - some of which are legitimate.

Yes, and some are using it as a cost saving method. I was at Vancouver Marriott in Richmond. One of the worst Marriott's I've ever been to. I'm generally happy with Marriott, not so much there. 

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4 minutes ago, ORV said:

Yes, and some are using it as a cost saving method. I was at Vancouver Marriott in Richmond. One of the worst Marriott's I've ever been to. I'm generally happy with Marriott, not so much there. 

All the chains now have good/better/best associated with their main property name. There’s Marriott and then there’s JW Marriott (just like Hyatt and Grand Hyatt or Hilton and Conrad).

FWIW, the most consistent brand I’ve found is Intercontinental.

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1 hour ago, ORV said:

Well, unless they use covid as an excuse to shutter these services, all in the name of our safety. Sure wish I had one of the $500+ a year credit cards giving me access to these non available services. It's getting better though. 

 

I was in a Marriott less than a month ago that the lounge was closed, as well as the business center.  Seems almost like more services in the lower end properties, Springhill, Residence Inn, etc. 

Orv...get  some $99 ayear UA  business cards    you get 4 passes a year  thats  $200  also free bags too.   The UA clubs are open and even better than before too  DEN, EWR ORD, SFO ZRH FRA LHR SYD IAD, IAH LAX ... top notch like the old First class lounges.............and if your holding intl business tickets !  Polaris lounges, will knock your sox off....even sit down dining... grab an eggs benedict and a cham for a morning flight..... Have not seen any shut.     all better than before !!!    Its not what you do  it is how you do it!!!       All the Marriotts I have seen are open.... was just in Buelton   and wow   full sit down comp b fast.       Carry a UA and  a Marriott business, wife does too.   you will be suprised at what  they are doing now !

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