Newbie Question on Flights

[crusinbanjo]

On 2/19/2023 at 10:54 AM, ak1004 said:

 

We usually booked our own flights, most of the time with points. However, when we were looking on Med cruise for 2024, the bus class upgrade was priced at $2,800 CAD. If you add the air credit of $1,150 CAD, the total price is less than $4,000 CAD. Those prices don't exist anymore, typical trip from Toronto to Europe is now over $5k CAD with any decent airline, and prices in 2024 might be even higher.

 

So my booking with them, I lock at lower price, and if what they offer me is not suitable in terms of connection or airline, I can always remove the air part and book my own.

 

Sounds like a risk free option. Am I missing something? This is the first time in 15 years we booked flights through the cruise line.

This is exactly what Mrs Banjo and I do.  We always check with the cruise line, because, as you said, they might have a really good deal.  On our cruise in southeast Asia, SS wanted to book us on Emirates and fly through Dubai on to Hong Kong.  I was able to ID a flight from Boston to Hong Kong direct, saving 10 hours of travel time and no connections.  After some wrangling, SS agreed and we got great routes, bot to and from the cruise with little extra paid for the deviation fee.

 

Having said that, it doesn't always work out, so I always look at what is available to book on my own.  sometimes it is a better deal.

[bubbulz]

On 2/16/2023 at 2:00 PM, Rothko1 said:

The last time I did SS Air (June 2022), my travel agent worked with me and with SS Air to offer multiple flight options, and we were able to select the one that worked best for us.  Does that not happen for most people?  Do they just get told: "This is your flight" and have no options??

I went back a third time after the first two flight offerings were not acceptable to me and I specified exactly which flights I wanted. For me, it was worth the $150 deviation fee. I think the problem is that most people just blindly accept whatever SS Air comes up with and then they are stuck with whatever they get (and it’s not always the highest quality airlines nor the best routing or schedules.)

 

As far as booking through the cruise line or on my own, this is my first time not doing all my own arrangements. But for an Antarctica cruise I felt it was safer booking D2D in case my embarkation port changes or there are other schedule complications. 

[JSR]

Just booked our first D2D with air. How far prior to sailing do you receive flight information?  We will have some very specific needs in regards to our flights. I am assuming from this thread that they send you the flight information and you either approve it or make specific requests. Am I understanding correctly? 
 

Thanks 

[Gourmet Gal]

21 hours ago, JSR said:

Just booked our first D2D with air. How far prior to sailing do you receive flight information?  We will have some very specific needs in regards to our flights. I am assuming from this thread that they send you the flight information and you either approve it or make specific requests. Am I understanding correctly? 
 

Thanks 

You can be proactive since you have some specific requirements.  Search the ideal flights, first and second choices and submit your request directly to SSAir or through your TA.  And good luck!

[JSR]

3 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

You can be proactive since you have some specific requirements.  Search the ideal flights, first and second choices and submit your request directly to SSAir or through your TA.  And good luck!

@Gourmet Gal how far in advance should I do this. It’s too far now as this is a Jan -March 2024 cruise and the March flights are not out. Not to mention that this far out they change. I’m still have flights for May changing. 

[Randyk47]

On 2/16/2023 at 8:06 AM, Lois R said:

Good morning, was your flight domestic? I always book my own when flying domestically but when I book something to Europe I let them do it.  Guess I have been lucky as I haven't had many negative issues. I did have something happen recently (the airline changed the time, so that was not SS's fault), but they did find me a new flight😃and hopefully going forward it will go smoothly too.

 

Oh, I saw your other posts and happy to see you enjoyed sailing with SS as a solo. I always go solo as well and love the experience😃

 

 

We have not had success booking any flights with Silversea in the past.  We have never actually asked about domestic flights as we’ve been able to leverage frequent flyer status and miles so that’s not even been considered.  For our several European cruises we’ve gotten quotes from Silversea and without fail been able to do better ourselves.  The biggest issue seemed to be when coach fare was included the upgrade to business/first often cost more than we could book business/first ourselves.  In those cases we took the flight credit which worked to our advantage.  
 

For our upcoming trans-Panama Canal cruise on the Shadow we did book as a door-to-door and left the business/first flights in place for at least the time being.  The quoted costs for the Silversea arranged flights were right in line with what we could do ourselves so figured let them book those.  Luckily the cruise starts in Ft Lauderdale and ends in San Francisco so those are domestic flights and routes  we’re very familiar with.   Living in San Antonio and having to fly to a major hub for most longer haul domestic flights there are very few options available with only Delta, American, and United offering business/first.

 

 We’ll see.  I suppose Silversea could come up with something strange like flying in and out of Chicago to get to Ft Lauderdale then back from San Francisco  despite Houston becoming a major hub for airlines like United.  Flights  through Chicago in late December then mid January would not be attractive.   

[Luv2Cruise1016]

Guess we should consider ourselves blessed.  Fifth cruise with Silversea later this summer.  First time using Silver Air, as I have always had miles to fly to Europe in business class for free.  They selected great flights, single connection each way.  UA/SAS going, all UA on return.  Tried to price the same flights so I could control air myself.  Not happening.  Through Silversea total $5896 ($900 air credit plus $1998 business upgrade each).  Purchase tickets myself over $8000 EACH.  Wow has airfare increased.

[Gourmet Gal]

Yeah, airfare is really high right now.  Business class SFO-KOA $9000 for 2 people non-stop!

[bubbulz]

1 hour ago, Luv2Cruise1016 said:

Guess we should consider ourselves blessed.  Fifth cruise with Silversea later this summer.  First time using Silver Air, as I have always had miles to fly to Europe in business class for free.  They selected great flights, single connection each way.  UA/SAS going, all UA on return.  Tried to price the same flights so I could control air myself.  Not happening.  Through Silversea total $5896 ($900 air credit plus $1998 business upgrade each).  Purchase tickets myself over $8000 EACH.  Wow has airfare increased.

I'll see how it goes when I actually fly later this year, but Silver Air booked my business class flights to Santiago for much less than I ever could have, and they booked the exact flights I requested.

[FlyerTalker]

11 hours ago, Luv2Cruise1016 said:

 Purchase tickets myself over $8000 EACH.  Wow has airfare increased.

 

You don't mention your itinerary, but I sincerely doubt that you are paying that for a round trip business ticket to/from Europe.

 

Perhaps if you are buying two one-way tickets, but a R/T should be NOWHERE near that price.

 

Give us your dates and cities and I bet I can find something for a lot less.

 

 

[cruiseej]

Well it seems Regent has come up with a novel way of cutting down on call volume and hold times for people calling their air department: today they implemented a $75 fee for the privilege of calling their air department and speaking to a representative! If you accept the flights they propose, the $75 is folded into the $175 deviation fee; if you reject their proposed flights, you're charge the $75 fee. And if you want to gamble on contacting them about possible different flights, you pay the $75 again. Yikes! I  luxury cruise competitors like Silversea and Seabourn will watch this closely and implement something similar if it doesn't backfire on Regent. 

[Rothko1]

22 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

Well it seems Regent has come up with a novel way of cutting down on call volume and hold times for people calling their air department: today they implemented a $75 fee for the privilege of calling their air department and speaking to a representative! If you accept the flights they propose, the $75 is folded into the $175 deviation fee; if you reject their proposed flights, you're charge the $75 fee. And if you want to gamble on contacting them about possible different flights, you pay the $75 again. Yikes! I  luxury cruise competitors like Silversea and Seabourn will watch this closely and implement something similar if it doesn't backfire on Regent. 

 

Wow!

[canderson]

Noted earlier that someone was trying to sort out when business and when not.  This, from the bottom of the initial invoice from SS for our next cruise.  We picked D-D service, part of the cost of which includes the business class air.  This (below) seems to clarify things:

 

Business and Premium Economy Class air upgrades are capacity-controlled, apply to international flights and do not apply to U.S. domestic or intra-continental flights within North America, Europe, South America, Asia or Africa, in which case economy class will be substituted.

[JSR]

36 minutes ago, canderson said:

Noted earlier that someone was trying to sort out when business and when not.  This, from the bottom of the initial invoice from SS for our next cruise.  We picked D-D service, part of the cost of which includes the business class air.  This (below) seems to clarify things:

 

Business and Premium Economy Class air upgrades are capacity-controlled, apply to international flights and do not apply to U.S. domestic or intra-continental flights within North America, Europe, South America, Asia or Africa, in which case economy class will be substituted.

I am confused by this statement and do not find it clear. Please help me understand. Is SS saying that even though Business class is included in the GV benefits,  if it is a domestic flight it will be in economy?

thanks 

[canderson]

1 hour ago, JSR said:

I am confused by this statement and do not find it clear. Please help me understand. Is SS saying that even though Business class is included in the GV benefits,  if it is a domestic flight it will be in economy?

thanks 

That's how I read it for our case, yes, BUT ... Don't yet know what 'GV benefits' are (V as in Venetian?), so can't say what it means in that context.

 

This is our first trip with SS, and am only noting what they posted regarding our trip with D-D service package which includes business air.  We're headed one way to Lisbon from Denver.  Apart from 'GV', it seems that business is an international thing only.  I suspect we'll be in economy from here to Dulles (which we'll upgrade ourselves), and then business from Dulles to Lisbon, or something similar. 

 

In fact, I'm REALLY hoping that routing is an option since it puts us in Polaris on United, which is the same as 1st, as United has combined the classes.  Great sleep flat arrangement on the 787 to Lisbon.  Based on what I read here, it's hard to know if they'll go with a reasonable routing like that (13-1/2 hours) or one of the dirt cheap ones that takes 33 hours to complete! 

 

[JSR]

@canderson thanks. I’ll just ask them directly. GV is Grand Voyage. Business air is included with the fare. It is a 71 day round trip Ft Lauderdale to Fr Lauderdale. We will be flying from LAX. Flights are not out yet for the return and in general the options are more limited then one would expect from LAX even flying into MIA instead of FLL. AA is to MIA is the main option with Jet Blue to FLL the other. We have lots of time and lots of points so we shall see how it plays out. 

best of luck with your flights. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I spent most of today researching my flight options for NYC to AKL and return from SYD (after hours and hours of earlier research).  DW and I finally decided that we prefer the Qantas non-stop flight over, and their connection in LAX to an American Airlines codeshare flight was as good as anybody else's return options.

 

After reading all the threads here about Silversea Air, I decided that it was highly unlikely they would offer us this routing so I went to book it myself.  And Qantas is running a Business Class Sale, so the prices were better than the other airlines – win/win, right?

 

But just before I pulled the trigger I noticed that while JFK–AKL and SYD–LAX were in Business, the LAX-JFK codeshare was bumped all the way down to plain old Economy and you couldn't even choose your seats!  I called Qantas and the person on the phone didn't even understand the concept of paying to upgrade those seats.  Note that this was booking through the airline directly.

 

Then I tried doing it through American, with Qantas codeshares on the first two flights.  That would get me Business on all 3 legs, but for thousands more per person – and they wouldn't let me choose my seats on the Qantas legs.

 

The moral of the story for this thread is: if Silversea does codeshare booking, you may well end up in Economy on the domestic legs.  Or their contracts with the airlines may only allow Economy on any domestic legs.  [We had this with a package tour we took this January–no upgrades for any price.]  So if that's a deal-killer, you are better off taking the air credit and booking your own flights.  It will probably cost more, even counting both the Silversea Business upgrade and the no-air credit, but you will get what you want and maintain control over it.

 

[PS – I ended up booking Qantas JFK–AKL and SYD–LAX only, and then using points to book American LAX–JFK.]

[canderson]

@Host Jazzbeau

I always run into the same kinds of issues with codeshares between United and Lufthansa.  Has been an industry wide issue for years.  

[Gourmet Gal]

Yes, don’t count on being able to upgrade with $ or miles because the fares SS books are very limited.

[Gourmet Gal]

11 hours ago, canderson said:

That's how I read it for our case, yes, BUT ... Don't yet know what 'GV benefits' are (V as in Venetian?), so can't say what it means in that context.

 

This is our first trip with SS, and am only noting what they posted regarding our trip with D-D service package which includes business air.  We're headed one way to Lisbon from Denver.  Apart from 'GV', it seems that business is an international thing only.  I suspect we'll be in economy from here to Dulles (which we'll upgrade ourselves), and then business from Dulles to Lisbon, or something similar. 

 

In fact, I'm REALLY hoping that routing is an option since it puts us in Polaris on United, which is the same as 1st, as United has combined the classes.  Great sleep flat arrangement on the 787 to Lisbon.  Based on what I read here, it's hard to know if they'll go with a reasonable routing like that (13-1/2 hours) or one of the dirt cheap ones that takes 33 hours to complete! 

 

Polaris is nothing like the former UA First but is a cut above UA non-Polaris business.  

[canderson]

8 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Polaris is nothing like the former UA First but is a cut above UA non-Polaris business.  

Depends upon the aircraft.  You should SEE it in a 787!  Just did a Polaris on a 787 on our last cruise, flying to Barcelona.  Sweet.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

if Silversea does codeshare booking, you may well end up in Economy on the domestic legs.

On our upcoming Silversea arranged flights on United from SAT - FCO and LHR - SAT, we are in business all the way.  We connect in DC outbound and Houston on the return.  The outbound had no upcharge other than the business class upgrade fee charged when we booked the cruise, but Silversea didn't offer a decent connection on the return so we paid a deviation/upcharge for the flight going thru Houston.  Nonetheless Jazzbeau, you probably did the right thing booking it on your own and not having to deal with Silversea Air...

[Stumblefoot]

12 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

…then using points to book American LAX–JFK.

Hopefully you booked AA’s domestic A321T aircraft for a true international business class product.

[ronrick1943]

On 3/27/2023 at 12:58 PM, Rothko1 said:

 

Wow!

Double WOW, that is hard to believe……….

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Hopefully you booked AA’s domestic A321T aircraft for a true international business class product.

Not sure.  The layout is on Seatguru as A321 (32B) Layout 3.  There is a First Class section (rows 1-5) in a 1-1 configuration, which we didn't have the points (or interest) for, and a Business section (rows 6-10) in 2-2 angled away from the aisle.  I chose row 9/A&C.

 

I'm hoping it is the aircraft you are referring to.  It's called Flagship Business and has lie-flat seats.