Experience with booked air through Oceania

[Furball83]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

Yes it can work for some  but your situation is different than FLYER 79

I was relaying my experience. I think my TA made the difference.

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Furball83 said:

I was relaying my experience. I think my TA made the difference.

Sorry I thought you were directing your post to me  as you quoted my post  to Flyer 🤔

[honmani2]

I am 56 days out from my cruise and I booked my air through Oceania.  I don't see the flight information on my reservation and when I called United, I was told the ticket had not been issued yet although there is a locator number.

 

The Oceania website says that tickets are issued 75 days from embarkation.  Why doesn't it show on my reservation or am I looking in the wrong place?

[JRIH]

26 minutes ago, honmani2 said:

I am 56 days out from my cruise and I booked my air through Oceania.  I don't see the flight information on my reservation and when I called United, I was told the ticket had not been issued yet although there is a locator number.

 

The Oceania website says that tickets are issued 75 days from embarkation.  Why doesn't it show on my reservation or am I looking in the wrong place?

It doesn't show up on your reservation on the website.  They email your itinerary to you.  They should have done it by now.  Call Oceania tomorrow and they will.

[LHT28]

32 minutes ago, honmani2 said:

I am 56 days out from my cruise and I booked my air through Oceania.  I don't see the flight information on my reservation and when I called United, I was told the ticket had not been issued yet although there is a locator number.

 

The Oceania website says that tickets are issued 75 days from embarkation.  Why doesn't it show on my reservation or am I looking in the wrong place?

I do not think they ticket you until 45 days out

You can always ask them to do it now   so you can book seats if required

[babysteps]

We have only used O air twice. Once we got tired of waiting for ticketing and our TA reached out to O who then did get the ticket issued. The other time our tickets were issued as expected, no intervention needed. 

[jonthomas]

Will be interesting to see what kind of flights people get with O, now that going in a day or two earlier has no deviation cost.

[FlyerTalker]

5 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Will be interesting to see what kind of flights people get with O, now that going in a day or two earlier has no deviation cost.

 

You will be getting roughly the same flights, as you will be dealing with similar contracts adding in additional days on either end.  If carriers didn't make acceptable contracts before, another day or two won't change that.

 

Don't expect big changes.

[jonthomas]

Just wondering if O will give us direct flights. If they are available and similar costs to those with stopovers. If anyone has any experience with that. It is still early, the new policy just recently came into effect.

[LHT28]

10 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Just wondering if O will give us direct flights. If they are available and similar costs to those with stopovers. If anyone has any experience with that. It is still early, the new policy just recently came into effect.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

Just wondering if O will give us direct flights. If they are available and similar costs to those with stopovers. If anyone has any experience with that. It is still early, the new policy just recently came into effect.

 

Careful with your terminology.

 

In the airline industry, "direct" does not mean "non-stop".  Two different terms, with two different meanings.

 

"Non-stop" means just that.  No stops between your origin and destination.

 

"Direct", on the other hand, means that there is no change of flight number between your origin and destination.  You can have any number of stops between the two, as well as changing aircraft.  Delta, and a number of other carriers, use the same flight number for domestic flights with the number continuing on for international legs.  They famously had a "direct" flight from Miami to Tel Aviv.  Except that it was a single-aisle narrowbody to JFK, with an aircraft change to a widebody for the TATL segment.  But because the flight number was the same, it could be marketed as a "direct" flight.  And they got lots of business from people who wanted a non-stop from Florida to Israel, and bought a "direct" flight thinking it was non-stop.

 

Southwest is also notorious for their "direct" flights.  Not sure if they still run this one (haven't checked in a while) but they had a "direct" flight from Baltimore to Oakland that only made SEVEN stops between the two cities.  But because it maintained the same flight number for the entire route, all the service between any of those cities along the way would be "direct".  They have a number of those milk-run flights to this day - be aware!

 

I post this because you, or someone else, may be offered a "direct" flight -- and then you later come to find that it's not the non-stop that you thought.  Better to learn now than the hard way later.

 

 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

Just wondering if O will give us direct flights. If they are available and similar costs to those with stopovers. If anyone has any experience with that. It is still early, the new policy just recently came into effect.

@jonthomas Your question is the same as almost everyone asks when referring to Cruise Brand Air Arrangements.  I had the same questions myself.  I live two hours away from Atlanta, GA.  I researched every airline that traveled to my destination.  We are arriving in Athens, Greece and departing from Barcelona, Spain. 

 

My focus was more than a Non-Stop flight, it was day/times, and cost.  This research showed me there was no direct flights to Athens, Greece.  There was one direct flight from Barcelona, Spain to Atlanta however it left two early in the day to safely book.  From a pricing stand point, it showed all non-stops were much more expensive than flights with connections.  

 

Now take a moment and think like a cruise brand.  They will be booking 45 days or so before the cruise which makes all flight more expensive. They want the cheapest cost possible.  They will take what every is available which means extra connections and even more than one air line brand.  When you read the rules/policies, you are at the cruise brand mercy.

 

Why do I share this information I gathered?  To set realistic expectations.  If my daughter who is 31 was going on this cruise, she would not care as long as she got to the ship on time and safely.  She would look at the whole thing as an adventure.  I on the other hand have had some frustrating challenges with airfare through third parties realizing Oceania does provide some options that are usually fee based to gain a better flight. 

 

If your flight is far enough away, please consider booking it yourself as far in advance as possible.  I assure you, the price will be surprisingly close to the Oceania Supplement.  The key as I outlined, the airport you go in and out of, if any airline has a non-stop flight, and how far in advance you can book it.  I booked all four of my round trips (Party of 4) 330 days in advance.  If you don't have time on your side and want to go with Oceania, please consider Non-Stops are possible but in my experience with other brands highly unlikely.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

 

[DCGuy64]

48 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

"Non-stop" means just that.  No stops between your origin and destination.

Airlines also have interesting ways of defining "on time." If an airplane leaves the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time, it's considered on time. Mind you, that says nothing about how long taxi and take-off are, what matters is when the aircraft leaves its parking stand. I've been following some flights and have seen times where the airplane didn't take off for 30 minutes, but because it left the gate within 15 minutes, it was considered an on-time departure. They're very sneaky sometimes!

[FlyerTalker]

You fail to consider that airlines factor in the pre-takeoff and post-landing taxi times into the overall "flight time" - the time between scheduled departure and scheduled arrival - which are block to block, not "in the air" numbers.

 

Seems like you are more concerned about when pushback occurs, rather than the more critical issue of when the aircraft arrives at the destination gate.

 

[jonthomas]

Thank you for correcting me. Non stop rather than direct.

We have a very good rate with O, including premium economy. If we do it ourselves it will be at least double that. I hear your advice to do it ourselves and have control over the stops and the times, but is it worth paying double for that control? That is the dilemma.

 

The flight is for November, from Toronto to Barcelona. There is no direct flight.

[Sthrngary]

2 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Thank you for correcting me. Non stop rather than direct.

We have a very good rate with O, including premium economy. If we do it ourselves it will be at least double that. I hear your advice to do it ourselves and have control over the stops and the times, but is it worth paying double for that control? That is the dilemma.

 

The flight is for November, from Toronto to Barcelona. There is no direct flight.

@jonthomas That is a great deal that Oceania has with Premium Coach and I fully understand why it is great choice.  After I wrote my post above, I should have added in Premium Coach.  You are 100% correct.  There is no way you can get a Premium Coach seat for the great offer that Oceania is providing.  May I suggest you watch some video's on the air brands out of Toronto and watch the reviews of those airlines Premium product.  

 

You will have a GREAT TIME regardless of the airline and details. Something tells me you will be traveling when we get off.  I can't want to see Barcelona.  We are spending an extra day.  Please let us all know how it all works out.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[jonthomas]

thank you ....

 

here are some details...

 

O only wants 749 with prem econ pp US, but we are at Os mercy how we will get there..

 

if we do it on our own, there is one stop in Montreal on the way to Barcelona and non stop from MIA to Toronto.

but it is a whopping 2538pp US...

 

it is a no brainer..

 

I will try and see if we can get O to give us the air canada flight to Montreal, stop over for 3 hours and then onto Bcn.

 

it is not much more than some of the other flights so maybe they will oblige us with it...

 

yes will let all of you know how it works out, we are still 7 months out and I understand that we may approach O at about 2 months, hope I can talk to them directly, rather than through an agent. 

[Woodrowst]

3 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Just wondering if O will give us direct flights. If they are available and similar costs to those with stopovers. If anyone has any experience with that. It is still early, the new policy just recently came into effect.

We are on an Oceania cruise next month from Dubai to Barcelona.  I asked for a direct flight back from Barcelona to Washington DC on United and got it with no problem.  They did not increase the quoted price.  There are no direct flights from DC to Dubai and I was fine with the outbound connecting flights on Air France they gave us.

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, Woodrowst said:

There are no direct flights from DC to Dubai

 

Incorrect.

 

Emirates has a daily non-stop from Dulles to DXB.  A380 service.

 

And FWIW, the UA non-stop between IAD and BCN is seasonal.

[jonthomas]

13 hours ago, Woodrowst said:

We are on an Oceania cruise next month from Dubai to Barcelona.  I asked for a direct flight back from Barcelona to Washington DC on United and got it with no problem.  They did not increase the quoted price.  There are no direct flights from DC to Dubai and I was fine with the outbound connecting flights on Air France they gave us.

Did you speak with O directly or did your agent have to do it.

In any case that gives me hope.

[pinotlover]

People are not considering an important portion of the discounted bulk rate ticket system, that being demand. There are only a certain number of tickets in the pool for the markets. Therefore, if Citivecchia (Rome) has two 5000-6000 behemoths sitting there along side an I embarking on the same day, the demand for those limited discount bulk rate tickets will be entirely different than if only O is there. Moving a day earlier may make a huge difference in what’s available in the ticket pool.

 

Some airports are severely overloaded. Amsterdam is a perfect example with government mandated flight reductions. Getting in and out are disasters. Unfortunately, cruise schedules are made 2+ years in advance, but I pity anyone having to embark or disembark there. Direct flights are the least of your issues. Even those believing they have great flights into, out of , or through some of those airports can be in for a rude awakening.

 

People roll the dice on airlines. In today’s market, waiting until 45-90 days preflight to see what O can find available in the discounted bulk rate market may often come up shooting craps. 

 

 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

People are not considering an important portion of the discounted bulk rate ticket system, that being demand. There are only a certain number of tickets in the pool for the markets. Therefore, if Citivecchia (Rome) has two 5000-6000 behemoths sitting there along side an I embarking on the same day, the demand for those limited discount bulk rate tickets will be entirely different than if only O is there. Moving a day earlier may make a huge difference in what’s available in the ticket pool.

 

Some airports are severely overloaded. Amsterdam is a perfect example with government mandated flight reductions. Getting in and out are disasters. Unfortunately, cruise schedules are made 2+ years in advance, but I pity anyone having to embark or disembark there. Direct flights are the least of your issues. Even those believing they have great flights into, out of , or through some of those airports can be in for a rude awakening.

 

People roll the dice on airlines. In today’s market, waiting until 45-90 days preflight to see what O can find available in the discounted bulk rate market may often come up shooting craps. 

 

 

@pinotlover Shooting Craps is an interesting choose of words.  Not really good odds if losing is unacceptable.  I think all of this debate on Air Travel for Cruise Lines really come down to confidence of the guest in the area of booking their own Flights.  I personally engaged in this stream because of recent post from those who where very unhappy with their air provided by their cruise brand.  The tone of those post were who ever the cruise brand were, it was that brands fault. 

 

In the last 10 years, the cruise industry has changed a lot.  It has been somewhat of a roller-coaster. The cruise lines are having trouble just keeping their supplies stocked of everything you can imagine.  The cost for supplies and personnel are higher across the board. They lost huge money during Covid and those loans need to be paid back.  There current prices are going up and cutbacks are happening across the board.  This does and will effect airfare provided because it is mostly controlled by the cruise brand. 

 

In my opinion, they should not offer airfare as part of their fares in todays market.  They only do for marketing reasons. It gives the guest a false sense of security that they will get fare and reasonable flights, brands, and times.  Where that does happen sometimes, it does not always. This leads to dissatisfaction with the brands.  In todays market, we guest have to take back control of aspects of our cruise to insure our vacation will be as stressless as possible.  Airfare, Pre/Post Hotels, booking specialty restaurant reservations as soon as available, knowing rules for each port, understanding the brands drink programs, and doing more planning than we ever had to do in the past.  Not ideal but better then spending lots of money and becoming disillusioned on in this situation your airfare decision.  Nothing is more frustrating than thinking you will have a stress free experience than fining out you have a 24 hour start to end point for a flight that should have taken less than 12 hours; you almost miss the flight because of delays the day of departure; of god forbid you miss the sailing and have to catch up at the first port.  Not fun at all.  We have to take some accountability for each decision we make and live with the consequences. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[pinotlover]

Sthrngary;

 

I agree with most all you have said.

 

Air, hotels, excursions are all very significant profit centers for companies like Oceania. They won’t exit those markets anytime soon as long as each remains profitable for them.

 

Especially for Oceania, and some similar lines, there is a significant percentage of customers that are no longer cognitively able to figure out flight schedules, arrangements, and costs thereof. Will they book that flight through NYC, not noticing that have to change from EWR or LGA to JFK for example? Booking a hotel, manhandling their luggage, getting a cab to said hotel is beyond some’s mental and physical limitations. For a profit, Oceania takes care of all of that for them. Mother Oceania is there for them. Others take the route for pure convenience, they don’t want to think. It’s the cruise line’s job. Even exploring often excellent shorex options on a Roll Call is more effort than they want to expend.

 

Another option is a professional Travel Agent. Some here are horrified of the concept their TA may make a buck, but that TA may well be able to arrange and make early air and hotel bookings for less than O’s fares, even including their fees.

 

A huge backstop to all of this is that 3 to 1 bookings to cancellation rates. Our final payment for our upcoming Vista cruise was 90 days pre trip. I was amazed at the number of cancellations and the suddenly available cabins on day 89. If people are wanting to travel to Europe during summer high tourist season and want to wait until last minute to commit to a cruise and air arrangements,  Your choices are going to be reduced. I believe quite a number use O’s Air to have the flexibility of cancelling at 91 days with relatively small cancellation cost. Much lower than if they bought the airline tickets themselves. 
 

A lot of cogs in the wheel.  Lots of combinations on how the dice may roll. Sometimes it’s loaded dice.

 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Sthrngary;

 

I agree with most all you have said.

 

Air, hotels, excursions are all very significant profit centers for companies like Oceania. They won’t exit those markets anytime soon as long as each remains profitable for them.

 

Especially for Oceania, and some similar lines, there is a significant percentage of customers that are no longer cognitively able to figure out flight schedules, arrangements, and costs thereof. Will they book that flight through NYC, not noticing that have to change from EWR or LGA to JFK for example? Booking a hotel, manhandling their luggage, getting a cab to said hotel is beyond some’s mental and physical limitations. For a profit, Oceania takes care of all of that for them. Mother Oceania is there for them. Others take the route for pure convenience, they don’t want to think. It’s the cruise line’s job. Even exploring often excellent shorex options on a Roll Call is more effort than they want to expend.

 

Another option is a professional Travel Agent. Some here are horrified of the concept their TA may make a buck, but that TA may well be able to arrange and make early air and hotel bookings for less than O’s fares, even including their fees.

 

A huge backstop to all of this is that 3 to 1 bookings to cancellation rates. Our final payment for our upcoming Vista cruise was 90 days pre trip. I was amazed at the number of cancellations and the suddenly available cabins on day 89. If people are wanting to travel to Europe during summer high tourist season and want to wait until last minute to commit to a cruise and air arrangements,  Your choices are going to be reduced. I believe quite a number use O’s Air to have the flexibility of cancelling at 91 days with relatively small cancellation cost. Much lower than if they bought the airline tickets themselves. 
 

A lot of cogs in the wheel.  Lots of combinations on how the dice may roll. Sometimes it’s loaded dice.

 

@pinotlover Well said, well written and completely accurate.  So if someone has the time, patience and cognitive abilities to do the due diligence, go for it.  If not, allow Oceania or what ever cruise brand you choose be your "One-Stop-Shop".  Write one check/credit card and let them take care of it.  With that sound strategy comes the responsibility to know what you are getting and not getting. 

 

My main point is and away will be.  Be informed so you can manage your "realistic expectations".  That understanding make social media platforms like CruiseCritic.com a kinder and gentler place to visit.  

 

Thank you again for what I and other will consider an excellent post. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[FlyerTalker]

14 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

If not, allow Oceania or what ever cruise brand you choose be your "One-Stop-Shop".  Write one check/credit card and let them take care of it.  With that sound strategy comes the responsibility to know what you are getting and not getting.

 

And WAY too many have unrealistic expectations of what they are buying.   The urban legend of "the cruiseline will take care of us" has a strong hold. 

 

The dirty little secret is that it really isn't that tough to do all of your travel planning and arrangements.  The online tools to book air and hotels are relatively easy to navigate - you just have to be willing to put a little time and effort into the process.  And even then, it's not like you need to spend hours and days making this work.  ITA Matrix will give you the basic information you need.  Airline websites will let you book what you need, if you just go in with some idea of how to ask for it.  Hotel bookings are a snap.  Transfers are WAY overrated -- you can most of the time do better on your own arrangements, especially with ports that are near downtowns or airports. 

 

But let's be blunt.  Too many folks are simply lazy and looking for the easy way.  Look a few posts upthread - someone said there were no non-stops from DC to Dubai.  That's something that could be disproved with about 90 seconds (if you are a slow typist) of internet work - hmmm, I wonder why that didn't happen.

 

Be an informed consumer.  Caveat emptor.