Experience with booked air through Oceania

[jonthomas]

Let me simplify my request. 

 

Those soon  flying with O, could you please comment if you were able to get good flights, using the new rule, coming a couple of days earlier and no longer paying deviation.

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Let me simplify my request. 

 

Those soon  flying with O, could you please comment if you were able to get good flights, using the new rule, coming a couple of days earlier and no longer paying deviation.

it is impossible to  answer

What someone might get today  you may not get the same  next week or next month

What seems good to someone else may not seem good to you

 

Best to book your own air  then you only have yourself to blame when things do not go according to plan

JMO

[jonthomas]

I have already detailed that to book my own prem econ, would cost us more than 3 times as much than using O air...not going to happen..

Let me be the judge of what I get out of other people's experiences.

[FlyerTalker]

7 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

it is impossible to  answer

What someone might get today  you may not get the same  next week or next month

What seems good to someone else may not seem good to you

 

And....what happens to someone else is also dependent on their particular cities and dates.  Someone getting "good flights" from Chicago doesn't have any bearing on what you might get from Wichita (or wherever).  Same thing with dates.

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

And....what happens to someone else is also dependent on their particular cities and dates.  Someone getting "good flights" from Chicago doesn't have any bearing on what you might get from Wichita (or wherever).  Same thing with dates.

I agree 

but some people are  unrealistic in their expectations 😉

 

[LHT28]

10 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

I have already detailed that to book my own prem econ, would cost us more than 3 times as much than using O air...not going to happen..

Let me be the judge of what I get out of other people's experiences.

Good luck

If you find someone that is flying the same route on the same dates  then that is a good comparison

As others have said in the past if you want  to know the flights will be good for you then pay the deviation fee to be sure you get something you  like

For the free econ flights  you  may or may not get non stop flights  you could end up with several connections & tight layovers

 

[jonthomas]

If everyone agreed with you, no one would ask or comment about anything as everyone will have a variety of variables that will be unlike anyone else's. 

The topic says "experience with O air".

You don't want ANYONE to comment because everyone's circumstances will be different.

Perhaps when this topic was first posted, you needed to say that this is a nuisance topic and no opinions can be valuable.

I  value it and I'm looking forward to hearing the opinions of others as the OP requested. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by jonthomas

[FlyerTalker]

55 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

I  value it and I'm looking forward to hearing the opinions of others as the OP requested. 

 

As long as you recognize it for any entertainment value.

 

But as a source of valid data points from which an accurate extrapolation can be achieved - well....

[Woodrowst]

11 hours ago, jonthomas said:

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

In any case that gives me hope.

I researched the United flight and had my TA request it. 

[Woodrowst]

1 minute ago, Woodrowst said:

I researched the United flight and had my TA request it. 

PS:  After my TA submitted my request O put together a proposed flight itinerary.  I could still have requested changes at that point - they did not “book” the flights until I gave my approval.  Everything went through my TA.

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, Woodrowst said:

PS:  After my TA submitted my request O put together a proposed flight itinerary.  I could still have requested changes at that point - they did not “book” the flights until I gave my approval.  Everything went through my TA.

Did you have to pay the deviation fee ?

[jonthomas]

Will try and avoid the TA, but may be difficult.

Yes, did you pay deviation fee to get your requested flights? That certainly would make a difference. 

[pinotlover]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Will try and avoid the TA, but may be difficult.

Yes, did you pay deviation fee to get your requested flights? That certainly would make a difference. 

If one has a TA, O Air will require you to go through your TA. If one doesn’t want a TA to represent on contractual matters, and prefers DIY, then don’t specify a TA. That’s easy to do, but can come with consequences. Appointing and declaring someone as your AGENT has a meaning! 

[jonthomas]

Yeah, Ive been at this long enough to know that, but still prefer to do some things myself and hate it when I am prohibited from doing so.

[Woodrowst]

18 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Did you have to pay the deviation fee ?

Surpisingly, no.  I had expected them to add it on due to the direct flight request but there was no extra fee.

[jonthomas]

Thank you for your answer. Good to know that O gave a good result without having to pay for deviation. Of course I don't expect that in every case. I'm saying this to head off anyone else from reminding me of this fact.

[wcGma]

Appreciate the many comments particularly advice about Abu Dhabi routing. Yes, I am familiar and experienced with doing online search of the options and routes.  Currently waiting to see what Oceania offers for my custom request of nonstop specific Emirates flights understanding that there will be probable additional cost from custom request fee (specific flights) as well as anything O may add as upcharge(“additional  flight costs).  For the Middle East cruise, booking our own airfare is quite a bit more expensive at this time even after deducting the air credit from our reservation. We may bite the bullet and just commit so we can have nonstop flights as my husband does not want connections and 24 hour plus travel. 
 

I’m still having some difficulty navigating with using Cruise Critic. Find it difficult to reply to someone without going through the whole topic thread as topic often doesn’t stay specific. 🤔

[AMHuntFerry]

59 minutes ago, wcGma said:

I’m still having some difficulty navigating with using Cruise Critic. Find it difficult to reply to someone without going through the whole topic thread as topic often doesn’t stay specific. 🤔

If you want to reply to a specific post, click on the "+" next to the word "Quote" in the bottom-left corner of their post; since I was only replying to part of your post, I deleted the first paragraph (be sure to type your response BELOW the quote, not in the quoted-shaded-box). If you want to direct a comment to someone, you can put "@" before their screen-name, e.g., @wcGma (and choose from the drop down menu that appears). Either one will create a notification to them if they have the default settings.

Edited May 24, 2023 by AMHuntFerry

[wcGma]

Thank you. Your instructions are very helpful. 

[Hlitner]

I have long been critical of how "O" handles cruise air...when compared to many other cruise lines.  Not only do they have a ridiculous deviation fee (for many options), but they do not have an online booking engine.  So, for example, if we book a cruise with Seabourn, HAL, Cunard, Princess, etc. we can go online to their air booking engine, choose our flights (just like on most air booking engines), use various airports (in Europe there are often more than a dozen options which works well for folks that want to do some land travel pre or post cruise), see the fares, and make one's choice.  Most cruise lines offer a "Flex" air option which means you are not charged for the ticket until around 60 days prior to the flight.  So that gives one an additional option of changing or cancelling flights with no penalty (until about 45 days prior to the flight).

 

I have long wondered why "O" (and NCLH) does not have a similar user friendly system.  The reality is that it costs the cruise line nothing since these booking engines/sites are generally handled by a third party commercial air travel company.

 

Hank

[jonthomas]

Yes to all that you say. Now that O is our cruise line of choice, we wish things were improved with the air that they offer. Need to start a campaign of petitioning them to do better but we are just a small group here, not sure we have any power. 

 

But will send the points you made here to their contact info. 

[jonthomas]

Well good luck to me finding an actual email address for O and who to send it to.

[jonthomas]

sent it to OceaniaClub@oceaniacruises.com

 

the only email address I could find...

[shank63]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

I have long been critical of how "O" handles cruise air...when compared to many other cruise lines.  Not only do they have a ridiculous deviation fee (for many options), but they do not have an online booking engine.  So, for example, if we book a cruise with Seabourn, HAL, Cunard, Princess, etc. we can go online to their air booking engine, choose our flights (just like on most air booking engines), 

I used the online booking with HAL previously, albeit very slow, and found the flexibility far superior to Oceania.  No deviation fees, choice of fare classes, and the ability to make changes for lower fares or better connections.  However, O is just as bad as Viking.

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I have long wondered why "O" (and NCLH) does not have a similar user friendly system.  The reality is that it costs the cruise line nothing since these booking engines/sites are generally handled by a third party commercial air travel company.

 

And those "third parties" will gladly provide this service at no cost to Oceania?  Who exactly is paying for this?

 

In addition, are you considering that most cruiseline provided air is NOT public published fare tickets.  So any front end would have to deal with the inventory available to the cruiseline, not the inventory available through normal GDS channels.

 

But go ahead with your assumptions on costs and applicability.