Olife air. Our experience using Eurowings discovery…

[Redtravel]

We booked late.  When I looked at air, most flights that I would’ve liked were full or very expensive. Took O air. From PHL to FRA Eurowings discovery is a bargain line, a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

oceania paid for luggage, but not seat assignments. We were assigned seats at the airport.
seats were very narrow with very little legroom.  They had old entertainment systems. Sold earphones. Food was ok. Happy that I brought food and water. 
We were ontime.  We changed planes in FRA to Lufthansa and flew to Gatwick.  Oceania transfer took us by bus to Southampton.  
we usually fly in at least a day before a cruise. However, due to some constraints we chose to fly in the day of the cruise.  We were a bit stressed out, but happy that it worked out.

We got to the ship at 2:30, got our luggage delivered quickly, and sailed at 5 pm.  
 

[PhD-iva]

Thanks for sharing your experience. While it might not have been an optimal arrangement, hopefully you got a great deal on the cruise fare.

[Redtravel]

We got a good deal on the cruise fare and the air.   Oceania’s air price was much better than anything that I could book.  While it wouldn’t be my choice of air, it did get us to the cruise.  

[Redtravel]

Talked to many people on the ship who booked Olife with air.  Everyone had crazy connections to get home.  Many had multiple connections like us.  Before we left ship, we got email that our flights were being rebooked.  Rebooked to what?    Everyone we asked said that all possible flights were overbooked.  We made it home , but not our luggage.  We were in transit 24+ hours.  

[Mura]

For many years now flights are easy if you are at a gateway port,  If not it can be difficult,  We fly out of NYC to Europe and so we haven't had these problems but if you live in the midwest or west coast it can be a problem.  And if you are not in the U.S., that can be a further problem!

[ToxM]

The return journey sounds like a nightmare. I really prefer doing my own air, I have control of the booking, I can research transfer times if the flight is indirect and make decisions based on that. I also can pretty much guarantee that I can get premium or biz class cheaper than O can. 

 

I’ll hand over control to the cruiseline once I am on board, but I’ll get myself to the port as to be honest I don’t really trust O to look after me if I need them to off the ship - they seem to have a disconnect with duty of care there, but I do trust myself. 

[grifdoglover]

Let’s face it flying ANYWHERE is a nightmare now.  Sometimes it takes a whole day for what should be a few hour trip within the US.  

[FlyerTalker]

16 hours ago, grifdoglover said:

Let’s face it flying ANYWHERE is a nightmare now.  Sometimes it takes a whole day for what should be a few hour trip within the US.  

 

It's a nightmare if you let it be one.  If you have contingency plans, you can often do better than the folks who just sit back and wait for others to take care of their flights.

 

For example - I saw on television a woman who was complaining about being stranded at Newark due to UA issues.  What?  If that was me, I'd be on the phone to another airline and be heading to LaGuardia or JFK -- where flights were operating just fine.  Instead, she just complained that UA wasn't getting her on a flight out of EWR.

 

Take control of your own destiny.

 

 

[edgee]

6 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

It's a nightmare if you let it be one.  If you have contingency plans, you can often do better than the folks who just sit back and wait for others to take care of their flights.

 

For example - I saw on television a woman who was complaining about being stranded at Newark due to UA issues.  What?  If that was me, I'd be on the phone to another airline and be heading to LaGuardia or JFK -- where flights were operating just fine.  Instead, she just complained that UA wasn't getting her on a flight out of EWR.

 

Take control of your own destiny.

 

 

Agree with taking control of your own destiny, however that is not always possible. Flights out of LaGuardia and JFK were NOT operating "just fine" in the recent holiday weekend NY area flight cancellation mess. Although EWR was the worst, thousands of flights were cancelled at all three NY area airports. 

[grifdoglover]

@FlyerTalkeryes then you need to pay for transportation to those airports and will need to pay for a new flight IF one is available.  What makes you think people aren’t capable of trying to get out of a flight mess?  There are shortages of air traffic controllers as well as pilots.  Airlines have pretty much control over certain routes.  Not complaining just facts flying is a NIGHTMARE don’t get me started on how ridiculous the seating is soon they will be like buses or subways stand holding a handle…