Question about Regent flights

[LindsayC]

We are booked on our 2nd Regent cruise next year March going from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon. As we are from Belgium we don't get included business flights when booking with Regent. But at the time of the booking Regent offerd us flights in economy for a really good price with an included forced overnight in Rio. We agreed on these flights and about a month ago we received the flight schedule from our travel agent. As soon as we got the schedule I wanted to book seat reservation for the long flight to Rio but I couldn't. I asked our travel agent and he said that because this is a group booking they can't make seat reservations. Is there any way I can make the seat reservation now or do I really have to wait untill check in? Maybe someone at Regent I can contact? Hope someone here can help me out!

[flossie009]

I assume that Regent booking conditions in Belgium are similar to those in the UK.

 

It is unlikely that you will be able to make seat reservations until the flights have been ticketed, which will be after you have made your final cruise payment to Regent. Your TA should be able to confirm this with Regent.

Regent should supply you with a flight locator which you can then use to reserve your seats on the airline's website. Note that some airlines do make a charge for advance seat reservations.

 

For the long flight to Rio you could ask your TA to obtain a price for Business Class from Regent; their pricing is often very reasonable.

 

Which airline are Regent proposing for your flight? 

[Gilly]

@LindsayC we are booked on that same cruise and have flights from LHR via Madrid to Rio, arriving on the day before the cruise (our choice not to do the pre-cruise).  LHR to Madrid, will be on BA, where we've chosen our seats already (with BA frequent flyer status) but Madrid to Rio is Iberia and though we know we  have a booking reference, so far we've not been able to reserve particular seats.  We were told there was a glitch on their website (but don't know if that's the case or what)  We're in business class the whole way, booked through Regent but I'm unsure if that was part of the deal or was an extra. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Gilly

[LindsayC]

37 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

I assume that Regent booking conditions in Belgium are similar to those in the UK.

 

It is unlikely that you will be able to make seat reservations until the flights have been ticketed, which will be after you have made your final cruise payment to Regent. Your TA should be able to confirm this with Regent.

Regent should supply you with a flight locator which you can then use to reserve your seats on the airline's website. Note that some airlines do make a charge for advance seat reservations.

 

For the long flight to Rio you could ask your TA to obtain a price for Business Class from Regent; their pricing is often very reasonable.

 

Which airline are Regent proposing for your flight? 

The airline is KLM. My travel agent indeed mentioned it has something to do with the ticketing..I didn't really understood at that time but now it makes sense they won't issue a ticket on my name untill final payment is made. 

So I guess we have to wait couple of months before we can go ahead with the seat reservation. 

[loriva]

2 hours ago, LindsayC said:

We are booked on our 2nd Regent cruise next year March going from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon. As we are from Belgium we don't get included business flights when booking with Regent. But at the time of the booking Regent offerd us flights in economy for a really good price with an included forced overnight in Rio. We agreed on these flights and about a month ago we received the flight schedule from our travel agent. As soon as we got the schedule I wanted to book seat reservation for the long flight to Rio but I couldn't. I asked our travel agent and he said that because this is a group booking they can't make seat reservations. Is there any way I can make the seat reservation now or do I really have to wait untill check in? Maybe someone at Regent I can contact? Hope someone here can help me out!

 

As others have said, you will not be able to manage your flights on the airline's website until Regent has ticketed them.  This is around 60 days prior to embarkation rather than as soon as you make final payment, per Regent's Air Department.  We made our final payment for our upcoming cruise over a month ago, but they are still showing on the Lufthansa website as not ticketed.  Our 60-day mark will be in another three weeks. 

 

Regent's Air Department also told me they do make seat reservations when they initially book your flights.  For me at least, the seats do not appear on my Air Schedule in my account on Regent's website nor were they on the itinerary sent to me for review and approval.  I was able to obtain the seat assignments by calling Regent--and it did not trigger the $75 fee. 

 

This MAY not apply to all airlines.  We had air from Regent to LHR on British Air and return on Virgin Atlantic last year and I was able to manage my reservations on their websites as soon as the flight was booked, long before it was ticketed.  I've only booked air through Regent twice, so not sure if this was just an anomaly or if different airlines have different policies on how bookings made by third parties can be managed.

Edited July 24, 2023 by loriva
Addition

[Flgreg]

32 minutes ago, loriva said:

 

As others have said, you will not be able to manage your flights on the airline's website until Regent has ticketed them.  This is around 60 days prior to embarkation rather than as soon as you make final payment, per Regent's Air Department.  We made our final payment for our upcoming cruise over a month ago, but they are still showing on the Lufthansa website as not ticketed.  Our 60-day mark will be in another three weeks. 

 

Regent's Air Department also told me they do make seat reservations when they initially book your flights.  For me at least, the seats do not appear on my Air Schedule in my account on Regent's website nor were they on the itinerary sent to me for review and approval.  I was able to obtain the seat assignments by calling Regent--and it did not trigger the $75 fee. 

 

This MAY not apply to all airlines.  We had air from Regent to LHR on British Air and return on Virgin Atlantic last year and I was able to manage my reservations on their websites as soon as the flight was booked, long before it was ticketed.  I've only booked air through Regent twice, so not sure if this was just an anomaly or if different airlines have different policies on how bookings made by third parties can be managed.

 

@Loriva----could you please tell me exactly where the Air Schedule appears in My Account?

 

Thanks very much.

[RELS]

4 hours ago, LindsayC said:

The airline is KLM. My travel agent indeed mentioned it has something to do with the ticketing..I didn't really understood at that time but now it makes sense they won't issue a ticket on my name untill final payment is made. 

So I guess we have to wait couple of months before we can go ahead with the seat reservation. 

 

I have sometimes had luck with this problem by calling the airline and talking to an agent. Some airlines (American) will never seat you until the reservation is ticketed, some will.

 

I generally do a fake booking for all my flights (sometimes all the way through to just short of paying, depending on the airline website), see what seats are available, and have my selection ready when I call. The agents I speak to have been universally helpful (well, except American :-).

 

[pappy1022]

On my outbound flight booked on British Airways, I had business class seats immediately assigned by Regent but I could only get them changed by working through my TA. On the inbound flight on Virgin Atlantic, I had business class seats assigned immediately by Regent but I could change them on the Virgin website. I did go through the deviation process so those arrangements were made 270 days out from the cruise. Not sure there is rhyme or reason as to when this works or doesn’t work.

[loriva]

5 hours ago, Flgreg said:

 

@Loriva----could you please tell me exactly where the Air Schedule appears in My Account?

 

Thanks very much.

 

When you open your Booked Cruises, open the one of interest with "Manage Cruise."  Scroll down and you should see a bunch of items under "Customize my Cruise."  Under "Roundtrip Airfare," you should have a line "Review Air Schedule" in blue.  Open that link and your booked flights will appear.

[Flgreg]

Thanks @loriva

[LindsayC]

Update:

I sent an email to Regent and Regent replied with a flight locator number. With this number I could easily book my prefered seats using the KLM app. 

Happy customer 😊

So much looking forward to our 2nd Regent cruise.

[LindsayC]

On 7/24/2023 at 1:13 PM, Gilly said:

@LindsayC we are booked on that same cruise and have flights from LHR via Madrid to Rio, arriving on the day before the cruise (our choice not to do the pre-cruise).  LHR to Madrid, will be on BA, where we've chosen our seats already (with BA frequent flyer status) but Madrid to Rio is Iberia and though we know we  have a booking reference, so far we've not been able to reserve particular seats.  We were told there was a glitch on their website (but don't know if that's the case or what)  We're in business class the whole way, booked through Regent but I'm unsure if that was part of the deal or was an extra. 

Looking forward seeing you onboard!