Delta Cancels Contract with Regent

[CatServants]

We put in our air deviation request this week (though our travel agent) for our upcoming cruise in August on the Navigator. We requested Delta flights (including some Virgin Atlantic code shares) as this is  what we had used on our previous cruise with Regent, and we prefer Delta over American or United. Much to our surprise our TA informed us that she had been told Delta had canceled their contract with Regent three weeks ago, and trying to use Regent to book these flights with Delta would cost almost 3X as opposed to booking them ourselves!

 

After much discussion and research, we decided to go with the Regent-offered flights on United and American instead of just canceling the Regent air, taking the credit, and booking things ourselves. Somewhat disappointing and frustrating, but I guess vendors come and go.......

[Georgia_Peaches]

Very disappointing indeed. I won’t fly American..no way, no how. United Polaris is fine but we prefer Delta One. As we have never sailed Regent I’m not sure how the air credit works. As of now, we have air included in our 2025 cruise but if we decide to drop the air and book on our own, how would we go about doing this? And can it be done at any time thereby reducing our overall final payment?

[ysolde]

We have really enjoyed United Polaris.  It has comfortable seats, good food, and top-notch crew.  We live in Scottsdale, so often, when flying to and from Europe, our best option is the LHR-PHX flight on AA.  The seats are not as comfortable as those on UA's Polaris, but it is one flight, eleven hours, and it gives you a chance to relax, settle in, watch movies/TV shows on the IFE (my preference is to get into a TV show on the IFE then continue to watch it when I get home), eat, nap for several hours, wake up, freshen up, snack, and get ready for landing.  The crews are good.  They serve food when you want, let you sleep when you need to, and are responsive without being overbearing.  Delta One had the best food among all three.  United Polaris has the most comfortable seats (IMHO, and for my body type, a lot depends on height, weight, and body type -- whether you are tall, short, broad shouldered, etc.).  All three have lie-flat seats and similar IFEs.  

[CatServants]

Georgia Peaches,  if you have a TA they can handle it. Otherwise, you'll have to contact Regent yourself. I'm not sure about the window to do this - we're 7 months out.

 

[ysolde]

Note that the above is regarding international service.  In terms of domestic First class service, I am only familiar with AA and DL.  I find DL's seats to be a bit more comfortable in general (AA's F seats can be hard).  And DL offers IFE throughout its domestic F service, where AA expects passengers to bring their own devices and use AA's wifi to stream programming.  Personally, I find this to be a pain, and if we had an alternative, we would not fly with AA as often as we do.

[mrstanley]

Is Regent still going to book flights on

for example a Delta flight operated by Air France? Or KLM?

[flare3192]

if we are already booked but not ticketed on delta will they change the flight

[irishwitchy]

Hence, another reason to just go book your own flights, collect your mileage/points/awards and take the middle man out of the middle.  

[jeb_bud]

14 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Very disappointing indeed. I won’t fly American..no way, no how. United Polaris is fine but we prefer Delta One. As we have never sailed Regent I’m not sure how the air credit works. As of now, we have air included in our 2025 cruise but if we decide to drop the air and book on our own, how would we go about doing this? And can it be done at any time thereby reducing our overall final payment?

You can drop the air any time before final payment. For my money the preferred time to make a decision is at the 210 day mark when you can deviate and find out the true cost of the decision. 

[Aloha 1]

Interesting. I air deviated 4 weeks ago for our July Grandeur cruise and have confirmed flights, seats, and a PNR. Nothing from either DL or RSSC about any cancellation.

[CatServants]

Aloha 1, I guess you just made the curoff - congratulations!

[Dolebludger]

Does anybody know the backstory on Delta’s cancellation its deal with Regent?  Just curious, as we can’t use Delta without otherwise unnecessary connections and luggage retrieval and rechecking. We are stuck with United or American for luggage straight to destination and the fewest connections. 

[Older Sister]

Hmmm, our flights for our cruise in three weeks were booked with Delta.  I suppose they’re still a “go”, can’t imagine Regent would cancel or reschedule them.  I would be furious if they did!

[Dolebludger]

It makes me wonder whether a booked Regent guest who has already been booked on Delta by Regent will have booked flight reservation honored by Delta. My guess would be yes. But if I were in this situation, I’d certainly contact Regent. This is one of many reasons why we need more information.

Edited February 1 by Dolebludger

[CardowMD]

Someone late last year said its contracts cancelled per cruise, not overall with RSSC. Depends on each cruise. The one I had inquired about was American Airlines, and was told contract cancelled for that particular cruise. Would like some clarification from RSSC on these flight challenges. Is it overall or by cruise.

[Dolebludger]

True, sir. At our age, some airline arraignments are not doable. Like multiple connections, bookings meant to have most legs in North America and therefore basic economy, and bookings with more connections than necessary. Here in SW Colorado, we really have only two airlines (and their partners) from which to choose. United and American are all we have without claiming and rechecking our luggage. Now, we have disabilities and just cannot fly basic economy for a flight of any length. On our cruise in the Splendor this March in the E. Caribbean, we took the credit and booked our own flights, because Regent included only basic economy, and we can’t do that. Still, on one leg (return, Miami to Denver) all we could get was premium economy. If we weren’t in an extreme penalty phase to cancel our cruise, I would do so. We have a Regent cruise later this year London to London. We paid deviation for a direct Denver to London flight — reverse on return, in included business class. Without deviation, Regent might have routed us with extra connections around the US in basic economy before flying business overseas. So we are concerned about ability to get air we deem suitable for us so we can cruise Regent.  I saw this thread after I read a CNN article reporting that domestic airlines wanted to get rid of business/first. I wonder if this thread and the article are connected. 

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, Dolebludger said:

True, sir. At our age, some airline arraignments are not doable. Like multiple connections, bookings meant to have most legs in North America and therefore basic economy, and bookings with more connections than necessary. Here in SW Colorado, we really have only two airlines (and their partners) from which to choose. United and American are all we have without claiming and rechecking our luggage. Now, we have disabilities and just cannot fly basic economy for a flight of any length. On our cruise in the Splendor this March in the E. Caribbean, we took the credit and booked our own flights, because Regent included only basic economy, and we can’t do that. Still, on one leg (return, Miami to Denver) all we could get was premium economy. If we weren’t in an extreme penalty phase to cancel our cruise, I would do so. We have a Regent cruise later this year London to London. We paid deviation for a direct Denver to London flight — reverse on return, in included business class. Without deviation, Regent might have routed us with extra connections around the US in basic economy before flying business overseas. So we are concerned about ability to get air we deem suitable for us so we can cruise Regent.  I saw this thread after I read a CNN article reporting that domestic airlines wanted to get rid of business/first. I wonder if this thread and the article are connected. 

Your solution - to deviate and select the flights you want - is the perfect solution and something that every guest should do. The cost, if any, if small compared to most cruises and there is no reason to show up tired due to poor flights. Excellent decision - ty for sharing it!

[Dolebludger]

\Oh, yes sir, we chose to go for deviation for our flight to our London/London Splendor cruise this August,— even before we knew what Regent would automatically give us. We paid a bit of a small fee to get direct Denver to London and London to Denver back  in United — all business first and we have to book our own business flights to and from the Denver “gateway” airport to and from Durango. Again no problem if  this works according to plan, all is fine. But if the airline involved decides to cancel the agreement with Regent, where are we? This would be my question. It appears there is a shortage of business/first seats on some flights. For our March E. Caribbean  cruise on the Splendor also, we took the credit as Regent does not include business/first on the flights involved. We were able to get most legs booked business first, except the Miami — Denver flight post cruise. On that one we had to book premium economy (what is that?) and  wait list for business. Wouldn’t have made final payment on that cruise had I known I’d have to ride in the cattle car for a major air leg. 

 

So, it appears that Regent is doing the best it can. I instead blame the airlines for failure to accommodate up scale passengers. For the last two decades, when I finally got to step on a Regent/Radisson ship, I have always said “Thank God:!

[papaflamingo]

On 1/31/2024 at 10:36 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

Very disappointing indeed. I won’t fly American..no way, no how. United Polaris is fine but we prefer Delta One. As we have never sailed Regent I’m not sure how the air credit works. As of now, we have air included in our 2025 cruise but if we decide to drop the air and book on our own, how would we go about doing this? And can it be done at any time thereby reducing our overall final payment?

You can cancel air anytime up to 60 days prior to the cruise. That's when Regent actually pays for the flight.  For reference, it is listed on your Booking Confirmation under "Cancellation of Ancillary Items."

[papaflamingo]

13 hours ago, Older Sister said:

Hmmm, our flights for our cruise in three weeks were booked with Delta.  I suppose they’re still a “go”, can’t imagine Regent would cancel or reschedule them.  I would be furious if they did!

Of course your flights are still a "go."  Regent paid for the tickets 60 days before your cruise so they are bought ant paid for.  I will be more than willing to bet that any booked flights outside of 60 days (tickets not paid for) will also still be a "go."   Without actual documentation I would be a bit skeptical of Delta "cancelling" the contract with Regent.  I wonder if the TA is wrong and what has actually happened is Delta doesn't offer any contract rates (even with an up charge) on certain flights or routes.  I live in Atlanta and am retired Delta.. We ran into this a few years ago when we were trying to book via Regent to Sydney.  Delta was a complete "no go."  Not even an offer of an up charged flight.  Yet last year we were able to book via Regent non stop to Athens with an up charge and non-stop Rome -Atlanta with NO up charge (straight contract rates) on Delta.  We are returning from Tokyo after our Hong Kong-Tokyo cruise on March 8 on the Delta non-stop (also a bit of an up charge).  

So I wouldn't worry.  It's just that Delta is so short of crews and their Delta One product is selling out as fast as it can be booked on most routes.  No need for them to offer contract rates to anyone, so they won't unless the route is not selling out.  But I will still request it when we deviate for our next cruise in 2025.  But I'll also have other backups available.  

Edited February 2 by papaflamingo

[Dolebludger]

If I may, I’ll say it again. We need much more good information about the status of Delta with Regent. Seems to me it could be many things other a complete break in relationship.

[Chateaunole-du-pape]

9 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

It's just that Delta is so short of crews and their Delta One product is selling out as fast as it can be booked on most routes.  No need for them to offer contract rates to anyone, so they won't unless the route is not selling out.

Hopefully the newly reconfigured 359s, with additional seats up front, will help in this regard.  Granted, it's only one fleet type, but it's a good start in moving away from being coach-heavy...

[Dolebludger]

I hope so as well, and hope it is copied by other airlines too. Back 20-30 years ago, I always flew what was called “coach” back then (main cabin) and no problem — even on long flights. But the seat room has shrunk, and my body has aged. Now it is business class, or no go if I can avoid the trip. For those of us who in the middle of the USA, it means that we can’t cruise as often due to the higher air fares. Even if it is a cruise where Regent provides business class on “inter-continental” legs, there might be a lot of economy flying involved to get to the inter-continental flights.

[tnr]

We just booked our air to Barcelona through Regent Air.  My TA also told me that my Delta choices were not available as Delta had cancelled the contract.  Of course, this could just be verbiage that the air department is using……or not.

[mrstanley]

Tnr…

 

So how did Regent book you to Barcelona?