Regent airfare

[MELSMOM47]

We typically make our own airfare arrangements but since business class is included with the itinerary we are considering , we are interested in knowing how well does Regent do with this endeavor. Thanks in advance. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

We haven’t used the air portion yet but will do so for our first Regent cruise next year. I read a great deal of helpful info in the post pinned at the top of the page.. including how to deviate when the time comes so that we have a modicum of control over our reservation. 

[MELSMOM47]

7 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We haven’t used the air portion yet but will do so for our first Regent cruise next year. I read a great deal of helpful info in the post pinned at the top of the page.. including how to deviate when the time comes so that we have a modicum of control over our reservation. 

Thank you. I searched the topic but didn’t notice the pinned post. 👍🏻

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, MELSMOM47 said:

Thank you. I searched the topic but didn’t notice the pinned post. 👍🏻

It seems lots and lots of people have had questions ☺️.  I'll admit, I'm leery but cautiously optimistic that flights arranged by Regent are part of a well oiled machine.  Every now and then someone will post about their experience...I've learned a lot from those posts too!

[MICHE99]

Thanks. I’ll continue searching. 👍🏻

[pappy1022]

Do yourself a favor and pay the small deviation fee and have the choice of multiple flight itineraries. Do your homework beforehand and pick 2 or 3 options that work best for you and then see if Regent can accommodate your wished. Work through your TA to get a deviation, otherwise you will be at the mercy of whatever Regent chooses for you. Not the best choice in my opinion.

[Tsunami74]

We have used Regent airfare several times from a non gateway city without any deviation and have had pleasing results. Could not have picked better route ourselves. Maybe we are just lucky.

[pappy1022]

Check out this topic on this Regent board. Regent Flights - with and without deviation

[MELSMOM47]

Thank you

[MELSMOM47]

26 minutes ago, Tsunami74 said:

We have used Regent airfare several times from a non gateway city without any deviation and have had pleasing results. Could not have picked better route ourselves. Maybe we are just lucky.

Did they fly you from your city or did you need to get to a hub on your own?

[MELSMOM47]

28 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

Do yourself a favor and pay the small deviation fee and have the choice of multiple flight itineraries. Do your homework beforehand and pick 2 or 3 options that work best for you and then see if Regent can accommodate your wished. Work through your TA to get a deviation, otherwise you will be at the mercy of whatever Regent chooses for you. Not the best choice in my opinion.

Good advice. Thank you. 

[Tsunami74]

10 minutes ago, MELSMOM47 said:

Did they fly you from your city or did you need to get to a hub on your own?

From our city 

For example in January we flew Pittsburgh/Houston/Sydney.

One stop from Pittsburgh to Australia is pretty good.

[CJANDH]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I read a great deal of helpful info in the post pinned at the top of the page..

Where do I find the pinned post?

[wcsdkqh]

I believe you will pay and extra $125 per person each way if you do not use one of the published gateway cities.

[jjs217]

28 minutes ago, wcsdkqh said:

I believe you will pay and extra $125 per person each way if you do not use one of the published gateway cities.

That is correct.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, CJANDH said:

Where do I find the pinned post?

I wrote page but meant board.  So sorry.

 

 

[jeb_bud]

2 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

From our city 

For example in January we flew Pittsburgh/Houston/Sydney.

One stop from Pittsburgh to Australia is pretty good.

Was your Pittsburgh to Houston flight in coach or first class?  Same airline all the way or different airlines?  

[Tsunami74]

49 minutes ago, jeb_bud said:

Was your Pittsburgh to Houston flight in coach or first class?  Same airline all the way or different airlines?  

First to Houston.

Same airline to Australia (United Polaris business)

And yes, it is $125 for not being in a gateway city - would always have that surcharge deviating or not.

I have read on this forum that if your domestic flight connects with an international, it is first class for domestic leg, and it has been for us. However, I have not seen that in writing officially.

[jeb_bud]

12 minutes ago, Tsunami74 said:

First to Houston.

Same airline to Australia (United Polaris business)

And yes, it is $125 for not being in a gateway city - would always have that surcharge deviating or not.

I have read on this forum that if your domestic flight connects with an international, it is first class for domestic leg, and it has been for us. However, I have not seen that in writing officially.

The key is both legs being on the same airline to get the domestic first class. 
 

Our home airport is MFR, which is much smaller than Pittsburgh with I suspect many fewer flights and destinations. It’s nice to hear that Regent will choose the good connection on their own, but as you noticed they don’t commit to it in writing. We deviate so we can book our flights well in advance to maximize our chance of decent connections and domestic first class. I fear that if we leave it to Regent and don’t like the itinerary it will be too late to improve it by deviation close to departure. 

[pappy1022]

We flew from Austin to Copenhagen via London. The return trip was a direct London to Austin flight. I did pay the deviation fee and a small fee for traveling from a non gateway city but it was worth it. 

[SWFLAOK]

10 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

We flew from Austin to Copenhagen via London. The return trip was a direct London to Austin flight. I did pay the deviation fee and a small fee for traveling from a non gateway city but it was worth it. 

We live near a small city called Miami in Florida. We're wondering why Regent has an easier time booking flights to Europe from Austin through LHR to Copenhagen than from here. Is it the airlines, or Regent selection of flights?

[pappy1022]

I wish I had an answer for you but I don’t. Are you going through the deviation process or letting Regent pick the flights for you? I have always deviated, did my homework beforehand as to 2-3 options I would consider, and let my TA do the work with Regent. My sense is that things have changed recently with the airlines and Regent has fewer options, but that is just a gut feel. 

[PhD-iva]

It’s important to deviate well in advance. I forget the outer limit, but it’s worth deviating as early as possible in order to get the best flights and options and seat assignments. If you wait to see what Regent assigns you without going through the deviation process, by then it’s probably too late to be able to find a better itinerary. JMO

[SWFLAOK]

21 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

It’s important to deviate well in advance. I forget the outer limit, but it’s worth deviating as early as possible in order to get the best flights and options and seat assignments. If you wait to see what Regent assigns you without going through the deviation process, by then it’s probably too late to be able to find a better itinerary. JMO

We have always paid to deviate, and we have always pushed for as early as possible. We know which airlines and connections are not acceptable, and don't let them push us toward them by saying they won't be a problem. On our upcoming fights in April, Regent told us we had seats assigned. When we looked at the airline's website, we didn't have seats. We complained through our TA, and Regent said we had to pay extra for seat assignments. We agreed to that, and it was several hundred dollars for each seat on each flight, so 8 seats altogether for the 2 of us. This was late November for our April flights. We had a choice of the few remaining available seats in business class. There were only a few that were together, and all the least desirable seats. We felt that they had mislead us when they told us they had assigned seats which were all good seats in business class, and found out later that they hadn't. We were told it would be a while before our seat assignments would show up on the airline website, but ended up not being true.

 

[pappy1022]

Wow, we had our seats assigned at the time we agreed to the deviation flights. Outbound was BA and I could see my seat assignments but I had to have my TA talk to Regent to change. Inbound was with Virgin Atlantic and I could change my seat assignments online. Not sure what your circumstances are but we were abler to change seats without any issues.