New Oceania Air Program

[TonicTraveler]

Beginning July 1, 2024 the only Simply More published pricing will be without air. Either an  Oceania agent or TA will be able to add Oceania Air and the fare will be determined by the city you’re departing from. Oceania is calling this dynamic pricing. Everything else will remain the same, including transfers. 

[osandomir]

13 minutes ago, TonicTraveler said:

Beginning July 1, 2024 the only Simply More published pricing will be without air. Either an  Oceania agent or TA will be able to add Oceania Air and the fare will be determined by the city you’re departing from. Oceania is calling this dynamic pricing. Everything else will remain the same, including transfers. 

This looks like an interesting development. I’m looking forward to seeing how it will affect the prices of the business/premium air booked through Oceania. Though, don’t have much hopes for the bargains there. Also, with dynamic pricing I can’t see how the air price will be determined when booking cruise two years in advance.

[TonicTraveler]

31 minutes ago, osandomir said:

This looks like an interesting development. I’m looking forward to seeing how it will affect the prices of the business/premium air booked through Oceania. Though, don’t have much hopes for the bargains there. Also, with dynamic pricing I can’t see how the air price will be determined when booking cruise two years in advance.

You will be able to get pricing for air for all cruises, even those 2 years out. 

[WESTEAST]

It looks like the NCL group is changing - Regent announced that starting July 1, 2024 there are two fare choices: Ultimate All Inclusive includes air (with choice of First, Business or PE - you pay more for Business or First) and then All Inclusive Cruise fare only (no air) which appears similar to what Oceania offered before July 1, 2024. 'Dynamic pricing' wording has been known for airline fares for some time and curious what this Oceania label might infer. 

Edited June 13 by WESTEAST

[WESTEAST]

34 minutes ago, TonicTraveler said:

You will be able to get pricing for air for all cruises, even those 2 years out. 

Just read this and wow that is positive news.  We can continue to compare Oceania rates with Business to our TA Consolidator etc. Thank you.

[CurlerRob]

40 minutes ago, TonicTraveler said:

You will be able to get pricing for air for all cruises, even those 2 years out. 

 

Interesting.

 

Given that the airlines don't publish pricing anywhere near that far out, it suggests that Oceania will be making "educated guesses" about pricing. That may require them to include significant contingency in their pricing to pax, or pressure them to arrange low-cost carriers/routings if they have guessed wrongly.

 

Perhaps @FlyerTalker will offer some insight here based on his knowledge. 🍺🥌

[osandomir]

1 hour ago, TonicTraveler said:

You will be able to get pricing for air for all cruises, even those 2 years out. 

Thank you for posting this information. It will make me assume that Oceania contracts with the airlines are extended that far. This is way before any published flight prices are available. In this case there won’t be any dynamic pricing involved. Still it’s very interesting to see how it all plays out.

[ORV]

I would think the bottom line is that any change like this will be in the best interest of the company. 

[Yesimapirate]

I'm reading this as price will be "dynamic " based on departure and return airports,  not date.  Although traditional peak travel seasons may also be involved. 

 

It's pretty easy to see historic averages ans realize fortress hubs amd small airports are often more expensive than airports with high competition.  Business class to Europe is going to be more from Omaha than NY.  The back end with the actual booking of flights and their contracts don't have to change at all.

[SATaxman]

10 minutes ago, Yesimapirate said:

I'm reading this as price will be "dynamic " based on departure and return airports,  not date.  Although traditional peak travel seasons may also be involved. 

 

It's pretty easy to see historic averages ans realize fortress hubs amd small airports are often more expensive than airports with high competition.  Business class to Europe is going to be more from Omaha than NY.  The back end with the actual booking of flights and their contracts don't have to change at all.

Did you randomly select Omaha as an example, or do you have a connection to Omaha?

 

[Yesimapirate]

22 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

Did you randomly select Omaha as an example, or do you have a connection to Omaha?

 

Totally random.

[FlyerTalker]

11 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

Perhaps @FlyerTalker will offer some insight here based on his knowledge. 🍺🥌

 

In the absence of any actual announcement or details, I really have no idea what they mean by "dynamic".  I see nothing on the Oceania website, nor in the press, so I wonder the source of this supposed change.  If this is really a new program, I would have expected to see it published somewhere.

 

 

[Vallesan]

I had to ‘google’ ‘dynamic pricing’ and now that I know what it is I  just can’t see how it would work with flights for cruises. Time will tell. As it happens we never take cruise line flights but it will be interesting to see if prices for ‘cruise without air’ increase!

Edited June 13 by Vallesan

[FlyerTalker]

If, and it's a big IF, I was to take a guess, this might be a combo play.

 

Contract fares for a limited quantity of seats, from a specific subset of cities.  These would be available for more than one year out, for the price only, with no guarantees of routings between A and B.  Then, within 11 months out, pricing and routings now reflect availability in the spot market, rather than on a contract basis.

 

This would also perhaps upend the paradigm of a customer buying cruise air on a long horizon, but only paying close in.  Cruiselines can have big liabilities if they sell long, but get close in cancellations that they may be liable for.

 

Again, this is just a wild guess.  Personally, if I was a cruiseline I would never sell air unless I could either:

 

a) Insist on air payment at booking

b) Build in significant margin in the air dept to cover cancellation costs

c) Only sell seats after airlines have released published schedules, prices and inventory

 

Anything else, including the current system, are primarily marketing tools.  With associated net costs.  In effect, the cruiseline is booking the bets that customers will keep their cruiseline air, and won't cancel either the air or the underlying cruise.

 

 

[golfguyhhi]

Why does a google search find no indication of this supposed new Oceania air program?  Would the OP please come back and tell us the source of their knowledge of this big change?  Especially since it is supposed to be starting on July 1.

Edited June 13 by golfguyhhi
clarifying wording

[FlyerTalker]

10 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

Why does a google search find no indication of this supposed new Oceania air program?  Would the OP please come back and tell us the source of their knowledge of this big change?  Especially since it is supposed to be starting on July 1.

 

I suspect this was an "I heard it from a friend, who heard it from their TA, who heard it from another TA who heard it from an O rep."

 

 

[TonicTraveler]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

In the absence of any actual announcement or details, I really have no idea what they mean by "dynamic".  I see nothing on the Oceania website, nor in the press, so I wonder the source of this supposed change.  If this is really a new program, I would have expected to see it published somewhere.

 

 

The information came from a webinar I attended with the VP of sales. 

[TonicTraveler]

1 hour ago, golfguyhhi said:

Why does a google search find no indication of this supposed new Oceania air program?  Would the OP please come back and tell us the source of their knowledge of this big change?  Especially since it is supposed to be starting on July 1.

The information came directly from the Oceania VP of sales and head of the air department. 

[FlyerTalker]

7 minutes ago, TonicTraveler said:

The information came from a webinar I attended with the VP of sales. 

 

In which case we should have greater details. The official silence is deafening.

 

 

[TonicTraveler]

2 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

In which case we should have greater details. The official silence is deafening.

 

 

Look at the Oceania website on July 1. 

[FlyerTalker]

So, in other words....there's a new program coming out in two weeks, but you'll have to wait for any details.

 

Woulda saved about 19 posts.

 

 

[WESTEAST]

20 minutes ago, TonicTraveler said:

Look at the Oceania website on July 1. 

Appreciate the advance info; an Oceania media release should be imminent (Regent's air program media release was May 29th for a July 1st effective date). 

[TonicTraveler]

36 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

So, in other words....there's a new program coming out in two weeks, but you'll have to wait for any details.

 

Woulda saved about 19 posts.

 

 

The details are in the original post.  

[Vallesan]

Looking at Facebook this looks like it’s come from a TA.

[FlyerTalker]

21 minutes ago, TonicTraveler said:

The details are in the original post.  

 

We obviously have a difference of opinion as to the meaning of "details".