Flight Differential Fee for Deviations

[rob1234]

My travel agent has just told me we have to pay an extra $700US per person flight differential fee because we are doing a flight deviation for our cruise to fly in 2 weeks early. We have already paid the $100US per person deviation fee and then we had to pay another $299US per person fee to fly out of our home city of Edmonton instead of Vancouver. This does not sound right at all. Has anyone had this happen to them?

[janisegn]

rob1234 - my husband and i had to pay $100pp deviation fee to change our flight plans for the beginning of our holiday - no other fees - and like you, we are planning to fly in early (from Toronto) -

[mariners]

We have never had to pay an extra fee other than the $100 per person air deviation fee. I think we were told that this is only applicable if we were to fly within a week of the cruise. I'd also check out the price if you were to fly out of another Canadian city (T.O./Calgary/etc.) to see if it is the same price. We always go out of T.O. or Vancouver as they seem to have the best prices. However, sometimes, crossing the border is an advantage. I would not be happy with an extra $800 USD per person additional air fee. Where are you flying in to/out of? The quote seems extremely high to me.

[Travelcat2]

My travel agent has just told me we have to pay an extra $700US per person flight differential fee because we are doing a flight deviation for our cruise to fly in 2 weeks early. We have already paid the $100US per person deviation fee and then we had to pay another $299US per person fee to fly out of our home city of Edmonton instead of Vancouver. This does not sound right at all. Has anyone had this happen to them?

There are only certain cities that you can fly out of -- Edmonton may not be one of them. How much would it cost you to fly out of Vancouver (probably less than $700 US). Your TA should be giving you assistance with this issue.

Just checked Air Canada using a fictitious date. Edmondton to Vancouver roundtrip for 2 -- including some very high taxes was $500.

[rob1234]

Thanks. We're flying from Edm to LA to Auckland. The deviation is only for one way. My TA did mention something about the extra fee being because we are flying in so early (about 18 days). What really annoys me is we sorted this flight out with him 2 months ago. We had originally wanted to fly out of Vancouver but he said no all Regent flights have to be out of LA and if we want Vancouver we have to pay this extra $700. So we said fine we'll go through LA (and I have to miss an extra work day because of that). Now after 2 months he tells me the $700 fee is for any flight and we have to pay it no matter what.

We could do our own flights for cheaper but then we loose the $100 deviation fee we already paid.

[rob1234]

There are only certain cities that you can fly out of -- Edmonton may not be one of them. How much would it cost you to fly out of Vancouver (probably less than $700 US). Your TA should be giving you assistance with this issue.

Just checked Air Canada using a fictitious date. Edmondton to Vancouver roundtrip for 2 -- including some very high taxes was $500.

Yeah. I thought that's what the $299 each fee was. For us to fly out of Edm instead of Vancouver.

Our TA is not helpful at all. He was getting mad at us for even questioning this fee. He said doesn't matter where we fly from or what airline the fee is the same.

[lkakers]

Get a new TA to take over your booking. ASAP!

[mariners]

Unless you have an upgrade, I think you might have a problem with your
T.A. We purchase our own flights out of either T.O, or Vancouver and book Regent air from those points. We have flown in to Auckland to embark and back from the USA when we disembarked and never had to pay more than the air deviation cost. I would contact Regent and ask for costs. There might be something unique about your travel plans. You should have been given your flights and cost when you paid the $100 air deviation fee. We have always been given all of this information from our agent at the time of booking the air deviation. Good luck!

[dlalpw]

Yeah. I thought that's what the $299 each fee was. For us to fly out of Edm instead of Vancouver.

Our TA is not helpful at all. He was getting mad at us for even questioning this fee. He said doesn't matter where we fly from or what airline the fee is the same.
Call or email Regent directly-they should give you the truth-ignore your TA and if Regent says you have to go through the TA tell Regent youre the one who's paying the bill and you want to know from them. Just tell them what you have and what fees are there-not what the TA has told you.They have been pretty helpful-

[rob1234]

Thanks for the advice everyone I will phone Regent tomorrow.

[cruiseluv]

Thanks. We're flying from Edm to LA to Auckland. The deviation is only for one way. My TA did mention something about the extra fee being because we are flying in so early (about 18 days). What really annoys me is we sorted this flight out with him 2 months ago. We had originally wanted to fly out of Vancouver but he said no all Regent flights have to be out of LA and if we want Vancouver we have to pay this extra $700. So we said fine we'll go through LA (and I have to miss an extra work day because of that). Now after 2 months he tells me the $700 fee is for any flight and we have to pay it no matter what.

We could do our own flights for cheaper but then we loose the $100 deviation fee we already paid.

Well, if the cheaper rate saves you more than the $100 deviation fee, it still makes economic sense to take care of it yourself.

[FlyerTalker]

I would suggest reading the "sticky" on cruiseline provided air at the top of the "Cruise Air" forum here at CC.

Beyond that, a few quick observations.

1) The $100 "deviation" fee -- that's for the privilege of taking flights other than those provided by the cruiseline, where you have a choice of alternatives.

2) The $299 fee -- that's the differential supplement above and beyond the cruiseline-provided air from the YVR gateway. You would have this suppliment fee (with a potentially different number) from ANY city other than an included gateway; it's just a matter of how much that differential is.

3) The $700 additional cost -- cruiseline provided air is bulk purchased long in advance of the cruises. Your desire to fly outside the window close to the cruise dates (two weeks off, you say) means that you aren't qualifying for the bulk rate purchase made by the cruiseline. They are having to buy your ticket separately and the $700 is the difference (with some vig included) between the bulk rate and the cost of your specific ticket.

So, you are flying from Edmonton rather than Vancouver ($299), on a deviation request ($100), on flights outside the bulk purchase made by Regent ($700).

Hope that clears up some things for you.

[Travelcat2]

Definitely contact Regent and dump your TA. Just last night I checked a box on the Regent website asking them to call me. This morning I received a call -- they were very helpful.

Sorry to hear that you have received bad information from your TA. Vancouver is a gateway city -- we are flying out of Vancouver next month.

Please post tomorrow and let us know what Regent suggests.

[mariners]

FlyerTalk,
We book our own flights from our city in to Toronto or Vancouver as our city is not a gateway city for Regent cruises. We have always used Regent air from those cities to the embarkation port. At the time of booking the air deviation, we are given the choice of flights as well as the cost of the specific flight. Both Toronto and Vancouver are gateway cities and there is no supplement charged by Regent to fly out of those cities so rob1234's TA telling him he had to fly out of LA can not be correct. Given the costs of flights listed on Kayak, if rob1234 is flying out of LA (or Vancouver), the cost of the air ($100 plus the $700 plus the inclusive air) is more than the amount he would pay on his own and it would, therefore, not make sense for him to book an air deviation through Regent. His travel agent has made at least two errors: telling him he had to fly out of LA and not telling him flights and costs at the time of booking the flight deviation two months ago so that he could decide if it was worth it to use Regent air or if he should take the credit for not using Regent air and book it on his own. His agent getting "mad" when questioned about the fee is, in my opinion, also an unusual response for an agent. It is possible that his agent did not actually book the air until today and the air is no longer included so he now has to pay an additional $700.

[FlyerTalker]

There is definitely something up, and the OP's account is a bit disjointed, but I'm trying to get a handle on what all those extra fees are for.

There are far too many "cruise" TAs who have absolutely NO CLUE as to the airline industry. They parrot what they get told by someone along the line and have little incentive to actually know what's going on. They push a cruiseline package because it's the easy thing for them to do.

If I were the OP, I would be on the horn to Regent directly. I would find out just what the fees are for what he wants to accomplish - spelled out in detail and broken out, rather than just some lump number. I would get the various options available to me and figure out where I go from here.

If it ends up costing deposit money to make changes, I would do so and see if I could transfer the booking to a TA that actually knows what they are doing. And if it can't be changed, tell the TA that they will not be getting any future business because of this fiasco.

Lessons for the future: Don't believe what you can't confirm for yourself. Goes well for almost everything in life.

[dlalpw]

Definitely contact Regent and dump your TA. Just last night I checked a box on the Regent website asking them to call me. This morning I received a call -- they were very helpful.

Sorry to hear that you have received bad information from your TA. Vancouver is a gateway city -- we are flying out of Vancouver next month.

Please post tomorrow and let us know what Regent suggests.
That was our experience as well-we also later requested a change in airlines and Regent did it w/o a fee.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Our TA is not helpful at all. He was getting mad at us for even questioning this fee. He said doesn't matter where we fly from or what airline the fee is the same.

Oh boy. I sure hope you resolve this and also resolve to find a new agent next time!

Is it too late to book your own flights? (BTW, it's possible that Van-Auck was not a good route, schedule or price for Regent, thus the routing thru LA)

I do think the $700 fee is sensible, didn't know they had a time limit but 2 weeks before the cruise is a pretty long time.

[rob1234]

Thanks guys. Our TA was more annoyed than mad that we kept questioning it (told us to just grin and bear it and offered no alternatives). I'm guessing as someone said they don't know anything about the airlines. I know that they use a different company for all the air stuff.

I have no problem with Regent charging an extra fee for flying out early I just wish our TA had given us the correct info. If we had known about it to begin with we would have booked our own flights months ago and wouldn't have lost the $100 deviation fee. I think Quantas even had premium econ free upgrades a while ago which we now probably missed out on.

I'll be calling Regent later today and will update with what they said.


*edit: If we did want to switch TA's how do you think we should go about doing it. If everything is already booked and set would another TA even take us on?

[cruiseluv]

Rob,

No point wasting time worrying about spilled milk. After you get the $$$ figures from Regent you should do a comparison with that cost and what it would cost you if you book the flights yourself. The $100 deviation fee is a sunk cost, so forget about it; it shouldn't matter at this point for deciding what to do going forward.

[alidor]

My guess is that Regent didn't have any air agreements out of Edmonton but maybe they do from Calgary. I would suggest looking into that or buying a totally separate ticket from Edmonton to Vancouver to coordinate with air Regent has.

[rob1234]

Called Regent and they told me that an air differential fee is common especially if it's 7 days or more before the cruise. She said I'll need to phone the Regent Air department to get details about exact fees but they are now closed for the day. Looks like we'll be getting our own air. Thanks again.

[mariners]

Glad it's working out for you. We sailed the Auckland to L.A. crossing on the Mariner and absolutely loved the cruise. If you are a diver, there are some fantastic sites and the days at sea are pure bliss. Enjoy your cruise!

[LOGHL]

I wouldn't mind paying a deviation fee, if I decided to go early (or on a different airline from the one that Regent books) BUT, what really gripes me is the fact that we had to pay $100 per person just to find out if we can book a diffrent airline, (non refundable of course).

why can't they just let us know which airline they use on a route... then it is up to us to decide & pay whatever fee is required!!!

[DaveFr]

I wouldn't mind paying a deviation fee, if I decided to go early (or on a different airline from the one that Regent books) BUT, what really gripes me is the fact that we had to pay $100 per person just to find out if we can book a diffrent airline, (non refundable of course).

why can't they just let us know which airline they use on a route... then it is up to us to decide & pay whatever fee is required!!!
Just call Regent and ask to speak to someone on the air desk. They'll discuss the airlines they usually use from various cities with you. Or ask your TA to get the information. Hope this helps.

Dave