Business Class upgrade...

We JUMPED at the Business Class upgrade on our coming Istanbul-Dubai cruise. On the surface, a real bargain at 2K extra per person R/T. I don't do long flights in steerage anymore. Especially on 24 hour days. We're flying from Seattle and with stop, each way will be about 24 hours including the ground stops.

So, I'm looking for some input as to how you found Regent's Business Class bookings. I don't care that much about the food, but the lay flat seat is the DECIDER for me. Throw in some drinks/extra room and I'm happy.

However, I'm wondering how Regent does this? I just did a "kayak" on Business Class to Istanbul and then back from Dubai and the cheapest was $5744 with the average pushing $8500. The coach fare is about $1490. Subtracting the coach fare from the Business Class show the extra cost at $4258 for the cheapest and around $6500 for the average.

So, how does Regent do it for $2000? Or less than half the price of Business Class?

Your profile does not say where you are from so advice is a bit difficult!

If you read the fine print you will note that Regent only guarantees you will fly business over the water. So it depends where you live as to whether or not you will fly Business all the way.

Many Regent cruisers are thrilled with the business class upgrades, we fly direct out of LAX to Frankfurt, I just don't know if you can depend on that.

Hoping others will jump in and give you more advice.

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I see that you fly out of SeaTac. We also live in Washington but choose to fly out of Vancouver as the flights are sometimes more direct. In any case, nana541 brings up a good point regarding Business Class flights only being over water. So, if Regent puts you on KLM or Lufthansa (Regent currently contracts with both carriers), you will probably not have to change planes in the U.S. so the flights will be Business Class the entire way. However, if they put you on Delta, it could stop in the U.S. and that portion of the flight could be coach.*

Rather than wait for Regent to decide for us, we like to deviate our flights which costs $175.00/person. This way you can have them book your flights 270 days prior to your sail date. And, you can select the flights you want, as long as the airlines and flights are contracted with Regent.

This may sound a bit complicated but it is fairly easy. Hopefully you have a good TA that has booked with Regent before and they can explain this in more detail. A good TA is extremely important in this process.

Love your question regarding how Regent can get such great Business Class fares. Their fares are based not only on contracts with airlines but on certain routes and flights. There is also a limited number of seats on each plane that Regent can book with this special fare. This is one reason why deviating gives you the best chance of getting the flight(s) that you want.

Hope my explanation was not too convoluted (my TA explains it so much better than I can:-)

*While flights over land (like the U.S.) are suppose to be coach, if your entire flight is on the same airline, you usually get Business Class all the way.

Thanks for the input Travelcat and Nana. Re the overwater guarantee, does that mean if we went BA out of Seattle, we might be in coach from London to Istanbul? Or other European land routing? And it is too late to "deviate our flights which costs $175.00/person" once we get assigned our flight schedule.

Our TA said that might be a chance we would get Business Class on Air Emirates nonstop (Dubai to Seattle), but I'm not betting on that happening. Don't throw me in that "briar patch". Oh, go ahead! I was just kidding.

We're currently in Stockholm, waiting to board the Voyager. We took Regent's air with the cheap business class upgrade, and our flights from Phoenix were perfect.

Our first leg was from Phoenix to Chicago on United, and we were seated in first class. We had a layover of a few hours there, and then flew SAS directly to Stockholm. The business class seats on SAS fully recline (well, to 170 degrees anyway).

There aren't that many ways to get from the west coast to Sweden, and I can't imagine we could have done better on our own. Like you, I was astonished at how expensive these tickets would have between if we booked them ourselves.

We fly home from London at the end of the cruise, and I expect those flights to be equally good. We are very happy with Regent air.

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Thanks for the input Travelcat and Nana. Re the overwater guarantee, does that mean if we went BA out of Seattle, we might be in coach from London to Istanbul? Or other European land routing? And it is too late to "deviate our flights which costs $175.00/person" once we get assigned our flight schedule.

 

Our TA said that might be a chance we would get Business Class on Air Emirates nonstop (Dubai to Seattle), but I'm not betting on that happening. Don't throw me in that "briar patch". Oh, go ahead! I was just kidding.

Regarding London to Istanbul, most intra-European flights have the same seats for both business and coach. The difference is a bit more leg room in "business" and the middle seat in the row of three is blocked off.

As to your question regarding how Regent does the $1K each way upgrade; they have contracts that get them better fares than you or I can get, they use consolidators who can get tickets much cheaper, they may book the lowest fare that doesn't include FF points and other ways only known to them.

Also, remember that the fare for the cruise and the upgrade fee is the same no matter where one lives in the US so while your ticket might be higher than average for your cruise, the fare for people in the east coast will be cheaper. The opposite would occur for flights to Asia. Really only Regent knows how they do these prices and since they are profitable, must work for them.

As far as waiting until you get your flight assignments before deviating, that is a pretty dangerous approach financial wise. By the time you get your flight assignments, most probably the availability of seats for deviating is pretty low and while you might get seats, more than likely you would pay a surcharge along with your deviation fee. Most on this board would highly recommend against this approach and most people who deviate at the 270 day mark when Regent first accepts deviation requests in order to have the best choices and lowest to zero surcharges.

 

Rather than wait for Regent to decide for us, we like to deviate our flights which costs $175.00/person.

WHen did the deviation fee increase? It was $150pp.

I believe it has been a year since Regent raised their price on deviation -- it seemed like one day the prices were just higher. Happy to hear that you were put on SAS for both legs of the flight and were able to have First Class in the United States. That is how we are booked (deviated) on our flight to Rio. Although we will fly coach from Vancouver to Seattle (the plane is all coach for the 150 mile flight) - then First Class to Atlanta and Business Class to Rio.

StarFlyr: Your "briar patch" comment made me laugh. Actually, if you were to get Emirates non-stop from Seattle I would be jealous (but very happy for you).

...That is how we are booked (deviated) on our flight to Rio. Although we will fly coach from Vancouver to Seattle (the plane is all coach for the 150 mile flight) - then First Class to Atlanta and Business Class to Rio.

 

StarFlyr: Your "briar patch" comment made me laugh. Actually, if you were to get Emirates non-stop from Seattle I would be jealous (but very happy for you).

Travelcat, did you "deviate" before or after Regent booked you differently than going through Vancouver? When you first mentioned Vancouver, I thought you drove up there.

Re Emirates from Seattle, that's not going to happen as we're meeting our ship in Istanbul, but we finish the cruise in Dabai and that's the nonstop Emirates flight I want to Seattle, but I don't expect it EVEN if we paid the deviation fee. Emirates charges an arm and a leg for BC.

I'll let you know what we end up getting, but without a deviation fee, I suspect it's going to be on Delta with perhaps a domestic leg to a gateway although they do fly from Seattle nonstop to both London and Amsterdam.

We almost always deviate 270 days prior to the sail date. There have been a couple of times when we gambled because we were fairly certain which airline they would book us on. For long flights, we don't want to risk getting flights with 10 hour layovers, etc. While Regent usually does a very good job, sometimes their flights require more stops that we would be comfortable with. Plus, by the time you know about your flights, it is too late to cancel without penalty (generally -- this depends upon how long your cruise is).

Yes -- we do drive to Vancouver -- only 50 miles from where we live while SeaTac is closer to 100 miles. For the flights I was describing (Vancouver to Rio in April, 2015), it would be easy to fly out of Seattle and avoid the flight from Vancouver to Seattle. However, we need our car to be at the airport in Vancouver so that we can fly British Airways after the cruise. Regent has some "interesting" contracts with airlines. People flying out of Canada can use British Airways without an additional surcharge (above the deviation fee) while people in the U.S. have to pay the surcharge (unless it is Regent's idea to put you on BA).

Keep in mind that contracts change so you never really know for sure what contracts will be in place when Regent books your flights. At the moment, Regent and BA have not signed contracts for 2015 so, although we have deviated, there is no guarantee that we will be on the flights that we selected (although I would be surprised if they stopped using BA).

Hopefully Regent will book exactly what you are hoping for.:)

Hello Travelcat2,

How do you find out which airlines are contracted with Regent? It sure would help in research!

Hello Travelcat2,

 

How do you find out which airlines are contracted with Regent? It sure would help in research!

Do remember that just because they have had a contract in the past or have one this year, does not mean they will in the future. As reported earlier on this thread (I think) 2015 contracts with airlines are not even done yet...

So you can only look at airlines they have used in the past.

I have flown with Regent from the West Coast (LAX) on both SAS & Lufthansa to Europe ...

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Hello Travelcat2,

 

How do you find out which airlines are contracted with Regent? It sure would help in research!

First and most important is to have a good TA. They have up to date information on airline contracts. I have also contacted the Regent Air department when I was ready to deviate flights. I would give them an airline and flight number and they would let me know if they had current contracts with them.

Also, by reading CC, you can learn a lot. A while back I started a thread (a sticky at the top of the Regent page) so that people could post what flights they had. Unfortunately, people do not tend to pay attention to it.

At the moment, I am seeing many people being put on SAS and Delta Airlines. Lufthansa has been used quite a bit - but again, it depends upon where you are flying from. United Airlines (I think) is being used out of the U.S. but not to South America. As I mentioned, British Airways is sometimes used out of Canada (and occasionally out of the U.S. but generally you have to pay extra if you request BA when you deviate). Last year Cathay Pacific was used a lot for Asian itineraries. A while back Emirates was also being used.

Obviously, this can get quite confusing. I just had another thought. If you look in the Roll Call section, you might find a thread with a similar itinerary to yours. Flights are often discussed there. Wish I could be more helpful but these things change all of the time.

Thanks for the info. I am all set on this cruise, but was thinking about the future.

I know that they have a deal with Swiss, because thats what I asked for and that's what I got with no extra fees except deviation. We leave from Miami on Aug. 24 on Swiss Business class to Athens, thru Zurich. We board Mariner on the 27th. Return is non stop on American from Barcelona to Miami. Couldn't have done better! Got exactly what I wanted, and they responded to my TA in Minutes.

This is our first Regent Cruise and we are really excited.

Travelcat2- I know you suggested looking at the roll calls but know you are active here.

Just a question. We are doing a cruise out of Amsterdam next year for only 12 days.We hate to go all the way to Europe for just a short time so we planning a river cruise ending Amsterdam. Do you think Regent will let us fly to Frankfurt 10 days before the Regent cruise ? We will do the deviation in business ?

Also we will be going to Cape Town. Do you think they will use BA on that route ?

Thank you for your input and also enjoy reading your posts.

We will be in your neck of the woods next month on a private cruise out of Anacortes and hoping the weather holds.

John

Travelcat2- I know you suggested looking at the roll calls but know you are active here.

Just a question. We are doing a cruise out of Amsterdam next year for only 12 days.We hate to go all the way to Europe for just a short time so we planning a river cruise ending Amsterdam. Do you think Regent will let us fly to Frankfurt 10 days before the Regent cruise ? We will do the deviation in business ?

Also we will be going to Cape Town. Do you think they will use BA on that route ?

 

Thank you for your input and also enjoy reading your posts.

 

We will be in your neck of the woods next month on a private cruise out of Anacortes and hoping the weather holds.

 

John

In terms of Cape Town, I do not think they will do British Airways to Cape Town simply because Regent does not typically use BA out of the United States (and just because I said that, the odds are better that they will use them;) ) Are you going to Cape Town this year or next? I just looked up flights from Phoenix (do not know which airport you use) and BA definitely has the best flights (followed by American and then KLM).

I am really not certain if Regent would allow you to deviate by 10 days although I can see no reason why they wouldn't. This question should be easy to answer by just calling Regent.

There is one thing that I do have a definite answer for -- the weather next week should be perfect for you! Have a great time:)

Yes, Regent will allow you to deviate by quite a while - we usually add on an independent trip either before or after a cruise but still take Regent's offer of flights with a deviation to suit ourselves. Last year, we spent a week in Florida before joining Mariner in Miami, then took another 9 days in Peru having disembarked in Lima, but both flights were booked for us by Regent as part of the cruise package. Next year, we'll take almost two weeks in Burma/Myanmar before joining Voyager in HongKong, and again, Regent have sorted our flights for us.

I should add, we are British and although we made our initial booking on board Mariner, we've arranged everything else directly with Regent in Southampton over the telephone..

Great information as always Gilly. Just want to add that there are benefits to book through a TA in the U.S. While booking with Regent is fine, we like getting a percentage of the fare back from our TA before we leave:) Also, TA's that regularly book Regent can help you with suite decisions, etc.

When you go to Burma/Myanmar next year, I hope you will post. It is one place that we are interested in but will probably never get to as we are pretty booked for the next two years.

Aloha all,

One thing that nobody has mentioned is the fact that it costs nothing to call Regent or have one's travel agent called Regent to inquire about the deviation. You do not have to pay for the deviation until you agree with an itinerary.

What we have done for the past two years and did again this year was to have our TA call Regent to inquire about a deviation. We asked her to stipulate that we strongly prefer an international rather than US carrier and that we really want to fly directly to Europe from the West Coast. Also we ask for only partner airline bookings so that we get first class on the Honolulu to West Coast leg as well. We have paid for the business class upgrade in the past and this year we are in a penthouse as it was actually cheaper than the business class upgrade.

Both last year and this year, on first try, Regent did not come up with an itinerary we liked, so we asked our TA to call them one more time and we let the TA know that if we could not fly from the West Coast to Europe, this was a dealbreaker for us. To fly to Europe from Hawaii takes far too long to have to fly domestically through the US first prior to making the trip across the Atlantic. Of course! flying directly from the West Coast also guarantees business-class seats all the way as we are crossing the water directly from there.

My two cents.

Aloha from Hanalei,

Mark

Mark, as always, our individual circumstances determine the best course of action - I can see how tricky it could be sorting out travel arrangements from Hawaii (in fact, I have first hand evidence from a three-stop journey home some years ago when the first leg was delayed - aaagh!) But you're correct, it certainly doesn't cost anything to ask the question and it's clear that like us, you know what works best from your own experience and can choose your flights accordingly.

TC, your point about TAs is another good one - TAs in the UK tend to offer no benefits as they do in the US, so we prefer to deal directly with Regent and negotiate exactly what we'd like. It's worked well for us so far... As for Burma/Myanmar, I will indeed be blogging as usual and will let you know before we set off ;-) It's been on our list for some time and we are looking forward to it immensely. Even though it's a way off, we've just chosen and booked our cruise excursions - makes it all seem a little nearer.

Travelcat2- I know you suggested looking at the roll calls but know you are active here.

Just a question. We are doing a cruise out of Amsterdam next year for only 12 days.We hate to go all the way to Europe for just a short time so we planning a river cruise ending Amsterdam. Do you think Regent will let us fly to Frankfurt 10 days before the Regent cruise ? We will do the deviation in business ?

Also we will be going to Cape Town. Do you think they will use BA on that route ?

 

Thank you for your input and also enjoy reading your posts.

 

We will be in your neck of the woods next month on a private cruise out of Anacortes and hoping the weather holds.

 

John

Of course i don't know what they might do next year but for our cruise this year we are flying BA from Vancouver to Dubai but they would not give us BA back from Johannesburg without a substantial up-charge. We ended up with Delta though we could have had KLM. We went with Delta because they have pods to the US with business class across the US while KLM has the angle flat beds instead of lie flat beds.

We tried for Emirates to Dubai but couldn't get it without a large up-charge yet on the cruise after us Regent is using Emirates for some passengers without a surcharge according to that roll call. As TC2 says there is no guarantee who Regent might be using on any cruise.

Glad to hear we'll get your great blog Gilly.

*blush*

... We ended up with Delta though we could have had KLM. We went with Delta because they have pods to the US with business class across the US while KLM has the angle flat beds instead of lie flat beds.

We tried for Emirates to Dubai but couldn't get it without a large up-charge yet on the cruise after us Regent is using Emirates for some passengers without a surcharge according to that roll call.

About 2 years ago, I flew from Johannesburg to Seattle on Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Two 10+ hours flights. According to Kayak, Delta has a flight via Amsterdam with a total elapsed time of 24 hours with BA's time of 30+ hours.

Maybe the reason they wouldn't give you BA was the extra taxes that GB tacks on for any flight through the UK.

We're on the cruise bringing the Voyager into Dubai and wonder of wonders, we got the Seattle nonstop back from Dubai. Your trip looks very interesting other than the LONG haul back from Cape Town. We did a 3 day safari while there.

About 2 years ago, I flew from Johannesburg to Seattle on Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Two 10+ hours flights. According to Kayak, Delta has a flight via Amsterdam with a total elapsed time of 24 hours with BA's time of 30+ hours.

 

Maybe the reason they wouldn't give you BA was the extra taxes that GB tacks on for any flight through the UK.

 

We're on the cruise bringing the Voyager into Dubai and wonder of wonders, we got the Seattle nonstop back from Dubai. Your trip looks very interesting other than the LONG haul back from Cape Town. We did a 3 day safari while there.

Congratulations on the non-stop back from Dubai. Wish we had been that lucky going to Dubai. We would have happily flown out of Seattle instead of Vancouver as we have to get to Vancouver and could have just as easily gone to Seattle.

We are really looking forward to the cruise and the 4 day safari afterwards but not the long trip home from Johannesburg.