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Regent Flights - with and without deviation


Travelcat2
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I'm starting this thread in the hopes that Host Dan may allow this to become a sticky. It is difficult to keep track of which airline is being used and in what part of the world. For instance, United was Regent's choice in South America. This is apparently no longer the case (at least not from Rio to Miami, Dallas or Vancouver). They are using Delta and U.S. Air.

 

I learned last month (March, 2013) that, in addition to a deviation fee, if you opt for American Airlines in South America, there is a fee of $1,000 per person (the same is true of passengers requesting British Airways in Europe). While these fees are in effect now, they may not be six months from now.

 

I'll start by listing routings for our last two cruises:

 

December, 2012 - Vancouver to Delhi - British Airways from Vancouver to London. BA - London direct to Delhi (note: paid $2,000 fee for BA) Bali to Vancouver - Cathay Pacific from Bali to Hong Kong. Hong Kong to Vancouver (note: did not deviate)

 

March/April, 2013 -Vancouver to Miami - Air Canada from Vancouver to Toronto. Air Canada from Toronto to Miami. Barcelona to Vancouver - British Airways from Barcelona to London. British Airways from London to Vancouver.

 

Searching for flights - November, 2013. Rio to Vancouver.

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On recent cruise from Rio to Miami I wanted United, not that it's a good airline but United is where our miles are. My TA checked Regent and they said NOt using United to Rio!

 

Met couple who flew to Rio on UNITED without any deviation fee? I can't remember where they flew from but might have been Houston?

 

 

Go figure?

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November 2012 Rio to Miami and then Miami to Newark. Both on American. Although I suppose it's unusual to be offered (free) food, we had dinner on the Rio to Miami segment. In all of our years of travel, (that's a lot) We've never had worse food. Basically inedible.

There wasn't even a small part of it that was at all tasty. They did, however, get us home on time and in one piece. All luggage came as well and those are the important parts!!!!

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Aloha All,

 

We did a deviation and are flying Honolulu to Seattle, then Seattle to Amsterdam on Delta/KLM. Amsterdam-Rome also on KLM.

 

Return Nice to HNL:

 

Nice to Zurich on Swiss Air. Then Zurich to San Francisco on Swiss Air as well. SFO to HNL on United. (of course, we always then have to add Hawaiian Airlines HNL to Kauai on our own!)

 

It looks like deviation is absolutely necessary to get anything tolerable out of Hawaii.

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Good idea for a sticky

 

We deviated last fall so we could fly USAIR and come in a day early

Philly to Nice with stop in Frankfurt

RIO to Philly with stop in Charlotte

 

I think all flights from Rio to the East coast are overnite We left Rio about midnite.

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We used an air deviation for our Monte Carlo to Buenos Aires cruise last November. Our flights (no air differential) in business class were:

 

Los Angeles to Nice - LA to Munich to Nice on Lufthansa.

 

Buenos Aires to Los Angeles - BA to Santiago to LA on LAN. Santiago to LA flight was a direct flight with a short stop in Lima.

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I thought Oceania and Regent shared an air department. If so, it's rather strange because we're booked on British Aitways from Miami in November with O. We certainly didn't pay anything like a $1K pp upcharge.

 

According to my TA, they do not share an air department. We have paid to fly BA in the past and have also been assigned BA by Regent (no deviation). It is nice that Oceania's air department still allows flights on BA -- it is a nice airline.

Edited by Travelcat2
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Although I don't like answering a question with a question..... are the AA flights that Regent has recently booked coach class? The TA thinks this may be the difference. There is not a "differential fee" for flying AA coach. It makes sense since there are so fewer seats available in business.

 

In any event, we are booking AA business class from Rio to Vancouver and will pay the $2,000 differential fee. Business class was included in our cruise fare because we booked a penthouse suite so the impact does not feel as great. All of this assumes that we are taking the November Regent cruise instead of the December cruise. Really need to make up our minds.

Edited by Travelcat2
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For an upcoming cruise.... starting in Stockholm and ending in Southampton, we tried to book first class through Regent.... selecting SAS for the outgoing and AA for the return. No problem for the SAS flight, but for the AA flight, Regent wanted $3000 per person extra. So, we're flying over first class on SAS and returning coach on AA.

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Here is a little more detail on the American Airline differentials. AA does not always have a fare differential in business class when you fly out of Canada -- it depends upon the region. If you fly coach, there is rarely a differential.

 

I also learned that if you want to fly on a Star Alliance partner out of Canada, it is just the opposite. If you fly out of Canada there is a fare differential but if you fly out of the states there is no fare differential.

 

Because these are "guidelines", it is best to check with your TA or Regent. We were able to get British Airways out of Canada to Barcelona without paying a differential. As I mentioned, we paid $2,000 to fly home BA earlier this month. Go figure:confused:

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  • 3 weeks later...

We finally settled our dilemma regarding flying to Barcelona in November and back from Rio in December. The flights back from Rio were so poor that we are paying $1,000/person in order to fly American Airlines (haven't flown AA in years -- have no idea if they are good or not).

 

Vancouver to Barcelona via Heathrow - British Air -- used deviation

 

Rio to Vancouver via Miami and Dallas - American Airlines

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On our April 18, 2013 cruise on the Voyager, alot of pax who booked air through Regent were very unhappy with their arrangements. We booked only 1 way thru R and although our 3rd choice, flying on AF with only 1 stop to Delhi was acceptable. BTW, AA has not been so good the last few years.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

I thought I would share my experience as being new to Regent (and cruising). We are independent travellers and I like to "control" my flights from what airline, day, time and seat I sit in. So I was a little surprised (and perhaps naive) with the bureaucratic process of Regent "air included" approach. As I found out, it is not really fully included, unless you want to let Regent decide for you. Not my preference but this may work for some.

 

We were originally looking at booking a South American cruise but the up charge for business class fromToronto was nearly the cost of a business class flight info booked it myself. So we nixed that option. Decided to go with the "easy" Caribbean itinerary out of Miami as we didn't need the business class upgrade. But then I found out I could not depart a few days earlier unless I paid the deviation fee. Thought this was a bit archaic as Regent wanted to fly me in the same day of the cruise...not a good idea when you are travelling in winter and over the Christmas holidays, too many chances of delays. Luckily I have a good TA with connections at Regent Air so he found out the flight options before I paid deposit. We were debating taking the flight credit which was a lowly $400pp vs a book your own flight for $1000pp. Luckily they offered a good direct flight via Air Canada (sorry but I don't like flying the American airlines). So the $150pp deviation worked out much better, it was just a lot of work to get to a flight solution.

 

Long story short...this was way too complicated considering the very high price of the Regent cruise fare. At this price point and "6 star" level of cruising I would have expected a much simpler and flexible process. Perhaps all you regular folks have this figured out by now so I'd love to hear our thoughts.

 

Thanks so much

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We do use deviation most of the time. Our TA pretty much knows which airlines Regent has contracts with. So, we check out the flights and find two that we like (with Regent contracted airlines). We submit the itineraries to our TA who in turn sends them to Regent. 99% of the time Regent accepts our flights and we are happy campers. It is a bit confusing, however you get used to it after a while.

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Just rethought flights to and from South America. According to my TA, flights to this part of the world are difficut at best. My best advice is to ask your TA to call Regent with airlines you would like to use with a deviation (or call yourself if your TA is lazy:) Without deviation, the flights were horrendous - mostly U.S. Air or Delta with 3 stops and LONG layovers. By paying $1,000/person for one leg, we still have 3 stops but the layovers are short and we are flying American Airlines (1 tiny step abov the others IMO

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  • 5 weeks later...

For anyone going to the med from the southeast US here are the air arrangements provided by Regent for an upcoming September cruise.

 

Atlanta to Amsterdam on Delta

Amsterdam to Venice on KLM

 

return

Monte Carlo (Nice) to Frankfurt on Lufthansa

Frankfurt to Atlanta on Lufthansa

 

Both directions have plenty of connection time (over 2hours) so getting through airports shouldn't be a problem.

All flights business class.

 

We like the times enough to not bother with a deviation.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Aloha Purple,

 

Deviation Fee is 150.00 pp. Well worth it as it not only allows you to stay a bit extra, but also allows you to book air earlier and have much more control over itinerary.

 

Aloha from Hanalei,

 

Mark

 

Thank you. How early is earlier and is this something our TA does for us?

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Aloha Purple,

 

I believe that you can deviate and get your flights anytime after you have paid the deposit. Yes, have your travel agent do this, and perhaps give some suggestions. For example, since we are traveling from Hawaii, we asked a received flights from the west coast to Europe so that we did not need to fly across the US on cramped domestic flights (which are somewhat rough even in First Class on a flight this lone).

 

Aloha from Hanalei,

 

Mark

Edited by HanaleiSailor
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Aloha Purple,

 

I believe that you can deviate and get your flights anytime after you have paid the deposit. Yes, have your travel agent do this, and perhaps give some suggestions. For example, since we are traveling from Hawaii, we asked a received flights from the west coast to Europe so that we did not need to fly across the US on cramped domestic flights (which are somewhat rough even in First Class on a flight this lone).

 

Aloha from Hanalei,

 

Mark

 

Mark, you are correct that you have to pay your deposit in order to deviate but, there is more than that. Generally you cannot deviate until you are 270 days prior to your departure flight. Most airlines post flight schedules 330 days in advance however, you need to allow enough time to be able to book your return at the same time.

 

Regent generally won't take a deviation until the 270 day mark and it can be later if you choose an airline where Regent has not yet negotiated a contract.

 

You were correct, just not enough details to cover all eventualities.

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