air query

[catenai]

Because I know many of you are so knowledgeable about Regent's air routes etc., I decided to check in. We will fly from San Diego to Rome and our return will be from Venice to San Diego for the Mariner Sept. 13 cruise. We had planned to use AA miles for business class travel, although we are entitled to business travel with our cruise fare. The $5,000 decrease in cruise fare for business class for two (if I got it right) sounded good.

I have been looking at possible flights and found a few that looked pretty good. The other day I put a hold on flights to Rome in business class using our miles, but I'm not thrilled about them because I could not get the ones I liked, which only required one change of plane. We can't book the return from Venice until this Thursday and I'm not liking what I see for those flights. The return from Venice could possibly be on Iberia and the reviews I read are not good for that airline.

Any ideas on the routing that Regent would provide for us? We may just decide to stick with Regent Air if it looks better. I'm interested in what those "in the know" have to say about our dilemma.

Thanks.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

When we take Regent Air we deviate so that we can select the flights and itinerary with our Travel Agent's assistance. We don't get the ground transfers always, but we know our flight ahead and the itinerary and airline.

[jhp]

catenai, I don't often use Regent air (prefer to use points like you), but when I do, I do all the research to find the quicketst routes, and map out the itinerary and hope it is in the parameters of the airlines Regent uses under their contracts. Have never NOT gotten exactly what I asked for. Now that I don't have to pay for the deviation, it is surely worth it. Except with this new policy of "free hotel" a day before cruise, maybe not for you. I know they use the Star Alliance partners, but I have recently used them on Quantas/American for a February 2011 cruise. Don't recall about the Delta partners, because on that airline, I have booked only with points.

 

On the recently aborted Voyager cruise, they booked me coming home on British Airways. Don't know what affiliation they have.

 

Worth a call to either your TA or Regent to ask about this.

 

Editing to say, like ChatKat mentioned, you will lose the transfer if you deviate to a different day. I'm pretty independent, and don't need my hand held all steps of the way. Just up to you, but I find getting a taxi or arranging for a meet/greet service if you need it is not difficult.

[Travelcat2]

Because I know many of you are so knowledgeable about Regent's air routes etc., I decided to check in. We will fly from San Diego to Rome and our return will be from Venice to San Diego for the Mariner Sept. 13 cruise. We had planned to use AA miles for business class travel, although we are entitled to business travel with our cruise fare. The $5,000 decrease in cruise fare for business class for two (if I got it right) sounded good.

I have been looking at possible flights and found a few that looked pretty good. The other day I put a hold on flights to Rome in business class using our miles, but I'm not thrilled about them because I could not get the ones I liked, which only required one change of plane. We can't book the return from Venice until this Thursday and I'm not liking what I see for those flights. The return from Venice could possibly be on Iberia and the reviews I read are not good for that airline.

Any ideas on the routing that Regent would provide for us? We may just decide to stick with Regent Air if it looks better. I'm interested in what those "in the know" have to say about our dilemma.

Thanks.

 

I strongly suggest that you do not book your own air . . . unless, in case of a natural disaster (like the recent volcanic ash), strikes (currently going on in Paris), or a cruise cancellation, you are okay with having full responsibility for getting yourself home.* Not sure if you have flown internationally lately, but there are few direct flights to anywhere. As Chatkat mentioned, doing a deviation for $100/person is the best way to do it if you do not like Regent's routing.

 

The first step is to make sure you have a TA that has experience in luxury cruise travel and has previously booked Regent. Your TA can find out (approximately 180 days prior to your cruise) how Regent will route you. . . . then you can look at flights and see if you would prefer to deviate. Although not a written policy, Regent tends to use STAR Alliance members (United, Lufthansa, etc.). I looked up routing to Rome and from Venice (on YAPTA.com) and did see that routing can be difficult.

 

If you can possibly use Regent Air, you could take advantage of their pre-cruise one night hotel stay. You also will receive transfers to and from the ship. In Rome, it is quite a ways from the city to the port.

 

Again, check this out with your TA. You will get good advice on CruiseCritic. . . . but, in situations like this, the advice could be different from each person.

 

 

*As you may be aware, Regent did take care of passengers who booked their own air on the October3rd cancelled cruise. This was a special situation. Generally, those passengers with their own air are responsible for rebooking their own tickets.

[jhp]

Just another suggestion, catenai, since I re-read your post and noticed that you get Regent air with your cabin category booking. $5K a big savings for a credit if you can use your points. If you are not getting routings you want with points, maybe check with Gary Leff (I think if you google you will find) Maybe he can help you for a small fee (compared to giving up a $5K credit for non-use air). I've used him twice now, as he could find solutions I could not.

[catenai]

Thanks for the suggestions thus far. We are planning to depart San Diego on Sept. 7 for Rome, but don't board the ship until Sept. 13. We will stay in Venice at a hotel for one night at the end of the cruise. This means we won't have Regent transfers, which is not a concern for us.

I was trying to save some money by using our AA miles, but if the itinerary is not to our liking, the Regent air may be better. Using that itasoftware website (thanks CCers), I have found a number of configurations that would be good. We can fly to LAX and then get on a nonstop Alitalia flight to Rome. Does anyone know if Regent contracts with Alitalia? It is not one of the Star Alliance airlines, but it is a Delta partner.

Here's another scenario: if we fly cross country to EWR, JFK, or ATL and change planes there, would we be seated in business for the cross country flight? We do not want to travel in coach, and I know that Regent literature states that the domestic portion may be in coach. Any experience with this?

Thanks again.

[catenai]

Is it possible to use Regent Air only for our return flight?

 

It appears we will not be able to take advantage of precruise hotel, even if offered for our cruise, because we booked this LONG ago and I think the prices have increased.

Thanks again.

[jhp]

Not sure what you are asking here. Do you want to do one way with points, and one way with Regent with the added upgrad to biz class?

[blippery]

I just returned from October cruise flying into Nice and out of Rome from San Diego. I used Regents Business Class air and deviated. I flew British Airways. I paid the $100 pp fee plus BA charges fuel surcharge that was $510 for two. I was not aware of the fuel surcharge when I booked. I was able to fly first class to Chicago and returned home from Dallas both were on American. My advise would be to ask about the fuel surcharges. I don't think AA charges a fuel surcharge but next time I will ask. I will be going on the Venice to Rome cruise next September and will be looking into flights as well.

[bryan72562@aol.com]

We have deviated twice using Regent air and both times received the exact flights we wanted on Air France. Most recently, Air France, Business Class, Lax-CDG- FCO and VCE-CDG-LAX….Regent will not fly you in business class over the US, only over water. They typically put you on a coach flight to the east coast and then business class over the Atlantic. I recommend giving your TA several itineraries and then she/he can discuss all options with Regent over the phone. I personally think the $100 pp deviation fee (and losing transfers) is a small price to pay for getting exactly what you want. In regard to Alitalia, I tried to get CDG to FCO on Alitalia, since they get in 2 hours earlier than AF, but Regent said no. This is for May 2011 - I booked the air 270 days prior to embarkation.

 

Kelly

[Travelcat2]

First, Regent will not put you in Business class across the U.S. However, they will book you one way (we are doing that in January), but, you will not get any non-use credit. Unfortunately, if you decide to stay an extra night at the end of the cruise, it will be considered a deviation.

 

Regent Air works best if you are doing pre-cruise and/or post-cruise hotels through them. When you go out on your own, it gets a bit tricky. We are always doing strange things to avoid traveling coach on any portion of our flights. You can depart from any city on their list. . . . but, you need to return to the same place if you are doing round trip.

 

I still think a TA would be helpful in this case. It took me quite a lot of research to come up with the convoluted (but effective) routing that we are doing in January. For us, the most important thing was having Regent book us on a non-stop flight in Business Class on the way home (and we have to fly into another state). We booked the rest of the connections on our own (hopefully there will not be an earthquake, volcano or cancellation or we will really be out of luck).:o My point is that there are many ways to do this. You need to figure out which one works for you.

 

In terms of Alitalia, they have used them. . . . not sure what their contract is. Either check with your TA or Alitalia. Again, this will all be easier when it is 180 prior to your cruise (180 days is some magic number).

[smilingcruiser]

On our recent trip, we booked Regent air using the deviation and booked our own hotels in Istanbul and Athens. It worked very well. We saw no reason to book pre and post cruise hotels through Regent as the prices were much higher than we could do on our own.

[catenai]

Thanks everyone. At this moment, this is my plan. I will phone TA tomorrow to ask about ideas re Regent air. If flying only one way on Regent Air will not give us any kind of air refund, then I do not want to do it. Just for one way would be $2500 off our final payment. That's a chunk to me.

With the Regent air, I know we do not want any domestic flights that would not give us the business class seats to which we are entitled, so it will be interesting when speaking to TA or Regent. If they do something where we fly San Diego to LAX and then a nonstop to Europe that would alleviate the problem. Of course, flying to LAX is no concern about first class since that is just a short hop.

It also would not make me happy to pay that fuel surchage that blippery had to pay for the BA flights when using Regent air.

Re our AA award travel: This Thursday, Oct. 27, I have to take the Sept. 7 flights to Rome off hold and book them, but I can't do anything about our return from Venice yet, which will be on Sept. 24. The next day, Oct. 28, I can put a hold on those flights.

We have probably been lucky in the past, but have only had to change a date one time when booking award travel. In fact, this April we flew first class on AA to/from Japan using our miles, and had no problems with that.

If anyone is interested, I will let you know the resolution to all of this. A decision has to be made by the end of the week since that is when the award travel must be booked.

 

Grazie (cruising around Italy)

[Travelcat2]

Yes -- very interested in learning the resolution:)

[ChatKat in Ca.]

The reason there is the limitation of business and First class on domestic flights is that there are some planes that just have one class of service.

[cruiseluv]

I just returned from October cruise flying into Nice and out of Rome from San Diego. I used Regents Business Class air and deviated. I flew British Airways. I paid the $100 pp fee plus BA charges fuel surcharge that was $510 for two. I was not aware of the fuel surcharge when I booked. I was able to fly first class to Chicago and returned home from Dallas both were on American. My advise would be to ask about the fuel surcharges. I don't think AA charges a fuel surcharge but next time I will ask. I will be going on the Venice to Rome cruise next September and will be looking into flights as well.

 

Hmmm.... For our Voyager cruise next year ( London to Monte Carlo) I was planning to deviate and request British Air since we could fly with them with minimal plane changes from/to our preferred gateway of Newark , but I don't like this kind of upcharge.

 

We have never used Regent Air. Could somebody answer this question please: If you ask for a deviation and they come back with some additional charges and you don't want to accept what they propose, are you out of the $100 PP deviation charge?

[Travelcat2]

When we deviate, we submit our proposed itinerary to our TA who, in turn, submits it to Regent. There is no deviation fee unless or until the actual flights are approved by both parties. Last year Regent booked us on BA which led us to believe that this was on their approved list. Several months later we requested BA and was told that there was a $300/person upcharge. Even with the deviation, the upcharge and the cost to upgrade to business class, the flights were less money that it would have been if we booked it ourselves.

[cruiseluv]

Thanks, that's helpful to know.

[JACKHAWK]

We have always upgraded to Business class on Regent Air. I guess we have been lucky because all of our domestic legs have been First Class (if there was First Class).

 

Our next cruise to NZ has us on domestic legs - all coach SAV to CLT, first CLT to LAX, first LAX to DFW, all coach DFW to SAV.

[jhp]

Contrary to what others have said about not getting domestic biz class, I have Regent Air on a cruise in Febrary departing from Sydney, and Regent has booked me in biz class on the domestic portion from the east coast via American, as well as the international flight from LAX-SYD on Quantas. My TA knew about this, so perhaps with AA things are different.

[catenai]

Hi All, Here's the latest.

Travelcat, you were correct, of course, about not being able to obtain a cruise deduction for using the air in only one direction. I know you strongly suggest using only Regent Air, but if we were not traveling on a cruise we would be responsible for ourselves, and this does not dismay us.

 

Because of this info about one way, we will either use our miles for the entire trip or deviate, since we want to be able to have a say in which flights. We wil also be arriving in Rome a few days before cruise and stay in Venice an extra night.

 

The good news, though, is that our cruise booking already has us in a hotel on the night before we get on the ship. TA checked this with Regent after I asked about the new policy of Free pre night hotel. I don't know how this happened because I booked our cruise the first day it appeared on Regent's website. That doesn't matter. We will happily accept this. We won't know until closer to departure which actual hotel, but I was told Rome Intercontinental or better. That will include transfer to ship, but not airport transfer since we will deviate. That works for me.

 

Later in the week I will have more info about our flights with AA--if it works out.

 

Any suggestions on Rome hotels if we don't stay in the Regent hotel for our earlier nights? As for Venice, I'm pretty sure we will book Papadopoli Venezia which is at Piazzale Roma, close to cruise terminal. It appears it will be easy to get to airport from this location and we will still have that extra day and night to roam around Venice.

Thanks, folks.