Regent Flights - with and without deviation

[TheShag]

Hey Bryan. Maybe we should discuss this in person![our winter home is in Naples]

 

We are departing on a cruise this November from Bangkok to Bali. I paid the deviation fee up front which i felt was worth the minimal price in the grand scheme of things. Once I booked the cruise, I began my air travel investigations. Got some great advice by many who all suggested working out some 'sample' itineraries prior to airline booking time through the ITA Matrix site. At the appropriate time I called Regent Air with my top 3 air travel picks and got a great flight schedule with all the flights I wanted. Key was to get on it as early as possible and to be flexible. It appears that you are quite a ways out so lots of things can change.

[bswartz]

Hey TheShag, 

We’d love to meet up with you when you come down to Naples. We’re taking Regent Mariner in a few weeks around Canada and New England and then flying straight to Cary, NC where we own a second home. We are not snowbirds and only go up to Cary on occasion. We’ll be back to Naples in December. Here’s my email address: Golfbry at aol dot com  Email me now so I have your email address.

 

Thanks

Bryan

Naples, Fl and Cary, NC

[Gray Lady]

Does anyone have any experience or any insights into Regent booking round trip flights with the same airline? Does anyone know if this is an advantage or not? I will be prepared for deviation with routes for each leg of the trip with different airlines, but have noticed a BIG reduction in cost if booked round trip on the same one. Just curious to know from other’s experiences. Thanks!

[Lonedaddy]

47 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

Does anyone have any experience or any insights into Regent booking round trip flights with the same airline? Does anyone know if this is an advantage or not? I will be prepared for deviation with routes for each leg of the trip with different airlines, but have noticed a BIG reduction in cost if booked round trip on the same one. Just curious to know from other’s experiences. Thanks!

the segments they booked for us do not seem to be airline or alliance dependent.  Since they have so many itineraries that are open jaw - their contract is probably not tied to RT flights.  Just empirical evidence - I'm sure others in the industry can add.

[edgee]

First time attempt to do Regent custom air today. Not a particularly happy result. Looking for nonstop air from Barcelona to JFK following April transatlantic. Delta and American fly the NS route. Told no contract with Delta and 800 pp surcharge to fly AA for one way nonstop. (Outbound JFK to MIA in economy was no extra cost, not surprisingly.) Tried alternative of Barcelona nonstop to Newark on United..told no contract..not available. Was offered a decent Swiss Airline connection through Zurich without any surcharge. Might have taken it to save the $1600 surcharge, but decided to take $2900 air credit & go with United Premium Economy NS to Newark on mileage points (just 100,000 miles) and be a little less comfortable. Also able to do JFK to Miami on Delta points..so get $2900 in air credit plus no deviation fee...will forgo Regent air for this trip. Had to pay $75 phone fee to get the information..it is what it is.

Edited September 12, 2023 by edgee

[TheShag]

20 minutes ago, edgee said:

First time attempt to do Regent custom air today. Not a particularly happy result. Looking for nonstop air from Barcelona to JFK following April transatlantic. Delta and American fly the NS route. Told no contract with Delta and 800 pp surcharge to fly AA for one way nonstop. (Outbound JFK to MIA in economy was no extra cost, not surprisingly.) Tried alternative of Barcelona nonstop to Newark on United..told no contract..not available. Was offered a decent Swiss Airline connection through Zurich without any surcharge. Might have taken it to save the $1600 surcharge, but decided to take $2900 air credit & go with United Premium Economy NS to Newark on mileage points (just 100,000 miles) and be a little less comfortable. Also able to do JFK to Miami on Delta points..so get $2900 in air credit plus no deviation fee...will forgo Regent air for this trip. Had to pay $75 phone fee to get the information..it is what it is.

Sorry to hear this. What are the travel dates? Were you 'on it' on the first available date?

[edgee]

7 minutes ago, TheShag said:

Sorry to hear this. What are the travel dates? Were you 'on it' on the first available date?

Travel date for transatlantic is April 15. Made call about 4 days after earliest possible date ..waited a few days due to overseas travel...wanted to make call from home to assure a good connection.  Regent rep was quite courteous..got impression that the 4 day delay made no difference.

[ysolde]

3 hours ago, edgee said:

First time attempt to do Regent custom air today. Not a particularly happy result. Looking for nonstop air from Barcelona to JFK following April transatlantic. Delta and American fly the NS route. Told no contract with Delta and 800 pp surcharge to fly AA for one way nonstop. (Outbound JFK to MIA in economy was no extra cost, not surprisingly.) Tried alternative of Barcelona nonstop to Newark on United..told no contract..not available. Was offered a decent Swiss Airline connection through Zurich without any surcharge. Might have taken it to save the $1600 surcharge, but decided to take $2900 air credit & go with United Premium Economy NS to Newark on mileage points (just 100,000 miles) and be a little less comfortable. Also able to do JFK to Miami on Delta points..so get $2900 in air credit plus no deviation fee...will forgo Regent air for this trip. Had to pay $75 phone fee to get the information..it is what it is.

I'm sorry.  We had a similar issue on a Regent cruise this past April -- We were on a TA from Miami to Barcelona.  Our flight home would therefore be from Barcelona to PHX.  We were initially offered a crazy routing (I don't remember it exactly, but it was something along the lines of Barcelona-Montreal-Toronto-Chicago-Phoenix), with many of the connections under two hours.  I use a wheelchair to get around and DH and I knew this routing was a recipe for disaster.  We contacted Custom Air and were eventually put on the UA flight to EWR, then on to PHX. It seemed like lots of people from our cruise were on that flight.

[jhenry1]

On 9/12/2023 at 8:04 PM, ysolde said:

I'm sorry.  We had a similar issue on a Regent cruise this past April -- We were on a TA from Miami to Barcelona.  Our flight home would therefore be from Barcelona to PHX.  We were initially offered a crazy routing (I don't remember it exactly, but it was something along the lines of Barcelona-Montreal-Toronto-Chicago-Phoenix), with many of the connections under two hours.  I use a wheelchair to get around and DH and I knew this routing was a recipe for disaster.  We contacted Custom Air and were eventually put on the UA flight to EWR, then on to PHX. It seemed like lots of people from our cruise were on that flight.

 

[jhenry1]

I am wondering what is going on with Regent. I know the air prices have increased but it seems we continue to pay more and get less. 

[Lonedaddy]

2 hours ago, jhenry1 said:

I am wondering what is going on with Regent. I know the air prices have increased but it seems we continue to pay more and get less. 

Story of the whole economy and choices that were made in 2020.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Lonedaddy

[jhenry1]

100% correct. 

[snorkle lover]

We are tried and true Delta airlines people ( GA folks). Delta prices have skyrocketed so Regent is offering us United ( operated by Lufthansa) on our Med cruise in April. Good news is Delta direct home from Rome. Has anybody had experiences with United to Frankfurt ( then on to Barcelona)? Would love any input. 

[Gray Lady]

17 minutes ago, snorkle lover said:

We are tried and true Delta airlines people ( GA folks). Delta prices have skyrocketed so Regent is offering us United ( operated by Lufthansa) on our Med cruise in April. Good news is Delta direct home from Rome. Has anybody had experiences with United to Frankfurt ( then on to Barcelona)? Would love any input. 

Could you get a Delta flight to Barcelona with an upcharge that is decent?

[DaveFr]

19 minutes ago, snorkle lover said:

We are tried and true Delta airlines people ( GA folks). Delta prices have skyrocketed so Regent is offering us United ( operated by Lufthansa) on our Med cruise in April. Good news is Delta direct home from Rome. Has anybody had experiences with United to Frankfurt ( then on to Barcelona)? Would love any input. 

Don’t you want to ask about experiences with Lufthansa since that’s the airline that will be operating your flight? How long is the connection time in Frankfurt? Personally, I wouldn’t book a flight through Frankfurt that has less than a three hour connection. Good luck.
 

Dave

[snorkle lover]

15 minutes ago, DaveFr said:

Don’t you want to ask about experiences with Lufthansa since that’s the airline that will be operating your flight? How long is the connection time in Frankfurt? Personally, I wouldn’t book a flight through Frankfurt that has less than a three hour connection. Good luck.
 

Dave

Maybe someone can help me to understand. The flight says United operated by Lufthansa so what are we really flying 🙂 ? The connection in Frankfurt is 4 hours..doable right. I am afraid the upcharge to fly Delta would be way more than we or Regent are willing to pay since the cost is $11,000 pp. 

[Gray Lady]

7 minutes ago, snorkle lover said:

Maybe someone can help me to understand. The flight says United operated by Lufthansa so what are we really flying 🙂 ? The connection in Frankfurt is 4 hours..doable right. I am afraid the upcharge to fly Delta would be way more than we or Regent are willing to pay since the cost is $11,000 pp. 

You never know until you ask. And then, you can always say no. Our flight home on ITA was very expensive to buy on our own, yet Regent had a contract.

[Gray Lady]

47 minutes ago, DaveFr said:

Don’t you want to ask about experiences with Lufthansa since that’s the airline that will be operating your flight? How long is the connection time in Frankfurt? Personally, I wouldn’t book a flight through Frankfurt that has less than a three hour connection. Good luck.
 

Dave

Frankfort wasn’t our first choice for a connection, but they didn’t have any contracts through Munich. I insisted on a long connection time. We have a 3 hour 15 minute connection, but more importantly, there are three flights on Lufthansa to Barcelona later than ours. If we miss one, there is always the next one. Hopefully it won’t be too bad on a Wednesday, but you never know.

 

[edgee]

56 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

Frankfort wasn’t our first choice for a connection, but they didn’t have any contracts through Munich. I insisted on a long connection time. We have a 3 hour 15 minute connection, but more importantly, there are three flights on Lufthansa to Barcelona later than ours. If we miss one, there is always the next one. Hopefully it won’t be too bad on a Wednesday, but you never know.

 

Smart. I would never book less than a 2.5 hour connection in Frankfort and prefer 3 as a minimum. I just grabbed a good deal on points coming from NY to Copenhagen for an Oceania cruise and have slight angst about a 1 hour 55 minute connection at much much smaller Brussels airport but should be fine with loads of backup connecting flights..worst case scenario.

[wcsdkqh]

If it says operated by Lufthansa, then it is a Lufthansa flight.

[snorkle lover]

Grey Lady, we work with a wonderful TA and she was told by Regent that we couldn't get Delta at all to Barcelona. She even checked a few days prior and they couldn't get any Delta options due to the pricing being way more than Regent is willing to provide ( certainly understandable). So we are happy that the return will be on Delta and a non stop. Like you, I think with the amount of time for our connections, we will be ok. By the way have you sailed Regent before? This will be our fifth cruise on Regent and we can't wait!!

 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by snorkle lover
Missing information

[Gray Lady]

12 minutes ago, snorkle lover said:

Grey Lady, we work with a wonderful TA and she was told by Regent that we couldn't get Delta at all to Barcelona. She even checked a few days prior and they couldn't get any Delta options due to the pricing being way more than Regent is willing to provide ( certainly understandable). So we are happy that the return will be on Delta and a non stop. Like you, I think with the amount of time for our connections, we will be ok. By the way have you sailed Regent before? This will be our fifth cruise on Regent and we can't wait!!

 

 

Believe it or not, we have never been on any cruise! Or to Europe! We almost were on a cruise in Alaska, but COVID reared its ugly head and we were quarantined there then flown home. We decided that if we going to give it one more try, we would do something big and splurge making it a once in a lifetime. Thus, we are doing the Mediterranean next year. So far, everything is good!!

[snorkle lover]

22 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

Believe it or not, we have never been on any cruise! Or to Europe! We almost were on a cruise in Alaska, but COVID reared its ugly head and we were quarantined there then flown home. We decided that if we going to give it one more try, we would do something big and splurge making it a once in a lifetime. Thus, we are doing the Mediterranean next year. So far, everything is good!!

You will love Regent and Europe! They treat you so well. Maybe we can arrange to meet for a drink once on board.  

[TheShag]

Getting closer to our November 25th cruise. It also now appears that RSSC has paid for the tickets as I can access more info on the airlines' sites. However, Turkish Airlines is looking for the specific 'e ticket number' for each of the passengers. Is this something that will come eventually from the Air Dept. or should I call them and request it? Thanks folks!

[Lonedaddy]

4 hours ago, TheShag said:

Getting closer to our November 25th cruise. It also now appears that RSSC has paid for the tickets as I can access more info on the airlines' sites. However, Turkish Airlines is looking for the specific 'e ticket number' for each of the passengers. Is this something that will come eventually from the Air Dept. or should I call them and request it? Thanks folks!

E ticket number or booking reference ?  The latter should be on your flight itinerary.