Oceania Air Class Question

[NC&KY]

This is a very premature question regarding seating on a flight using Oceania's "included" flights. We will have to pay the Deviation Fee for our flights next November because we want to arrive early in Lisbon and stay over a couple of days in Rio. Tickets that far into the future are not for sale yet, but I have arbitrarily put in some dates and tried to compare airline prices and schedules.

 

We have most of our FF points with Delta, and we are both Silver Medallion, so I've concentrated on its flights. The last time I ran some itineraries, we actually priced out as having Business Class tickets both ways. Flight schedules on other airlines were comparably priced, but we would not get Business Class seats. If by some miraculous circumstance that should be the case when it comes times to buy tickets:cool:, will Oceania obtain those same class seats? Or will they insist on economy seats and require us to pay for an upgrade if we want it? I know alternatively I can buy the seats myself and get the air credit, but from other threads that does not appear to be a terribly lucrative idea.

[Hawaiidan]

This is a very premature question regarding seating on a flight using Oceania's "included" flights. We will have to pay the Deviation Fee for our flights next November because we want to arrive early in Lisbon and stay over a couple of days in Rio. Tickets that far into the future are not for sale yet, but I have arbitrarily put in some dates and tried to compare airline prices and schedules.

 

We have most of our FF points with Delta, and we are both Silver Medallion, so I've concentrated on its flights. The last time I ran some itineraries, we actually priced out as having Business Class tickets both ways. Flight schedules on other airlines were comparably priced, but we would not get Business Class seats. If by some miraculous circumstance that should be the case when it comes times to buy tickets:cool:, will Oceania obtain those same class seats? Or will they insist on economy seats and require us to pay for an upgrade if we want it? I know alternatively I can buy the seats myself and get the air credit, but from other threads that does not appear to be a terribly lucrative idea.

 

Oceana will offer only coach restricred in their fare. The will however for the deviation fee get you Business or first... but it will be no discount. From Hawaii to Tahiti I went with the regular Oceana air fare as in coach it was $2000 cheaper than I could buy When asked about business ..one way the price was $2990pp When you see the 799 up grades that is only for a very limited range of European flights to the Med, and that each way, for only the intercontinental not domestic legs.

If you take the credit then that will only be around 600-700 pp each way.

If you can get a $4000 rt then that's only $2600 ...not bad

 

If you have delta "sky pesos", spend them now because Delta and others are going to devalue your miles up to 60% for tickets booked after Feb and June ( double raise) You have time to get more miles by applying for several credit cards for you and your spouse It will be worth it...

 

Second Delta restricts its inventory more than any other airline so grab that seat asap !!! Chances of getting a international business ticket on Delta are about 18% where as UAL its 85%

 

Sometimes, however, its cheaper to buy your own ticket in Business... Like last year to Buenos Aires I was able to get a rt Business for about $ 2300 Using miles it would have cost me $4200 in miles value.. So know the price of the ticket and ther value of your miles. In your case facing a huge devaluation next years I would dump as many as you can.

[ronrick1943]

Have you thought about taking the air credit. Then if you have a American Express Platinum

card you can buy a business class or first class ticket and get the 2nd ticket free--sometimes that's a great deal. Also both tickets are fully refundable.

Rick

[PaulMCO]

I agree with Dan (OMG)...

 

Do a search for some Z fare (business discounted) when flights open. They can be tremendously discounted. You apparently have done so and found some. I second the Buenos Aries for 2K as we did this for our cruise next month.

 

I think you are in lose lose situation -- Oceania will only allow you around $900 or so for the value of their group rates. Even if they were to buy the ticket from Delta at the discounted business class fare -- the increased cost plus the air deviation charge of $250 pp makes it t a loser - as it would be cheaper doing it yourself.

 

So recommendation is take the credit and buy your own. Despite what many say the credit they give is what you can reasonably get booking 270 days in advance with a low price non refundable ticket. Just did this for a future R/T to Madrid Economy+ on UA for $900.

[waterbug123]

 

We have most of our FF points with Delta, and we are both Silver Medallion, so I've concentrated on its flights. The last time I ran some itineraries, we actually priced out as having Business Class tickets both ways.

 

I assume you mean you have enough miles for a biz class ticket? Be careful if you are looking at the "saver" level of miles. It can be very difficult to get biz tickets on Delta for the saver level. Much more frequently available are the standard or peak tickets, which require more miles.

 

Flight schedules on other airlines were comparably priced, but we would not get Business Class seats. If by some miraculous circumstance that should be the case when it comes times to buy tickets:cool:, will Oceania obtain those same class seats? Or will they insist on economy seats and require us to pay for an upgrade if we want it?

 

On Delta (can't speak for other airlines), if you want to upgrade with miles, you have to buy a higher fare class ticket to begin with... one cruiseline will almost certainly NOT be booking for you through their air program. Likewise, if you are talking about taking the standard ticket they offer and simply paying the cash difference, you may find the ticket they book you comes with restrictions that don't allow changes. I can't speak specifically to Oceania's air program, but these are pretty standard things with cruiseline-provided air in general.

 

I know alternatively I can buy the seats myself and get the air credit, but from other threads that does not appear to be a terribly lucrative idea.

 

You might want to check out the the cruise air forum as well.

[grmmybtty]

NC&KY,

We are on the same Lisbon to Rio cruise with you. We took the Oceania air credit, which was a paltry $750 each and are using miles to fly business class. United had a lot of flights, but not great routing or choice of partner airlines. Using United miles, we are flying LAX-PHL-MAD-LIS for a total of almost 20 hours, all on US Air. Flights home using United from GIG are pretty horrible. We may use our American miles instead. We will be spending a week in Lisbon before the cruise and 2 days in Iguazu Falls at the end of the cruise. If we had used Oceania Air, we would have had to pay $150 each for the deviation and still have to fly coach. So even if the routing isn't great, we will at least be able to sleep a while.

[NC&KY]

I assume you mean you have enough miles for a biz class ticket? Be careful if you are looking at the "saver" level of miles. It can be very difficult to get biz tickets on Delta for the saver level. Much more frequently available are the standard or peak tickets, which require more miles.

No, astonishingly, this is without use of any miles. I simply plugged in dates a month prior to when would go, and asked for the best and cheapest economy tickets, and they came back business class!:eek: Who knows why, but that's what the Delta web page produced. As I suggested, the result may be very different when the actual dates open up, but that's what it looks like now.

[LAexNY]

NC&KY,

We are on the same Lisbon to Rio cruise with you. We took the Oceania air credit, which was a paltry $750 each and are using miles to fly business class. United had a lot of flights, but not great routing or choice of partner airlines. Using United miles, we are flying LAX-PHL-MAD-LIS for a total of almost 20 hours, all on US Air. Flights home using United from GIG are pretty horrible. We may use our American miles instead. We will be spending a week in Lisbon before the cruise and 2 days in Iguazu Falls at the end of the cruise. If we had used Oceania Air, we would have had to pay $150 each for the deviation and still have to fly coach. So even if the routing isn't great, we will at least be able to sleep a while.

 

You may want to look into using your United miles on Copa Airlines. They are in Star Alliance and based in PTY-Panama City. We have flown them from Rio to LA, connecting in PTY. It's a very easy connection. They were once loosely affiliated with Continental. If you have elite status with UA, you are also eligible for complimentary upgrades.

[grmmybtty]

Unfortunately we do not have United elite status. We are limited to whatever flights come up for grabs. I noticed last week when I checked that they are now including Copa flights along with Taca. It is still too early to get our return flights yet, so hopefully there will be some decent flights available when we need them. United is very arbitrary when flights become available, so I will have to check daily when the time gets closer. It's a lot of work to get those "free" business class tickets.

[waterbug123]

No, astonishingly, this is without use of any miles. I simply plugged in dates a month prior to when would go, and asked for the best and cheapest economy tickets, and they came back business class!:eek:

 

What dates and cities were you using? Seems very strange that Delta was pricing biz seats cheaper than coach. I smell a website glitch.

[NC&KY]

What dates and cities were you using? Seems very strange that Delta was pricing biz seats cheaper than coach. I smell a website glitch.

Yeah, I'm pretty skeptical too:confused:, but I ran it twice using different dates, and I've done it twice, once about 2 weeks ago and then again a couple of days ago (same day I posed the question). We would need to fly out of Cincy into Lisbon, then Rio back to Cincy. We plan to leave October 30 and return November 22. Given that those dates are too far out, I picked a similar schedule a month or two earlier (I don't remember the exact dates I used). We'll see what it looks like next month when the actual dates will be available.