Am I understanding O's air credit correctly?

[hiccups]

I posted last week about being told by O that even with paying the secondary gateway air fee, we weren't eligible for the $149 PE upgrade on a fall 2018 cruise. I'm still working on verifying that with O, but in the meantime am exploring our options and want to make sure I understand how the air credit and cruise-only fares work.

 

On O's website, the air-included price for a B3 veranda for the cruise we're interested in is listed as $4549, and the cruise-only fare is $3449. That means O values air and O Life at $1100. Our TA quoted us a price of $3749 with O Life. Air would be $800, plus $199 to reach a gateway, so through O, coach tickets would cost about $1000. If we can get the PE upgrade, that adds another $149.

 

I read so many of posts on here of people getting much better deals on their own by taking the credit, but it didn't work that way for our domestic cruises, and doesn't seem that it will work for this one, either. Our coach tickets for this year's U.K. cruise ran about $1400 PP, then we paid $400 each for a PE upgrade. Two years ago tickets for our Rhine River cruise ran about $1200, so I don't think this summer's ticket prices are an anomaly for our location. This is when I miss living near a big airport :)

[ORV]

I posted last week about being told by O that even with paying the secondary gateway air fee, we weren't eligible for the $149 PE upgrade on a fall 2018 cruise. I'm still working on verifying that with O, but in the meantime am exploring our options and want to make sure I understand how the air credit and cruise-only fares work.

 

On O's website, the air-included price for a B3 veranda for the cruise we're interested in is listed as $4549, and the cruise-only fare is $3449. That means O values air and O Life at $1100. Our TA quoted us a price of $3749 with O Life. Air would be $800, plus $199 to reach a gateway, so through O, coach tickets would cost about $1000. If we can get the PE upgrade, that adds another $149.

 

I read so many of posts on here of people getting much better deals on their own by taking the credit, but it didn't work that way for our domestic cruises, and doesn't seem that it will work for this one, either. Our coach tickets for this year's U.K. cruise ran about $1400 PP, then we paid $400 each for a PE upgrade. Two years ago tickets for our Rhine River cruise ran about $1200, so I don't think this summer's ticket prices are an anomaly for our location. This is when I miss living near a big airport :)

 

The people usually that talk about getting the better deals doing it on their own are:

 

1. Not flying from a non-gateway airport.

2. Usually flying from a major metropolitan airport with many choices and a lot of competition. LAX, NYC, MIA, ORD

3. Using airmiles or points to pay with.

4. A combination of one or more of the above.

[hiccups]

The people usually that talk about getting the better deals doing it on their own are:

 

1. Not flying from a non-gateway airport.

2. Usually flying from a major metropolitan airport with many choices and a lot of competition. LAX, NYC, MIA, ORD

3. Using airmiles or points to pay with.

4. A combination of one or more of the above.

 

I priced some airfare from the closest major airports and was surprised to see the prices about the same as what we're paying this year. Wow Air just started flying out of Pittsburgh this month, so that will be an option in the future. I just wish they had a few more destinations in Europe, as they won't work for the cruises we're looking at for next year since Rome and Lisbon aren't on their routes.

[pinotlover]

I fly from a NON gateway city.

 

I always do a deviation, in that I will not risk flying in on the day of embankment , plus I most always want to sightsee in that City.

 

Therefore, for comparable fares, to O's offers, I have $99 each way fees plus $175 deviation fees or 2($99) + $175= $373 + O's Air Credit to work with. O Air only wins in rare situations, primarily TA and other weird Open Jaws, such as getting on the ship in Miami and getting off in SAn Francisco.

 

Let me also add that O Air has opted to mostly be non competitive with Business Class airfares. They are most typically stupid high.