Oceania Air Experiences? ✈️

[Astro Flyer]

Great recommendations & another option I consider is using airline miles.
 

While I have not checked all airline policies the FF miles I use will allow cancelation & reinstatement back into my miles account without any fee. Some airlines might charge a fee to do this but that would likely be less than a paid fully refundable ticket.

 

There are several options for each of us to determine which is best for each of us.

 

[ORV]

4 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

The question is Odds of Success.  How can a cruise guest increase the odds of success with their air travel for a cruise far away from their home base.  That is the question on the table.  Not who might be to blame or not.  That only happens when we have a bad experience.  What can we all do in todays day and age to put the odds in our favor.

 

We all know the answer to that question.  Never before in travel has it been this important to really think through the decisions we make.  Know the consequences both positive and negative. Then make a decision right for you personal needs.  It is a cruise.  Nothing every goes perfectly on a cruise.  It is the nature of the vacation.  Just make good choices based on lowering your odds of failure. 

 

I just spent a difficult few weeks looking at every brand of airfare that goes to Athens, Greece with a return from Barcelona.  I looked at dates, time, itineraries, class of service and of course cost.  Because I like other have lived through lots of cruise cancelations during covid, having a fully refundable airfare was a must if I did not use the cruise lines air option. We wrote out the pro's and con's which did not take more then 10 minutes and the result was the best odds for success.  No guarantee but best odds. We booked 11 months prior to the cruise directly with Delta Airlines with a fully refundable ticket for our friends.  The cost was $345.00 more total because we booked it so far in advance.  We are going the day before the cruise to increase our odds of success.  Again, no guarantees, just odds. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.  Focus on odds and live with the results.  

The problem that happens here is when you set everything up perfectly for your schedule, and the the airline changes your flight. Having said that sometimes I’ve had this to work to my advantage, like having a flight that was a low amount of miles, but because they changed it, once I call in, I get a much more desirable and expensive flight. 

On the other hand when coming back from Athens once, Delta changed our direct flight to Atlanta because they decided to only run that route on certain days of the week, not every day. We had to connect through JFK and literally had the door close right behind us on our connecting flight to ATL, this was after basically going through the airport at full bore with no food or bathroom stops. We also had the express passes. 
 

Then had the same situation in ATL connecting to the flight home.  It made me never want to fly back from Athens again. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

The problem that happens here is when you set everything up perfectly for your schedule, and the the airline changes your flight. Having said that sometimes I’ve had this to work to my advantage, like having a flight that was a low amount of miles, but because they changed it, once I call in, I get a much more desirable and expensive flight. 

On the other hand when coming back from Athens once, Delta changed our direct flight to Atlanta because they decided to only run that route on certain days of the week, not every day. We had to connect through JFK and literally had the door close right behind us on our connecting flight to ATL, this was after basically going through the airport at full bore with no food or bathroom stops. We also had the express passes. 
 

Then had the same situation in ATL connecting to the flight home.  It made me never want to fly back from Athens again. 

Fly back from Athens OR not fly intercontinental on Delta?

[ORV]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Fly back from Athens OR not fly intercontinental on Delta?

Well there was more about the Athens situation I didn't like. We were with another couple, when leaving the hotel was told we couldn't get a taxi for 4, so each couple had to take a separate car, which at the time was around 50 or 60 euro each car to the airport. This was about 14 years ago, so I'm sure it's much more expensive now. Then once we were at the Athens airport in my ignorance of the way they're set up I said, "Let's get through security then we'll get something to eat". It may have changed since then but at that time there were no restaurants or any type of shopping other than a Hudson News(or the Greek equivalent) after security. So, for breakfast I think we had some chips and nuts. So not a great start to a really stressful trip. 

Flying Delta didn't help, especially at take-off when in the seats across the aisle from us the oxygen mask fell out of the ceiling (glad I wasn't in that seat. After we got in the air the attendant tried to get it back in place and couldn't. Then they tried to tape the hinged door up with masking tape, that didn't work. So, the poor person sitting there had to fly over 12 hours with an oxygen mask dangling in front of their face the whole flight. It was a full flight so nowhere else to move them. I'm just thankful it wasn't me. You can't make this stuff up. I have a picture of that oxygen mask somewhere. 

 

So in answer to your question, probably a combination of the two. 

[Jmoondance]

7 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Great recommendations & another option I consider is using airline miles.
 

While I have not checked all airline policies the FF miles I use will allow cancelation & reinstatement back into my miles account without any fee. Some airlines might charge a fee to do this but that would likely be less than a paid fully refundable ticket.

 

There are several options for each of us to determine which is best for each of us.

 

We used AA miles for our two international trip to London and Portugal recently, it was easy to use and can be reinstate in case you need to cancel.

[FlyerTalker]

On 2/6/2023 at 4:55 PM, ORV said:

Then once we were at the Athens airport in my ignorance of the way they're set up I said, "Let's get through security then we'll get something to eat". It may have changed since then but at that time there were no restaurants or any type of shopping other than a Hudson News(or the Greek equivalent) after security. So, for breakfast I think we had some chips and nuts. So not a great start to a really stressful trip. 

 

So....you didn't research, but it's the fault of Athens?

 

On 2/6/2023 at 4:55 PM, ORV said:

Flying Delta didn't help, especially at take-off when in the seats across the aisle from us the oxygen mask fell out of the ceiling

 

The mask wasn't in front of you, but somehow Delta made for a bad flight from ATH to JFK.  Somehow, I think you are more upset that they stopped operating a non-stop, or that the flight was full.

 

 

 

[ORV]

2 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

So....you didn't research, but it's the fault of Athens?

 

 

The mask wasn't in front of you, but somehow Delta made for a bad flight from ATH to JFK.  Somehow, I think you are more upset that they stopped operating a non-stop, or that the flight was full.

 

 

 

This was 15 years ago, my first European trip. Unfortunately we're not all as smart as you. But when I grow up I'll be perfect, just like you. 

[osandomir]

33 minutes ago, ORV said:

This was 15 years ago, my first European trip. Unfortunately we're not all as smart as you. But when I grow up I'll be perfect, just like you. 

Also, 15 years ago the Internet wasn’t the same it is now. So the learning process was much slower and we all made much more travel mistakes than we do now after getting all that wonderful help from the social media😀