Regent Air to Tokyo….my experience

[Michyfis]

We are traveling on our first Regent cruise in October to Japan.  On the day we were eligible. To book air, our TA contacted the travel desk and the only outbound flight we were offered from Boston was coach to Honolulu and business to Tokyo on Hawaiian.  Not acceptable.  Since I have an Amex platinum card, I checked them and their price for a non stop was $500 more than the air credit and a significant savings over the retail price.  We took the air credit.  

[papaflamingo]

On 6/16/2023 at 7:31 AM, loriva said:

 

Thanks for the summary of the new procedure.  That was not my question, however.  On these boards, people have suggested calling Regent a week or so in advance of the 210-day mark  to get the names of the carriers with whom Regent has contracts for a particular route.  Then with that information in hand you can prepare itineraries you find acceptable for the call at the 210-day mark.  It was that first call--not actual booking--on which I had the question of the $75 charge.  I've also asked the question on the flight deviation thread, perhaps a more-appropriate place for the query.

Oh.... I have never read that people were calling ahead and getting a list of contract carriers.  That would be of great help. I never considered that.   Let us know what you find out, I will be setting up deviation in July and it sure would be helpful.   

Edited June 17, 2023 by papaflamingo

[PhD-iva]

On 6/15/2023 at 6:00 PM, papaflamingo said:

The $75 will apply.  But what you need to do is contact them with your itinerary's, they suggest 3 acceptable, and see what they can do.  They'll offer one with no upcharge if available, or with an upcharge if necessary.  I haven't done it on the new system yet, but we deviated for our upcoming cruise a few months ago and I gave them my requested flights and got my first choice with an acceptable upcharge and my first choice home with no upcharge.  Last year we were in the process of working flights and I could only get my choice home.  But going they gave me alternatives.  Not sure how that works with them now with the $75 charge.  But here's their guidance: 

https://www.rssc.com/frequently-asked-questions/flight-information

Thank you very much for providing the link. When I click on the link here is what I found:

”Unfortunately, you cannot currently book flights through Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Please arrange flights through your preferred travel agent”

I am confused 

[mj_holiday]

On 6/16/2023 at 6:31 AM, loriva said:

It was that first call--not actual booking--on which I had the question of the $75 charge.

I seem to remember a letter from Regent several months ago about this $75 charge if you called Regent about something with air.  As I understood it, they were getting way too many calls about air where reservations were not being made and loading up the personnel that work air bookings.

 

Haven't heard much about this since then.

[mrlevin]

On 6/15/2023 at 2:23 PM, tubeamps said:

Thanks for the input. We decided to stay with AC outbound.

We arrive in international terminal at AC gates, and leave from the same terminal on AC flight.

Since we will not have checked luggage it should be (famous last words) an easy transfer.

Good luck!  Luggage forward (and I assume similar companies) do not accept liquids so you will either have to do without liquids or check a bag.  We were a bit disappointed when we thought we would have only checked bags but ended up having to check one.

[chuckw]

We're flying to Toyko in November from Seattle and took a $1300 per person upgrade for a nonstop on Japan Air.  We were charged the $75 fee but it was refunded since we're Platinum. Seemed expensive but with current flying issues it seemed the way to go.

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Thank you very much for providing the link. When I click on the link here is what I found:

”Unfortunately, you cannot currently book flights through Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Please arrange flights through your preferred travel agent”

I am confused 

Hmmm... when I select the link I don't see that.  However last year they were not allowing anyone to call the Air Dept. to arrange flights due to all the changes that were happening, so you had to work through your TA via emails.  I thought that was no longer the case.  In fact when we booked in Jan. I called the Air Dept., gave her my preferred routes, and they sent their offer for me to accept.  One caveat is that you have to get your TA to tell them it's ok for you to talk to them directly.  

[mrlevin]

One more data point.  We are on Explorer Tokyo - Tokyo - Vancouver next April.  My early investigation of frequent flyer tickets led me to add air back onto this itinerary ($2700 plus $249 secondary hub per person).   I was investigating what options were likely and found a Singapore Airlines flight from LAX to NRT.  When I looked at what it would cost to book the flight it was 123,000 KrisFlyer miles per person.  I then transferred 246,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points (earned from $82,000 of travel spending) and used DL miles for AUS-LAX and YVR-AUS.  

 

So, I now asked TA to remove Regent flights.  I still haven't ever used Regent air but our cruise next June is a no-brainer to use Regent air so will finally get to experience the planning process.

 

YMMV

 

Marc