Flight Disaster?

[BobAnne]

I am the sort of person who regularly checks their reservations online for no good reason. Oh look, my cruise is still there! Oh look my excursions are still there!

This morning I logged into the airline site followed by the Regent site and my confirmed departure flights gone. We are not only paid in full we also paid a not insignificant deviation fee.

 

Is this normal with Regent?? Today being Sunday I can contact neither my Travel Agent nor Regent for assurances or explanations. What on earth could be happening?!

 

(I checked the airline site and the flight itself still exists so that was not the explanation.)

[Lonedaddy]

I don't know if I would call it a disaster.  Maybe disappearance.  Was there a schedule change that could mean it needs to be reticketed?  It does happen.  What was the original flight number and airline and date.  Did you also have assigned seats?  But you may have to check tomorrow.  It is good you check regularly - I usually do as well to see if there was a price decrease (miles or $) or a change.  I do have alerts set on Expert flyer so they will notify of schedule or equipment changes.

Edited May 5 by Lonedaddy

[mnocket]

I'd call the airline and verify that the flight is not cancelled.  I've noticed that on some sites, flights don't show up if there are no longer seats available.  

[-Lew-]

As suggested, call the airline and provide your record locator number to determine your status.  Since it's a Sunday, IT may be working on their website and causing temporary issues.  Hopefully all is well.

 

When this is all behind you, consider finding a TA that provides service on weekends.  My TA has office hours on weekdays; however, her agency is open 7 days a week from 9 AM to 8 PM.  For an emergency outside regular office hours, I have her cell number for calls and texts.

[jeb_bud]

Can you access your booking on the airline’s site?  If so then you can relax. Sometimes due to site maintenance or ??? Booking details disappear from the Regent site only to reappear later. 

Edited May 5 by jeb_bud
Typo

[edgee]

2 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

Can you access your booking on the airline’s site?  If so then you can relax. Sometimes due to site maintenance or ??? Booking details disappear from the Regent site only to reappear later. 

OP's opening sentence says he checked airline site.

[PhD-iva]

3 hours ago, edgee said:

OP's opening sentence says he checked airline site.

He said the “flight itself still exists”, not that his booking is still there….

[edgee]

14 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

He said the “flight itself still exists”, not that his booking is still there.

I never implied  that the booking is still there. I was responding to the supposed point a responder had made that if he checked the airline's site and if his booking was still there, he could relax. I was pointing out that he had already checked the airline site and his booking was not there, thus the problem. The flight does still exist, but OP has a problem either way.

[frantic36]

39 minutes ago, edgee said:

I was pointing out that he had already checked the airline site and his booking was not there, thus the problem. The flight does still exist, but OP has a problem either way.

 

On rereading the original post to me it isn't clear that he actually put his airline locator number into the airlines "manage my booking" to check his flight was still there. 

11 hours ago, BobAnne said:

This morning I logged into the airline site

But was this to check any flight deviations or to actually check his booking with his PNR?

[papaflamingo]

18 hours ago, BobAnne said:

I am the sort of person who regularly checks their reservations online for no good reason. Oh look, my cruise is still there! Oh look my excursions are still there!

This morning I logged into the airline site followed by the Regent site and my confirmed departure flights gone. We are not only paid in full we also paid a not insignificant deviation fee.

 

Is this normal with Regent?? Today being Sunday I can contact neither my Travel Agent nor Regent for assurances or explanations. What on earth could be happening?!

 

(I checked the airline site and the flight itself still exists so that was not the explanation.)

So you're saying the flight is still there but your reservation disappeared from the airline's website?  What airline?  

[jeb_bud]

17 hours ago, edgee said:

OP's opening sentence says he checked airline site.

First, that’s not what the opening sentence says. 
 

I can be pretty literal minded, which I considered a positive characteristic as an engineer. Maybe not so much as a poster on Cruise Critic 😜. I didn’t think the opening post was completely clear about whether they had verified that the record locator still existed or had disappeared. 

[flare3192]

I have had this happoen as well -- mostly the first fight from Atlanta disappears as there are no nonstops-- if the airline changes the equipment this can happen and or if the airline cancels or changes the flight this can happen. You have to get them to book it again and you may not get the same seats. The only way to prevent this that I know of is to have them ticket you before the 60 days out they ordinarily do. When ticketed you have a little more control over the seats or if things change I was told -- have never tried that so I am not sure and someone here will probably address that

[BobAnne]

Our travel agent contacted Regent and was informed the flights were still being held but at 40+ days they had not yet been paid for. We paid the deviation fee and even selected our seats. I would have thought our flights should have been paid and signed off on well before the 60 day limit.

 

Our flights are now paid for and back on our itineraries and airline apps thank goodness. Thank you to everyone for your very helpful suggestions. It was a somewhat stressful day yesterday and your assistance and kind words help us through. 💚

[papaflamingo]

9 hours ago, BobAnne said:

Our travel agent contacted Regent and was informed the flights were still being held but at 40+ days they had not yet been paid for. We paid the deviation fee and even selected our seats. I would have thought our flights should have been paid and signed off on well before the 60 day limit.

 

Our flights are now paid for and back on our itineraries and airline apps thank goodness. Thank you to everyone for your very helpful suggestions. It was a somewhat stressful day yesterday and your assistance and kind words help us through. 💚

Even booking 210 days out, the flights aren't paid for until 60 days out.  But the reservations (at least on U.S. airlines) is fully accessible on the airline's website.  You can change seats, etc.  What you can't do is make changes via the airlines as to flights. THAT needs to be done by Regent, at least on United (I assume Delta and American too).  I know this because we flew from Atlanta to Hong Kong on United in Feb.  I deviated 210 days out and got the flight of my choice with a 4 hour sit in SFO then on to Hong Kong.  About 3 weeks later I got an email from United that the 4 hour sit in SFO became a 1:40 sit.  Too close for me, so I called United. They said since the ticket wasn't paid for I'd have to go through Regent.  Long story short, Regent I wanted a 13 hour layover (my only option), but Regent couldn't book it due to the long layover. But they told me the day the ticket would be paid for, 60 days out.  So the day after that date I called United and was able to switch the flight to a long layover with no problem and no charge.  

One advantage of the flight not being paid for until 60 days out, you can cancel your flight via Regent with no penalty until 60 days out. 

[BobAnne]

It is very interesting to note you were able to make changes yourself after the 60 day mark. That is a fantastic pro-tip, PapaFlamingo.

 

That said, I can honestly say without hesitation I will never let Regent arrange my air again. I’d rather have full control over my flights myself. Knowing I paid in full plus a hefty deviation fee prior to the 60 day cutoff and that they hadn’t bothered paying the airline at day 45 is crazy. Meh, live and learn! ✈️

[Lonedaddy]

1 hour ago, BobAnne said:

That said, I can honestly say without hesitation I will never let Regent arrange my air again. I’d rather have full control over my flights myself. Knowing I paid in full plus a hefty deviation fee prior to the 60 day cutoff and that they hadn’t bothered paying the airline at day 45 is crazy. Meh, live and learn! ✈️

You aren't the only one! It's best to book it only as a worst-case scenario and start to look if you can do better 360 days out on intl carriers 330 on US based.  If so you can drop one or both of the regent air legs.

Edited May 7 by Lonedaddy

[RELS]

6 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

But the reservations (at least on U.S. airlines) is fully accessible on the airline's website

 

Not all airlines. American in particular doesn't allow any changes until the ticket is paid for. I've been able to make changes with United and Delta, but not AA

[irishwitchy]

This is the reason,  I book my flights.  It may be a control issue, but the person that cares the most is me! Not Regent, your TA or god forbid the airlines! 

[papaflamingo]

2 hours ago, irishwitchy said:

This is the reason,  I book my flights.  It may be a control issue, but the person that cares the most is me! Not Regent, your TA or god forbid the airlines! 

But in reality if you deviate you basically have control over your flights, at least with Delta and United. 

[irishwitchy]

17 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

But in reality if you deviate you basically have control over your flights, at least with Delta and United. 

That may be true, but I don’t want to call Regent or my TA to play wack a mole with them to determine which flights they like best, won’t cost me more money, etc.  I find it easier to do my research, book the flights and track them accordingly.  I normally can pocket a savings, also.  Wuth AA maybe not awarding points, if United starts this, I would never let Regent book my flights.   I like my United status.  

[mnocket]

19 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

But in reality if you deviate you basically have control over your flights, at least with Delta and United. 

Can you be more explicit about what control you do, and do not, retain when you deviate when booking flights on Delta and United?  What changes can you make without going through Regent?  For example, can you change your flight or upgrade you cabin?

Edited May 8 by mnocket

[papaflamingo]

17 hours ago, mnocket said:

Can you be more explicit about what control you do, and do not, retain when you deviate when booking flights on Delta and United?  What changes can you make without going through Regent?  For example, can you change your flight or upgrade you cabin?

I have only used Regent to fly Business Class.  I am a retired Delta pilot so I get at least a 25% employee discount on any flight.  I have found that when I consider Regent's domestic air credit, plus the $175 deviation fee (I always travel in at least a day before the cruise), plus cost of domestic luggage (my wife always takes 2 suitcases) it isn't much more, with my discount, to purchase first class.  So can't comment on upgrades.  

However I have deviated on both Delta and United (my last flight was on both, UAL or Hong Kong and Delta home from Tokyo).  The minute you book with Regent via deviation, you can put the reservation number in and make seat selections, meal selections (when available), change seats as often as you want, etc.  You can't change the flight as Regent doesn't pay for it until 60 days out.  

However, as I found out for our UAL flight in Feb., after Regent pays for the flight you can do whatever you want (at least with UAL).  Do to UAL schedule changes our connection time in SFO got way too short for comfort, so I called UAL (can't do it on line) and was able to change to a flight a day earlier that got us to SFO for a 13 hours sit and still got us to Hong Kong on the same day all for no charge.  Prior to that I had to work any changes through Regent.

Not sure if the same would have happened on Delta, but see no reason why not.  Once the flight is paid for then it seems it's treated the same whether Regent paid for it or not.  You are restricted by the fare of course, so if you want to change it, you would have that to deal with.  Also, after I made the change, it appeared on our final paperwork as the actual flights I was taking so Regent was aware of the change even though I didn't actually tell them.  So it was still considered "booked by Regent."

[papaflamingo]

19 hours ago, irishwitchy said:

That may be true, but I don’t want to call Regent or my TA to play wack a mole with them to determine which flights they like best, won’t cost me more money, etc.  I find it easier to do my research, book the flights and track them accordingly.  I normally can pocket a savings, also.  Wuth AA maybe not awarding points, if United starts this, I would never let Regent book my flights.   I like my United status.  

I have found it very easy to work with Regent, but more importantly, cheaper flights, with the exception of our next cruise where I found tickets at almost 1/2 the Regent Air Credit.   Also I always get my own air domestic.  I am retired Delta and get at least a 25% discount on any Delta flight, so it's comparatively cheap for me to do domestic first class, but can't usually come close to Regent's cost for Business Class, the exception is our next cruise, and only because Delta has just started service to Papeete. 

[-Lew-]

I have no experience with Regent Air; however, after issues with both Princess eZAir and Flights by Celebrity over the years, I decided to take control of our own air travel.  I applied for a Chase Sapphire card and have transferred Ultimate Reward points to United in order to purchase trans-ocean travel in business class.  We now cruise 2+ months a year, mostly on Regent, so there's no problem accruing enough points.

 

I've had complete control over our air travel bookings and no longer have to go through the cruise line's air department to book, make a change, or correct an issue.  The primary benefit is that I no longer have to pay for first class or business class air and get a $6,000+ credit from Regent for booking our own air.

 

For changes I am unable to make on an airline's website, I have been contacting them via Twitter (X?) DMs.  I provide our frequent flyer numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and Flight Locator Number in my initial message along with a description of my issue and permission to make changes.  I would say my issues are usually addressed within two hours.  This method eliminates having to wait on hold for an indeterminate length of time and explaining everything verbally which comes with its own set of possible problems.

[mnocket]

6 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Do to UAL schedule changes our connection time in SFO got way too short for comfort, so I called UAL (can't do it on line) and was able to change to a flight a day earlier...

This is good to know.  I actually stopped booking flights thru travel agents years ago after trying, and failing, to do exactly this.  I don't remember the airline, but I do remember the airline representative telling me that they couldn't help me since I booked thru a TA. They said I'd have to contact the TA and have them make the change.  Since time was short, I wasn't able to get my TA to help.  Since then, I've always booked flights myself.  Good to know things are changing, or perhaps my experience was a one-off.