Beware of Oceania air bookings

[chronic travelitis]

We're leaving tomorrow morning for the 8/11 Nautica sailing, so I went online to confirm the flights that Oceania provided on our itinerary. It turns out the flight from SFO to JFK had never been booked. I was on a 3-way call when the Oceania rep told the travel agent that the flight had been cancelled, so he booked us on a different flight. I just checked the original flight and it wasn't cancelled at all. My guess is that it had never been booked at all and if I hadn't made it a point to confirm tomorrow's flights, we would have arrived at the airport and found that we had no reservations. Always confirm the flights as soon as you receive the itinerary. Believe me, if you wait until 24 hours before the flight, it can be very nerve wracking!

[Jane110]

Sorry to hear this happened to you, but very glad you had it all resolved before departing.

 

BTW, the airline could have cancelled the flight and then reinstated it after Oceania changed your routing. The airline would have no way of contacting people that were now no longer booked on the original flight.

 

However, I don't think this kind of thing can be attributed uniquely to Oceania. Airline cancellations happen and necessary flight changes that don't get handled are probably common to all cruiselines as well as land tours. The human factor happens.

 

Anyone flying anywhere on tickets that have been booked far in advance should always have a look-see at their reservations about a month in advance to make sure flights and connections are right. And then again a week beforehand and then again the day before. I do this even when I book flights myself on an airline's own website.

[Druke I]

Very good advice.

 

We do basically the same thing with our flights. Too much can go astray if not checked.

[drwong]

Good points, Jane. Monitor, monitor, and monitor. We nearly got stranded in Europe because our reservations were suddenly moved from "Confirmed" to "Standby" a week before we were scheduled to depart. (I should have figured something was up when we weren't able to get our seat assignments because one of the telephone agents said all the seats had already been assigned). Lufthansa blamed the giveaway of our seats on Oceania, and Oceania blamed it on Lufthansa.

 

By the time things got straightened out a day or two later, we were bumped from the original flight we had been booked on, turning our one-hour layover in Frankfurt into a four-hour ordeal - the local security personnel wouldn't let us into the gate area until one hour before take off, the Frankfurt airport doesn't provide enough seating capacity to handle a jumbo jet's complement of passengers, and they allow smoking throughout the main terminal which gets into your eyes and throat.

[shoshona2]

Hi Jane,

 

Nice meeting you last weekend. We also check and double-check our reservations since we fly so much. We left home yesterday morning at 5:00 a.m. too early to find out that new regulations would be put into effect regarding liquids in hand luggage that morning. It was gridlock at LAX at 5:30 a.m. and we only found out when we were in the Security line at American Airlines that we had to dump everything liquid. There was no way to go back downstairs and check our carryon and still make our flight. It was complete chaos, but since we allow two and one half hours to go domestic, we were okay. Many, manyj people did NOT make their flights. So, everyone must allow three hours from now on.

 

Drwong, we have traveled through Frankfurt airport for many years and I remember the first time I had to move the large canisters set up for the cigarette smokers so that I had four feet of breathing room. I had to put a hankerchief over my nose and mouth. I now carry masks. The last two times I noticed that they did have smoking areas (right in the middle of a smoke free area). I also dread going through Frankfurt because of the smoke. Did you know that you could pay a daily rate to use the lounge at the airport in case you are delayed there for many hours? I know it's about $50 per person, but I lost more than $150 in liquids yesterday.

 

Flying is surely getting more and more difficult. I don't want to give in to terrorists, so we will keep flying. The airllnes were so grateful to those of us who booked a flight after 9/11.

 

Sheila

[LKJ]

We leave for our Regatta Baltic trip on Monday. I just checked http://www.checkmytrip.com for the lastest update on our flights to and from Europe provided by Oceania. It's not the 1st time I've checked. Have checked for changes a couple times since receiving my final doc's from Oceania.

 

For the website use the PNR# (reservation code) listed in your flight Air Itinerary received from Oceania.

 

It's very important to review your air itinerary thoroughly. When I received ours in late June for our August 14-day cruise, Oceania made the mistake of scheduling us for return flight just 4 days after the start of the cruise!!! My TA had completely missed this mistake when it went through his office for review. Only then, did he call Oceania and changed our return flight. Originally it was a Stockholm/London/SFO return flight and changed to Stockholm/Frankfurt/SFO.

 

Bottom line, don't rely on your TA to catch the mistakes. My Oceania recommended AmericasVacationCenter.com travel agent has missed a few mistakes. Fortunately I've caught them in time for correction. I will never use their travel agent again. He hasn't been too reliable

[Ed and Jim]

We are still a month away but have been checking flights on a weekly basis. While our Delta ATL/ATH flight has remained stable so far, the PHX/ATL flight has changed no fewer than 3 times! Flight numbers, departure and arrival times, and the oh so important equipment changes. Be sure to look at your seat maps, since the original 3-2 configuration became a 3-3 when another aircraft was substituted.

 

Do not count on others to let you know about these changes. Even though the changes were of the relatively minor variety, they were never communicated to our travel agent by Oceania. We check the individual airlines as well as CheckMyTrip to confirm that they all agree!

[Jane110]

Hi Jane,

 

Nice meeting you last weekend. We also check and double-check our reservations since we fly so much. We left home yesterday morning at 5:00 a.m. too early to find out that new regulations would be put into effect regarding liquids in hand luggage that morning. It was gridlock at LAX at 5:30 a.m. and we only found out when we were in the Security line at American Airlines that we had to dump everything liquid. There was no way to go back downstairs and check our carryon and still make our flight. It was complete chaos, but since we allow two and one half hours to go domestic, we were okay. Many, manyj people did NOT make their flights. So, everyone must allow three hours from now on.

 

Sheila

 

Sheila,

 

Yes, GREAT meeting you too! :)

 

Oy! What a mess for you at LAX. Like you, I always get to the airport early, I'm glad you didn't miss your flight!

 

I was lucky in that I left LA the day before the averted terrorist threats, so my flights weren't affected.

 

 

Drwong, Druke 1,

Thanks for the nice comments.

 

Jane

[LKJ]

Perhaps we should get to SFO on Mon for SFO - Heathrow 4 1/2 hrs ahead and read a few magazines or a book while we wait. Hopefully by then it won't be too crazy, but better safe than sorry!

[ClaudiaF]

wrote in part:

"We leave for our Regatta Baltic trip on Monday. I just checked www.checkmytrip.com ....

 

Thanks for that website..had forgotten about it, and it is the easiest way to check flights and changes.

 

Last month I got an email from Air France ( that actually had been sent to spam folder, found when looking for something else..or would never have known)..saying that our return flight from Paris to Los Angeles had been canceled and that the flight woud go the NEXT day..

hello..talk about a layover..while a great place to be "stuck" not great if you are not prepared with hotel or pre-warning.:eek:

[Jane110]

Thanks for that website..had forgotten about it, and it is the easiest way to check flights and changes.

 

Last month I got an email from Air France ( that actually had been sent to spam folder, found when looking for something else..or would never have known)..saying that our return flight from Paris to Los Angeles had been canceled and that the flight woud go the NEXT day..

hello..talk about a layover..while a great place to be "stuck" not great if you are not prepared with hotel or pre-warning.:eek:

 

Claudia,

 

Yes, always good to scan the spam folder before hitting the "delete" key. I've had some important info accidently sent there!

 

Layover in Paris for a night? POOOOOR BABY!!! :D :D

But, yes, certainly good to know AHEAD of time! Yikes!

[ClaudiaF]

wrote in part:

"Layover in Paris for a night? POOOOOR BABY!!! :D :D "

 

Oui, oui mon ami Jane dahlink....mais bien sur...imagine getting to PAris, finding out connecting flight is cancelled and has been re-scheduled for late next day..and not having reseys for dinner:eek:

MON DIEU!;)

[shedevil]

Good points, Jane. Monitor, monitor, and monitor. We nearly got stranded in Europe because our reservations were suddenly moved from "Confirmed" to "Standby" a week before we were scheduled to depart. (I should have figured something was up when we weren't able to get our seat assignments because one of the telephone agents said all the seats had already been assigned). Lufthansa blamed the giveaway of our seats on Oceania, and Oceania blamed it on Lufthansa.

quote]

 

It seems to be a strange practice of Lufthansa. We had reserved seats on Lufthansa in July 2006 and everything was fine the day we flew out of the states. We get to the airport in Stockholm to return home and everything is fine except the seats we had reserved on the flight from Frankfurt to LAX were now seats 14G & 47C. :confused: Not too cool for a 11 hour flight. Plus it is a completely full flight and there are no seats available. We asked why Lufthansa had changed our seat assignments at check-in and we were told that the seats were reserved but were not confirmed. We asked what we should have done to confirm.......no one could tell us. We had been monitoring the flight and did the appropriate steps.

 

They tell us not to worry, once we get to Frankfurt everything can be fixed. Well, we get to Frankfurt and are told tough luck and reminded again that we should have confirmed our reserved seats. They can't tell us how that is different from confirming our reservations but they say we should have done it. Now comes the interesting part. We get to the plane and there are 8 or 9 other couples that had seats reserved together who are now in opposite ends of the plane. All were told that their seats were reserved but not confirmed. The passengers were not all Oceania, some were part of a religious group, and others were traveling alone.

 

Talk about a rude awakening......hot and smoky Frankfurt airport and the mysteriously secret method of confirming reserved seats on Lufthansa.

 

I will say that the flight crew on the Lufthansa flight was one of the most efficient and friendly that I have ever encountered.