Inquiring about HAL flights

I tell every future cruise consultant that it would be a great benefit if is was 'easy' to see flights and prices on HAL's website.

 

What I have done at times is find a 'similar' cruise on Princess and price out flights on their excellent web tool. It seems HAL's offerings are often similar. You can even change the arrival city on Princess' web site; for example, if your cruise is leaving from Venice and the Princess one is leaving from Rome, it lets you change the arrival city to Venice (as if you were visiting Venice before the cruise...).

 

Thus far I have not actually booked flights through HAL, but am sure at some point I will.

I found the rub in that today. I'm booked on 2 2017 HAL cruises. (1) Grand Asia arriving in Hong Kong November 1 and (2) Prinsendam TA leaving Rome November 2. I know I can't actually book flights this early but I wanted to get an idea of what HAL might offer.

I really only have one logical flight. KLM has a flight leaving Hong Kong about 1:30, connecting in Amsterdam, and arriving in Rome the 10:30PM the same day, leaving me an overnight in Rome. I tried to see what Princess would offer me for that but found that if I went to their flight quote site that it would only allow me to depart from a US airport. I hope HAL Flight Ease does not work the same way.

Roy

First you must access your reservation summary. At the bottom of the the page is the area that says "purchase" Click on this. You will then be brought to a page that lists "travel" pre and post cruise (upper left). Then you will be directed to a page that indicates "Flights". Click on this indicating all persons in your party (check them off). You will then be given the opportunity to put in your departure date (if you are spending time in the area of your ships embarkation port, then you will change the date. It will ask you "what day do you want to arrive". Once your dates have been posted, you will then access different flights going and coming from your destination. Click on your choices.

 

You will see some flights are "flex" flights. These flights need not be paid for until final cruise payment. Regular flights you will be required to pay for at time of booking. Good luck! Let me know how you make out and it you need more help, just let me know!

Well, I was doubtful, but following these instructions I was able to access and check flights with no problem at all, and my booking is with a PCC - who still has not gotten back to me with flight info. I did not, however, find anything cheaper than the flights I had already checked directly myself.

Well, I was doubtful, but following these instructions I was able to access and check flights with no problem at all, and my booking is with a PCC - who still has not gotten back to me with flight info. I did not, however, find anything cheaper than the flights I had already checked directly myself.

Happy to have helped out! Once you've done it, then it's easy to keep checking. Airline prices fluctuate daily, so keep looking. After 10 days of watching, our preferred flights dropped in price substantially and then we booked (Flex).

For the first time we have a booking through HAL directly with no TA involved, so I went online to check out the flights, exactly as described here. Unfortunately, the website said I had to call for assistance as they were "unable to process this request". Darn!

In the past my TA has gotten me and HAL on the phone with her and they gave me a few poor choices. TA actually told me in her experience HAL flights are expensive. And she was a top 10 TA!

I much prefer Princess's method of checking online and booking them yourself. Even if you have a TA on your booking you can book and change flights very easily. The whole Princess "cruise personalizer" system is so easy to use.

For the first time we have a booking through HAL directly with no TA involved, so I went online to check out the flights, exactly as described here. Unfortunately, the website said I had to call for assistance as they were "unable to process this request". Darn!

 

In the past my TA has gotten me and HAL on the phone with her and they gave me a few poor choices. TA actually told me in her experience HAL flights are expensive. And she was a top 10 TA!

 

I much prefer Princess's method of checking online and booking them yourself. Even if you have a TA on your booking you can book and change flights very easily. The whole Princess "cruise personalizer" system is so easy to use.

I agree that Princess and Celebrity have a much more user friendly web-site and booking flights is a straightforward process. For some reason, HAL has made it more difficult to check/book flights. However, once you figure it out, it's quite easy to do again. Also, I've found that for our upcoming cruise (Western Med) the price with HAL is much lower than the airline web-sites are offering. I think it depends on date, itinerary and demand. I would book my flights with whomever provides the best price and flight options.

It's because you booked through HAL and the others booked through a TA or PCC.

 

Once you have an agent working on your booking for you, they have responsibility to do all the work associated with that booking. They own the job, and the passenger has relinquished responsibility to them.

But this isn't quite true....all excursions and meals are booked directly online with HAL. If they can take on reservations directly online for that, why not flights?

But this isn't quite true....all excursions and meals are booked directly online with HAL. If they can take on reservations directly online for that, why not flights?

You are correct! Please see Lizzie68 post recently. Booked with PCC but was able to access Flight Ease. Followed instructions I provided and it worked!

You are correct! Please see Lizzie68 post recently. Booked with PCC but was able to access Flight Ease. Followed instructions I provided and it worked!

I could not get it. I wonder if the Canadians can get it while us in the US cannot???

I could not get it. I wonder if the Canadians can get it while us in the US cannot???

Very strange that some of us can access with no problem and others simply can't! Doubt if it's a Canada/US issue......that would be really weird since less passengers are Canadian.

I could not get it. I wonder if the Canadians can get it while us in the US cannot???

Did you sign in and click into your reservations first? It is still working for me though today it will not allow me to change my departure airport. Apart from that I am getting lots of choices from YVR.

Did you sign in and click into your reservations first? It is still working for me though today it will not allow me to change my departure airport. Apart from that I am getting lots of choices from YVR.

Yes - I tried it on both of my upcoming reservations. No Luck.

Yes - I tried it on both of my upcoming reservations. No Luck.

I'm not seeing anything on mine either. The instructions given are clear. There is just nothing there for some of us (it appears). I'm sure there is a reason but I really don't care. I'm happy with flights I have booked.

I can't figure out how to do it online either.

But I did find this link at the bottom of there home page.

It says to call.

http://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=Flight_Ease&showHeader=true&showFooter=true&WT.ac=footer_PlanFlightsTransfers&legacy=true

I could not access the flight ease feature either and I followed the earlier steps. I too got to the page that describes the two options but says to call or have your TA call.

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I tell every future cruise consultant that it would be a great benefit if is was 'easy' to see flights and prices on HAL's website.

 

What I have done at times is find a 'similar' cruise on Princess and price out flights on their excellent web tool. It seems HAL's offerings are often similar. You can even change the arrival city on Princess' web site; for example, if your cruise is leaving from Venice and the Princess one is leaving from Rome, it lets you change the arrival city to Venice (as if you were visiting Venice before the cruise...).

 

Thus far I have not actually booked flights through HAL, but am sure at some point I will.

Excellent tip. Just tried Princess's site and it worked a treat. Hope when I call HAL tomorrow they will have similar prices as what I found on Princess's site.

Yesterday I couldn't get a price for my March 2017 cruise, but today I got the flights easily. Unfortunately, I feel they are high. I checked the same flights I picked on HAL, on Delta's website and Delta is cheaper than HAL. I would naturally buy from Delta if I were ready to purchase now.

The actual flight choice area looks almost identical to the one at Princess. If only you could purchase HAL flights without using your travel agent, I would say HAL is improving. They still have work to do to make it easy on their customers!

I hate using the phone and didn't have time to call my travel agent. Saw a good one directly from United and bought it. I think they are losing potential revenue by not offering an online search tool to every deposited customer. That does not require a HAL agent's time, just a search engine. If a guest wants to speak to someone then calling he travel agent could be required. (If I call my TA she is going to have to call HAL and take an employee's time anyway)

I wanted to give the princess tool mentioned here a try, but it only allows you to look if you have a cruise booked with them.

I wanted to give the princess tool mentioned here a try, but it only allows you to look if you have a cruise booked with them.

No, you can check flights without booking a cruise at Princess.com. Just search for a cruise vacation, then click Cruise Details (green button), then click on Flight Quotes the purple button below the prices. Easy-peasy!

HAL (and Cunard and Seaborne) use Princess' native air system. I dnt know why you can't always book with HAL if you aren't wth a TA.

The system is all the same for these lines.