EZ Air and Airline Confusion

[actnwrks]

Happy New Year!

We are booking our air through Ezair for our Mediterranean cruise, but since we have never flown internationally before I am getting confused.  It looks like there is a United flight that is operated by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, for one price, an Air Canada flight with the 2^nd leg operated by Air Canada Rouge for another price, and an Air Canada/ Lufthansa flight with the Lufthansa portion being operated by CANADA ROUGE FOR AIR CANADA, for yet another price.  There was also an United/Lufthansa flight listed.  All these flights look the same to me.   We are leaving LAX on 10/18/209 to Venice, if that helps, and leaving Barcelona on 11/6/2019 back to LAX. I called United, and they confused me even more, so I am asking the experts, all of you on CC that have done this before.  Thank you for your help!

 

[AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago)]

2 minutes ago, actnwrks said:

Happy New Year!

We are booking our air through Ezair for our Mediterranean cruise, but since we have never flown internationally before I am getting confused.  It looks like there is a United flight that is operated by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, for one price, an Air Canada flight with the 2^nd leg operated by Air Canada Rouge for another price, and an Air Canada/ Lufthansa flight with the Lufthansa portion being operated by CANADA ROUGE FOR AIR CANADA, for yet another price.  There was also an United/Lufthansa flight listed.  All these flights look the same to me.   We are leaving LAX on 10/18/209 to Venice, if that helps, and leaving Barcelona on 11/6/2019 back to LAX. I called United, and they confused me even more, so I am asking the experts, all of you on CC that have done this before.  Thank you for your help!

 

Welcome to the world of code-sharing.  If each of these flights depart and arrive at the same time, they are the same flight, just sold by different airlines.  Just so you know, Rouge is Air Canada's discount airline, and offers little in the way of amenities.  So a flight operated by Air Canada Rouge will be no frills.

 

Stan

[Coral]

Stan is exactly right. I can see the same flight 5 different ways (and with 5 different prices) when I look. They just have different airline names. World of code sharing.

 

You are seeing things correctly.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Coral

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes they are the same flights. Don't let it confuse you. You may also see flexible flights much cheaper than restricted. Nobody can figure that one out. Just run with it!!  

I always see United flights but operated by Lufthansa.

I book the United flights for my frequent flyer Mileage Plus accounts, unless of course there is a huge $$ difference.

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

 

I book the United flights for my frequent flyer Mileage Plus accounts, unless of course there is a huge $$ difference.

Same here.

[actnwrks]

38 minutes ago, AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago) said:

Welcome to the world of code-sharing.  If each of these flights depart and arrive at the same time, they are the same flight, just sold by different airlines.  Just so you know, Rouge is Air Canada's discount airline, and offers little in the way of amenities.  So a flight operated by Air Canada Rouge will be no frills.

 

Stan

Thank you Stan.  

When you say not frills what does that mean?  It was suggested to me to fly Lufthansa, but if it is an Air Canada flight, maybe not.  What is the preferred airline to fly to Europe?

[Colo Cruiser]

Just now, actnwrks said:

Thank you Stan.  

When you say not frills what does that mean?  It was suggested to me to fly Lufthansa, but if it is an Air Canada flight, maybe not.  What is the preferred airline to fly to Europe?

We hate Lufthansa. But on these EZ Air offerings it has the best flight options for us from Denver. They have non stop flights everyday to Munich and Frankfort.Of course from there you can have a short hop to Italy etc. Lufthansa does not allow any seat selection until 24 hours before the flight. I have found they use old equipment and their planes are not the cleanest. (but whose are nowadays with sold out flights/short turnaround times 24/7)

We also get many choices pop up with Air Canada/Air Rouge flights too. With many connecting through Toronto.

[actnwrks]

7 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

We also get many choices pop up with Air Canada/Air Rouge flights too. With many connecting through Toronto.

 

Have you ever taken one of these flights that connect through Canada on Air Rouge?

What does it mean when you say Air Rouge is NO frills? 

[Colo Cruiser]

46 minutes ago, actnwrks said:

 

Have you ever taken one of these flights that connect through Canada on Air Rouge?

What does it mean when you say Air Rouge is NO frills? 

No I have not.

 

I would think it's basic service and charge for everything like Frontier.

[ldubs]

8 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

We hate Lufthansa. . . . .

 

Same here.  I have been routinely bumped out of seats I paid extra for.  I'm not sure that someone can even currently book an upgraded seat on Lufthansa via the United website.  I avoid them like the plague.   

[Ep010835]

Being able to select both airline and number of stops is the thing that makes EZ Air a real winner with me. 

Living near DFW, AA rules the roost so we always fly AA unless there are really extraordinary circumstances. On our upcoming Med cruise (into BCN and out of FCO), I used the drop down menu to select one-stop flights on AA even though other carriers offer fares for a couple of hundred less. It's worth it to me to be able to select prime seats this far out. 

 

[Davey Jones Dentist]

We used EZ-Air returning from TA cruise in April (yes, one way despite being told that "They don't do that!")

 

We flew Business Class from London to Toronto on Air Canada - I've been flying more than 50 years and the 787-8 was marvelous; the best flight ever. Two rows of Business Class with bulkhead leg room of about 32" (yes, 32").

From Toronto to Vegas was Air Canada Rouge. Still Business Class but not as posh as previous flight. Certainly acceptable but were not far from any ordinary US carrier flight.

[terry&mike]

5 hours ago, Davey Jones Dentist said:

We used EZ-Air returning from TA cruise in April (yes, one way despite being told that "They don't do that!")

 

 

EZ-Air always offers the option of booking one way

[Jemnibabe]

I have a question regarding a booked Air Canada flight that goes through Toronto:  Yes, it's booked but now when I check it to see if there is any cost difference, it never appears.  I was told that when they are no longer selling seats on a certain flight, they stop posting it BUT I have also heard someone post on here that after having booked certain flights on EZAir, they were cancelled with no notice whatsoever.  Thoughts anyone?

 

Judy from SW Florida

[1965]

8 hours ago, actnwrks said:

 

Have you ever taken one of these flights that connect through Canada on Air Rouge?

What does it mean when you say Air Rouge is NO frills? 

We flew Rouge this past Oct., Dallas to Barcelonna with layover in Toronto, thru EZair. It was sooo cheap. The flights were as comfortable as any other long international flight. To use their entertainment system you have to download their app & use your own device  for movies. We skipped doing that so don't how well it works. We always use EZair because, so far, they are always the cheapest way to go. 

[Abbabug]

9 hours ago, actnwrks said:

 

Have you ever taken one of these flights that connect through Canada on Air Rouge?

What does it mean when you say Air Rouge is NO frills? 

 

Not sure if I’m allowed to attach links so I had better not having already made a boo-boo this morning.  If you google Air Canada vs Air Canada Rouge, there should be some info on what the no frills mean.

[Jemnibabe]

So...….no one has had your flight suddenly cancelled without any notification?  Maybe that is good news then.

 

Judy from SW Florida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hbrote]

23 minutes ago, Jemnibabe said:

So...….no one has had your flight suddenly cancelled without any notification?  Maybe that is good news then.

 

Judy from SW Florida

 

Judy,

Once you make a final payment you can request Princess to "Book" your airline (I've done it once) you will need the form from Princess.  That way you can be assured of no cancellation without notification and get seats assigned or upgrade.   I booked a return  from CPH on United, but on an Air Canada Flight.  The only hassle I had was to get seat assignments.  I had to get the Air Canada booking Number from  United and then contact Air Canada.  Hope this helps ......

 

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by hbrote

[jagoffee]

7 hours ago, terry&mike said:

EZ-Air always offers the option of booking one way

True, but as I learned the hard way.  You cannot add the other way without cancelling and rebooking. 

[Steelers36]

Air Canada Rouge is a lower end of service and cabin content.  For example, virtually all the economy rows have a knee-grinder pitch, so it's a bit like a sardine can.  You need a premium seat to get decent leg room, or a bulkhead.  Business Class on Rouge is a misnomer as it is nothing like true Business Class on AC or another airline.  In fact, AC has renamed their fare classes and business class (a.k.a. first class) on mainline Air Canada for international now carries the term "Signature".  AC setup Rouge to complete with lower cost/lower frill airlines, supposedly at lower fare costs.  I am not so sure I see lower fare costs than would have had before.  I would suggest using Seat Guru to study various plane models and see if AC Rouge meets your expectations.  AC mainline still flies to the major cities like London, Paris, Frankfurt, but "lesser" destinations in Europe are seeing more and more Rouge in play.  Same thing to FLL - used to be mainline and now it's all change to Rouge.

 

[suzyed]

On 12/30/2018 at 2:54 PM, Coral said:

Same here.

Us, as well!
The only downside possible is if there is a radical change in the ship's Itinerary and you get back to port a day late as we had happen on one of our cruises.   If we had booked with EZ air it would have been taken care of, but because we booked with miles and had to change flights to a day later, we ended up having to buy more miles to cover the new tix and it cost us $1400 to do so.

[brt49]

Booked EZ-Air for a Rome to Barcelona cruise. Noticed something. The time has changed on the Air Canada to Rome and the plane type has changed on my flight back but neither has been updated on my cruise personilizer. I guess it's up to me to keep track of changes..

[suzyed]

6 minutes ago, brt49 said:

Booked EZ-Air for a Rome to Barcelona cruise. Noticed something. The time has changed on the Air Canada to Rome and the plane type has changed on my flight back but neither has been updated on my cruise personilizer. I guess it's up to me to keep track of changes..

You are right about that!  You have to keeps tabs on it.  Our friends had one of their flight cancelled and they weren't notified....they noticed it when they were checking on their flight times.

[satxdiver]

12 minutes ago, brt49 said:

Booked EZ-Air for a Rome to Barcelona cruise. Noticed something. The time has changed on the Air Canada to Rome and the plane type has changed on my flight back but neither has been updated on my cruise personilizer. I guess it's up to me to keep track of changes..

 

As soon as you book flights through EZair, you need to login on the airline's website and enter your contact information for flight changes.  Airlines rebalance their flights every quarter and sometime more frequent such that your flight can be cancelled, time changed and/or airplane changed which usually means seat reassignment.  Check back in frequently to make sure no changes have been made.  EZair can only report what the airline tells them and sometimes I suspect there is a disconnect.  

 

Another poster mentioned returning to port late and having to change air reservations.  One huge plus with EZair is that they will take care of it for you at no additional cost to you.