Flight Ease Question

[BaltimoreCruise]

If I book flights for my Alaskan cruise (September, 2020) using the Flight Ease Program, can I cancel without penalty before final payment on my cruise is due?

 

Thank you.

BaltimoreCruise

[taba]

8 minutes ago, BaltimoreCruise said:

If I book flights for my Alaskan cruise (September, 2020) using the Flight Ease Program, can I cancel without penalty before final payment on my cruise is due?

 

Thank you.

BaltimoreCruise

You can if you select a flexible fare. You can also monitor airfare costs, and cancel and rebook your flights if you find a better schedule or price. 

[Gigi1977]

Be certain you choose flexible fares.   They are a little more expensive generally, but you can change them or cancel them up to final payment with no penalty.   

[sevenseasnomad]

Does a passenger save money on domestic flights, using Flight Ease?

[Gigi1977]

18 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

Does a passenger save money on domestic flights, using Flight Ease?

I always explore both options- booking on my on and flight ease.  On some flights, the savings is only a few dollars but on a few, there are significant savings.  

[jlnprt]

18 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

Does a passenger save money on domestic flights, using Flight Ease?

 

Not a lot of experience here, but on two domestic cruises I found better deals on my own. Traveling to Europe, Flight Ease was a lot cheaper than anything I found. 

[TXCruiser10]

You can book through Flight Ease but you don't actually pay for the flights until your final cruise payment is due.  So, if you just book without paying, you could cancel at anytime until you do pay in full.

 

[BaltimoreCruise]

Thank you to all that provided information.  

BaltimoreCruise

[Petronillus]

18 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

Does a passenger save money on domestic flights, using Flight Ease?

 

I didn't understand about Flight Ease until a couple of threads popped up on CC a couple of weeks ago. For our upcoming Panama Canal transit (Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego), DW and I compared the prices we were quoted from Chase Travel thanks to our Sapphire Reserve card, with the Flight Ease fares for the same open jaw tickets, and were amazed at how favorable the pricing was with Flight Ease. And yes, I was comparing "Main Cabin" pricing versus "Flexible Fare," and we were allowed to make our seat selection and have the right to carry on baggage for the overhead bin etc., so I'm satisfied we're not stuck with the bare-bones pricing that the airlines are now using to entice the unwary.

[TAD2005]

Domestic round trips to and from the same airport will not same much.  The big advantage is the ability to get a confirmed flight, but not have to par for it until final payment date, which usually is 75 days out.

Some people say they get better fares by booking in their own, but one reason for those discrepancies is that Flight Ease does not quote flights from budget carriers like Southwest, Allegiant, Spirit, etc.    Flight Ease only quotes the major airlines in the US and around the world.

[dag144]

It's difficult to beat Flight Ease prices on international (Europe and Asia) flights especially for business class.

[kazu]

2 hours ago, dag144 said:

It's difficult to beat Flight Ease prices on international (Europe and Asia) flights especially for business class.

 

Totally agree.  They can be really discounted.  I didn’t waste FF miles with the deal I had from Amsterdam and on KLM biz no less 😉 

[Rickytop]

I am new to Flight Ease, so I am just trying to clarify something. We have booked our flights to Vancouver for Sept. 2020. I checked prices this morning and they were a couple hundred dollars cheaper, so I changed our tickets to the lower fare. I have read some say you cancel flights and then rebook. Our lower fare is on the exact same flights we booked first. So my question is, do you only have to cancel your flight if the actual flight is different, or do you cancel your flight for lower fares on the same flight? Common sense tells me that changing the tickets on the same flight to get the lower fare and not canceling the flight and re booking was the right thing to do but I just want to be sure. Thanks in advance!

[Taters]

I have a question regarding the Flight Ease Flex policy.  I've read the HAL policy on Flexible tickets, and they state that this fare can change up until the cruise is paid in full.  Is this true?  We need one way tickets from Santiago, Chile to LAX next November, and they are currently offering $332 on United Airlines.  A real steal!  Does HAL allow you to pay off the flight costs early to allow you to hold onto the great price?  Has anyone ever paid MORE for their Flexible ticket than they originally signed up for due to this policy?

 

Here is the policy:

Flexible Fares: No fees will be charged for changes and cancellations made prior to the cruise final payment due date. Changes to the booking may require cancellation and rebooking of flights. The original schedule and airfare may no longer be available, and a new reservation may need to be created at the current available price. If the current available price exceeds the original airfare, the guest must pay the additional charge. Cancellations after the cruise final payment date will incur a fee up to the full cost of the ticket, per ticket. Tickets are nontransferable. In some instances, name changes will not be permitted and will require cancellation and rebooking of flights. Prices are subject to increase prior to the time you make full payment for your air-inclusive cruise or Land+Sea Journey. Prices are not subject to increase after you make full payment except for charges resulting from increases in government imposed taxes or fees. Payment is required by the cruise final payment date or at time of booking if created after the cruise final payment date.

 

TIA

Edited January 5, 2020 by Taters

[Bostonjetset]

On 1/4/2020 at 10:01 AM, Rickytop said:

I am new to Flight Ease, so I am just trying to clarify something. We have booked our flights to Vancouver for Sept. 2020. I checked prices this morning and they were a couple hundred dollars cheaper, so I changed our tickets to the lower fare. I have read some say you cancel flights and then rebook. Our lower fare is on the exact same flights we booked first. So my question is, do you only have to cancel your flight if the actual flight is different, or do you cancel your flight for lower fares on the same flight? Common sense tells me that changing the tickets on the same flight to get the lower fare and not canceling the flight and re booking was the right thing to do but I just want to be sure. Thanks in advance!

Unfortunately you do indeed have to cancel and rebook.  It's a fairly easy process [you click through everything as a change] but you will get a new booking/confirmation number from the airline and will have to select new seats.  I just refared my flights a couple days ago and had to pick seats one row back as my original seats were already shown as full due to my first ticket not being cancelled until I clicked to change the flights.  You may be able to get around the seat issue if you fully cancel your 1st flights before booking your second ones [i.e. in 2 transactions] rather than doing it as a change but since our flights had plenty of seats I didn't want to make it any more complicated than it needed to be.

[PaperSniper4]

Does HAL's FlightEase work similarly to Princess' EZ-Fare? Sounds like it from reading above.

 

Thanks,

 Doug

[Bostonjetset]

3 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Does HAL's FlightEase work similarly to Princess' EZ-Fare? Sounds like it from reading above.

 

Thanks,

 Doug

Indeed it does. I found Princess to have better pricing though but it could just have been my specific trips. We booked Boston to LAX on our Princess Cruise and flights were cheaper than the airlines by a fair amount. With our latest HAL trip BOS to FLL our flight was about the same as booking direct and maybe even a few dollars more but we like being able to change up until final payment. 

[PaperSniper4]

15 minutes ago, Bostonjetset said:

Indeed it does. I found Princess to have better pricing though but it could just have been my specific trips. We booked Boston to LAX on our Princess Cruise and flights were cheaper than the airlines by a fair amount. With our latest HAL trip BOS to FLL our flight was about the same as booking direct and maybe even a few dollars more but we like being able to change up until final payment. 

Thanks very much for that confirmation.

 Doug

[msufan90]

I need help with understanding the flexible fare as I'm getting 2 different answers from HAL.  If I book a flexible fare and it goes up prior to final payment, do I pay that higher rate?

 

For example, I booked our cruise flight today, flexible fare for $500.  Final payment is March 27th.  On March 27th when I go to pay, if the fare is now $700.....do I pay the $500 or $700?   

 

One person at HAL said $700 and the other $500.   

 

Kathy

 

 

[TAD2005]

The booking engine that HAL uses is the same that Princess uses.  But occasionally, (like now) Princess offers discounts on air fares.  You can see the base price, and the discounted fare on Princess, but not on HAL.

 

As many have said on this board, there have been almost no examples where an airfare booked with Flight Ease has gone up and the passenger has been charged the higher price.   It have never happened to me, and the fares have gone way up close to final payment date.   My fare stayed the same

Other than the fantastic fares available, especially on international one-way flights, the big advantage of Flight Ease is that you do not have to pay until your cruise fare is due, usually 75 - 90 days out.   If something comes up and you have to cancel, you are stuck with a useless one-way ticket.   If Flight Ease fares would go up after you booked and you would get hit with that increase, passengers would have to pay at booking and then one of the big advantages of Flight Ease would go away.   One-way international fares are horribly expensive and if cruise lines didn't have this arrangement with airlines, the entire cruise industry would suffer.   Who would be happy to pay more for a 9 hour plane ride to an international port city than you pay for a whole 14 day cruise ?   So, there must be an agreement with the airlines to restrict fare increases after the flights are booked through the cruise line.

 

[VermeulT]

On 10/19/2019 at 11:01 AM, dag144 said:

It's difficult to beat Flight Ease prices on international (Europe and Asia) flights especially for business class.

 

How do you book other than main cabin?

I didn't see an option

[Reagan0712]

On 10/15/2019 at 6:56 PM, sevenseasnomad said:

Does a passenger save money on domestic flights, using Flight Ease?

We didn’t.  We’re on an Alaska Cruise in May. Originally had booked using Flight Ease with FlexFare, $890 r/t.  Found flights on Alaska Air BWI to ANC then Vancover to BWI for $702 r/t with fewer connections.

On the other hand, for our flight to Barcelona for October transatlantic we got $413 from BWI, one way.  Their price for flight from FLL to BWI was another $300 so we passed on that and will go with Southwest for that flight.

[RocketMan275]

30 minutes ago, VermeulT said:

 

How do you book other than main cabin?

I didn't see an option

On the first page, there's a place that asks for Fare Class. 

I've had no problems booking first class for two cruises.

You may have to select specific airlines to get the class you want.

For my area, only Delta and AA offer business/first class.

BTW, always be sure and check the flight details.  Sometimes the booking will include flights that are not premium.

[VermeulT]

Thank you.  Somehow I missed that.

[TAD2005]

You can specify the class of cabin you want.   Foe US domestic flights, first class is the usual front cabin.   For international flights, most airlines offer business class for the front cabin.  There is a pull down menu where you can select whatever class you want.

For US domestic flights, there is no substantial price advantage with Flight Ease.   The major advantage is the ability to book your flight 300 days out from your cruise and not pay anything until final cruise payment.   If you buy your own domestic ticket,  and sometime before final cruise payment, you need to cancel, your cruise deposit is protected (providing it is refundable), but you are stuck with an airline ticket you may not be able to use.