Flight Ease Question

[calteacher]

I have had reservations with flight ease for several months and have changed my reservation several times due to price changes and itinerary changes as we have plans after the cruise.

 

However, when I now go to look at flights, I cannot do anything except print my  most recent reservation.  I know that I have not paid for the flights.  Why cannot I access my reservation?

[eurolady]

Well here is the downside to Flight Ease....I am scheduled to depart on Feb. 29 on the Westerdam that is now trying to find a port in Asia....any port to take her.  If I cancel I cannot get the Business Air Flight $ that I paid for my flights back.  This is inspite of the fact that my flights were fully refundable by the airline due to the coronavirus crisis in Asia.  If I had booked these flights on my own I would have my $ (which is 2/3 of the cost of the trip) 100% refunded or at the very least been charged a rebooking fee and able to use the rest within a year......I will never use flight ease again with HAL.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, eurolady said:

Well here is the downside to Flight Ease....I am scheduled to depart on Feb. 29 on the Westerdam that is now trying to find a port in Asia....any port to take her.  If I cancel I cannot get the Business Air Flight $ that I paid for my flights back.  This is inspite of the fact that my flights were fully refundable by the airline due to the coronavirus crisis in Asia.  If I had booked these flights on my own I would have my $ (which is 2/3 of the cost of the trip) 100% refunded or at the very least been charged a rebooking fee and able to use the rest within a year......I will never use flight ease again with HAL.

 

I would wait to cancel.  HAL announced it is evaluating that cruise and they may well cancel it.  If they do, it will all be refunded to you and you may well receive some FCC as well.

 

latest travel advisory is here https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/coronavirus-travel-advisory.html

[TAD2005]

On 2/8/2020 at 6:47 AM, eurolady said:

Well here is the downside to Flight Ease.....I will never use flight ease again with HAL.

The virus is  an unusual happening, and because everything in the far east is in turmoil,  this is a one-off situation.

To state "I'll never use Flight Ease again" is a knee-jerk reaction to a temporary situation.   On most of my cruises, I only need a very long, one-way international business class flight.   Booking with the airlines, I would be paying 4 times what I would pay with Flight Ease.   In one case, I had a domestic round trip to get to a cruise port on the US west coast.   There was no price difference between the airlines and Flight Ease, but I had to cancel that cruise before final payment.   I got 100% of my deposit money back with no arguments.  If I had booked the flights separately with an airline many months before the cruise final payment,  I would have  had to pay for the flights upon booking, and I would then be stuck with 2 round trip ticket credits that I might never be able to use.   

[red919]

Is there any way to check flights on Flight Ease BEFORE booking your cruise?

 

Also, if I book through a travel agent, can I book my own flights through Flight Ease or does my travel agent have to do this for me?  I much prefer looking up flights myself and can't remember if I have this option.

 

Thanks!

[Caribbean Chris]

We told our big box travel agent the flight numbers we wanted, they got with HAL and confirmed it all back to us. The price in 1st class was significantly cheaper from Florida to California through FlightEase than if we had booked with AA.

[tkwbear]

I've always booked my own flights, because years ago if HAL did it for you, they might route you through various hubs, resulting in a very long flight. 4 and 5 star Mariners were given better treatment, but I haven't seen reference to those benefits in a long time. 

 

This sounds like you can actually book the flights you want if and only if you are on a cruise, is that right? I might be interested in a one-way business class ticket from Europe in the Spring. If I want to layover a week after the cruise, is that a problem? I usually use FF miles, but airlines, and hotels have decided to ruin those programs. 

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, red919 said:

Is there any way to check flights on Flight Ease BEFORE booking your cruise?

 

Also, if I book through a travel agent, can I book my own flights through Flight Ease or does my travel agent have to do this for me?  I much prefer looking up flights myself and can't remember if I have this option.

 

Thanks!

There really isn't a way to check flights prior to cruising using Flight Ease.  But, there is a work around.

Princess uses the same engine to book flights.  Find a similar cruise on Princess, date, itinerary, etc.  Princess will allow you to check for flights without booking.  Many do this workaround.

You need to check with your TA.  Some will want to do it for you.  Most won't.  Mine told me that she didn't get a commission on flights so she preferred I do my own.  She did say she would walk me through the process.  Now, I just book my own.  BTW, your TA will be notified by Holland when you book Flight Ease.  Mine forwards the notification to me.

I used flight ease to travel to Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise and was able to save a goodly amount.

I used flight ease to book my travel to Fort Lauderdale for our upcoming trip to Panama.  I got the flights I wanted for a bit less than booking with the airlines.  Since I booked (as soon as the flights were available) the prices have only increased.  

[red919]

4 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There really isn't a way to check flights prior to cruising using Flight Ease.  But, there is a work around.

Princess uses the same engine to book flights.  Find a similar cruise on Princess, date, itinerary, etc.  Princess will allow you to check for flights without booking.  Many do this workaround.

You need to check with your TA.  Some will want to do it for you.  Most won't.  Mine told me that she didn't get a commission on flights so she preferred I do my own.  She did say she would walk me through the process.  Now, I just book my own.  BTW, your TA will be notified by Holland when you book Flight Ease.  Mine forwards the notification to me.

I used flight ease to travel to Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise and was able to save a goodly amount.

I used flight ease to book my travel to Fort Lauderdale for our upcoming trip to Panama.  I got the flights I wanted for a bit less than booking with the airlines.  Since I booked (as soon as the flights were available) the prices have only increased.  

Great info...thanks!! :)

[RocketMan275]

45 minutes ago, red919 said:

Great info...thanks!! 🙂

I think this has been mentioned  before but I'd like to emphasize this:

You don't have to pay for flight ease until final payment.

This allows you to book a flight as soon as you book your cruise.

This means you've locked in a flight and a price.  You don't have to worry about the best time to book a flight since you'll never have to pay more for a flight than that price.  If you find a lower price on flight ease, you can rebook to the lower price.  If you find a lower price with the airlines, you can cancel your flight ease and book with the airlines.

This feature makes flight ease a great option.

 

[red919]

28 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

I think this has been mentioned  before but I'd like to emphasize this:

You don't have to pay for flight ease until final payment.

This allows you to book a flight as soon as you book your cruise.

This means you've locked in a flight and a price.  You don't have to worry about the best time to book a flight since you'll never have to pay more for a flight than that price.  If you find a lower price on flight ease, you can rebook to the lower price.  If you find a lower price with the airlines, you can cancel your flight ease and book with the airlines.

This feature makes flight ease a great option.

 

Wow...didn't know you could rebook to a lower fare. 

More great info...thanks again! :)

[RocketMan275]

39 minutes ago, red919 said:

Wow...didn't know you could rebook to a lower fare. 

More great info...thanks again! 🙂

I rebooked three times on our trip to vancouver.  The first two were to reduce costs.  Once to improve flights.  

[*Miss G*]

I am still waiting for flights to show up on my booking in January.  I see the departure flights just became available on Google Flights but nothing, yet, for the return.  I just get an error message with Flight-Ease.

[RocketMan275]

7 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

I am still waiting for flights to show up on my booking in January.  I see the departure flights just became available on Google Flights but nothing, yet, for the return.  I just get an error message with Flight-Ease.

I was able to book flights for a 9 Dec 20 cruise maybe three/four weeks ago.

One day they weren't there and the next they were.

[VermeulT]

2 hours ago, tkwbear said:

I've always booked my own flights, because years ago if HAL did it for you, they might route you through various hubs, resulting in a very long flight. 4 and 5 star Mariners were given better treatment, but I haven't seen reference to those benefits in a long time. 

 

This sounds like you can actually book the flights you want if and only if you are on a cruise, is that right? I might be interested in a one-way business class ticket from Europe in the Spring. If I want to layover a week after the cruise, is that a problem? I usually use FF miles, but airlines, and hotels have decided to ruin those programs. 

You can still book your own flight with Flight Ease even if you use a TA.  And you can choose your city pairs and layovers.  Yes you can add on days on either side.  You won't necessarily get FF miles, and you can't use them with Flight Ease.

[TAD2005]

On airline websites, you can only see flights 330 days out from your flight.   On Flight Ease, HAL always considers that you will be booking a round trip flight, so that 330 day limit is counted from your cruise end date, not your initial departure date.   You can specify an earlier date for your flight if you want to tour around before the cruise, and the same for the return flight.  You can also specify a different arrival city as long as it is somewhere close to your cruise departure port.   e.g.  you could not book a flight into Rio for a cruise departing from Montevideo.

Edited February 19, 2020 by TAD2005

[PaperSniper4]

15 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

I am still waiting for flights to show up on my booking in January.  I see the departure flights just became available on Google Flights but nothing, yet, for the return.  I just get an error message with Flight-Ease.

 

At least with Princess I have to wait until 330 days prior to the ship's return to port to book. I expect HAL is identical since they are both under the CCL umbrella and I'd expect their "Flight Ease, EZ Flight, etc) to actually be the same program.

Doug

Edited February 19, 2020 by PaperSniper4

[drowelf]

6 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

 

At least with Princess I have to wait until 330 days prior to the ship's return to port to book. I expect HAL is identical since they are both under the CCL umbrella and I'd expect their "Flight Ease, EZ Flight, etc) to actually be the same program.

Doug

The 330 day rule is really something the airlines impose. They won't take a reservation until your return flight date is <= 330 days from the day you attempt the booking. 

[richwmn]

24 minutes ago, drowelf said:

The 330 day rule is really something the airlines impose. They won't take a reservation until your return flight date is <= 330 days from the day you attempt the booking. 

but if you want to book a 1 way flight directly with the airline you can do it 330 days from the flight. HAL won't let you book that 1 way flight until 330 days from the end of your cruise. That is a HAL rule.

[TAD2005]

4 hours ago, richwmn said:

but if you want to book a 1 way flight directly with the airline you can do it 330 days from the flight. HAL won't let you book that 1 way flight until 330 days from the end of your cruise. That is a HAL rule.

True,  HAL and Princess, (same booking engine), always assume that you will be booking round trip flights.   They have not setup the site to allow people to select just a departure flight.