EZAir-refaring and seats

[styme123]

For those that have used EZAir in the past, were you able to pick out seats before you were ticketed? When I called Princess regarding it they said you can't pick seats till you pay since you don't really have a "seat/ticket" until then. When you pick a flight it's more of a courtesy hold than a real ticket. That's why it's so flexible and can be canceled. I would like to be able to sit with my DH on the flight and not wait till 24hrs before flight to pick seats, which I think would be limited. I priced out picking seats in advance on a BA flight and it would cost me over $300 to do so!!! So I thought then maybe I would just go ahead and pay for it now so that it's ticketed. The price was pretty good since I had $200 off pp so I would be saving $400 for my DH and my tickets from NY  to London this August. If there are problems with the flight do you deal with the airline directly or Princess?     

Here lies the problem, if the price drops for my cruise (say for the sip and sail or 3 for free)and I want to refare they might not let me refare because I have a "ticketed" flight and there are restrictions to being able to take the those promos and not being able to be combined with EZAir as per PVP. Do I take the chance and not book flights and hope there is a good price drop in Feb? They have been ones pretty consistently saving about $1000 from my current ticket.

[turquoisesea]

What airline are you using? We picked our seats on our American Airlines flights for next June.  Originally one of the flights was a code share with British Airways who does not allow you to pick seats before they are paid for. So.. we switched to an AA flight.  Good luck!

[drowelf]

Once you get your flights selected via EzAir you will get 2 PNRs the first is the Princess Code and the other will be the one for your Airline. This is assuming its a round trip on the same airline, if your outbound and inbound are on 2 different Airlines you'll end up with 2 Airline PNRs you can use those to access your flights on the airlines website. Now whether you can do advance seat selection will depend on the airlines policies. On some you will be able to and other may be not. You'll have to try and see. 

[katisdale]

British Airways and other other European based lines frequently have a 24 hour rule unless you are willing to pay extra. Do not expect to be able to pick seats on BA until you check-in unless you pay, being paid does not make a difference.

[styme123]

1 minute ago, turquoisesea said:

What airline are you using? We picked our seats on our American Airlines flights for next June.  Originally one of the flights was a code share with British Airways who does not allow you to pick seats before they are paid for. So.. we switched to an AA flight.  Good luck!

The one I was looking at and put a "hold" on was a AA flight code shared with BA. When I went to pick seats it said to contact BA for seats. Others CC said they won't give you seat selection till ticketed. Went to their website and to pick tickets in economy would cost $348! ($34pp to just pick, then an additional $84pp for the seat we wanted RT)

 

[styme123]

10 minutes ago, katisdale said:

British Airways and other other European based lines frequently have a 24 hour rule unless you are willing to pay extra. Do not expect to be able to pick seats on BA until you check-in unless you pay, being paid does not make a difference.

Is that common practice for most airlines to charge to pick nowadays? As you can see I don't fly that often 😉 BA would charge an additional $348 to pick now.I thought that was bit over the top but like I said not much experience with flying. There must be a listing some place that tells you which airlines don't charge for picking seats.

[Mark+Anne]

We booked our flight to Buenos Aires with Princess EZAir, flying on Delta, and were able to pick our seats......no extra charge. Anne

[geoherb]

I just booked my flights through EZAir today for a cruise in December. I was able to pick my seats for free. I'm flying on Delta both ways. When we flew on Air Canada this summer to London, I couldn't pick our seats without paying extra. We took what the airline gave us. On one flight, that meant that DH sat one row behind me from North Carolina to Toronto. 

[villauk]

8 hours ago, styme123 said:

Is that common practice for most airlines to charge to pick nowadays? As you can see I don't fly that often 😉 BA would charge an additional $348 to pick now.I thought that was bit over the top but like I said not much experience with flying. There must be a listing some place that tells you which airlines don't charge for picking seats.

 

 

BA charge for seats on Business tickets too - unbelievable!

[Ombud]

I picked my seats on AA, United, Delta, & Air New Zealand for free. Air Canada was $26. Air France was $150 & BA was $190 but that included upgrading seats. I've discovered that if I refare I need to immediately go to the airline website and reselect seats

Edited October 29, 2019 by Ombud

[styme123]

8 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I picked my seats on AA, United, Delta, & Air New Zealand for free. Air Canada was $26. Air France was $150 & BA was $190 but that included upgrading seats. I've discovered that if I refare I need to immediately go to the airline website and reselect seats

I guess I might need to research which airlines don't charge and stick with stick them. I did notice at first glance though that the tickets for Delta were more expensive than BA. So I wonder if they just built the seat cost into the ticket already.

I spoke to my PVP last night and she said if I get "ticketed" using a promo discount of $200 off airfare, than I won't be able to refare later since you can't use that EZAir discount and any others. I was looking to refare in Feb as the prices usually drop again then and have some sort of promo added also. 

[satxdiver]

It appears the US based airlines will let you pick your seat as soon as the reservation is made which is nice while the European (maybe others?) make you wait or pay a fee.  Hopefully in their quest to grab more money the US airlines will not follow the European plan.  We have only flown on US and Mexican airlines and picked our seats as soon as the reservation was made.  Good point if you change your airline booking and get a new 6 digit code, you need to go select your seats again.  I found this dilemma out on a code share flight on BA.  I went back into EZair and found a flight that was all AA and solved the seat selection problem.    

[Ombud]

14 minutes ago, styme123 said:

I guess I might need to research which airlines don't charge and stick with stick them. I did notice at first glance though that the tickets for Delta were more expensive than BA. So I wonder if they just built the seat cost into the ticket already.

I spoke to my PVP last night and she said if I get "ticketed" using a promo discount of $200 off airfare, than I won't be able to refare later since you can't use that EZAir discount and any others. I was looking to refare in Feb as the prices usually drop again then and have some sort of promo added also. 

That's the issue with refaring. You give up your current promo for whichever one is running at that time so you need to decide if it is worth it 

[leck57]

9 hours ago, drowelf said:

Once you get your flights selected via EzAir you will get 2 PNRs the first is the Princess Code and the other will be the one for your Airline. This is assuming its a round trip on the same airline, if your outbound and inbound are on 2 different Airlines you'll end up with 2 Airline PNRs you can use those to access your flights on the airlines website. 

 

This is the way I have selected seats as well. Of the airlines I have flown recently Emirates, Qantas, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines charge for seat selection if you select and I'm not aware of many these days that don't charge, other than those mentioned above. The airline code is on your Cruise Personaliser.

[pmjnh]

10 hours ago, styme123 said:

For those that have used EZAir in the past, were you able to pick out seats before you were ticketed? When I called Princess regarding it they said you can't pick seats till you pay since you don't really have a "seat/ticket" until then. When you pick a flight it's more of a courtesy hold than a real ticket. That's why it's so flexible and can be canceled. I would like to be able to sit with my DH on the flight and not wait till 24hrs before flight to pick seats, which I think would be limited. I priced out picking seats in advance on a BA flight and it would cost me over $300 to do so!!! So I thought then maybe I would just go ahead and pay for it now so that it's ticketed. The price was pretty good since I had $200 off pp so I would be saving $400 for my DH and my tickets from NY  to London this August. If there are problems with the flight do you deal with the airline directly or Princess?     

Here lies the problem, if the price drops for my cruise (say for the sip and sail or 3 for free)and I want to refare they might not let me refare because I have a "ticketed" flight and there are restrictions to being able to take the those promos and not being able to be combined with EZAir as per PVP. Do I take the chance and not book flights and hope there is a good price drop in Feb? They have been ones pretty consistently saving about $1000 from my current ticket.

 

 

We are booked on a Baltic cruise next June. We have our EZAir booking and we went to the individual airline websites, put in our confirmation numbers and picked our seats on both flights. Virgin Atlantic and SAS, no added charge.

Edited October 29, 2019 by pmjnh

[villauk]

3 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

This is the way I have selected seats as well. Of the airlines I have flown recently Emirates, Qantas, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines charge for seat selection if you select and I'm not aware of many these days that don't charge, other than those mentioned above. The airline code is on your Cruise Personaliser.

 

 

But do any of those charge for Business class seats, or is it just BA? We’ve never had to pay on any other airlines Qatar, United, AA etc., only BA!

[JEM4205]

Due to Delta changing their schedules, the flights I booked back in January were not going to work out as there was a conflict with a connecting flight in Atlanta.  I called my PCC and she was able to switch me around to a better schedule with a cheaper

fair! a win win!😊

[tempus137]

5 hours ago, Ombud said:

I picked my seats on AA, United, Delta, & Air New Zealand for free. Air Canada was $26. Air France was $150 & BA was $190 but that included upgrading seats. I've discovered that if I refare I need to immediately go to the airline website and reselect seats

 

You also have to reenter your frequent flyer number & TSA Known-traveler number (do this on the EZAir "Manage Flights" page.

Edited October 29, 2019 by tempus137

[drowelf]

15 hours ago, styme123 said:

Is that common practice for most airlines to charge to pick nowadays? As you can see I don't fly that often 😉 BA would charge an additional $348 to pick now.I thought that was bit over the top but like I said not much experience with flying. There must be a listing some place that tells you which airlines don't charge for picking seats.

Welcome to the great 'benefit' of the unbundling of airfares. Unless you have FF Status on your target airline, its very common to have additional charges for both seat selection and checked baggage. Based on the ticket fare bucket, you may not even get to select a seat until check-in time. It all depends on what airline you've selected, your status on that airline and their policies. 

[drowelf]

6 hours ago, styme123 said:

I guess I might need to research which airlines don't charge and stick with stick them. I did notice at first glance though that the tickets for Delta were more expensive than BA. So I wonder if they just built the seat cost into the ticket already.

 

Yep, you really need to do your research these days. That 'great' fare you found may suddenly become more expensive, when you add in seat charges and checked baggage charges.

 

Generally only Business or First Class tickets these days come with free checked baggage, unless you have FF Status on that airline or use a branded CC to buy the tickets. One word of warning, even though you paid for you cruise with the CC Branded Card, it may not have passed through to the airline, Princess may have paid for the airfare via their corporate account.  

[floridababa]

I always pay for seats since we fly premium economy, premium select or comfort +

Which EZ air I went ahead and paid for my tickets premium select for next spring so I could select our seats. I'm very picky about where we sit especially when it is a 15 hour flight

You can change afterwards but there is a penalty

[PoohUnderstands]

9 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

BA charge for seats on Business tickets too - unbelievable!

Just booked with BA on EZair for first/business flight and I was able to pick my seats while I booked my EZ air.  Went to BA site afterwards, and my seats are reflected there.  Glad I didn't have to pay extra!

 

Pooh

[styme123]

3 minutes ago, PoohUnderstands said:

Just booked with BA on EZair for first/business flight and I was able to pick my seats while I booked my EZ air.  Went to BA site afterwards, and my seats are reflected there.  Glad I didn't have to pay extra!

 

Pooh

yeah I think you have to book first/business to not have to pay with BA.

[PoohUnderstands]

1 hour ago, floridababa said:

I always pay for seats since we fly premium economy, premium select or comfort +

Which EZ air I went ahead and paid for my tickets premium select for next spring so I could select our seats. I'm very picky about where we sit especially when it is a 15 hour flight

You can change afterwards but there is a penalty

If you fly premium economy, and then add on charges to pick your seats now, on your next cruise you should check the prices for bus./first class flights the FIRST day they are available on EZair.  I have found, especially for any international flight, that the best flights at the flexible rate and the best price is the first 24-36 hrs. the flights are offered.  Usually go up from there.  Example, is Denver to Athens, Greece I got First/Business for $1500.  Just 2 weeks later my same flights are still available but now are restricted only for close to $3000!  And since I fly Bus./First, I have always been able to pick my seats (even with flexible booking) the day I book for free.  I always check out premium economy vs. bus/first and then decide.  Sometimes the few hundred extra pp is worth it when travelling 8-10 hrs on a flight!

 

Pooh

Edited October 29, 2019 by PoohUnderstands

[villauk]

8 minutes ago, PoohUnderstands said:

Just booked with BA on EZair for first/business flight and I was able to pick my seats while I booked my EZ air.  Went to BA site afterwards, and my seats are reflected there.  Glad I didn't have to pay extra!

 

Pooh

 

 

I’ll have to remember that because if you book with them direct, you do have to pay to reserve business seats.

Edited October 29, 2019 by villauk