EZ Air Trivia

[Tedferg]

We have a cruise planned for Sep 2020, hoping things settle down by then. I regularly check cruise fare, EZ Air, Hotel etc. I found a much better return flight than existing booking, at a slightly lower fare and on an airline where we do not have baggage fees, so  we are happy campers.

 

So, Trivia: (1) Would be nice if one could just change outbound or inbound legs, so as not to disturb existing booking. I understand this would be difficult to adjust both fares. (2) We re-booked and then had to re-select seats. On one leg we could only get 2 seats in the last row. Not a problem it just over an hour, but how come our original seats disappeared ? We had just released them so expected they'd still be there. (3) Out of curiosity I tried another Flight Quote - it came in at the same price but the only seats available were Premium Economy, $24 extra pp. So how could the fare be the same when only Premium seats are available? It would not let me choose the Premium seats, said to call airline.

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

 (3) Out of curiosity I tried another Flight Quote - it came in at the same price but the only seats available were Premium Economy, $24 extra pp. So how could the fare be the same when only Premium seats are available? It would not let me choose the Premium seats, said to call airline.

 

You could have booked the flight at that price and would have been able to get seats sooner or later at no additional charge, either when they were offered to choose at a later time from or near check-in time.

 

It appears regular economy seats released by the airline that could be assigned were all taken.  

[Tedferg]

3 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

You could have booked the flight at that price and would have been able to get seats sooner or later at no additional charge, either when they were offered to choose at a later time from or near check-in time.

 

It appears regular economy seats released by the airline that could be assigned were all taken.  

Yes, initially EZ said 'seat map not available, try later'. Maybe, as you suggest, this is like a Guaranty Cabin. The airline might have seats that are not shown to EZ.

[Colo Cruiser]

I know its a pain sometimes when you have to cancel the whole thing and rebook, especially for the seats but it is nice how smooth it works.

Have done it a number of times and I know the new fare/flights upfront with a side by side comparison.

I prefer it the way it is.

[Tedferg]

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I know its a pain sometimes when you have to cancel the whole thing and rebook, especially for the seats but it is nice how smooth it works.

Have done it a number of times and I know the new fare/flights upfront with a side by side comparison.

I prefer it the way it is.

Yes it works very smoothly - I double double checked to make sure new flights were am not pm and that dates were correct before I hit 'Book' 🙂. We went from two stops to one and shaved four hours on the journey.

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

... (2) We re-booked and then had to re-select seats. On one leg we could only get 2 seats in the last row. Not a problem it just over an hour, but how come our original seats disappeared ? We had just released them so expected they'd still be there. ...

I've been making quite a few re-bookings for a January flight from Sydney to the USA as prices keep dropping. As you go through the EZ Air rebooking process, when you select seats, your previous booking hasn't yet been released. Hence you are seeing your own booking taking up the seats you previously had. I believe this is done to be sure there is no glitch in the system to prevent your original booking from being deleted until your new one is confirmed. I've had a few re-bookings where at the final step, suddenly the flights weren't available or, the price had gone up. Once you successfully finish the booking, the original seats are released and should become available. You can go back into EZ-Air after a few minutes and re-select your seats. I've done this several times over the last week. There's a slight chance  that someone else may jump in a grab your old seats before you do but IMHO it's a small chance.

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, beg3yrs said:

You can go back into EZ-Air after a few minutes and re-select your seats. I've done this several times over the last week. There's a slight chance  that someone else may jump in a grab your old seats before you do but IMHO it's a small chance.

I went to Airline site and only one other Economy seat shows available. This leads me to another question, if we move to Economy Plus for $24 each, not a big deal. When do we pay for seat upgrade. It is possible that regular seats could become available in the future. 

 

Edit: I just checked dong a fake booking and EZ shows '3 seats available at this price' but only shows one seat on seat plan. Could be that our original seats have been freed up but do not show yet. BTW this is a bit of a game with me, it is a small decision to pay $48 for preferred seats.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Tedferg

[caribill]

5 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

 I've had a few re-bookings where at the final step, suddenly the flights weren't available or, the price had gone up. Once you successfully finish the booking, the original seats are released and should become available. You can go back into EZ-Air after a few minutes and re-select your seats. I've done this several times over the last week. There's a slight chance  that someone else may jump in a grab your old seats before you do but IMHO it's a small chance.

 

That happened to me.

 

Now I make the re-booking as fast as possible. Then after it has been confirmed, I go back to "Manage Booking" and enter FF info, KTN info, seat selection, etc. And, as you found, by then the seats you had released are available for you to select again.

[Tedferg]

23 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

That happened to me.

 

Now I make the re-booking as fast as possible. Then after it has been confirmed, I go back to "Manage Booking" and enter FF info, KTN info, seat selection, etc. And, as you found, by then the seats you had released are available for you to select again.

What do FF and KTN mean ? Where are they entered ?

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, Tedferg said:

This leads me to another question, if we move to Economy Plus for $24 each, not a big deal. When do we pay for seat upgrade. It is possible that regular seats could become available in the future. 

You purchase the Econ Plus seats directly from the airline.  (Sometimes, any seat selection has to be with airline as there is a fee to select any seat and EZ-Air doesn't do that).  Sometimes, you have to wait until ticketed to do seat selection, depending on the airline and ticket class.  You didn't mention the airline, but things do vary by airline involved and class of service. 

 

For example, I had a Prem Econ seat on a BA-operated flight, but my res was with AA flight number.  I could not select seats.  After a price drop, I switched to be booked with BA (I prefer to be booked with the operating airline in case of any issues) and then I could pick seats via EZ-Air.  Our return flight with EVA is Prem Econ, but EVA doesn't allow seat selection at the lowest cost level for Prem Econ until ticketed.  I am watching open seats via EVA website.  An airline that won't allow seat selection in EZ-Air at Econ level will often allow it at Business or Prem Econ level.  Some airlines, like AC, charge for all seats in Econ, so no selections in EZ-Air, but if you book Prem Econ you can select a seat.  It varies.

[Steelers36]

4 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

What do FF and KTN mean ? Where are they entered ?

Frequent Flyer and Known Traveler numbers.  There are places to enter these in EZ-Air for each airline/segment.  

[fredflint]

Don't forget cookies can also cause weird stuff when pricing an item.  Using another computer, or incognito mode could give you different results.

[Tedferg]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Frequent Flyer and Known Traveler numbers.  There are places to enter these in EZ-Air for each airline/segment.  

Thank you, very complete answer. We are with United and I signed in to their site with FF number 🙂 and Fedflint, also tried from my iPad as you suggested, thanks. In both cases they only show one Economy seat  available.

 

It is just over one hour flight so we can handle it, I will just keep watch and pay the $48 if necessary at Final Payment.

[Tedferg]

Final update, cleared cookies, new sign in as Guest to United site and flight shows just the same one Economy seat. EZ Air does not show this flight option now.

[Thrak]

I just want to know how you can get Premium Economy for only $24 per person more than regular Economy. Every time I check stuff like that the price goes up by a very large amount. I just checked our flights and Economy is at approximately $1,200 per person. Premium Economy jumped it to $2,800 per person. This is how it always works whenever I have checked flights.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Thrak

[Tedferg]

33 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I just want to know how you can get Premium Economy for only $24 per person more than regular Economy. Every time I check stuff like that the price goes up by a very large amount. I just checked our flights and Economy is at approximately $1,200 per person. Premium Economy jumped it to $2,800 per person. This is how it always works whenever I have checked flights.

Well this leg is a 1:15 H hop from Dulles to La Guardia. Other long legs are much more expensive for Premium Economy.

[Colo Cruiser]

49 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I just want to know how you can get Premium Economy for only $24 per person more than regular Economy. Every time I check stuff like that the price goes up by a very large amount. I just checked our flights and Economy is at approximately $1,200 per person. Premium Economy jumped it to $2,800 per person. This is how it always works whenever I have checked flights.

I think you are confused about United and Premium economy add on seat fees.

I use United as much as possible and seat fees depending on flight duration are usually $20 plus dollar range for a short domestic flight up to $150 plus for an international flight.

Economy is the rear section of the aircraft, Premium Economy section is between that and First class/Business Class sections.

[Tedferg]

Also there is Basic Economy, lowest fare, cannot select, seat, etc.

United also has 'Preferred Economy' between Economy and Premium Economy.

Ball Park for our trip 4 legs round-trip.

 

Edit

5 Hours Premium $89 - $96

1:25 H Premium $24

2H Premium $39 Preferred $9 (Might have been $19)

6H Premium $119 Preferred $33

 

We are not tall, so the extra leg room is not a real bonus to us.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Tedferg

[Colo Cruiser]

4 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Also there is Basic Economy, lowest fare, cannot select, seat, etc.

I didn't mention that because there is no free seat selection allowed with that fare during booking unless........... 

You can purchase a Basic economy seat usually less than $20. If you do not they will be assigned 24 hours prior to the flight and you cannot sit together if there are 2 or more in your party.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Also there is Basic Economy, lowest fare, cannot select, seat, etc.

 

 

5 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I didn't mention that because there is no free seat selection allowed with that fare during booking unless........... 

 

 

EZAir never offers basic economy seats.

[Colo Cruiser]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

EZAir never offers basic economy seats.

Never said they did. 

[lstone19]

21 hours ago, Thrak said:

I just want to know how you can get Premium Economy for only $24 per person more than regular Economy. Every time I check stuff like that the price goes up by a very large amount. I just checked our flights and Economy is at approximately $1,200 per person. Premium Economy jumped it to $2,800 per person. This is how it always works whenever I have checked flights.

 

You are confusing two different products with different names. Economy Plus is coach seats with a few inches of additional leg room but otherwise the same seat. Premium Economy is an enhanced product with a better seat and better service that is only available on select planes that up until the COVID-19 crisis were only flown on select intercontinental routes. In many respects, Premium Economy is what Business Class was when the forward cabin was called First Class. But now that just about every airline has renamed the forward cabin Business Class, a new name was needed for the middle cabin product.

[Tedferg]

38 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

 

You are confusing two different products with different names. Economy Plus is coach seats with a few inches of additional leg room but otherwise the same seat. Premium Economy is an enhanced product with a better seat and better service 

Thanks for the clarification, I did not realize that. Wonder if you can use FF miles to upgrade an EZ Air booking.

[caribill]

9 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Thanks for the clarification, I did not realize that. Wonder if you can use FF miles to upgrade an EZ Air booking.

 

Depends on the airline, Some allow it, some do not.

[Tedferg]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Depends on the airline, Some allow it, some do not.

Yes, I saw an Upgrade link on United site, but 'No Upgrades Available' when selected. I think the days of FF Upgrades were already gone.