Flight Ease

[BaltimoreCruise]

I am currently on the phone with my big box TA. I'm cancelling an existing 14 night cruise to Alaska scheduled for September 2020 and rebooking the "same" cruise for September 2021.  In the process I've learned that when I booked my air online with FE and paid, that the fare became non-refundable.  I specifically booked a flexible fare.  I should have done a better job reading the fine print.  I thought I had until my cruise booking cancellation date to cancel and that the air would be refundable.  A hard lesson for a novice FE user.  Has anyone experienced this issue?  Did you have any luck with contacting the airline?  My tickets are booked on Air Canada.  The TA told me that when I call AC, because I used a TA, they will tell me to call my TA.  HAL says they can't do anything.  A costly mistake on my part.  

 

BaltimoreCruise

 

 

 

 

[janmcn]

Following this since I MAY be in the same boat...haven't canceled our Sept. cruise yet...but have paid for my FlightEase already for the cruise...Hmmm.

[ski ww]

Is this not covered by HAL's new cancellation policy? We also booked our flights with HAL FE, non refundable was never mentioned by our TA.

[BaltimoreCruise]

An update.  I was on the phone with the TA for over one hour as she worked with HAL.  In the end, the TA rep and the HAL rep agreed that the HAL rep would call its air flight department when they opened to continue the discussion.  I remained on the phone with the TA going back and forth.  In the end, I was able to recoup a portion of the air fare that I paid, less cancellation fees of $144.92 per person.  This could have been a case of the HAL rep not knowing the rules of cancellation.  I don't think it was a special deviation of compensation case, at least it was not presented to me that way.  Quite the learning experience for me (and likely all three of us on the phone).  I wish you much luck if you cancel and are in this position.  

 

BaltimoreCruise

[TAD2005]

In all of my years of booking air with Flight Ease, I have never had a fare increase, even though the fare went up by many hundreds of $$$.   I always pay my Flight Ease air at the same time as the cruise, usually 75 to 90 days out.   If you pay the air earlier, then you cannot cancel without penalty, even though you booked a refundable fare. (the cheaper one).   If you purchase HAL's insurance, then your whole fare and the associated air ticket is refundable.

Moral of the story, NEVER pay your Flight Ease air fare until your cruise fare is due.  Once you pay your Flight Ease air fare, HAL sends that to the airlines.   And you can almost never  get money back from an airline, especially now.