Not Happy with Flight Ease

[Anubi]

For whatever reason no one on our cruise can book their flights thru FlightEase.   When called, FlightEase blamed the airlines.  But that's bogus because Princess, who I've been told uses the same service for flights as HAL, has flights available for the same time.   I was able to check that myself and found the same flights that I was looking at for our HAL cruise.  But then the shocker...the cost thru Princess was almost $700.00 MORE than booking direct with the airline.  😲 That's a first.  Someone on our roll call has another cruise after the one we are on and is able to access flights.  So what's going on? 😞

Edited July 22, 2022 by Anubi

[rodndonna]

I had some problems recently booking flights through Celebrity and was wondering if it is a result of all the current problems with air travel. When is your cruise? Prices still seem to be pretty insane for our Sept and Dec 2022 cruises, but for 2023 they seem more normal. 

[Anubi]

Next May.  I booked Air Transat, price wasn't bad and its guaranteed to go up.  LOL

[rodndonna]

43 minutes ago, Anubi said:

Next May.  I booked Air Transat, price wasn't bad and its guaranteed to go up.  LOL

 

The Canadian charter lines seem to be holding their prices.  We've tried using Transat for our cruises (since their prices are typically quite good), but it never seems to work with their schedules for us as we are those daring "day in" and "day out" flyers.

 

We got a "good" (relative) deal with Westjet for next April (San Juan) booking last week, and our Amsterdam flight in September (AC) was booked many many months ago so is a decent price, but our December flight to Florida is still stupid expensive and has only been going up. I still have some  hope it will come down in the fall though after (if)  all the current airline issues settle out.

[Anubi]

I should have mentioned that our original date for flying home in May 2023, was already fully booked!!  That's another reason we booked so early.  I don't mind that much, it means we got another day in England!!  Such hardship.  LOL

[Mary229]

Maybe it is a Canadian flights issue.  I was able to book my transatlantic airfare this week and the rate was pretty good, much cheaper than the airline.  I expect prices to ease a bit after a Labor Day and will look again

 

we might be on the same cruise

Edited July 22, 2022 by Mary229

[Anubi]

1 minute ago, Mary229 said:

Maybe it is a Canadian flights issue.  I was able to book my transatlantic airfare this week and the rate was pretty good, much cheaper than the airline.  I expect prices to ease a bit after a Labor Day and will look again

 

we might be on the same cruise

Voyage of the Midnight Sun in May 2023?

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Anubi said:

Voyage of the Midnight Sun in May 2023?

No, I am doing trans to Rotterdam after visiting UK.  So are you on Princess or Holland?  If HAL try this, hop over to Amsterdam by Eurostar or Fly which is fairly quick and cheap then check the flight prices from AMS.  HAL seems to get some very sweet deals from Amsterdam. Business class non stop for under $1200

[Anubi]

2 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

No, I am doing trans to Rotterdam after visiting UK.  So are you on Princess or Holland?  If HAL try this, hop over to Amsterdam by Eurostar or Fly which is fairly quick and cheap then check the flight prices from AMS.  HAL seems to get some very sweet deals from Amsterdam. Business class non stop for under $1200

Oddly, its cheaper to fly into Amsterdam than Gatwick on Air Transat.  I don't pretend to understand airfare.  😉

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Anubi said:

Oddly, its cheaper to fly into Amsterdam than Gatwick on Air Transat.  I don't pretend to understand airfare.  😉

The reason are the airport fees.  London airports have some of the highest fees in the world.  

[Anubi]

4 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

The reason are the airport fees.  London airports have some of the highest fees in the world.  

Toronto is right up there with London.  We flew Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale once, great sale $99 each way for a total of $198.  However, after all the add ons, total fare was just over $400.00.  That's insane...and its gone up since.  

 

For us, it is so much better and cheaper to fly from Buffalo to Florida.  😞 

[Mary229]

28 minutes ago, Anubi said:

Toronto is right up there with London.  We flew Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale once, great sale $99 each way for a total of $198.  However, after all the add ons, total fare was just over $400.00.  That's insane...and its gone up since.  

 

For us, it is so much better and cheaper to fly from Buffalo to Florida.  😞 

When I was looking a while back using Air Canada to Dallas was a cheap option from Amsterdam.  It had a stop in Toronto.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I would give them a call.

[Anubi]

Just now, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I would give them a call.

People on the roll call have called and have gotten different responses which basically adds up to they are sure why the problem.  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

4 hours ago, Anubi said:

People on the roll call have called and have gotten different responses which basically adds up to they are sure why the problem.  

It could be your outgoing airport and that HAL has not totally set up all contracts with the airlines. Meaning at this point in time they do not have flights available but keep checking back. While Princess and HAL Air Department is one in the same they still negotiate with the air line seperately for their costs. Recently Princess prices have been much higher than Holland America's for same dates. Their air has also often come available sooner than Holland America's. I would give it some time, you are early and as stated air prices most likely will come down after Labor Day for flying into next year. 

[NavyCruiser]

3 yrs ago, I flew Spirit air from Houston to Las Vegas for $22 roundtrip.

$2 ticket + $20 taxes/fees....

 

Last wk, $60 ticket from Orlando to Houston on Frontier, but had to add $65 for 1 check-in bag...

 

 

[Roz]

I have 2 HAL cruises booked that require international airfare.  FlightEase was worthless with both of them.  Not worth the effort and all the associated glitches. 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

I'm on the same cruise as @Anubiand have been trying everything to get through to FlightEase. I even did a chat with Princess to see if they could book my flight. I finally called 877-724-5425 and spoke with someone who could access flights for the cruise. But then it turned out that the Delta flight I wanted was nearly $600 p/p more than on the Delta website.