EZAir Not Always Less Expensive For Flights To Europe

[Lady Arwen]

We’re booked on Regal Princess British Isles in September 2023.  Flights with Princess just became available this morning….Toronto to London return.  Checked  prices first with the airline (Air Canada) and assumed that Princess would be less than AC.  In fact,  EZAir was just over $300.00 more!  Yes, I know that we don’t need to pay for flights until final payment, but we like to be ticketed immediately so that we can choose our seats right away.  With Air Canada you cannot do otherwise.  As the price of flights can increase in a matter of hours, I’m inclined to think we should snag the lower fares offered on Air Canada.

@Steelers36You usually have good advice on flights out of Canada, so I thought perhaps you have  some ideas.   We also have a substantial AC voucher with no expiry date, which I’m sure cannot be used on flights booked with EZAir. 

My only advice is to check the airline prices before booking EZAir.  I completely assumed incorrectly.

[eclue]

We have had good luck getting cheaper business class tickets on EZ Air. The prices change almost daily so that should be a consideration in deciding. I would check for a while before buying a ticket.

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

EZ Air is a consolidator.   Their fees can offer savings sometimes other times not.  With fares changing often multiple times per day!  you may or may not save money.  

My thought is to book a fare you are comfortable and hopefully you can reprise later at no or low cost.  Then watch a bit.

 

[LACruiser88]

Before booking flights I always check pricing directly thru the airlines, Amex Travel and EZair.  During the past several years, we have not found cheaper international business class seats outside of EZair.

[phabric]

I am also from Toronto.  I always book EzAir and watch the prices regularly.  I have found my 4 past Europe cruises, my EzAir prices went down, pre Covid.  Near EzAir  final payment, I check the airline price and decide which is cheaper and take which is cheaper, most of the time it is EzAir.

 

I like booking EzAir, that I can book air with no $,  watch to see if the price goes down, then see which is cheaper EzAir or airline near final payment.

 

I have been able to reserve  Premium Economy seats with Air Canada to Europe.
 

I have been checking Air Canada/Air Transat prices for next year.  The prices are much higher compared to other years.  EzAir opens up for my Rome return in Dec, so who know what the price will be.

Edited October 22, 2022 by phabric

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

I am also from Toronto.  I always book EzAir and watch the prices regularly.  I have found my 4 past Europe cruises, my EzAir prices went down, pre Covid.  Near EzAir  final payment, I check the airline price and decide which is cheaper and take which is cheaper, most of the time it is EzAir.

 

I like booking EzAir, that I can book air with no $,  watch to see if the price goes down, then see which is cheaper EzAir or airline near final payment.

 

I have been able to reserve  Premium Economy seats with Air Canada to Europe.
 

I have been checking Air Canada/Air Transat prices for next year.  The prices are much higher compared to other years.  EzAir opens up for my Rome return in Dec, so who know what the price will be.

We were surprised that Air Canada online booking is less expensive than EZAir.  We absolutely need to choose our seats when booking (Air Canada will not allow seat selection without being ticketed) and if we do a ticketed fare with EZAir, flexible perks will disappear.  Also, we just confirmed that our Air Canada voucher, which is substantial, can only be applied booking directly with AC.  So, we have booked directly with AC and chosen our desired seats.

 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

We’re booked on Regal Princess British Isles in September 2023.  Flights with Princess just became available this morning….Toronto to London return.  Checked  prices first with the airline (Air Canada) and assumed that Princess would be less than AC.  In fact,  EZAir was just over $300.00 more!  Yes, I know that we don’t need to pay for flights until final payment, but we like to be ticketed immediately so that we can choose our seats right away.  With Air Canada you cannot do otherwise.  As the price of flights can increase in a matter of hours, I’m inclined to think we should snag the lower fares offered on Air Canada.

@Steelers36You usually have good advice on flights out of Canada, so I thought perhaps you have  some ideas.   We also have a substantial AC voucher with no expiry date, which I’m sure cannot be used on flights booked with EZAir. 

My only advice is to check the airline prices before booking EZAir.  I completely assumed incorrectly.

 

50 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We were surprised that Air Canada online booking is less expensive than EZAir.  We absolutely need to choose our seats when booking (Air Canada will not allow seat selection without being ticketed) and if we do a ticketed fare with EZAir, flexible perks will disappear.  Also, we just confirmed that our Air Canada voucher, which is substantial, can only be applied booking directly with AC.  So, we have booked directly with AC and chosen our desired seats.

 

 

Hi,

 

I would have gone with AC when I saw you mentioned the voucher.  I do agree with the other posters that EZ-Air can be a great option, especially for the more premium fare seats.  You didn't mention the class of booking, savings would be less with Economy.

 

Also, you are booking a round trip with AC, which maximizes their best offering (staying with same airline). 

 

When I booked EZ-Air to Rome and back for this Fall, I did it as soon as EZ-Air opened up for each date.  I had an advantage since I could book separately each one-way trip.  In the end, I used different airlines to get the lowest possible fare.  I booked Business both ways.  EZ-AIr pricing is such that booking a 1-way to/from Europe does not come with the huge penalties that occur if attempt to do the same directly with an airline.  I regularly checked fares and re-booked the flights when there were fare drops.  I ended up changing carriers in both directions, after reviewing plane types and reviews of business seating each time (and we still had a surprise change of equipment on a leg coming over to Rome which you cannot predict or control).

 

There was an idea above to book EZ-Air and wait until Final Payment to see if the airline is better.  Well AC might lower fares between now and next year, but I think they are fairly locked in once you get close to the flight date. 

 

If you have a good deal now, chances are it is going to remain quite good.  And you got to use that voucher, which is quite important. 

 

If you are curious, you can always check EZ-Air offerings through the Cruise Personalizer and see what options might have come up.  That way, you will have a better idea next time whether trying EZ-Air might make sense when you don't have a voucher.  You don't need to make an EZ-Air res just to shop the flights and prices. 

 

One last thing - I really doubt we would have flown Business both ways if it were not for EZ-Air.  In the end, our tickets were ~$850 USD per person each direction, so ~$1700 round trip in Business.  Not saying that happens all the time or again, and fares are always impacted by the season of travel.

 

 

 

 

[Lady Arwen]

24 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

Hi,

 

I would have gone with AC when I saw you mentioned the voucher.  I do agree with the other posters that EZ-Air can be a great option, especially for the more premium fare seats.  You didn't mention the class of booking, savings would be less with Economy.

 

Also, you are booking a round trip with AC, which maximizes their best offering (staying with same airline). 

 

When I booked EZ-Air to Rome and back for this Fall, I did it as soon as EZ-Air opened up for each date.  I had an advantage since I could book separately each one-way trip.  In the end, I used different airlines to get the lowest possible fare.  I booked Business both ways.  EZ-AIr pricing is such that booking a 1-way to/from Europe does not come with the huge penalties that occur if attempt to do the same directly with an airline.  I regularly checked fares and re-booked the flights when there were fare drops.  I ended up changing carriers in both directions, after reviewing plane types and reviews of business seating each time (and we still had a surprise change of equipment on a leg coming over to Rome which you cannot predict or control).

 

There was an idea above to book EZ-Air and wait until Final Payment to see if the airline is better.  Well AC might lower fares between now and next year, but I think they are fairly locked in once you get close to the flight date. 

 

If you have a good deal now, chances are it is going to remain quite good.  And you got to use that voucher, which is quite important. 

 

If you are curious, you can always check EZ-Air offerings through the Cruise Personalizer and see what options might have come up.  That way, you will have a better idea next time whether trying EZ-Air might make sense when you don't have a voucher.  You don't need to make an EZ-Air res just to shop the flights and prices. 

 

One last thing - I really doubt we would have flown Business both ways if it were not for EZ-Air.  In the end, our tickets were ~$850 USD per person each direction, so ~$1700 round trip in Business.  Not saying that happens all the time or again, and fares are always impacted by the season of travel.

 

 

 

 

Thank you!  As always, great advice.  I cannot believe that price you paid…….good on you!  I will definitely keep watching EZAir just for curiosity sake.  Next time we won’t have a voucher, so more flexible with flight options.  Happy travels to you!

[Thrak]

Only actually flown internationally one time. Virgin Atlantic cattle class was over $5k per person one way no matter which discount site we checked. Finally checked EZ Air and the exact same flights were just over $500 each. 10% of the cost anywhere else. Obviously this doesn't happen for people all the time but it made a big believer out of me.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Only actually flown internationally one time. Virgin Atlantic cattle class was over $5k per person one way no matter which discount site we checked. Finally checked EZ Air and the exact same flights were just over $500 each. 10% of the cost anywhere else. Obviously this doesn't happen for people all the time but it made a big believer out of me.

Yup, when it works it’s great!  Unfortunately, for us this time, it just didn’t.  I just figure you win some, you lose some and I’m still going on a British Isles cruise!  

[EllieinNJ]

I can't believe how expensive it is to fly to Europe.  I'm booked on my second ever Carnival cruise in May and have been checking their Fly to Fun prices which seems the same as EZAir.  In August they were $1000 rt for 2 less than United.  I thought the prices would come down because that was 9 months away so I waited.  They did start to drop for several weeks and last week there was only about a $500 difference.  This week their flexible price was no longer available and their non refundable price was more than the United website.

[antsp]

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

Only actually flown internationally one time. Virgin Atlantic cattle class was over $5k per person one way no matter which discount site we checked. Finally checked EZ Air and the exact same flights were just over $500 each. 10% of the cost anywhere else. Obviously this doesn't happen for people all the time but it made a big believer out of me.

Never book a one way international flight, always book a return, and dump the return side. Saying that for one way tickets ezair is always cheaper 

[Coral]

Maybe on one specific day, one is less than the other - especially early on. For my next cruise - Business class is $2200 through EZ Air, direct through airline is $10,000.

 

I don't think comparing flights when they first come out for a few days is a very good comparison.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Coral