Anybody looking at EZ-air for flights to Europe?

[Wishing on a star]

Flights have not opened up for next year, yet.

But, from what I am seeing, the fares are very high.

Help!!!

I am wondering what has been the pricing and experience booking thru Princess.

I hear that it can be less.

But, I also wonder about any pitfalls.

Hoping that if you book thru Princess, you can request to have your flights ticketed so that you can control or upgrade them?

 

[nattie]

I have booked EZAir before but ended up cancelling because I found better fares independently (2019 Baltic, 2022 Caribbean and Alaska). I do have EZAir again for my current booking for August 5, 2023 cruise (Rome to Athens). The fare I have been quoted when booking is cheap for open leg Europe (about $800pp with one direct flight and only one connection for the other flight), I am hoping the flights wouldnt change too much! Current prices are twice as much for the same flights.

[nattie]

You can request early ticketing, otherwise flights will be ticketed about 60 days out (I think?)

[trinitygirl]

I have so far been delighted with my first EZAir experience.  I booked Melbourne-Rome, business class on Emirates, the day flights were available for my cruise.  The price was several thousand less than the cost of Qantas (my normal go-to carrier), cheaper than I could book on the Emirates website and way cheaper than my TA could offer, because from Australia, one way fares are priced at about 80% of a return fare.  No one else had access to cruise fares at the time, and RTW fares were ridiculous.  The price never changed (ie, it never got cheaper - just more expensive), my flight never changed, and my flight was ticketed 48 hours after I paid in full a fortnight ago without my doing a thing.  I am now two months out from my trip so it could all still fall apart, but so far, so good.

Edited May 15, 2023 by trinitygirl

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Flights have not opened up for next year, yet.

But, from what I am seeing, the fares are very high.

Help!!!

I am wondering what has been the pricing and experience booking thru Princess.

I hear that it can be less.

But, I also wonder about any pitfalls.

Hoping that if you book thru Princess, you can request to have your flights ticketed so that you can control or upgrade them?

 

Fares may be high in the market, but I daresay you are not going to beat EZ-Air for international travel.  Only possible way would be to find another consolidator, but then you wouldn't have the flexibility of EZ-Air where we can continue to shop flights and fares and change booking on a whim right up until we get ticketed. 

 

Example:  My final air bookings for travel to and from Europe last Fall (two one-ways) were ~$750 USD for Business Class each way.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Hoping that if you book thru Princess, you can request to have your flights ticketed so that you can control or upgrade them?

Yes, you can request early ticketing right on the EZ-Air page.  Of course, you need to have paid for the flights first - and you can do that ahead of paying for the cruise itself.  As for control and upgrade, there is a variance on what we can and cannot do with our reservations, depending on the airline.  It also depends on class of service being booked.  You should immediately look-up any flight booking on the airline's website and make sure you have your personal information setup there, FF number, etc.  You may be able to upgrade a booking prior to ticketing, or not.  I am not sure what you mean by "control", but you can always access a flight booking at the carrier's website in my experience.

 

[nattie]

12 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

I have so far been delighted with my first EZAir experience.  I booked Melbourne-Rome, business class on Emirates, the day flights were available for my cruise.  The price was several thousand less than the cost of Qantas (my normal go-to carrier), cheaper than I could book on the Emirates website and way cheaper than my TA could offer, because from Australia, one way fares are priced at about 80% of a return fare.  No one else had access to cruise fares at the time, and RTW fares were ridiculous.  The price never changed (ie, it never got cheaper - just more expensive), my flight never changed, and my flight was ticketed 48 hours after I paid in full a fortnight ago without my doing a thing.  I am now two months out from my trip so it could all still fall apart, but so far, so good.

WE are on the same cruise and US flight have not been ticketed yet. Not sure why?

[trinitygirl]

1 minute ago, nattie said:

WE are on the same cruise and US flight have not been ticketed yet. Not sure why?

If it makes any difference, I am flying out a couple weeks before the cruise?  Maybe departure date makes a difference?

[Coral]

35 minutes ago, nattie said:

You can request early ticketing, otherwise flights will be ticketed about 60 days out (I think?)

Usually less than 45 days out as you can cancel up to 45 days out.

[StrawberryHill]

3 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Flights have not opened up for next year, yet.

But, from what I am seeing, the fares are very high.

Help!!!

I am wondering what has been the pricing and experience booking thru Princess.

I hear that it can be less.

But, I also wonder about any pitfalls.

Hoping that if you book thru Princess, you can request to have your flights ticketed so that you can control or upgrade them?

 

We used EZair for our last years and this years trip to London.  The tickets were "issued" approx. 60 days prior.  EZ air fares were comparable with AA premium economy fares.  When we book AA flights separately, we always pay for the flight insurance, so it adds cost.  When you use Princess, your princess insurance covers your flights ( Spoken from experience ) .

 

HOWEVER  if you choose EZair way in advance and your flight tickets have not "ticketed"  and you try to rebook a cheaper cruise fare your entire cruise may be rebooked including your flights, and you may have to rebook EZair at the current cost which will be higher in most cases.  

 

As was said above, you can always cancel your EZair tickets prior to issuing and book separately at a cheaper fare if you find one.

[Lady Arwen]

On our September British Isles Air Canada non stop to LHR Princess EZAir is $3901.00 Canadian and directly with Air Canada is $2743.00 (all flights are for two passengers in economy).  We paid a total of $2250.00 when we booked directly with Air Canada a few months ago including upgrading our seats.  At that time EZAir was $2900.00 not including seat selection or upgrades.  I check almost daily and EZAir is always much higher. 
EZAir can be a money saver, but not always.  You must do your homework.

[nini]

7 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Flights have not opened up for next year, yet.

But, from what I am seeing, the fares are very high.

Help!!!

I am wondering what has been the pricing and experience booking thru Princess.

I hear that it can be less.

But, I also wonder about any pitfalls.

Hoping that if you book thru Princess, you can request to have your flights ticketed so that you can control or upgrade them?

 

Please be aware that flight fares are typically not available until about 300 days before the requested date. When it begins getting close, I keep checking EZAir for availability. The KEY is to book right away when you find what is acceptable. Then you keep  checking in and see if there has been a price drop, because you can change your flights until 45 days out. But prices usually increase as it gets close to true ticketing and then you are committed.

We have found EZAir fares to be much cheaper than direct with the airlines EXCEPT for domestic flights.

[gamja]

3 hours ago, nini said:

Please be aware that flight fares are typically not available until about 300 days before the requested date. When it begins getting close, I keep checking EZAir for availability. The KEY is to book right away when you find what is acceptable. Then you keep  checking in and see if there has been a price drop, because you can change your flights until 45 days out. But prices usually increase as it gets close to true ticketing and then you are committed.

We have found EZAir fares to be much cheaper than direct with the airlines EXCEPT for domestic flights.

2nd this post 100%. Our flights from San Francisco to Barcelona and return flight from Athens > San Francisco were about 1k cheaper each. Total came out to $3799. Only reason the tickets cost so much was because flying out of athens is really expensive. Also, my flight from San Francisco to London on ez Air was only $399 nonstop. Can't beat those prices. Domestic flights I usually just buy straight from airlines since ezair seems to lack in that area.

[caribill]

13 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Hoping that if you book thru Princess, you can request to have your flights ticketed so that you can control or upgrade them?

 

 

Yes, but once you pay and the flights are ticketed you no longer have a flexible fare and cannot get refared to a lower fare and cannot cancel without penalties. 

 

If you do not prepay and get ticketed, then the flexible fare can be refared or cancelled by you at no penalty until 45 days before the cruise or flight, which ever comes first.

[luvtravel]

Does EZ air allow asking for specific flights offered by the airline but can’t be seen on EZ air?  

[Steelers36]

On 5/15/2023 at 5:50 PM, Lady Arwen said:

On our September British Isles Air Canada non stop to LHR Princess EZAir is $3901.00 Canadian and directly with Air Canada is $2743.00 (all flights are for two passengers in economy).  We paid a total of $2250.00 when we booked directly with Air Canada a few months ago including upgrading our seats.  At that time EZAir was $2900.00 not including seat selection or upgrades.  I check almost daily and EZAir is always much higher. 
EZAir can be a money saver, but not always.  You must do your homework.

Quite the change-up from a year ago.  EZ-Air was easily best for transcon flights.  I had Business Class to Europe from YYZ for $1500 USD (maybe $2000 CAD or less at the time).  Not AC - they were more expensive.  And, yes, that is ~$750 USD/pp.  Probably no such thing this year.

[Steelers36]

13 minutes ago, luvtravel said:

Does EZ air allow asking for specific flights offered by the airline but can’t be seen on EZ air?  

Not likely.  You can try using EZ-Air filters to narrow down choices and then you might see something.  Your only option would be to call in and get an EZ-Air rep and ask them directly.  There must be some reason not showing up. 

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

Quite the change-up from a year ago.  EZ-Air was easily best for transcon flights.  I had Business Class to Europe from YYZ for $1500 USD (maybe $2000 CAD or less at the time).  Not AC - they were more expensive.  And, yes, that is ~$750 USD/pp.  Probably no such thing this year.

I wish we see those prices!  Yesterday I checked EZAir again, just out of curiosity, and our flights are $3.00 short of $4000.00 ca!  Almost double what we paid a few months ago.  Crazy!

[Steelers36]

Just now, Lady Arwen said:

I wish we see those prices!  Yesterday I checked EZAir again, just out of curiosity, and our flights are $3.00 short of $4000.00 ca!  Almost double what we paid a few months ago.  Crazy!

We flew to Rome on SEP 28 and returned from there on NOV 14, so was not exactly high-season.  I had booked when flights first opened each way, but monitored and scored price drops at various points until achieving the minimum possible.  I can pretty much guarantee there were no lower fares on those dates from any airline offered in EZ-Air with max 1 connection.

[Thrak]

I checked our flight to Melbourne a couple of days ago. Booking direct was more than EZ Air but not a huge amount more. In the past we booked flights to Southampton that were over $5,000 apiece - ONE WAY. We were flying Virgin Atlantic. I checked direct booking and every "discount" booking service and they were all that expensive. I got the exact same flights on EZ Air for $500 each. Wish it was still that way these days but it doesn't seem to be the case.