Flight Ease

[Canadaclyde]

I would like to know if there is any advantage to using Flight Ease, other than the possibility of getting a reduced rate and not having to pay until final payment. From reading previous posts, it sounds like numerous people have experienced lost bookings, so I am questioning how to proceed. If I book directly with an airline for approx the same price, am I missing out on something that Flight Ease offers? 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Cheaper airfare and delayed final payment aren't fairly significant benefits?

 

That being said, we, like many others, prefer to have more control over our flight bookings, for a number of reasons. We haven't booked airfare through a cruise line in 30+ years. So if ou can get the same or similar price on your own, take it.

 

I haven't seen "numerous" comments about lost bookings. A couple, maybe. Things can, and do go wrong with booking direct as well.

[rodndonna]

We've used it and booked direct .. have had mixed results with both approaches. 

 

If there is any thought your cruise might be cancelled (or altered in some way), booking through Flightease is nice as you are not on the hook for cancelling the flight. 

 

For me, if the price is the same or better I still "kinda" prefer to go with cruise flight bookings (even though we have been burned with a horrible  flight change they made that we were unable to change, we have also been burned for Dec 2023 where the cruise was cancelled but our flight was independent.

 

We often fly in the day of cruise (gasp!)  but in those cases generally only with cruise airline booking. Of course as an exception last week we had a last minute cruise and booked our flights on our own through airline points, but we knew worse case we could drive the port in 6 hours. 

[just_cruising_along]

Whenever we book open jaw flights arriving and leaving from different cities, we find that FlightEase can get us a better price than we can booking via the airlines's website.  We also are able to pick the class and the seats in advance and not have to pay for the flight until final HAL payment. We have never had a "lost" flight. The only changes in flight are the changes made by the airlines themselves (which would happen if booked directly with them) and we have never had a problem getting to the destination or getting home. But like all things, when you do your research, you will pick the option best for you. Whatever you choose, have a great cruise.

[Gigi1977]

We have gotten some fantastic deals but I do have one horror story regarding flight ease being stranded in London with the emergency number not working and having to make our own way to Amsterdam …. So I have a love/hate relationship with flightease.  

[Native Floridian 26]

We only use the cruiseline airfare when we need a one-way fare to or from Europe.  They are much cheaper than you can get by booking directly.  Also the great plus of locking into a rate and making changes as prices decrease up to that final payment is huge.  That said when you book far in advance you are subject to airline changes and possible cancelled bookings due to nonpayment by HAL which happened to us.  It was a pain to get that original fare honored despite their mistake, and I'm still battling with not being able to book through Flightease which I'm dealing with now.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Native Floridian 26

[Haljo1935]

17 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

...It was a pain to get that original fare honored despite their mistake, and I'm still battling with not being able to book through Flightease which I'm dealing with now.

can you explain what is meant by "not being able to book through Flightease" - are you locked out to nonpayment or a change or...? That's a scary thought.

[Canadaclyde]

Cheaper of course can be a significant benefit; however, if it's only a few dollars difference, then it doesn't really matter to me. Delaying payment makes sense if we want to leave our options open, or if we think we might have to cancel. I have to decide if that's a risk I am willing to take. It seemed like there were quite of few CC people who have had difficulties with Flight Ease -- their bookings were somehow dropped from the system, perhaps because of nonpayment by HAL. But as pointed out there are also horror stories of people who book directly with airlines. I reached out to CC because of the varied opinions and experiences of other cruises. I thought I might be missing something regarding the benefits of Flight Ease versus booking direct. Many thanks for all your responses. Now I just have to decide what we think will work out best for us. 

[erdufylla]

Another thing to consider is that if you book through FlightEase, that means HAL knows your flight itinerary, and if they can, will hold the ship if your inbound flight is running behind. The Koningsdam was something like 90+ minutes delayed in departing Vancouver on May 27, and the reason I heard later was that there had been bad weather in Denver, and several passengers were delayed arriving to the ship. If you book your own flights, you don’t get that kind of consideration.

[Native Floridian 26]

23 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

can you explain what is meant by "not being able to book through Flightease" - are you locked out to nonpayment or a change or...? That's a scary thought.

Trying to book my return from Amsterdam on 4/23/24.  I've been able to look at flight options since 330 days out on Flights Ease, but when I pick flights, answer all the disclaimers and such, then hit Accept and Purchase, I get an error.  I've called in to Flightease 3 or 4 times so far and they are not able to book for me either.  Today is 316 days prior to flight.  FE reps say flights aren't able to be booked yet, but others on my RC for the trip have made bookings for the same return date.  The only thing I can guess, is when they had to force my fare on the prior cruise flight that was cancelled by airline due to non-pay by HAL, Flightease always showed me with a balance due, even after final payment had been made on the cruise.  

Edited June 12, 2023 by Native Floridian 26

[CruiserBruce]

27 minutes ago, erdufylla said:

Another thing to consider is that if you book through FlightEase, that means HAL knows your flight itinerary, and if they can, will hold the ship if your inbound flight is running behind. The Koningsdam was something like 90+ minutes delayed in departing Vancouver on May 27, and the reason I heard later was that there had been bad weather in Denver, and several passengers were delayed arriving to the ship. If you book your own flights, you don’t get that kind of consideration.

The solution for this problem is not to fly in the day of sailing, not holding the ship! 😁

[Canadaclyde]

30 minutes ago, erdufylla said:

Another thing to consider is that if you book through FlightEase, that means HAL knows your flight itinerary, and if they can, will hold the ship if your inbound flight is running behind. ...

Another good point! We are, however, flying three days before we sail. We are Canadians and our cruise is in winter. We're experienced with the havoc bad weather can create! I'm glad though that you mentioned it because you made me remember how helpful HAL was when we had to rearrange a flight to Vancouver because of a death in the family. We were to fly a week prior to the cruise, and ended up flying the day before. I don't know if the arrangements could have been made so smoothly with an airline. Perhaps FlightEase now has an edge!

 

[rodndonna]

42 minutes ago, erdufylla said:

Another thing to consider is that if you book through FlightEase, that means HAL knows your flight itinerary, and if they can, will hold the ship if your inbound flight is running behind. The Koningsdam was something like 90+ minutes delayed in departing Vancouver on May 27, and the reason I heard later was that there had been bad weather in Denver, and several passengers were delayed arriving to the ship. If you book your own flights, you don’t get that kind of consideration.

 

Actually when you book independent, they still ask for your flight details although it is probably optional we always provide. Not really sure what they do with it, but one can also always hope someone else on the flight is booked with Flightease and on your cruise if delayed 🤞 

 

I've actually never flown in for a cruise day of without noticing at least a few others that are on our cruise.

[erdufylla]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

The solution for this problem is not to fly in the day of sailing, not holding the ship! 😁

No arguments here! Travel always makes me stressed out enough. No need to add feeling rushed and panicked to the mix! 😂

[Moonlight Beach]

I booked through Flight Ease several months ago for a cruise in September. I check the fare occasionally and in checking this morning I noticed the fare went up $1000 a person. Payment is due on June 19. Should I go ahead and request early ticketing now or will the original fare be honored on final payment?

[Haljo1935]

6 minutes ago, Moonlight Beach said:

I booked through Flight Ease several months ago for a cruise in September. I check the fare occasionally and in checking this morning I noticed the fare went up $1000 a person. Payment is due on June 19. Should I go ahead and request early ticketing now or will the original fare be honored on final payment?

Same question - very interested in seeing the response.

[Anubi]

For our March cruise, its actually cheaper to book direct. 

 

[mrmoviezombie]

20 hours ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

I've been able to look at flight options since 330 days out on Flights Ease

Are you 330 days out from the return?

For economy flights it's usually a wash vs booking direct... it's the higher classes that usually are cheaper than the airlines.

If you use the cruise line protections/insurance, then you start the benefits from the first flight. specifically trip interruption kicks in. If you book your own flights, then you need separate coverage because as far as the cruise line is concerned you trip "starts" when you get on the ship.

 

[Moonlight Beach]

I went ahead and requested early ticketing and paid the original fare. I received a message to allow up to 3 business days for the ticket to be issued.

[rodndonna]

57 minutes ago, Moonlight Beach said:

I booked through Flight Ease several months ago for a cruise in September. I check the fare occasionally and in checking this morning I noticed the fare went up $1000 a person. Payment is due on June 19. Should I go ahead and request early ticketing now or will the original fare be honored on final payment?

 

We've always (3 times) had the fare that we booked at honoured. We have also had success in re-faring when it dropped before final payment (1 time). 

[Woofbite]

I booked a one-way business class from Capetown through FlightEase.  HAL said Business class was not available out of London so they upgraded me to First Class.  I never heard of that before but checking American website shows it confirmed.

I went ahead and paid for the cruise and airfare to try and lock everything in.

Now to see if it really happens.

 

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, Woofbite said:

I booked a one-way business class from Capetown through FlightEase.  HAL said Business class was not available out of London so they upgraded me to First Class.  I never heard of that before but checking American website shows it confirmed.

I went ahead and paid for the cruise and airfare to try and lock everything in.

Now to see if it really happens.

 

If you're seeing it in American's system, you should not have an issue.

Congrats and enjoy your cruise.

[Native Floridian 26]

On 6/13/2023 at 1:10 PM, mrmoviezombie said:

Are you 330 days out from the return?

 

It's one way return only, and I'm 314 days out.

[Arkansas cruisers]

Please help me understand if my problem is a Flight Ease problem or an American Airlines problem.

I booked flights through Flight Ease in March. Since then, I have received 4 flight change notification emails from HAL, informing me that my flights have been changed so that I have what  I consider insufficient layover times. In August, after receiving a notification that my return flight was changed, leaving me with only a 47 minute connection time in DFW, I called Flight Ease and got a very nice representative who, after about one hour on the telephone, was able to change me back to my comfortable three hour layover. However, today I received notification that my flights had been switched back to the flights with the 47 minute connection time!
In looking at the American Airlines website, there is still availability on my preferred flight.

Any ideas of what is going on?

Does Flight Ease only have access to certain AA flight segments? 

Unfortunately, it is past the full pay day, so I think it is too late for me to book my air independently.
Thanks for your insight.

not looking forward to spending another hour on the phone with Flight Ease tomorrow…

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Arkansas cruisers said:

Please help me understand if my problem is a Flight Ease problem or an American Airlines problem.

I booked flights through Flight Ease in March. Since then, I have received 4 flight change notification emails from HAL, informing me that my flights have been changed so that I have what  I consider insufficient layover times...

Any ideas of what is going on?

Does Flight Ease only have access to certain AA flight segments? 

Unfortunately, it is past the full pay day, so I think it is too late for me to book my air independently.
Thanks for your insight.

not looking forward to spending another hour on the phone with Flight Ease tomorrow…

Hey @Arkansas cruisers first, I feel your pain on FE and getting change notifications that don't align w/airline website - sorry you're dealing with it.

FE gets blocks of seats, so they may not have access to all the flights you see on the airline website.

Yes, if you have FE flights and you're beyond final payment, you are really stuck w/o incurring additional fees. However, there is a very small window after final payment before you're locked; it's about 10 days. When you log into FE details the date will show in top right corner. If there's no date, you're locked in.

You should call again AND send and email to Reservations_submit@hollandamerica.com requesting they change the flight.

I recently had an issue w/2 flights, similar to you, I kept getting flight change notices. FE would change the flights back, I could see them on the AA website then I'd get another change notice.

The last time I called in, I was told there was nothing they could do and there was no supervisor I could talk with; they told me to email Reservations_submit@hollandamerica.com. Two days later, on a Saturday, I received a phone call from them. At the end of my call, I had an email confirming the original flights, I could see them in FE and by that night I was able to see them in AA website.

When I sent the email, I copied the Mariners desk for additional visibility. 

FE may not be able to get the original flights or something w/more realistic connection time, but it is worth both the call and email. Your concern about a very tight connection time is valid.

I'm pulling for you - please let us know how it works out.