Questions re: Flight Ease - recent experiences

[arzz]

Finally brave enough to cruise again (it has been a tough few years without cruising but fear of the pandemic trumped time on the sea for us).

 

We are using future cruise deposits that are about to expire and Seabourn’s latest offer to lure us back to the sea that includes a $500 pp reduction in air fare.  We are trying to determine if that price reduction is worth it - as in the few days since our TA made the original reservations one of our flight times was already drastically changed to a totally non acceptable departure at 7 am (which has now been corrected by our TA).

 

But … the lingering fear that the first class seats and flight times that we think we are getting may again wander to something else exists.  What are your recent experiences with Seabourn’s Flight Ease program?  Is there a way to be sure we are getting what we think we are getting?  Or should we just do our own air which we know we can depend on?  We need to decide fairly soon.

 

We would greatly appreciate the opinions and experiences of those who have been brave enough to cruise recently despite covid.  Thank you very much in advance.

[nancygp]

Used flight ease for the first time in April from Heathrow to my home city…my ta booked the flight the previous December, the exact flight I wanted and would normally book on my own.  Got our seat assignments immediately and I could also check on the United website.  The price was excellent and all went well.  The only change we had was an aircraft change and the seats remained the same.  
 

Nancy

[MarciAnn]

Nancygp, good to know.  I just booked through Flight Ease for the first time since my cruise included a substantial air fare credit but I had to book through Seabourn which I have never done before.  The flights were $1500 per person cheaper in business class than if I had booked directly with the airline (Delta) but only if I flew out on the day before the cruise (cruise includes one  night in a hotel) and flew home the day the cruise ended.  When I tried to book a  flight for a day earlier and leaving a day later the prices has no discount even though they were the same on the airline website.  Anyone have this experience?  Can I still deal directly with the airline if there is any issue?

[FlyerTalker]

It's the difference between published airfare from the airline and contract airfare from the cruiseline.

 

Apples and oranges -- don't try comparing the two, for they are different even for the same flights.  And the underlying ticket, and its fare rules, are different as well.

 

 

[MarciAnn]

Flyertalker, I have never used a cruise line’s air ticketing before.  Always booked my own flights so your advice is very helpful.  The Flight Ease booking is actually a refundable fare on Delta.  Even though I am on a scheduled Delta flight, is there more chance of having my flight changed without my consent by virtue of my using Flight Ease then if I has booked myself?   I

[whystayhome]

We have used Flightease a number of times.  Good prices, especially on one-way tickets.  When SAS went on strike last summer, I called and Seabourn put us on Air France. Then, there was the missed connection in Paris and a significantly delayed flight to Copenhagen.  When our flight finally arrived and we got through immigration in CPH less than an hour before a 5PM sail away, a Seabourn rep was waiting, helped us get our luggage (a miracle that we found him and the bags), hustled us into a cab, told the driver to emulate a bat out of hell, and called the pier and said we were on our way.  The check in people flagged us down at the curb, grabbed our luggage, and whisked us and our bags onto the ship at 4:55.  Yes, I was a nervous wreck, but we made it.  I don’t know if that would have been the case if we had booked our flights independently.

 

in case you are wondering why we flew into Copenhagen on the day of departure, something we never have done before and will never do again, I can only plead temporary insanity and a lack of psychic ability to predict that the European air scene would be such a disaster last summer.  Flying in 2 days before this month’s 36-day Dover to  Manhattan Quest adventure.

 

Linda

[hoosier74]

We have used flightease for the last several cruises.  The first time we did, we were flying to Buenos Aries in february and there was a huge east coast winter storm.  We were VERY glad to let Seabourn worry about making our connections and we spoke with others on the ship who had spent hours on hold with airlines trying to rebook and reroute.  The biggest problem we have had are airlines adjusting flight times that have made connections difficult.  On our last cruise, we paid an additional fee to spend the night in Houston rather than have a 40 minute connection as a missed plane would have meant sleeping in the San Fransisco airport. We usually fly in at least a day early so we don't get the transfer benefit on arrival but usually take advantage on departure.  

[Cru Doll]

21 hours ago, arzz said:

Finally brave enough to cruise again (it has been a tough few years without cruising but fear of the pandemic trumped time on the sea for us).

 

We are using future cruise deposits that are about to expire and Seabourn’s latest offer to lure us back to the sea that includes a $500 pp reduction in air fare.  We are trying to determine if that price reduction is worth it - as in the few days since our TA made the original reservations one of our flight times was already drastically changed to a totally non acceptable departure at 7 am (which has now been corrected by our TA).

 

But … the lingering fear that the first class seats and flight times that we think we are getting may again wander to something else exists.  What are your recent experiences with Seabourn’s Flight Ease program?  Is there a way to be sure we are getting what we think we are getting?  Or should we just do our own air which we know we can depend on?  We need to decide fairly soon.

 

We would greatly appreciate the opinions and experiences of those who have been brave enough to cruise recently despite covid.  Thank you very much in advance.

We have had excellent service and pricing using Flight Ease.  After our TA notifies Seabourn that we would like to add airfare, we contact Seabourn directly to arrange first/business class seats.  Seabourn has always either matched or offered a lower price than what we could do on our own.  If the airline changes its schedule, we are notified and the appropriate changes are made to our preference. In fact, just this week there was an unsatisfactory change in our flight to Athens in September.  We were very happy that Seabourn changed it for a non-stop at a lower price!  
 

We have also had the misfortune to miss a flight last fall.  We were supposed to fly out of RSW from our Florida home to begin a South Pacific cruise in Vancouver.  Unfortunately, hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida that week.  RSW was closed for two weeks.  Seabourn handled getting us a flight out of Ft Lauderdale the following day.  We not only missed Vancouver, but arrived in Seattle in the evening.  We were quickly picked up and assured that the ship would be waiting for us.   Two wonderful members of the dining staff saw us at the port inspection and carried our carry ons up to the ship.  Seabourn Square said that we were the last to arrive and that Earth and Ocean would be expecting us for a late dinner.  Seabourn service at its best!

 

BTW, we were generously compensated for our (necessary) change of airport inconvenience, and since we had Seabourn cruise insurance, were compensated for two days fare.  
 

 

 

[Ingnacious]

We booked Flight Ease Delta/KLM. Having an issue with the outbound seats. My husband was assigned a seat, I was not. I called Delta and they said to talk to flight ease. Flight Ease said they can’t do anything about it. I called KLM and they said my seat is under “airport control” even though the flight is almost 2 months from now. Also Delta said we owed money for the seat assigned for my husband, but there is nowhere it says to pay. Lord knows where we will end up sitting. Hoping this gets resolved soon. Having travel agent see if they have better luck.

[SLSD]

27 minutes ago, Ingnacious said:

We booked Flight Ease Delta/KLM. Having an issue with the outbound seats. My husband was assigned a seat, I was not. I called Delta and they said to talk to flight ease. Flight Ease said they can’t do anything about it. I called KLM and they said my seat is under “airport control” even though the flight is almost 2 months from now. Also Delta said we owed money for the seat assigned for my husband, but there is nowhere it says to pay. Lord knows where we will end up sitting. Hoping this gets resolved soon. Having travel agent see if they have better luck.

If your flight is oversold, not having a seat assignment will be an issue.  We saw this on one of our return flights from Copenhagen.  We had seat assignments.  We made them ourselves.  I think we had to pay extra which was annoying, but course we paid.  Our flights were booked through Seabourn.  It was not ideal, but the price was right.  We are going to try to use miles and handle our own flights next time---we'll see what the situation is.  

Edited July 14, 2023 by SLSD

[Ingnacious]

6 minutes ago, SLSD said:

If your flight is oversold, not having a seat assignment will be an issue.  We saw this on one of our return flights from Copenhagen.  We had seat assignments.  We made them ourselves.  I think we had to pay extra which was annoying, but course we paid.  Our flights were booked through Seabourn.  It was not ideal, but the price was right.  We are going to try to use miles and handle our own flights next time---we'll see what the situation is.  

They are stilling selling seats for the flight, so not oversold. Long story short I thought we had premium economy RT, but it was only on return, so have to pay for seats on the outbound.

[JMB56]

We booked, through Seabourn, a 16-hour British Airways flight in Premium Economy from London to Buenos Aries (including a stop in Rio) on our way to a November Antarctic cruise. The BA website will not let me reserve seats (even at an extra charge), saying that they will be assigned at check-in. I contacted my TA, but she says there is nothing she or Seabourn can do.  Is there any way I can book seats in advance? Should I call Seabourn?

[fdnycruiser]

We booked through Seabourn for the first time for our April return from England. Upper class on Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow to Orlando non stop. The fare was thousands below published fare, a nice convenient late morning departure. Picked our own seats, and the flight was one of our best business class flights ever.

[arzz]

Thank you all for the feedback. We are now booked with good flight times and have seat assignments both ways. So happy to hear positive experiences as we usually do our own air.

[FlyerTalker]

21 hours ago, MarciAnn said:

Flyertalker, I have never used a cruise line’s air ticketing before.  Always booked my own flights so your advice is very helpful.  The Flight Ease booking is actually a refundable fare on Delta.

 

You should double check the fare rules to see just what is being described as "refundable".  For example, Hopper has run afoul because they have described fares as being "refundable" when they are only refunded as airline credits, not to the original form of payment.

 

21 hours ago, MarciAnn said:

Even though I am on a scheduled Delta flight, is there more chance of having my flight changed without my consent by virtue of my using Flight Ease then if I has booked myself?   I

 

There is a wide scope for the term "changed".  That could include a schedule change by the airline, an operational change, a rebooking by the cruiseline, and maybe something else as well.  And it also revolves around time frames.  So there is no blanket answer.  One factor may be the fare basis of the ticket, which may be different than a published fare ticket from the airline itself.  Also, whether the flight is reserved or actually ticketed.  As for it being a "scheduled Delta flight", that's irrelevant.

 

Sorry I can't give more definitive answers, but it's a wide open topic with many factors involved.

 

 

[Mauzac]

13 hours ago, JMB56 said:

We booked, through Seabourn, a 16-hour British Airways flight in Premium Economy from London to Buenos Aries (including a stop in Rio) on our way to a November Antarctic cruise. The BA website will not let me reserve seats (even at an extra charge), saying that they will be assigned at check-in. I contacted my TA, but she says there is nothing she or Seabourn can do.  Is there any way I can book seats in advance? Should I call Seabourn?

 

We've had this before and never been able to resolve it.  I think it is a BA thing.  And we are doing that flight next February (London/Rio/Bueno Aries) so I don't hold out much hope.  

[JMB56]

Thanks for your reply.  In your previous trip(s), did you manage to get decent seats despite not being able to pre-book?

[Island2Dweller]

14 hours ago, JMB56 said:

a 16-hour British Airways flight in Premium Economy from London to Buenos Aries (including a stop in Rio)

You've hit a system limitation with BA - who have consistently underinvested in the IT to support their business.  On a group booking (such as a cruise line travel department), they cannot give you access to the seat booking process.  (Because you are all on one booking reference, and to release that to you would reveal details of everyone else on that booking, which would be in breach of data protection rules).

[SLSD]

On 7/13/2023 at 1:28 PM, arzz said:

Finally brave enough to cruise again (it has been a tough few years without cruising but fear of the pandemic trumped time on the sea for us).

 

We waited a long time to cruise again after Covid.  We finally took the leap in June and did not become ill on the cruise or upon our return--with anything.  We did distance ourselves if someone fairly close  to us was sneezing and coughing repeatedly.  We had to do that a few times.  We also avoided the public restrooms and did not partake of the buffet.  This was not a hardship as we do not do buffets anyway.  

Edited July 15, 2023 by SLSD

[arzz]

@SLSD your on board plan is our plan. I don’t care for the buffets either for many reasons so they are easy to avoid. After three years of no travel we had to make three trips to Seattle since May as, sadly, my sister passed away which trumped my fear of flying, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants and we have done very well so we reasoned why not try a trip that could actually be fun.  Just have not been sure about using Flight Ease. Thank you for your encouragement. 

[SLSD]

7 minutes ago, arzz said:

@SLSD your on board plan is our plan. I don’t care for the buffets either for many reasons so they are easy to avoid. After three years of no travel we had to make three trips to Seattle since May as, sadly, my sister passed away which trumped my fear of flying, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants and we have done very well so we reasoned why not try a trip that could actually be fun.  Just have not been sure about using Flight Ease. Thank you for your encouragement. 

There were probably four or five people on our cruise who wore masks most of the time,  We took masks with us, but did not wear them on the ship, or on buses or anywhere else.  We did wear them for our flight to Copenhagen (most of the time), but not on the return flight.  We heard, while on Ovation, that there WAS some Covid onboard, but just heard that once. We didn't see any evidence of it--and there were no announcements.  We did not see anyone in Norway or Denmark wearing masks.  

 

Just want to make sure that you know that you can dine at lunch out on the veranda of The Colonnade and order from a menu.  We did this on the first day, but did not dine there afterwards.  We could have.  We enjoyed lunch in the Restaurant and at the Patio Grill.  Some lunches were at Norwegian restaurants in various places.  

Edited July 15, 2023 by SLSD

[Basfla]

4 hours ago, Mauzac said:

 

We've had this before and never been able to resolve it.  I think it is a BA thing.  And we are doing that flight next February (London/Rio/Bueno Aries) so I don't hold out much hope.  

It is definitely a BA thing and quite annoying. My wife and I have flown BA business class (club world) for 2 trips, booked directly with BA, and even with business class they would not allow us to select seats until we checked in online 24 hours ahead. 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Basfla

[JMB56]

25 minutes ago, Basfla said:

It is definitely a BA thing and quite annoying. My wife and I have flown BA business class (club world) for 2 trips, booked directly with BA, and even with business class they would not allow us to select seats until we checked in online 24 hours ahead. 

I was able to see the BA seating diagram for my flight by attempting to purchase a ticket.  About half the seats in Premium Economy were booked, even though the flight is not until late November.  I hope two of the already-assigned seats (window and aisle) are for my wife and me!

[Earthtones]

The fare rules/seating ability available through Flight Ease seem to vary based on the airline.

 

For our upcoming Alaska cruise, we booked, though Flight Ease, Delta outbound and Air Canada for the return. We were able to choose our seats for the Delta flights, but not for the Air Canada flights, even after booking (and inquiring directly with Air Canada, which is what the Flight Ease site indicated needed to be done). I then called Flight Ease and was told that their contract with Air Canada did not allow preselected seats for economy tickets (even though the cost was the same as what Air Canada was selling directly for seats that could be reserved in advance). 

 

Since I don't want all my good vacation vibes ruined by an unpleasant cross country return flight in a middle seat, I canceled the return with Flight Ease and booked directly with Alaska Air, which had two first class tickets for the journey for just a couple hundred dollars more than the unreserved coach on Air Canada. (That was just lucky timing!)

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, JMB56 said:

I was able to see the BA seating diagram for my flight by attempting to purchase a ticket.  About half the seats in Premium Economy were booked,

 

Just to let you know....seat maps are a VERY unreliable guide to how full or empty a flight will be.  They do not directly reflect inventory conditions as you can have seats that seem "taken" to be merely those that are blocked by the airline.  Also, there may be many tickets that have been sold that do not have a seat assignment attached.

 

So use it as amusement, but please don't think it reflects inventory in any way.