Trouble with EZAir

[kitty2264]

We were getting ready for a b2b cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale the first leg of which departs Jan 17th.  I noticed the return flight on Delta was not showing up on my Google calendar so I logged onto Delta and found the return flight had been cancelled in July, (six months ago).  My Princess trip summary still showed the flights and I had paid for them at final payment date, but they simply no longer existed.  We had booked two one-way flights for the b2b cruise, and had no problem with the outgoing tickets from MCI to FLL.

 

First I called Delta who told me the money had been refunded, although not to me, so I called Princess.  The customer service rep I got insisted that Delta would refund me the $$$.  Back to Delta, again, I got a very nice lady who not only told me the money had been refunded to Princess travel group but she even gave me the last four digits of the credit card and the date of the refund.  I went back to Princess customer service again and they finally got in touch with EZAir directly and eventually connected me into the conversation.

 

I was told that I should have been sent an email with options for rescheduling but they admitted that they were having software issues and couldn't delete the original flights from my account so they let it drop.  After 3+ hours of them working with tech support they finally got the old flights deleted from my cruise and were then able to book a new flight.

 

The whole ordeal is a bit of a cautionary tale.  We have used EZAir on every cruise for years and have had no issues, till now.  In this case we would have shown up at the airport in FLL and not have a ticket.  Princess admitted still had my money for the flight but since they couldn't delete the original flight from my booking they didn't refund anything to me.  It ended up ok, didn't cost me anything other that 3hrs 39min of time I can't get back but every one should take note as this can happen.

[dickinson]

Sorry you went through this but glad it got sorted.  

[Coral]

This is pretty sad (on Princess's part). Glad you noticed it and got it figured out.

[azbirdmom]

Yes, EZAir hasn't been the same since the restart of cruising.  It's a good thing you noticed it now and didn't show up at the airport with no flight.  It should be a reminder to everyone to check their flights from time to time on the airline websites, even if you book direct as airlines can sometimes drop to ball on notifications of changes too.

[beg3yrs]

Thanks for justifying what is likely to be my obsessive compulsive checking of my travel itineraries almost daily. Cruise summaries AND airline websites, making sure they all match and haven't changed from what it was the day before. More than once have I seen this kind of problem and was able to get a resolution long before it became a travel emergency.

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, kitty2264 said:

We were getting ready for a b2b cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale the first leg of which departs Jan 17th.  I noticed the return flight on Delta was not showing up on my Google calendar so I logged onto Delta and found the return flight had been cancelled in July, (six months ago).  My Princess trip summary still showed the flights and I had paid for them at final payment date, but they simply no longer existed.  We had booked two one-way flights for the b2b cruise, and had no problem with the outgoing tickets from MCI to FLL.

 

First I called Delta who told me the money had been refunded, although not to me, so I called Princess.  The customer service rep I got insisted that Delta would refund me the $$$.  Back to Delta, again, I got a very nice lady who not only told me the money had been refunded to Princess travel group but she even gave me the last four digits of the credit card and the date of the refund.  I went back to Princess customer service again and they finally got in touch with EZAir directly and eventually connected me into the conversation.

 

I was told that I should have been sent an email with options for rescheduling but they admitted that they were having software issues and couldn't delete the original flights from my account so they let it drop.  After 3+ hours of them working with tech support they finally got the old flights deleted from my cruise and were then able to book a new flight.

 

The whole ordeal is a bit of a cautionary tale.  We have used EZAir on every cruise for years and have had no issues, till now.  In this case we would have shown up at the airport in FLL and not have a ticket.  Princess admitted still had my money for the flight but since they couldn't delete the original flight from my booking they didn't refund anything to me.  It ended up ok, didn't cost me anything other that 3hrs 39min of time I can't get back but every one should take note as this can happen.

Thanks for your report, but it is worth repeating - especially in today's flying environment - to regularly check your flight bookings.  With the airlines involved.  I even check for equipment changes since a different plane model usually means a different seating layout and seat selections can be lost or become undesirable.  The sooner you can act, the better.  I never count on being notified in a timely manner.  We have lost seat selections on our three most recent flight bookings - none of which were EZ-Air or cruise-related.

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

I always say EZ-Air is convenient and often saves money…unless there’s a problem. Then it adds an extra degree of stress, since airlines generally won’t speak to the passenger, only Princess, since they booked it.

[kitty2264]

43 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

I always say EZ-Air is convenient and often saves money…unless there’s a problem. Then it adds an extra degree of stress, since airlines generally won’t speak to the passenger, only Princess, since they booked it.

Amen to that! Yesterday was very stressful!

[Paula_MacFan]

Sorry this happened to you. We've had good luck with EZ Air, but I still obsessively check our flights daily for schedule or price changes. I also use the airline apps which usually send update messages. It sounds like in this case maybe that wouldn't have helped but glad you caught it. Hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly!

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

I always say EZ-Air is convenient and often saves money…unless there’s a problem. Then it adds an extra degree of stress, since airlines generally won’t speak to the passenger, only Princess, since they booked it.

This is quite true up until the reservation is ticketed. Then the airlines will work with you. If you are sure of keeping your trip, this is a good reason to request early ticketing once your Princess booking is paid in full.

[partybarbie]

We also had a recent flight change and it had nothing to do with EZ-air. The airline changed the flight departure from 9:05 am to 9:15 am. Instead of keeping us on the 9:15 am flight, they moved us to a 7:00 am flight. I only found out about it when I went to book a rental car. Luckily I was able to change it to the 9:15 am flight free of charge.

 

We also had some changes on our EZ-air flight to Barcelona. Our flights were changed so that we arrived 2 hours late for connecting flight in Canada. It took a couple of days, but it finally was straightened out without having to call anyone. I’m guessing they caught their mistake and fixed it. The flight isn’t until September, so I wasn’t in a rush to call.

[Rick&Jeannie]

5 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Thanks for justifying what is likely to be my obsessive compulsive checking of my travel itineraries almost daily. Cruise summaries AND airline websites, making sure they all match and haven't changed from what it was the day before. More than once have I seen this kind of problem and was able to get a resolution long before it became a travel emergency.

We have apparently been created from the same mold! This perfectly describes me!

[TxChick51]

I am also ocd about checking & re-checking flights and travel summary (print out every update) & we’ve only cruised once in last 20 years😝

We did re-book a flight on our September cruise that saved us $300, but I had to contact EZAir a few weeks later to get the credit back on our credit card.

[Teechur]

We got flight change notifications this morning about our flights in September 2024.

After a call to Princess, we discovered that the only change was a flight number.

So far, we have had excellent service using EZ Air to South America, and Europe. Our flights in September will be to Seattle from Maui and California.

Ironic that the Alaskan Airlines plane that blew open yesterday near Portland is often used on the flight we will be taking. 😮