Flight Ease questions.

[iowacruiser]

I have read several posts about Flight Ease-the pros and cons. I understand the difference between flex and restrictive fairs.

Curious if anyone booked a flex fare and then had their flights and or seats changed after final payment for the cruise. Cruising on the Oosterdam out of Athens in September and the best fares are on Air Canada. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

[Gigi1977]

We have used flight ease many times - almost all international with the flex fare only.  We have never had the cost go up and paid at final payment with our cruise fare.  The only bad experiences we have had were in London Heathrow and our British Air flight was cancelled due to air controller strike in France.  We got ZERO help from HAL’s flight ease.  No one answered the ‘emergency’ 24 hour numbers except for a recording giving ‘office hours’ and to call back then.   Fortunately, we had AA status and were in the British Air coshare lounge and a very nice gentleman named Kevin helped us rebook.  The second time we were late arriving in London so our seats were cancelled on our booked flights - I completely bypassed HAL and rebooked in the lounge.   
 

Flight ease pricing can be great - just don’t count on their ‘support’.  

[Mary229]

I use them and have had seat changes usually associated with an aircraft change. Always check your seating once it is ticketed. I have never had a fare increase.   If there is a problem while traveling I try to work directly with the airline as that usually is far more expedient and it is my consumer right to have them accommodate me

[Skorpora]

We had a situation where our cruise was delayed getting back to Port Everglades. We had booked through Flight Ease and they did all the flight rebooking for us. No stress for us. Other passengers however, who had booked flights on their own were having a heck of a time trying to rearrange their flights. We were at sea for 2 days before we reached port Everglades. No starlink internet at the time, so people were getting very frustrated. Huge lineups at guest services. I'm so glad we used FlightEase!

[SilvertoGold]

I have to agree that the emergency number is next to useless. We had an international flight to the ship and the ETD/ETA was changed twice within 2 hours of the scheduled ETD. We phoned FlightEase to see we would be changed to a flight with better ETA but they had no idea, told us to phone the airline. Of course the airline wouldn't do anything so we just kept our fingers crossed. Worked out fine but we didn't much appreciate the serious lack of interest by FlightEase.

[Mary229]

Flight ease should quit selling flights day of embarkation that are over 5 hours.  It presents a false sense of security which does not truly exist.  On a recent cruise we were forced to stay in a lousy port overnight and miss our next  desirable port to wait until an international flight arrived.  That was not a reasonable excuse for us not to sail and if flight ease had not sold such an ill timed flight we would not have been forced to miss our port 

[iowacruiser]

8 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Flight ease should quit selling flights day of embarkation that are over 5 hours.  It presents a false sense of security which does not truly exist.  On a recent cruise we were forced to stay in a lousy port overnight and miss our next  desirable port to wait until an international flight arrived.  That was not a reasonable excuse for us not to sail and if flight ease had not sold such an ill timed flight we would not have been forced to miss our port 

Appreciate the advice. We are flying to Athens two days ahead of sailing. Would never fly International arriving the day of departure..

[IAcruising]

5 hours ago, iowacruiser said:

Appreciate the advice.

 

Fellow Iowan. We have a UK trip out of Rotterdam in August (flying to Amsterdam out of Des Moines). Flight Ease isn't even remotely close to what we can find directly. 

 

[iowacruiser]

8 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Fellow Iowan. We have a UK trip out of Rotterdam in August (flying to Amsterdam out of Des Moines). Flight Ease isn't even remotely close to what we can find directly. 

 

We live in Florida now and FlightEase is way cheaper for business class to Athens.

[Mary229]

One has to watch flight ease often for best prices.  The best deals get snapped up quickly.  They refill the inventory weekly so watch for new flights often. 

[Mr. Boston]

We used Flight Ease last fall for our return flight from Athens to Boston via Montreal on Air Canada.  We were able to snag Dreamliner business class seats for a very good price, approximately what we would have paid for economy had we booked on our own.  Our experience was very good although you do give up some control. For instance, our original layover in Montreal was 1.5 hours but was later changed to 4.  I tried having Flight Ease rebook to an earlier connecting flight to Boston but it would have been an increase of several thousand dollars, I didn’t like that and we ended up just waiting it out.

[Coopdedoop]

We booked our flights on the Holland America app.  It gave us options of flights and we booked our premium Economy seats.  Confirmation from the Airline arrived in my email very soon after.   First time trying this option so hoping it will work smoothly.

[Mary229]

I have only had positive experiences but I choose carefully and manage my own flights.  Speaking with others who call and accept whatever the rep assigns appears to be a disaster.  Do your homework 

[Hlitner]

I cannot agree that flightease needs to play nurse maid to folks when it comes to bookings.  There is such a thing as personal responsibility.  Flightease is simply a modified air search engine which shows (online) many flights.  Folks can make their own choices about when to fly-in prior to a cruise, when to fly after a cruise, their specific flights, connections, etc.  Like most air search engines, the criteria for flight connections are the "Minimum Connection Time" (MCT) specified by each airline for each airport.  Many travelers have learned that MCTs are very tight and it is a personal choice whether one wants to take their chances with a tight connection or would rather cool their heels in an airport for many hours.  

 

Like many frequent flyers, we carefully choose our flights based on cost, connections, connection times, etc.  Personally, I will drive many hour (sometimes 4) to use an airport that has flights that are non-stop or have fewer connections.  We also prefer to opt for longer connection times rather than cut things close....especially when connecting in airports that involve complex terminal changes (such as changing from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 at Heathrow).

 

Folks should do careful homework regarding flights and connections.  CC does have a blog where one can get some excellent air advice (Cruise Discussion Topics/Cruise Air) and some of the experts on that blog will not hesitate to warn folks about lousy choices.

 

I will add that depending on a cruise line or most cruise/travel agents to choose one's flights is not a particularly good idea.  Most folks in the business (such as PCCs) are not air experts.  Even private travel agencies generally have little air booking experience since airlines no longer pay them commissions and most air bookings are now done online by individual flyers.

 

Hank

[madera1]

I have only used flight ease twice. In both instances I used the on line booking and even months after selecting flights would manage and even changed flight to a cheaper option at a later date. We were choosing Business class and found the price cheaper than what I had found on other searches such as Kayak

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I have only had positive experiences but I choose carefully and manage my own flights.  Speaking with others who call and accept whatever the rep assigns appears to be a disaster.  Do your homework 

This!!

[Coopdedoop]

Haljo1935…I see that our flight amount on the Airline’s site has come down in price.  Haven’t tried to change the amount and the section we are in is almost sold out.  Do we have to cancel and rebook…a little nervous to do that.    Can I still keep my seat, but get the new price?

[Hlitner]

21 minutes ago, Coopdedoop said:

Haljo1935…I see that our flight amount on the Airline’s site has come down in price.  Haven’t tried to change the amount and the section we are in is almost sold out.  Do we have to cancel and rebook…a little nervous to do that.    Can I still keep my seat, but get the new price?

You can use the “change” option but there is always that nagging doubt as you eventually get a message that your original reservation will be canceled.  We have never had a problem but you do need to again choose again choose seats as your booking number will be changed.  
 

Hank

[Coopdedoop]

Yup…that’s what it looks like I would have to do.  
thx

[IAcruising]

9 hours ago, iowacruiser said:

We live in Florida now

 

That is unfortunate. 😄 But yes, you likely have much better/cheaper options than flying out of Des Moines.

 

[Haljo1935]

4 hours ago, Coopdedoop said:

Haljo1935…I see that our flight amount on the Airline’s site has come down in price.  Haven’t tried to change the amount and the section we are in is almost sold out.  Do we have to cancel and rebook…a little nervous to do that.    Can I still keep my seat, but get the new price?

Sorry for delay in responding; I'm just now seeing your question.

Short answer is if you call in you may be told they have to cancel to get the new fare. If you try to do it yourself online it will cancel your current one and rebook. I learned that the hard way.

Best option is to call [they work weekends) and explain you're only looking for the new lower price. And cross your fingers they will refare not rebook. You'll know what they're trying to do because they'll ask you the magic question "do I have your permission to cancel and look for another price?" 

[sunviking90]

I was trying to look up flights for a cruise in the fall. We only need flights one direction home from Florida after a transatlantic. When I try to look up flights and enter where we want to start, then “find flights” it does the circle thing and takes me back where I started. I booked this cruise thru a TA. Is that why? Do I need to do this thru her? I hope not. I like to see things myself.

[Coopdedoop]

Sounds like the possibility of a bit of a glitch,

or the cursor is still on ‘return flight’, instead of one way.

[sunviking90]

28 minutes ago, Coopdedoop said:

Sounds like the possibility of a bit of a glitch,

or the cursor is still on ‘return flight’, instead of one way.

It has changed and no longer gives that option on the start page. 
If I change the start location to Fort Lauderdale, it still takes me back here. Am I the victim of really excellent website design, or is it because my TA has to do this.

 

[Coopdedoop]

Give Flightease a call and see if they can help solve the issue.