Is using Flight Ease risky?

[hokie_fan]

HA offered me a great direct flight from IAD to Copenhagen for our 7 day Norwegian and Icelandic Fjords cruise. What are the odds they will change this prior to the cruise?  I have heard of flights being changed after the final payment and don't want to risk that.   We booked during the $500 flight credit promotion. Price ended up being $441 for outbound Copenhagen and Inbound Iceland.  Seemed like a good deal since booking direct would be $1157. Also, we really need to be able to select our seats. Thank you!

 

 

[Mary229]

A change will only happen if the airline changes the flight.  Flight ease has no control over the airline.  There is no more risk than if you had booked directly. Flight changes are common these days that is simply the way it is.

 

seat selection guidelines vary by airline and class of air.  Also seat selections can change if the airline changes type of jet they are using. Again, it is according to the airline not flight ease 

[Hlitner]

We have had very good deals (especially with international business class) using the Flexair options on Flightease (you can access flightease online and look at all the options).  Be awere that your ability to choose seats, in advance, may or may not be possible depending on the specific airline rules.  You can try to choose seats through the Flightease online site, or you can retrieve your airline booking number (also found on your Flightease reservation) and try to get seats by using the airline's own web site.  However, some airlines will not allow advance seat assignments until after the ticket is issues (this does not happen until you have paid for the ticket and Flightease finishes the transaction with the airline).  You will not be sure about being able to get seat assignments until after you actually have reserved through Flightease.  

 

By the way, one of the worst airlines for seat assignments is British Air.  They will not even allow many folks holding Business Class tickets to get seat assignments until 24 hours before a flight.

 

Hank

[hokie_fan]

Great news.  I need to pay more attention to Flight Ease options.  We are flying SAS outbound and Iceland air inbound.  Thanks!

[pirate cruiser]

On our Med cruise last Sept it was a lot less stressful knowing we had booked air thru HAL.

[bundtkate]

8 hours ago, Mary229 said:

There is no more risk than if you had booked directly.

I would disagree with this ever so slightly because it does make dealing with flight changes more difficult. When booking direct, you can make changes on the airline's website if the new flight doesn't work and can even cancel the whole thing if nothing to your liking is available. If you book through Flight Ease, it seems Air Canada at least wants you to contact HAL if you need to cancel and rebook. Hopefully that's just an extra phone call in most cases and no big deal, but in my case it also turned into a small battle over change fees I knew I shouldn't have to pay as well tacking a few extra days onto the resolution. My TA sorted it for me and the flights I got through Flight Ease saved me enough I don't regret my decision, but if I didn't have a TA, I'd probably be singing a different tune and may still be booked on a flight that guaranteed a missed connection.

[Mary229]

4 hours ago, bundtkate said:

I would disagree with this ever so slightly because it does make dealing with flight changes more difficult. When booking direct, you can make changes on the airline's website if the new flight doesn't work and can even cancel the whole thing if nothing to your liking is available. If you book through Flight Ease, it seems Air Canada at least wants you to contact HAL if you need to cancel and rebook. Hopefully that's just an extra phone call in most cases and no big deal, but in my case it also turned into a small battle over change fees I knew I shouldn't have to pay as well tacking a few extra days onto the resolution. My TA sorted it for me and the flights I got through Flight Ease saved me enough I don't regret my decision, but if I didn't have a TA, I'd probably be singing a different tune and may still be booked on a flight that guaranteed a missed connection.

In my personal experience I have been able to manage my flights totally once they are ticketed. 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We love Holland air program.

[kazu]

5 hours ago, Mary229 said:

In my personal experience I have been able to manage my flights totally once they are ticketed. 

 

the problem is the flights are not ticketed until very close to sailing.   Any changes before that time have to be dealt with by contacting flight ease - at least that is the case with Air Canada  as @bundtkate stated.

[hokie_fan]

I has something strange happen yesterday. I was curious about the flights that I had and if there would be a way to select seats. (knew that was a long shot) so I logged in and chose "View Flights". It allowed me to choose an airport, and then I stopped at that point realizing I was not going to access my flight. Later I looked at my remaining payment to find out the flight portion of my balance had been removed and I only owed for the cruise.  I called HA and was told that I had cancelled the flights. They were absolutely sure that I did.  I can't imagine that choosing "View Flights" would have cancelled what I had.  Seems there would have been some message to warn me?  Anyway, they were able to rebook the flights, but when I got the confirmation, the inbound was a different flight. I had sent them my confirmation, so I am not sure what happened there. Guess I will be on the phone again today with my fingers crossed.  Getting nervous!

[bundtkate]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

the problem is the flights are not ticketed until very close to sailing.   Any changes before that time have to be dealt with by contacting flight ease - at least that is the case with Air Canada  as @bundtkate stated.

Funny enough, my flights actually were ticketed. I had requested early ticketing so I could choose seats (AC won't let you pick until you're ticketed) which is why I very much expected to be able to manage this through AC regardless. I was able to look at and pick a different flight from what AC had accommodated me on so I may have been fine had there been one that worked. I just couldn't cancel entirely and unfortunately AC had no flights available that would allow me to make my connection.

 

This very much may be something that only happened because the stars aligned. I did early ticketing. Air Canada has a bit of a reputation amongst my primarily Canadian coworkers so maybe they don't quite do things like the US airlines I'm used to. My itinerary included multiple airlines and the connection I was going to miss with the change was on United so maybe that made things harder. But either way, Air Canada seems to have wanted me to jump through some extra hoops they didn't make me jump through when I canceled an earlier direct booking for the same reason so dealing with all of this was, imo, a bit harder than it had to be.

[rwmiller]

We just booked our return flight from Copenhagen in SAS Plus (premium economy) for less than half the price of economy on the SAS website so a great deal. I could not select seats until I paid and requested early ticketing. I had to go to the SAS website and pay for seat selection €45 each. A little hassle but better than waiting until checkin which is the SAS standard. 
 

Bob

[Hlitner]

12 hours ago, kazu said:

 

the problem is the flights are not ticketed until very close to sailing.   Any changes before that time have to be dealt with by contacting flight ease - at least that is the case with Air Canada  as @bundtkate stated.

You can request ticketing, at any time, via the online air site (accessed through your online reservations).  It is your choice.   Personally, we prefer NOT to ticket early since you then lose your flexibility.  If prices drop or better air deals become available you are out of luck unless you are willing to pay the airline's penalty (assuming you even have that option).

 

As to changes, they can be done through the online site.  We have used the HAL air program many times and have never had to call anyone (even when we decided to change or cancel our flights).  

 

Hank

[kazu]

19 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

You can request ticketing, at any time, via the online air site (accessed through your online reservations).  It is your choice. 

 

That wasn’t my experience.  I had to call Flight Ease. I like to choose seats and was unable to since it was a 30+ day cruise.  i really had to push it at the time to get it ticketed.

 

What is the trick to get them to do that?

 

I don’t use the programme as much as you since when I can I use points.

 

I much prefer it since I have more control but the time is fast approaching when they will dissipate 😉 

 

[Hlitner]

32 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

That wasn’t my experience.  I had to call Flight Ease. I like to choose seats and was unable to since it was a 30+ day cruise.  i really had to push it at the time to get it ticketed.

 

What is the trick to get them to do that?

 

I don’t use the programme as much as you since when I can I use points.

 

I much prefer it since I have more control but the time is fast approaching when they will dissipate 😉 

 

The air options, including the ability to change or cancel an existing booking (prior to ticketing) are options you find listed on the online air booking engine accessible from your HAL Account under the reservation.  The issue with seat assignments really does vary by airline and sometimes with the class of service.   When we use points/miles we also do not use the cruise line sites (the online systems do not accept miles and I am not sure whether it can be done via a phone call to the cruise line's air folks).  

 

As to "control" I sometimes feel that these days none of us have a lot of control over cruise line and/or air bookings.   Personally, I do not use cruise/air (with any cruise line) unless it is going to get me a lot of savings.  With Business Class (our norm for International flights) the cruise line air systems (of many cruise lines) can often get some very good fares (sometimes coded as "P" fares) which offer huge discounts (sometimes more then 50%) over the normal published fares.  The air experts (I am not) on these boards compare cruise/air offers to so-called "consolidator" deals which is a tricky (and risky) market to do on one's own.

 

The obvious benefit of the Flex Air offerings are not needing to pay for the fare until near final payment.  It is one of the very rare ways to get an airline reservation which can later be cancelled or modified without any penalty (until the reservation is actually ticketed).  Given the uncertainties these days we do find the flexibility to change/cancel worth much of the hassle.

 

Hank

 

[habibti]

Love the Flight Ease program.  I have used it for every HAL cruise since 2012 and never had any problems.  Always found that it was cheaper than booking on my own.

[syesmar]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:44 AM, hokie_fan said:

I has something strange happen yesterday. I was curious about the flights that I had and if there would be a way to select seats. (knew that was a long shot) so I logged in and chose "View Flights". It allowed me to choose an airport, and then I stopped at that point realizing I was not going to access my flight. Later I looked at my remaining payment to find out the flight portion of my balance had been removed and I only owed for the cruise.  I called HA and was told that I had cancelled the flights. They were absolutely sure that I did.  I can't imagine that choosing "View Flights" would have cancelled what I had.  Seems there would have been some message to warn me?  Anyway, they were able to rebook the flights, but when I got the confirmation, the inbound was a different flight. I had sent them my confirmation, so I am not sure what happened there. Guess I will be on the phone again today with my fingers crossed.  Getting nervous!

@hokie_fan I recall this was an issue in the past, where just checking flights could cause a cancellation. Here is an old Thread about it, along with tips:

 Hope you got the flight you wanted back!

Edited March 4 by syesmar

[hokie_fan]

I was able to get my flights back.  They booked the wrong one, but a second call corrected that.  I will say it was stressful because we are traveling with other family members. They really need to up their game with their website.

[terrydtx]

On 2/22/2024 at 6:16 PM, bundtkate said:

I would disagree with this ever so slightly because it does make dealing with flight changes more difficult. When booking direct, you can make changes on the airline's website if the new flight doesn't work and can even cancel the whole thing if nothing to your liking is available. If you book through Flight Ease, it seems Air Canada at least wants you to contact HAL if you need to cancel and rebook. Hopefully that's just an extra phone call in most cases and no big deal, but in my case it also turned into a small battle over change fees I knew I shouldn't have to pay as well tacking a few extra days onto the resolution. My TA sorted it for me and the flights I got through Flight Ease saved me enough I don't regret my decision, but if I didn't have a TA, I'd probably be singing a different tune and may still be booked on a flight that guaranteed a missed connection.

We have used HAL FE for years with zero problems. It is so easy to go online and book flights, seats and class all in one place. No phone calls are needed as it can all be done online in your HAL account. Always been able to make changes without fees if prices drop or I find better connections up to final payment. I have canceled and rebooked flights many times to save money. Best advantage is being able to book multiple airlines, we are flying to Boston in August for our Volendam cruise on United and returning from Quebec city on American. We booked on FE and we are in first class seats. 3 days after we booked online, our flights were even ticketed by HAL, but I can still make any changes.

 

My best testament to FE is in 2021 were had to Covid quarantine for 4 days post cruise in Venice and we missed our flights home in BC. FE worked with us by canceling our booked flights and then rebooking us in BC 4 days later at no extra charge to us, this is something no US airline would do if we booked directly.

Edited March 4 by terrydtx

[ClippyJoe]

We also have used Flight Ease..  We have never had a problem and were able to book our preferred seats quite early.We plan on using them again on our next cruise.Right now we are looking at a vacation in the Northeast this summer visiting family and the airline has changed our flights pretty much daily. I think they want us to cancel but we have points we need to use and then will never fly this airline again.I wish I could use Flight Ease  for this trip even though I am not going on a cruise.!

[SilvertoGold]

Always cheaper than using the airline (much) or consolidators (considerable), in our experience. Last flight the airline would not allow choice of seats but FlightEase did and was $350 pp cheaper.  Win, win.

[alwaysfrantic]

We used it for the same route.  I watched and the fare dropped.  I rebooked to the lower fare.  Then 2 days later SAS cancelled the flight but we were rebooked on United at the same price.  I was able to go in to the United app and pick seats before final payment.  
 

For the return I wasn’t able to book seats on Iceland air so I didn’t use FlightEase.  

[KBC73]

We booked a direct flight from Boston to Amsterdam through Flight Ease at a very good price on Delta/KLM.

The day before we left I printed out Delta boarding passes. Two hours before our driver picked us up I checked email on last time. I was surprised to have two emails asking me to print boarding passes for Swiss Air. I found out shortly after that our Delta flight had been cancelled. HAL must have made the change to Swiss Air for me because I didn't do it. All this was done at the original price.

For international flights I will continue to us Flight Ease for piece of mind.

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We use it every year.

[mawvkysc]

1 hour ago, KBC73 said:

We booked a direct flight from Boston to Amsterdam through Flight Ease at a very good price on Delta/KLM.

The day before we left I printed out Delta boarding passes. Two hours before our driver picked us up I checked email on last time. I was surprised to have two emails asking me to print boarding passes for Swiss Air. I found out shortly after that our Delta flight had been cancelled. HAL must have made the change to Swiss Air for me because I didn't do it. All this was done at the original price.

For international flights I will continue to us Flight Ease for piece of mind.

 

Just curious, did you have to print it out or is this just your preference? In other words was a digital boarding pass also an option?