Princess EZAir - SO FRUSTRATED

[Arizona Wildcat]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I have pre-selected seating in EZair bookings every time when able to do so (i.e. allowed).  This was been done months before ticketing date and never caused nor required ticketing.  Several years ago, I did explicitly request ET so I could do seat selection on Air Canada.

 

So, I do disagree with your premise and also am aware many other members here have also been able to do seat selection - depending on airline and class of ticket - without generating ticketing. 

 

If this is a recent change, then secretive Princess needs to pony up and publish it.

The decision to require ticketing for seat selection varies by airline.  It is not secret.  If EzAir was a travel agent they would be required to know and disclose the fine print.  EzAir is NOT a TA and their employees are not certified Travel Agents.  Ticketing rules are complicated.  Delta has over 50 fare classes - each with different rules and restrictions. 

Where we agree is that EzAir should be required to provide ALL rules in writing at the time a reservation is made.  They are not required to do so.  It falls upon the buyer - right or wrong - to go to the airline website during the 24 hour cancelation period to read and understand (yeah right) the rules.

You can disagree with me or not.  The OP stated what happened.

[coo359a2]

10 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I have pre-selected seating in EZair bookings every time when able to do so (i.e. allowed).  This was been done months before ticketing date and never caused nor required ticketing.  Several years ago, I did explicitly request ET so I could do seat selection on Air Canada.

 

So, I do disagree with your premise and also am aware many other members here have also been able to do seat selection - depending on airline and class of ticket - without generating ticketing. 

 

If this is a recent change, then secretive Princess needs to pony up and publish it.

I don't believe that there has been any change in seat selections when using EZair..  It has always been the airlines with their rules on when/how you select seats.  Have never had a problem with making seat assignments on Delta or United EZair flights  Been waiting since Aug to get seats on Westjet and can't even contact them through a phone number.

 

Haven't seen anything from EZair regarding changes for making seat selections

[Arizona Wildcat]

22 minutes ago, Incredimom said:

So in another topic - can someone tell me if this is going to be a problem....

 

I noticed that the tickets do join our names together and I'm wondering if this is going to cause a problem going through security.

 

My Name is DeDe Smith and the ticket says DEDELINMRS SMITH

 

If you are flying domestically not an issue.  Using your passport it could be a problem.  Presume the other person is Lin Smith?  This a question- if you are near an airport would take your passports and ticket paperwork and have Delta fix it. #2 is call Delta and see if they will do it over the phone.  Likely for a international flight.  I struggle as my first name is the letter W and it gets reversed or combined with my middle name.  #3 wait and do it at the gate.  Just give yourself a bit of time.

I would not bother dealing with EzAir as it is already ticketed.

Hope this helps.

PS - I only use EzAir or similar if a significant savings as their tickets are often very restricted.

[Incredimom]

5 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

If you are flying domestically not an issue.  Using your passport it could be a problem.  Presume the other person is Lin Smith?  This a question- if you are near an airport would take your passports and ticket paperwork and have Delta fix it. #2 is call Delta and see if they will do it over the phone.  Likely for a international flight.  I struggle as my first name is the letter W and it gets reversed or combined with my middle name.  #3 wait and do it at the gate.  Just give yourself a bit of time.

I would not bother dealing with EzAir as it is already ticketed.

Hope this helps.

PS - I only use EzAir or similar if a significant savings as their tickets are often very restricted.

Sorry I didn’t state that very well. I will be flying to Vancouver from Utah so yes I will be using my passport.

 

Lin is my middle name. In the Princess EZAir documents it says Mrs DeDe Lin Smith but in the ticket says DEDELINMRS SMITH.

 

my husband is JOSEPH LEE SMITH and on the ticket it says JOSEPHLEEMR SMITH

Edited March 10 by Incredimom

[cr8tiv1]

Personal EZ Air flexible ticket experience:  I am still 6 months or more from cruise.  I booked an EZ Air flight for LHR when I finalized my plans for a cruise.  I was able to choose my seats on Virgin Atlantic/Delta without being ticketed.  Could have been due to flying Business Class (unknown factor).

 

I think the bigger issue is that you wanted to change your flight to a day earlier.  There are "probably" no more flights with your current fare.  What you were quoted was a fare that has increased since you initially booked.  Fares fluctuate daily.  I know that my flight is now $2000 more and has not gone down at all.

 

As for cancellation policy.  You have up to 45 days from flight to cancel a flexible air reservation without any penalties.  Credit will be returned to your form of payment.  I would call EZ Air (not Princess) to get this straightened out.  800-545-0008.

 

I have used EZ Air a few times.  I have modified reservations, cancelled reservations, and had EZ AIr resolve AIRLINE flight cancellations.  In the end, all of my issues have been resolved satisfactorily, although not with some stress involved.  

 

Good Luck and welcome to Cruise Critic.  Hope you found the other posts helpful.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, Incredimom said:

Sorry I didn’t state that very well. I will be flying to Vancouver from Utah so yes I will be using my passport.

 

Lin is my middle name. In the Princess EZAir documents it says Mrs DeDe Lin Smith but in the ticket says DEDELINMRS SMITH.

 

my husband is JOSEPH LEE SMITH and on the ticket it says JOSEPHLEEMR SMITH

Yes, you’re good as long as those names are also listed on your passports. That’s the naming scheme Delta uses on our tickets as well.

 

Edited March 10 by Ken the cruiser

[Incredimom]

Thank you all for your help and understanding! I appreciate the support.

 

This has been a lesson for me on being a little more careful about how I do things online and just reading and learning more. This is my first cruise so it’s all been a learning process.

Edited March 10 by Incredimom

[SCX22]

59 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Steelers, in a consolidator block selecting a seat requires ticketing.  The OP asked about selecting seats and this generated ticking earlier.

 

I always go out of my way to select airlines that will allow for seat assignments prior to ticketing.  In my book, American, Air Canada, and Lufthansa are always out of the question because these are airlines that require ticketing prior to seat selection.  In addition, Air Canada and Lufthansa charge for seat assignments if chosen prior to the opening of OLCI.

 

If the airline doesn't allow for seat assignments prior to ticketing, then the EZAir website will direct the passenger to contact the airline directly.  In this case, the passenger can go to the airlines' website and try and get a seat assignment there.  If the airline blocks the seat selection, there then that means that the reservation indeed requires ticketing.  At this point, one has two options:  One is to request for early ticketing from EZAir.  Second is to wait for EZAir to arbitrarily ticket the reservation and select seats after the fact.  In other words, there's no way seat selection alone can trigger EZAir to ticket a reservation.  It still has to be the passenger that requests early ticketing and this can only be done on through the Cruise Personalizer or through an EZAir agent, not directly though the airline because it's EZAir who is holding the payment funds.

 

Not sure about OPs case because she doesn't seem sure either.

Edited March 10 by SCX22

[tothemall&beyond]

1 hour ago, Incredimom said:

Well shoot, I just discovered my problem and I guess it was me that made it that way. I didn't realize that by choosing seats, that would make the "early ticketing" happen and then make it so I couldn't change without penalty! 

 

I guess Live and Learn. So if any of you purchase flights from Princess EZAir - make sure you don't choose your seats or you won't be able to change/cancel your flight without penalty.  😞

Picking seats does not result in early ticketing! We have flown EZ Air for more than a decade and never had a problem picking seats and still being able to re-fare or cancel up to 45 days prior -- unless we specifically opted to early ticket ourselves (on the website) which we have done several times, including for our cruise next month.

As Steelers36 and others have stated, don't ever call Princess reservations for anything related to EZ Air. You will most likely get wrong info from those overseas agents. Best practice is to do it yourself on the website, or ask to be put through specifically to EZ Air Dept.

Edited March 10 by tothemall&beyond
to add

[hpeabody]

I'm sorry for your predicament.  I don't remember if anyone in the earlier posts suggested calling Delta and asking what it would take and IF they can change your flight to 1 day earlier. Also, maybe they can tell you more about the ticketing like the date it was ticketed perhaps.  If it was before you made final payment, then Princess jumped the gun in violation of their own policy allowing you up to 45 days to cancel/change.  If it indeed was before final payment, I would get a supervisor at Princess and fight them on this.  From the discussion it seems you may have found your ticket on the Delta website, if not do find it.  You will need the airlines record locator, not the Princess number.  It should be visible to you if you bring up your flights in the personalizer.  I agree with the others seat selection alone should not have triggered payment if a flexible fare was booked.  That is a mystery.  Not all airlines for some farfes allow seat selection with EZ air flexible ticket booking.  Delta is NOT one of those I do not believe.  A tip for you: For your next and future cruises find a good travel agent or get a dedicated Princess CVP (cruise vacation planner)  Avoiding contact with the Philippines phone center.   Enjoy your cruise to Alaska!  I have my 5th time coming up June 2nd. 

[Teechur]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Weird. In the past I have used Flexible booking and chosen my seats. I was still able to make adjustments to the flight without penalty. If the price went down I was able to get the new rate. However, if the price had gone up I had no option but to pay more because the flights now cost more. On our recent flights we changed our plans. Our homeward flights went from Melbourne, AU to San Francisco, to Redding. Our plans changed and I wanted to re-book without the San Francisco to Redding portion. Nope. Dropping that second segment, instead of making things cheaper, increased the price quite a bit as pricing had gone way up since the initial booking. We just "missed" the second flight.

Did you have checked bags? Perhaps you had to collect them to pass through Customs, then skipped the final leg?

[Teechur]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

 

I always go out of my way to select airlines that will allow for seat assignments prior to ticketing.  In my book, American, Air Canada, and Lufthansa are always out of the question because these are airlines that require ticketing prior to seat selection.  In addition, Air Canada and Lufthansa charge for seat assignments if chosen prior to the opening of OLCI.

 

 

We chose our seats on the Princess EZ Air website when we booked our American Airlines (domestic) flights. Does that mean we inadvertently chose Early Ticketing? There was no mention of it. 

Edited March 10 by Teechur
punctuation repair

[SCX22]

3 minutes ago, Teechur said:

We chose our seats on the Princess EZ Air website when we booked our American Airlines (domestic) flights. Does that mean we inadvertently chose Early Ticketing? There was no mention of it. 

Are you in first/business?  If so, then no because first/business always have free seat assignments.  For economy on American, it really depends on the fare you reserved.  I’ve found the cheap fare buckets available through EZAir (not even basic economy) don’t allow for advanced seat assignment.

 

Keep in mind the only way that early ticketing can be held against your is if you hit the “Request Early Ticketing” button in the Cruise Personalizer.  If EZAir arbitrarily tickets flexible reservations prior to 45 days, it can’t be held against you.  

As a side note, you can check if your reservation has been ticketed by going opening your Travel Summary and checking if the ticker number field populates your flights in the air section.  If past 45 days prior to your first flight departure (not cruise departure) ticket numbers don’t populate, you need to call EZAir and have them ticket your reservation.

[Teechur]

7 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Are you in first/business?  If so, then no because first/business always have free seat assignments.  For economy on American, it really depends on the fare you reserved.  I’ve found the cheap fare buckets available through EZAir (not even basic economy) don’t allow for advanced seat assignment.

 

Keep in mind the only way that early ticketing can be held against your is if you hit the “Request Early Ticketing” button in the Cruise Personalizer.  If EZAir arbitrarily tickets flexible reservations prior to 45 days, it can’t be held against you.  

As a side note, you can check if your reservation has been ticketed by going opening your Travel Summary and checking if the ticker number field populates your flights in the air section.  If past 45 days prior to your first flight departure (not cruise departure) ticket numbers don’t populate, you need to call EZAir and have them ticket your reservation.

Economy seats were selected on EZ Air more than 2 months ago. Early ticketing was NOT chosen. Cruise begins on June 19th, 2024.

Today I upgraded us to Main Plus to get extra legroom and a free bag at the AA website.

[SCX22]

Just now, Teechur said:

Economy seats were selected on EZ Air more than 2 months ago. Early ticketing was NOT chosen. Cruise begins on June 19th, 2024.

Today I upgraded us to Main Plus to get extra legroom and a free bag at the AA website.

If early ticketing was not chosen, then no problem.  You have a case against EZAir if they say no to changes prior to 45 days.

 

I hope that you’re are sure about the flights.  It can be a nightmare to get ancillary fees back from the airline in case of flight changes/cancelations.  EZAir won’t help in this situation because those fees were paid directly to the airline.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

I don't believe that there has been any change in seat selections when using EZair..  It has always been the airlines with their rules on when/how you select seats.  Have never had a problem with making seat assignments on Delta or United EZair flights  Been waiting since Aug to get seats on Westjet and can't even contact them through a phone number.

 

Haven't seen anything from EZair regarding changes for making seat selections

Right.  Well WS and AC are PITA due to no seat selection prior to ticketing.  I have seen nothing in terms of changes with EZair.  I realize it is the airlines that set the rules.  All I am saying is when allowed to pre-select seats during the EZ booking process, I have never been forced to ticket my flight.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Incredimom said:

Sorry I didn’t state that very well. I will be flying to Vancouver from Utah so yes I will be using my passport.

 

Lin is my middle name. In the Princess EZAir documents it says Mrs DeDe Lin Smith but in the ticket says DEDELINMRS SMITH.

 

my husband is JOSEPH LEE SMITH and on the ticket it says JOSEPHLEEMR SMITH

This is very typical formatting (mushed together) for EZ, but will not be an issue.

[Teechur]

4 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

If early ticketing was not chosen, then no problem.  You have a case against EZAir if they say no to changes prior to 45 days.

 

I hope that you’re are sure about the flights.  It can be a nightmare to get ancillary fees back from the airline in case of flight changes/cancelations.  EZAir won’t help in this situation because those fees were paid directly to the airline.

There were only a handful of Main Plus seats left on the second flight (DFW-FLL), so I pulled the trigger and paid the upgrade with points. $80 pp in cash or equivalent points for both flights included better seats, free bags, and free drinks.

On the way back, we will fly from Montreal to Denver. It looks like we will have to wait to select those seats. Air Canada metal, code-shared with United.

Second flight will be Den to Maui. The upgrade to Economy Plus is over $200 per seat on that flight. 😢

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Teechur said:

Did you have checked bags? Perhaps you had to collect them to pass through Customs, then skipped the final leg?

 

We had to collect our bags in San Francisco. I inquired and was told they weren't going to automagically be put on the next plane anyway so it was all good.

[Incredimom]

17 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

This is very typical formatting (mushed together) for EZ, but will not be an issue.

Thank you!

[Alaska05]

How can u tell if your reservation has been ticketed.

 

I booked our January 2025 Panama Canal tickets thru EZ air (Ft. Lauderdale/return from San Francisco) and flights are on Delta and chose seats.

 

I hope they have not been ticketed. I specifically didn’t book direct with Delta in case we want to cancel trip, either by choice or medical.

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, Alaska05 said:

How can u tell if your reservation has been ticketed.

 

I booked our January 2025 Panama Canal tickets thru EZ air (Ft. Lauderdale/return from San Francisco) and flights are on Delta and chose seats.

 

I hope they have not been ticketed. I specifically didn’t book direct with Delta in case we want to cancel trip, either by choice or medical.

If you go to your cruise’s Travel Summary in the Flights section, you will see a Ticket Number next to each passenger’s name.

[texswamper]

5 hours ago, Incredimom said:

So in another topic - can someone tell me if this is going to be a problem....

 

I noticed that the tickets do join our names together and I'm wondering if this is going to cause a problem going through security.

 

My Name is DeDe Smith and the ticket says DEDELINMRS SMITH

 

It won't be a problem.  It's just the way the computer prints the names.  We've flown many times on many different airlines with tickets that do that with the names.  Also, we've used EZ air several times but mainly on United flying first class or Business class overseas and always get to choose seats but the tickets are not paid for until final payment.  I go into the personalizer and redo flights if there's a price drop before final payment.  I have only requested early ticketing once but I won't do that again.  

Edited March 11 by texswamper

[Shelly97060]

5 hours ago, Incredimom said:

So I purchased Princess EZAir Flights for my husband and I for our cruise in May. It is still 62 days before our flight and we had decided to change the flight for a day earlier so we would have more time in Vancouver before the cruise. So I called Princess to make that happen because we made sure that we purchased flights that were on the flexible plan so that we could change/cancel within 45 days. Well, they tell me that it is going to cost me over $1000 to change or cancel this flight because "the ticket has already been issued". They won't explain to me what that means. I am really frustrated and upset about this. I went with the EZAir because I could change/cancel within 45 days. Any tips or help that anyone can offer would be much appreciated. I can't spend that money to get it changed so if not I guess we won't get that extra day that I wanted. 😞

if you booked flexible air and did not request early ticketing there should not be a change fee if you are more than 45 days out. However, the air prices could have gone up since your original flights were booked. If you accidentally selected restricted air then you are stuck. 
 

To get a true understanding of flight cost and availability go to Princess.com and click on “find a cruise” and find the cruise you are on and then you can pull up flight quotes to see what the air you want to change to would cost today.  If you like the price normally I would suggest using Cruise Personalizer “manage Flights” to change the flights but it sounds like you might have some issue going on ( or you got a bad rep). I would call Princess and tell them you want to change your flights, if they give you a different price than what you see on Princess or tell you there’s a change fee because it’s been ticketed ask to be connected to the air department for assistance since you booked flexible air ( or just start with EZair dept). The air dept should be able to see when or why the ticket was issued.

 

 I have read this thread and see where you selected seats and think that could be the problem… if the airline allows seat selection within EZair then that does not trigger early ticketing or change your air from Flexible to Restricted.  If you asked for early ticketing so you could use miles to upgrade or for other reasons then that would be a different matter. 

[Incredimom]

3 hours ago, Shelly97060 said:

if you booked flexible air and did not request early ticketing there should not be a change fee if you are more than 45 days out. However, the air prices could have gone up since your original flights were booked. If you accidentally selected restricted air then you are stuck. 
 

To get a true understanding of flight cost and availability go to Princess.com and click on “find a cruise” and find the cruise you are on and then you can pull up flight quotes to see what the air you want to change to would cost today.  If you like the price normally I would suggest using Cruise Personalizer “manage Flights” to change the flights but it sounds like you might have some issue going on ( or you got a bad rep). I would call Princess and tell them you want to change your flights, if they give you a different price than what you see on Princess or tell you there’s a change fee because it’s been ticketed ask to be connected to the air department for assistance since you booked flexible air ( or just start with EZair dept). The air dept should be able to see when or why the ticket was issued.

 

 I have read this thread and see where you selected seats and think that could be the problem… if the airline allows seat selection within EZair then that does not trigger early ticketing or change your air from Flexible to Restricted.  If you asked for early ticketing so you could use miles to upgrade or for other reasons then that would be a different matter. 

 

Honestly I don't know what happened. I thought it must have been because I did the seat selection but I guess not. I probably accidentally pushed the eticket button or something. I know its my mistake and I'm paying for it - I am usually really good with technology, but I was not careful this time and something happened. We obviously don't fly much so it was definitely not something I was aware of. Life is about learning and I guess this is one of those things that I have learned about that I will be much more careful about next time! But hey I get to go on my first cruise, so I really don't have anything to complain about. We will just have to go to Vancouver on another trip or something. 🙂 Thank you all!