moorerf Posted June 19, 2017 #1 Share Posted June 19, 2017 We are booked on a Holland America 12 day cruise leaving next April 30 from Venice and ending in Rome. Hollands flights were just what we wanted on Lufthansa and were 300 dollars per person less than I could get on my own. My question...my cruise consultant at Holland has these flights booked flexible which means I don't have to pay until final payment is due next Feb. but I can not choose seats until paid. Is it better to go ahead and pay for flights ie make them restricted so I can choose seats now, lock in the fare now etc...??? I have never used Hollands flight ease so I am curious on what is the best options for this....????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Crew News Posted June 19, 2017 #2 Share Posted June 19, 2017 We are booked on a Holland America 12 day cruise leaving next April 30 from Venice and ending in Rome. Hollands flights were just what we wanted on Lufthansa and were 300 dollars per person less than I could get on my own. My question...my cruise consultant at Holland has these flights booked flexible which means I don't have to pay until final payment is due next Feb. but I can not choose seats until paid. Is it better to go ahead and pay for flights ie make them restricted so I can choose seats now, lock in the fare now etc...??? I have never used Hollands flight ease so I am curious on what is the best options for this....????? I'm not sure about international flights but I was able to login to Alaska Airlines before final payment and choose my seats while using Flight Ease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freestyling Posted June 19, 2017 #3 Share Posted June 19, 2017 Usually the flexible fare is lower than the restricted. We haven't used flight ease as of yet but will be looking at pricing for our Oct 2018 Med cruise when available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted June 19, 2017 #4 Share Posted June 19, 2017 Are you on Lufthansa all the way? I don't think Lufthansa does advanced seat assignments for coach...certainly not for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted June 19, 2017 #5 Share Posted June 19, 2017 I am using HAL's Flight Ease for my December flight to Santiago on Delta with a return in January on Delta from Buenos Aires. I have confirmed a confirmed seat assignment on each flight. Maybe an airline restriction is preventing this, but I would "quiz" your PCC further about this and see if it is an airline restriction issue. Either that person ought to know or be able to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retafcruiser Posted June 19, 2017 #6 Share Posted June 19, 2017 I would use caution paying airfare in full now. I have booked flights through Flight Ease on both American and Delta only to have both airlines change schedules to the point they were unusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freestyling Posted June 19, 2017 #7 Share Posted June 19, 2017 If the airline changes the flight then you should be protected and able to change your flights with no change fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arzz Posted June 19, 2017 #8 Share Posted June 19, 2017 My experience with European airlines is that you cannot choose a free seat assignment until a day or two before travel. You can, however, pay a fee to choose your seat now. If you have very elite status with a partner airline to Lufthansa you may be able to choose a free seat now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retafcruiser Posted June 20, 2017 #9 Share Posted June 20, 2017 If the airline changes the flight then you should be protected and able to change your flights with no change fees. This would be fine if any of the same airline flights would help. Doesn't do much good if you have to change airlines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted June 20, 2017 #10 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Looking at this page from the Lufthansa website, it appears most people will have to pay to reserve a seat in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted June 20, 2017 #11 Share Posted June 20, 2017 This would be fine if any of the same airline flights would help. Doesn't do much good if you have to change airlines. Thanks for showing another advantage of booking your own flight, rather than cruise air. Definitely an advantage. Just another reason why we don't book cruise airfares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just_cruising_along Posted June 20, 2017 #12 Share Posted June 20, 2017 We have booked air both for ourselves and using FlightEase. There are advantages to both. We have been able to book the exact seats we wanted using FlightEase well in advance of the final payment. We have not, however, used Lufthansa. You will get a confirmation code from HAL and we have been able to use that code to look up each of our airlines flights. We did NOT use the same airline round trip. Great you are asking questions, please report back what you found for your specific case. Have a great cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChinaShrek Posted August 22, 2017 #13 Share Posted August 22, 2017 I have a HAL cruise booked via a TA for next year. I wanted to price out airfare with HAL. My TA told me to call HAL as he does not do airfare with HAL. So, can I call HAL myself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfish Posted August 22, 2017 #14 Share Posted August 22, 2017 I had flex air through Flight Ease for my trip last June. I was able to do seat assignments on United, but not on American before final payment date. It depends on the airline, not Flight Ease or whether it is flexible or restricted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted August 22, 2017 #15 Share Posted August 22, 2017 I have a HAL cruise booked via a TA for next year. I wanted to price out airfare with HAL. My TA told me to call HAL as he does not do airfare with HAL. So, can I call HAL myself? My answer to your question is based on what I believe I have learned from reading this Message Board, not on personal experience with your specific situation. My TA does help me book air arrangements with HAL. Surely, you can call HAL. But, if your cruise is booked through a travel agent, HAL may insist that you work directly with your travel agent and will not be able to offer any additional booking assistance for you. If this is their answer, contact your travel agent again and ask if he is a member of any travel consortium such as Virtuoso. If so, your agent ought to be able to help you book air through such an organization. (And, it may be at a better price than you could do on your own.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisingrammie Posted August 28, 2017 #16 Share Posted August 28, 2017 So we booked via Flight Ease for our flight to Australia in January. We did the flex flight. We found that by booking through HAL we saved a bunch of money (at least $400 over the least expensive flights we could find on our own). The downside is that we have a very long layover at LAX. Once we got our confirmation number from HAL, we were able to request our seats. This is a Virgin Australia flight with a Delta connection to LAX. I don't suppose those seats are guaranteed until we make our final payment in October, but for now we have seat assignments of our choice. Virgin Australia shows the seats as ours when we go directly to their website. Don't know if that's true for all airlines, but it worked for us! Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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