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Princess EZ Air Warning


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I faxed the Princess form called "EARLY FLEXIBLE FARES AIR TICKETING REQUEST" Fax # 661-284-4772.

 

I used this form in late December 2016 for our Western Med cruise in May 2017

 

Hope this helps. I think I originally got the from some ones post on this board.

 

I don't need help, my point was that they seem to have a new procedure and the form is no longer required. And the no-form process was what I used in January to pay for our airfare early.

 

May help people who have future air travel booked thru EZ Air.

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Hi just read the whole thread to see if someone asked this question...I booked with EZ Air for a cruise from Barcelona to Rome and added London before cruise. How exactly do I check my flight to see if the prices have changed without changing the original booking? I am afraid to hit the wrong button and loose my current flights and prices?

 

 

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I also wanted to double check prices and possible better flight schedules but was concerned I may accidentally cancel our existing flights. I was able to find the available flights by not logging in and then selecting "Plan a Cruise", then "Cruise Details" and then "Flight Quotes" on the black bar. This allows you to put in your flight options and get the quotes. This way there is no chance that you will accidentally cancel your existing flights.

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I am using EZ air for my Alaska trip in June. I must have changed my flight 6 or 7 times since I booked due to lower prices I also had a flight get canceled with no notice from Princess I only saw it because I check almost daily. I called Princess and they put me on another flight for the same price. My fare is much lower than any of the flight sites. Hopefully all goes well!

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I also wanted to double check prices and possible better flight schedules but was concerned I may accidentally cancel our existing flights. I was able to find the available flights by not logging in and then selecting "Plan a Cruise", then "Cruise Details" and then "Flight Quotes" on the black bar. This allows you to put in your flight options and get the quotes. This way there is no chance that you will accidentally cancel your existing flights.

 

I used to do that. I have our booked cruises saved with other cruises we are looking at so it is easy to model airfares there as well. The only problem is that if you find something attractive when modeling, it may not necessarily be available when you go into the CP to book it. That has happened to me before. Airfares can sometimes change from minute to minute for some of the routes. I am ultra careful when checking airfares in the CP and haven't had a problem yet. Hope it stays that way!

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I am hesitating to use EZ air because we have just recently booked a cruise for Alaska this summer Northbound. The airfare cost right now from Toronto to Vancouver and back from Anchorage to Toronto is more than the cost of our inside cabin. My biggest concern is that we cannot choose our seats until full payment is made in June. My 6"4 DH needs an aisle seat and I'm uncertain if we will be lucky enough to be able to book that seat in particular. The quote from EZ Air is not any less expensive than my booking it my own at this point. Once I book however either with Princess or on our own, I will be sure to check the departure times. In most cases on our way home, we are on three different flights with two different airlines, first to Seattle, then to Vancouver and finally on Air Canada to Toronto.

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Always check your EZ Air. I use it for most cruises because it has always been cheaper but when we flew to Rome with our daughter thru EZ Air one year, I checked and she had been put on a different flight than us. Princess took care of it with plenty of OBC and changing her flight to ours, but, always check and recheck till you are in the plane!

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When I have used EZAir and there have been flight changes, I get an update of my overall reservation from Princess.

 

I always shop my air reservations for the best fare and constantly look at what’s happening with schedules. What is booked today is hardly ever the final times 9 months from now.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
Perhaps the notices are airline specific? We have exclusively used EZAir for United. As flight changes have occurred, we see the "Travel Arrangements" turn red while in the Cruise Personalizer and there are further warnings when we click on that link. The last couple of times our TA has forwarded a notice from Princess as well indicating that the flights times have changed. So there's lots of layers of protection, at least when it comes to United / Princess.

 

As for cost, there are some crazy low fares right now for some of the routes. For example, we were able to book flights for our January cruise to Singapore this week. United wanted over $1,000 round trip from Phoenix but for the same flights, EZAir was $740. Our friends are on the same cruise traveling from Chicago. Their round trip fare on United using EZAir was $570 per person.

 

It always pays to check multiple sources when booking airfare for a cruise, and also to check frequently for possible changes in flights or outright cancellations.

 

I'm responding to my own quote because I have now experienced something different than what I reported previously. I check flights for our future cruises frequently on the United website and I also glance at the CP on the Princess website to see if there are any warnings about changed flights. Yesterday while looking at the United website, I noticed that the flight segment from LAX to Singapore dropped off our January reservation and there were warnings to call United. With a few more clicks, I learned while making a mock reservation from PHX to SIN that United no longer flies from LAX to SIN. While on the United website, I found a good alternative flight connecting through SFO so I called United reservations and changed to our desired new flights. I did the same for our friends who were traveling with us on the overwater leg. Very easy with a good result.

 

Before I called United, I checked the CP and saw that the cancelled flights through LAX were still displayed as if nothing had changed. I figured that the change must have just happened and I just found the changes before the CP had refreshed. But the old flights are still on the CP today. I also made a mock booking for our departure date on my "Saved Cruise" page and the connection through LAX wasn't shown, so the EZ Air booking engine "knows" that isn't a valid flight. But for some reason our booked flights in the CP neither reflected the proper status when the flight change happened nor did it react to the rebooking of flights. I also haven't gotten an email notification from Princess.

 

Our airline reservation was ticketed early as this is a "free" cruise that we are taking as a result of a moveover offer which included protected air. Not sure if that makes any difference but my past experience has been that the flights in the CP had been very quick to show any changes made by United (time or flight # changes) or by me on their website (such as changing seats etc.). That's clearly not the case any longer. I'm also not sure if this is a temporary glitch as others have reported other peculiar behavior with EZ Air recently.

 

As has been mentioned by others, check any flights on the airline websites frequently and don't just rely on Princess to alert you to changes. Something weird is going on with EZ Air and I hope that others aren't negatively impacted as a result of these issues.

Edited by azbirdmom
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Yes, even booking direct, you need to check the reservation often...

 

Definitely! Booking through Princess though might lead someone to rely solely on the CP for the status of their flights and that clearly is not a good plan.

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I guess I'm confused...:confused:...doesn't take much these days...

 

are y'all stating that airlines change your flights and give no notification to you at all?

 

not even an email??? is this because thru ez air that it is a temporary booking until ticketed and paid?

 

what about after that - still no notification if the airlines change it then???

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I have 2 flights on United and both are ticketed and our seats are reserved.

 

Just a note, based on our recent experience. We had reserved seats on our flight from LHR to ATL for about 8 months--right up until when we checked in online. Then our seats had been changed and DH and I were on opposite sides of the plane. We couldn't get our seats back and no one could tell me why they were changed. This was on Virgin Atlantic (listed as a Delta flight). Maybe United is better. But be prepared :)

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For a 15 day land/sea cruise in Alaska this coming June, I booked EZ Air flights last fall, monitored them daily, re-booked twice for lower fares, then continued to watch the flights checking on them daily for further reductions. No further reductions showed up, and nothing changed on the flight portion of my personalizer on Princess—all flights remained the same. However, “something” made me plug my locator number into the DELTA website, and that’s when everything blew up. The flight to Alaska was now an hour earlier with a longer layover, but the worst part was that our return flights were no longer in synch. The flights all over lapped and did not line up at all. There were red exclamation marks all over the page and notices to contact Delta immediately. I did that, but was told since the flights were not yet ticketed, I needed to contact Princess/EZ Air. It took well over an hour on the phone with Princess and resulted in very satisfactory flights. However….

 

Two items of note here:

#1 I’m not sure what would have happened if I had not had the “feeling” to plug my reservation into the Delta website. The problem likely would have come to light at final payment, and then I’m sure it would have been much more difficult to find flights similar to the ones I had booked last fall

#2 When I asked what I could/should do to avoid something like this happening again, she said it seemed to her to be quite a fluke, but to be certain of your flights —since the airlines can and do change/cancel flights all the time—occasionally checking your reservation on the airlines’ website is good advice.

Finally, If Princess is indeed reading these boards—kudos to Ophelia, the Princess rep who worked so very hard for me to resolve this issue. Thank you Princess and Ophelia!

 

When you book EZ air it tells you right on the page before you finalize your flights that you are responsible for checking with the airline for any flight changes. If you TA booked the flights for you then shame on them for not telling you this. We have booked EZ air many times and there has ALWAYS been a note/information/warning that it was OUR responsibility to check for changes with the airline.

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Anyone know about seat selection with EZ air? We flew once with EZ air and wife and I were not seated together. I think because seat selection is made when final payment is done, leaving a some what limited choice. Any thoughts? Thanks guys.

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I guess I'm confused...:confused:...doesn't take much these days...

 

are y'all stating that airlines change your flights and give no notification to you at all?

 

not even an email??? is this because thru ez air that it is a temporary booking until ticketed and paid?

 

what about after that - still no notification if the airlines change it then???

 

 

Delta changed the time of my return EZair flight and I got sent an email notification. This is my first time using it, but so far my experience is that they should notify you of any changes. And I'm still more than 100 days out.

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I guess I'm confused...:confused:...doesn't take much these days...

 

are y'all stating that airlines change your flights and give no notification to you at all?

 

not even an email??? is this because thru ez air that it is a temporary booking until ticketed and paid?

 

what about after that - still no notification if the airlines change it then???

 

I used to get phone and / or email notifications from United when any flight segment changed regardless of where I booked the flights but those stopped quite a while ago. For EZ Air, I used to get notifications on the CP and also via email when a United flight that I booked through Princess changed but clearly that didn't happen yesterday. By the way I ended up contacting the Princess Inventory Control person that I had worked with on this booking and mentioned all of this to her. She is working with the air department to make sure things are fixed on their end for this booking. Hopefully they will also look into why this change didn't create alerts as well.

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Anyone know about seat selection with EZ air? We flew once with EZ air and wife and I were not seated together. I think because seat selection is made when final payment is done, leaving a some what limited choice. Any thoughts? Thanks guys.

 

You should be able to select seats on the Princess website when you book your flight in EZ Air. You should alternately be able to do that on the airline website or by calling the airline directly.

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You should be able to select seats on the Princess website when you book your flight in EZ Air. You should alternately be able to do that on the airline website or by calling the airline directly.

This has not been my experience. I've only been able to select seats on the airline's website.

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This has not been my experience. I've only been able to select seats on the airline's website.

 

Others have reported not being able to pick seats on the Princess website so I'm thinking it might be either a "feature" of entering via which device you use, or possibly browser if using a laptop. The Princess website is quirky to say the least. Seat selection has been an option during the initial booking process, and also if I go back in through modify flights, it's not a link up top but it is an option right next to each flight. What I usually do is select something there and then go to the United site where I can select better seats at no cost.

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Thank you for this post. I just now checked the flights on Delta from Fairbanks to LAX (layover in SEA) for our September Cruisetour. It shows us leaving Fairbanks at 1:15 a.m. on Friday, September 14th with a connecting flight in Seattle at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, September 13th. Not exactly doable. Originally we were leaving Fairbanks at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday. I've used EZ Air many times, this has never happened. Yikes! Thanks again.

Pamerjo

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Great discussion on EZ air.

I'm learning thru other's personal experiences.

Many have stated they are able to select seats.

It seems to me seat selection is airline specific.

When flight schedules do change -- most are able to keep up with changes.

United Airline has been mention many times in this thread.

Is there a specific problem with United?

 

Let's get down to specifics.

 

Below -- all booking would be on Princess EZ air.

1. When I initial book with United will I be able to select my seats?

2. When I initial book with Delta will I be able to select my seats?

3. When I Initial book with Southwest will I be able to select my seats?

4. When I initial book with American will I be able to select my seats?

 

All major airlines are not created equal.

You have different airline reservation systems.

Airlines have different policies on reserving seats.

Flight schedules are constantly changing.

 

How does Princess handle the changes on their system?

What kind of "business agreement" does Princess have with these airlines relative to updated flight info? Hopefully, it should be current.

Even when Princess is notified from an airline (about changes) is that info disseminated to cruisers on a timely basis? Some say yes. Some say no.

 

Our cruise in October 2018 -- I'm booked EZ air with Air Canada. I could not select seats. I was directed to Air Canada web-site to pay first. Yes -- pay Air Canada then select seats. Obviously a different policy with Air Canada than other airlines.

 

John

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Just a note, based on our recent experience. We had reserved seats on our flight from LHR to ATL for about 8 months--right up until when we checked in online. Then our seats had been changed and DH and I were on opposite sides of the plane. We couldn't get our seats back and no one could tell me why they were changed. This was on Virgin Atlantic (listed as a Delta flight). Maybe United is better. But be prepared :)

The flights are business class, LAX to London and back, have been paid for, ticketed, and seats assigned.

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I only have experience with a couple of airlines and ez air. With Delta flights, I was able to choose my seats at the time of booking with ezair. After receiving my airline confirmation code, I went to Delta’s website and pulled up reservation. It was showing confirmed and with the seats I had chosen. I added my frequent flyer number which linked my e-mail to the booking. I got a reminder to check in for my flight, just like I do with flights booked directly with Delta, so very similar to booking direct. If you are a Delta Medallion member you will only get a small % of what you paid in MQDs, but you do get full MQMs. With my current reservation, I also called and made sure our two reservations were linked, so our seats remain together. My daughter and I each have a different confirmation codes for our flights, so hopefully that works.

 

With Virgin Atlantic, there was no option to select seats for economy during the booking process. I used the confirmation code and went to Virgin Atlantic, and all seats had to be purchased. Seats get assigned when checking in, and I don’t know how it will work, since it is for my father’s trip. He didn’t want to pay the $40 each, to choose seats, and they seem fine with wherever they are assigned. I did call to make sure they will be seated together, and also found out if you choose premium economy or business class, you can choose your seats immediately after booking.

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