HAL's FlightEase Program

On a recent Westerdam Transatlantic some people told us that they got some very good pricing by using HAL's Flight program for a business class flight from Florida to Rome. Has anyone had experience with the program. We are getting to old to sit in the back of a plane for 12 hours! Our for the days of my youth, but not I need comfort, at a reasonable price!

We used HAL's Flight Ease to fly to Venice for the 25 day Greek Islands and trans-Atlantic crossing. We were able to get business class seats for slightly more than what we would have paid if we had booked economy seats on our own. It is definitely worthwhile looking into if you have a 1 way flight to get to or from a cruise.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

We used it for a flight to Rome prior to our transatlantic cruise last fall. We got to pick the airline we wanted and it was much cheaper than anything we could find on our own. Our experience with flightease was good and we would consider it again.

I have one booked for our return next year. Biz class is very reasonable.

So reasonable that if all is good when I make final payment, I will cancel my FF mile flight and save them for next year when I need a pile for a potential cruise ;)

Yes, my experience mirrors other posters when wanting to fly in Business Class. For open jaw European flights, HAL's prices are no where near what I have been able to find on my own.

I've never used FlightEase. Can you just look at flights online, or do you have to book through your TA? (I am a shopper, and I like to compare costs, so I would like to be able to see the possibilities online before calling my TA.) Is there a website that I can go to?

On one way T/A's it's the only way to do it - you can pick your airline and flight and select your seats - for much less than any other option.

I've never used FlightEase. Can you just look at flights online, or do you have to book through your TA? (I am a shopper, and I like to compare costs, so I would like to be able to see the possibilities online before calling my TA.) Is there a website that I can go to?

I'm not entirely sure, but if you have already booked through a TA I don't think you can access that part of your booking (flight ease) online, only the shorex and personal purchases such as flowers, dining, etc.

On a recent Westerdam Transatlantic some people told us that they got some very good pricing by using HAL's Flight program for a business class flight from Florida to Rome. Has anyone had experience with the program. We are getting to old to sit in the back of a plane for 12 hours! Our for the days of my youth, but not I need comfort, at a reasonable price!

We booked directly through HAL to use their FlightEase for our upcoming trip to Australia. We were able to book Premium Economy. Since it is a one-way flight, we got a much better deal on the fare than we could have on our own. We have access to our flights online (a different confirmation number and password than our cruise). We were able to select our seats months ago and we are very happy with our decision to use the HAL flight program. We'll let you know if we are still happy after the cruise! ;) Ask your TA for the flight confirmation number and password. You should have that access. A good TA will gladly give that to you.

Thanks everybody. It seems that HAL's flight program is the way to go -- unless you are a sardine, and a young sardine at that. Wonder why HAL does not promote this program.

I've never used FlightEase. Can you just look at flights online, or do you have to book through your TA? (I am a shopper, and I like to compare costs, so I would like to be able to see the possibilities online before calling my TA.) Is there a website that I can go to?

I was told to hit the princess website for equivalent flights and get an idea what was offered. They do let you see it all.

that let me compare easily. I pretty much knew the flights I was interested in so when I called, it didn't take long.

HAL doesn't have that availability to see potential flights for some reason.

I was told to hit the princess website for equivalent flights and get an idea what was offered. They do let you see it all.

 

that let me compare easily. I pretty much knew the flights I was interested in so when I called, it didn't take long.

 

HAL doesn't have that availability to see potential flights for some reason.

Thanks Kazu. That explains why I was unable to access a website with potential flights. I've always been able to check flights with Celebrity - and compare the cost with a direct booking with the airline - before making a decision, and was hoping that I could do the same with HA.

I just made reservations today for JFK-VCE for Oct. 2018 on the HAL website. I got the exact flight I wanted (there is 1 non-stop) and the business class fare was $5000 a person less than on the airline website. A homerun in all ways.

I'm not entirely sure, but if you have already booked through a TA I don't think you can access that part of your booking (flight ease) online, only the shorex and personal purchases such as flowers, dining, etc.

Not sure if this is the same, but we booked a 2017 cruise on shipboard in 2016. Had it transferred to our TA.Then we cancelled and rebooked it to a 2018 cruise. I can access FlightEase off the reservation via the HAL Site. Really starting to look into it, as we got a $800pp Flight Credit as part of the promo pack.

Cheers,

On a recent Westerdam Transatlantic some people told us that they got some very good pricing by using HAL's Flight program for a business class flight from Florida to Rome. Has anyone had experience with the program. We are getting to old to sit in the back of a plane for 12 hours! Our for the days of my youth, but not I need comfort, at a reasonable price!

We are using FlightEase for our one way return flight from Rome (it’s a Konningsdam trans Atlantic). The price was SIGNIFICANTLY less then what we were seeing on Kayak and other sites. It’s non stop as well.

I was told to hit the princess website for equivalent flights and get an idea what was offered. They do let you see it all.

 

that let me compare easily. I pretty much knew the flights I was interested in so when I called, it didn't take long.

 

HAL doesn't have that availability to see potential flights for some reason.

That’s a great trick Kazu, thanks!

Now if only their pacific prices were more reasonable 🙁

We needed a one way business class flight from Tampa to Venice. I checked online, and the one-ways were $8200 and up. If we would book a round trip and throw away the return portion (which the airlines hate) the price was $2900 RT. I asked our TA to check HAL's air program and she got us one way business class air, with a stop in Gatwick, for $1240 P/P. British Air's premium economy was $720 P/P. Regular economy was $340 P/P, all one-way. We could never get these fares by ourselves. Once booked, 7 months out from the cruise, we got BA's record locators from HAL and we could select our seats, and pick our meals on the trans-Atlantic leg. We didn't have to pay for the cruise and the air until final payment date. If we booked ourselves, we would have, in addition to a horrible fare, pay immediately upon booking, and it was non-refundable. With HAL air program, if we had to cancel before final payment, both the cruise and air would cancel with no loss of funds to us. How can you beat that ? Naturally, domestic round trips are another story, you can usually do pretty well by yourself. It's only international, one-way flights where HAL really shines.

I booked our roundtrip Los Angeles to Amsterdam flights for next July using FlightEase. Better price than anything my TA could find. Able to select our seats with no problem.

Thanks everybody. It seems that HAL's flight program is the way to go -- unless you are a sardine, and a young sardine at that. Wonder why HAL does not promote this program.

Learn how to use the ITA Matrix website search engine to identify the best biz class fares and then purchase directly through the airline so that you get your FF points as well as the low fare. The key is often in knowing which fare class to hunt down.

Recently found an Asiana one way biz class using United Polaris class flight from SFO to Seoul and then Asiana onward to SYD for under $2500/person. Had I booked the same flight as an actual United number, going rate at the time of booking was more than $8000/person. And because Asiana is a Star Alliance partner, we still got our United FF points.

Also, look into the Scott's Cheap Flights website, which is another free search engine (though news of true bargains is delayed about one day after folks with a paid subscription get immediate notification of airline flash sales, temporary pricing flukes, etc.).

Recognize that not all fares or even all flights are readily published on ticket purchase sites like Kayak or Orbitz. Even airlines don't always show everything they have (especially if you've okayed cookies to be set on whatever device you use to search.

Finally, recognize that you can get some airlines directly (by phone) to identify the cheapest fare basis available on a reasonable itinerary and, if not viewable on their website, allow you to book by phone and waive any booking fee.

It just takes some genuine finesse to usually beat a cruise line's best (non-charter) air deal - particularly if you want to travel several days prior to and after your cruise.

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We're doing Ft. Lauderdale to Australia January 2019. We plan to stay in Australia for several weeks before coming home. Would we still ne able to use HALs FlightEase?

We're doing Ft. Lauderdale to Australia January 2019. We plan to stay in Australia for several weeks before coming home. Would we still ne able to use HALs FlightEase?

We are flying in early pre-cruise and staying post cruise and using Flight Ease both ways right now. No problem to do so. I would think it should be the same for you ?

We're doing Ft. Lauderdale to Australia January 2019. We plan to stay in Australia for several weeks before coming home. Would we still ne able to use HALs FlightEase?

Based on our experience with FlightEase, I believe you can, but to be safe, I suggest you either direct this question to your TA or contact HAL.

I would use RCCL's "Chice Air" web site. You do not need to have an RCCL reservation - just insert any RCCL ship departing around the dates you want to fly and a matrix of available flights shows up. Now let me offer two further tips: (1) When viewing the matrix, look for code share flights which are often much less costly. For instance, I'm looking at a business class, non-stop from Barcelona to Miami in May. American lists their flight at around $1,300 but if you book through Iberia, the same flight costs about $1,100. (2) Look for alternative cities from Europe for your transatlantic flight. You might find, as an example, flying from port of departure Venice to Chicago is $1,800, but flying from Amsterdam or Barcelona to Chicago is $1,400. It might well be worth taking a short intra-Europe flight to a connecting city.

I would use RCCL's "Chice Air" web site. You do not need to have an RCCL reservation - just insert any RCCL ship departing around the dates you want to fly and a matrix of available flights shows up. Now let me offer two further tips: (1) When viewing the matrix, look for code share flights which are often much less costly. For instance, I'm looking at a business class, non-stop from Barcelona to Miami in May. American lists their flight at around $1,300 but if you book through Iberia, the same flight costs about $1,100. (2) Look for alternative cities from Europe for your transatlantic flight. You might find, as an example, flying from port of departure Venice to Chicago is $1,800, but flying from Amsterdam or Barcelona to Chicago is $1,400. It might well be worth taking a short intra-Europe flight to a connecting city.

Or just let "ITA Matrix" do that for you.

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