Princess EZ Air

Has anyone used Princess EZ Air before ? I was checking and found their Flexible Fares are currently less than their Restricted Fares and also less than booking directly with the airline. Also, the Flexible Fare isn't due until Final Payment or 45 days prior to the cruise, whichever comes first. Doesn't appear to be any downside ??? Looking for some experienced feedback prior to booking.

Thank you.

Doesn't appear to be any downside ???

Apart from it's a CruiseAir type thing, obviously!

I think you need to read up about exactly what it means by Flexible Fare. I very much doubt a Cruise Air type ticket is going to be cheaper than a non-refundable airline purchased ticket and have all the bells and whistles of a fully flexible airline purchased one!

Apart from it's a CruiseAir type thing, obviously!

 

I think you need to read up about exactly what it means by Flexible Fare. I very much doubt a Cruise Air type ticket is going to be cheaper than a non-refundable airline purchased ticket and have all the bells and whistles of a fully flexible airline purchased one!

Thanks for your insight, but I take it you have no personal experience with Princess' EZ Air program. I can assure you I compared both fares offered by Princess EZ Air, Flexible vs. Restricted, and only the Restricted had the same non-refundable provisions of the airline's ticket and was more expensive, where the Flexible was less than the airline's equivalent and fully changeable/refundable with no fees up until final payment or 45 days prior to embarkation, whichever comes first.

Anyone else have actual experience using Princess EZ Air ?

Thank you.

I see you missed the point. I suggest you read the Sticky above:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

The point is that any answer to the question you posed, i.e., whether anyone has experience with EZAir, will not provide you with useful information. The question you really want to ask is, "What are the restrictions on the ticket I purchase from EZAir?"

These two questions differ significantly because one person might get lucky and purchase a ticket without significant restrictions, while another person might purchase a ticket that comes with important additional restrictions, such as non-endorsability and non-rerouteability. With EZAir, you cannot tell which ticket you are purchasing.

I think fbgd was implying that if the flexible EZAir ticket is significantly cheaper than the airline's own non-refundable ticket, then it's likely that such a ticket is non-endorsable and/or non-rerouteable (or has some other unknown restrictions). The problem is that you just don't know.

One more question...you say that the Flexible Fare isn't paid until "final Payment" or 45 days out. Is that fare locked in without any payment at all, or could it be subject to change between booking and payment?

I ask because I tried a dummy booking and found this at the bottom of the results: "Fare and availability not guaranteed until paid".

Which means your great deal could easily change to a much higher price between now and when you pay for the tickets. And the flights themselves may become unavailable.

The devil is in the details. Caveat Emptor.

One more question...you say that the Flexible Fare isn't paid until "final Payment" or 45 days out. Is that fare locked in without any payment at all, or could it be subject to change between booking and payment?

 

I ask because I tried a dummy booking and found this at the bottom of the results: "Fare and availability not guaranteed until paid".

 

Which means your great deal could easily change to a much higher price between now and when you pay for the tickets. And the flights themselves may become unavailable.

 

The devil is in the details. Caveat Emptor.

The fare itself is locked in at the price when you book. This is stated if you actually complete the booking.

The only way the price would change, is if there is a change in the taxes or government fees. This would get added to your fare.

The fare itself is locked in at the price when you book. This is stated if you actually complete the booking.

Does "complete the booking" mean that you have paid and the charge is on your credit card? Or is it "booked" but not paid for? What exactly does "complete the booking" mean?

Two different circumstances - and since I could not find the full T&C for the program, how does that reconcile with their words that the price can change until paid for?

I'm a simple guy. When something says it may change, it means -- it may change. And if the only way to find differently is to actually make a purchase without knowing the rules....

We have used EZ Air twice in a year. This past November we had no issues, price changes, schedule changes, etc. Our tickets were FAR cheaper than anything we could book elsewhere.

We are due to fly to Copenhagen this coming Wednesday using EZ Air. This time we chose to go ahead and pay for our airfare earlier than final payment. We wanted to upgrade to premium economy and we could not do this until our flights were paid for.

We now look at EZ Air first before price comparing.

We have used EZ Air twice in a year. This past November we had no issues, price changes, schedule changes, etc.

As long as others understand that just because YOU had no issues, price changes, schedule changes, doesn't mean they are guaranteed to have the same experience.

Sometimes when the ticket is far cheaper it works out great if nothing goes wrong. Then again, sometimes when something does go wrong, you find out the hard way exactly what you gave up in exchange for that super cheap price.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and cautionary advisories. I posted this question on the Princess forum as well, and many there have used EZ Air, saving money with no adverse issues, in fact one couple having a scheduling problem made by the airline said the EZ Air representative not only took care of fixing everything, but also comped a Tuscan Grill steakhouse meal for their trouble.

Sounds like pretty good service as well as saving money.

Thanks again.

Does "complete the booking" mean that you have paid and the charge is on your credit card? Or is it "booked" but not paid for? What exactly does "complete the booking" mean?

 

Two different circumstances - and since I could not find the full T&C for the program, how does that reconcile with their words that the price can change until paid for?

 

I'm a simple guy. When something says it may change, it means -- it may change. And if the only way to find differently is to actually make a purchase without knowing the rules....

I was actually curious about this same thing when I was looking to book airfare.

I scheduled my air two days ago for a cruise in May using their flexible fare. When I was done and I had "booked" the fare, I got the notice that the fare would not change except for any changes to tax or government fee changes. I only paid the deposit for the cruise. I was also able to pick my seats.

The flights are now listed with Princess on my itinerary. Under the itinerary there is a link to cancel the air booking. There is also another link to modify the booking. I was also able to log in to the airlines website and see all my information and seats listed.

The only thing I can think of about a price change until paid for, is it applies to the restricted fares, that must be paid in full at the time of booking.

I used EZAir last year for a cruise and had no problems. I did have to pay at the time of booking, though, as it was a last minute thing.

I will still be checking fares through the airlines and EzAir for the next few months.

I just went through the booking process again, just to double check everything.

On the final page, where you can submit your booking it lists your fare cost, flights and guest information, special meals, etc.

It also says the following:

Payment for air is not required at this time. Charges will be included with your cruise booking final payment.

Under one of the boxes you must check saying you have read, understood and accept the above conditions:

Prices are not subject to increase, except for charges resulting from increases in government imposed taxes or fees. By selecting this checkbox you expressly acknowledge your acceptance of these conditions. (ie increases attributable to government imposed taxes or fees after full payment) applicable to your purchase.

If you already have a cruise booked, you can get this far without having to book the airfare. If you do not have a cruise booked, yet, it will only show the flights options and costs.

one couple having a scheduling problem made by the airline said the EZ Air representative not only took care of fixing everything

Sounds like the airline made a schedule change at some point in advance of the day of flight. There are both good and bad stories out there from folks with cruise line air experience, and the worst cases tend to be when there is a last minute delay or cancellation, often on the day of travel. Most of the time things go fine, regardless of how tickets were booked, but there's always that one time.....

Bumping this thread. I have no experience with Princess EZAir but the ticket price for United SAN to Barcelona and Rome to SAN is about $600. per person cheaper through EZAir than it is direct with United for the same flight. That said yes you can wait and pay for it 45 days out but then you are stuck with what seats are left on the plane at the time. I booked today on EZAir with Princess then saw my reservation on United. It did not have a check out page and I could not upgrade my seats, but what I had chosen was there. So I called United, they said the FF miles would depend on the price I paid for the ticket. I could pay for the ticket with Princess at any time but could not upgrade seats until the ticket was paid for, and whatever seats I picked on Princess would not be guaranteed until the ticket was purchased. So, I buy it through EZAir, pay for ticket and then call United to upgrade the seat while there is still a good selection of seats.

We have been on the EZ site but did not book.

Two reasons. The first was that we found a better fare and routing elsewhere.

The other reason was that we could not see the actual fare code. We want to know fare code so we can understand, at a minimum, what we are buying. We especially want to know if we can change and at what the airline change fee will be.

We have used EZ Air several times in this past three years. The only trouble we encountered was caused by Delta Airlines. First schedule change gave us 10 minutes to get from Atlanta's domestic terminal to Virgin Atlantic's international terminal (before the plane actually took off.) Second change gave us minus one minute to do the above.

EZ Air's rep. spent a tremendous amount of time convincing Delta these flights would not work, thus Delta could not charge us more. I paid for our airfare through princess five months prior to our flight to be sure we got the seats we wanted. In my naivety I did not know Princess would not send the money to Delta until we made final payment on our cruise.

This year we used EZ Air to fly home from Berlin, Germany. (We do not actually go until next April.) I used the modify flights part of the transportation site. Guess what? Our airfare has gone down twice. I highly recommend EZ Air and always check the Princess site before looking at outside airfare.

We also like the comfort of knowing there are problems with our flights, all we need to do is call Princess.

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We also like the comfort of knowing there are problems with our flights, all we need to do is call Princess.

Looking at this realistically- you do know, Princess is just a middle man??? And has NOTHING to do with the flight operations? Many times, you are far more efficient dealing directly with airlines, no phone tag. Princess isn't going to give you magic seats on full /canceled flights. Your thinking looks one sided perhaps.

Your thinking looks one sided perhaps.

And through rose colored glasses.

Love to Cruz - you HAVE read the EZair terms and conditions, right? And I am sure that you have found EXACTLY where it says that all you problems will be resolved with a simple phone call to Princess.

For the benefit of all of us who haven't found those words in the T&C, could you please quote them for us? And not the marketing weasel words that carry no weight versus the legal boilerplate of the T&C.

Cause they don't exist.

The only trouble we encountered was caused by Delta Airlines. First schedule change gave us 10 minutes to get from Atlanta's domestic terminal to Virgin Atlantic's international terminal (before the plane actually took off.) Second change gave us minus one minute to do the above.

EZ Air's rep. spent a tremendous amount of time convincing Delta these flights would not work, thus Delta could not charge us more. I paid for our airfare through princess five months prior to our flight to be sure we got the seats we wanted. In my naivety I did not know Princess would not send the money to Delta until we made final payment on our cruise.

Delta has a minimum connect time at ATL of 35 minutes for domestic flights; I'm not sure about international (possibly longer), but obviously a 10 minute connect didn't fit Delta's own parameters. I can say from personal experience that if you had booked directly with Delta, there would have been no need for you to spend a tremendous amount of time convincing Delta of anything. It would have been a simple matter of calling, once, and they would have changed your flights or refunded your money so you could rebook. In fact, there's a good chance they would have just automatically rebooked you and sent you a notice to that effect, at which point you still could have called to change/cancel things if the new flights didn't suit you for whatever reason.

In all likelihood, the reason EZAir had to go to so much trouble to change things was because they hadn't actually paid DL for the flights, meaning Delta's own "free change" rule didn't apply, because there was no actual ticket yet to be changed. In between you booking with EZ Air, and Delta changing their schedule, the negotiated price between EZ Air and Delta probably went up, and so Delta had every right to charge more. Had the ticket been purchased, it would have been as simple as described above if you had booked it yourself.

Okay, so please bear with me I am not an experienced traveler. I did book Princess EZ Air because it is $3,000. cheaper than booking through the airline. I read the T&C, though hard to comprehend. I saw the flight and seats on United and they were exactly what we would have booked directly through United. We have United miles. The seats are not quaranteed until we pay for the flight. However I cant find on United or Princess an option to pay for flight now so I can reserve and update seats at this lower price. I have plenty of time before cruise in 10/2018 to play the field and watch fares if that is really the better option. I definitely don't want to wait to pay for airline at final payment and end up with seats separate from my travel mate or just willy nilly. United implied I had to pay ASAP for the seats as they were a hold, then when I called they said they would be held but if someone else booked and paid they would be given to them. So, that means to me pay now at this rate if you want specific seats! So do I do that through United or Princess? If it is through Princess then I know this is not a good deal! I will call UA again tomorrow!

I saw the flight and seats on United and they were exactly what we would have booked directly through United.

While the flight number, flight date, and seats were the same as what you would have booked through United, the actual ticket, and the terms and conditions attached to, may well be very different. What does that mean? It means you might be far more limited in how you can be re-accommodated on travel day if there are problems. Sometimes the cruise line buys tickets from the airline that are no different than what the airline sells directly to passengers; other times they negotiate a deal whereby a ticket is sold for a lower price, but it might be non-endorseable or non-rerouteable. If there are no problems on travel day, and there usually aren't, you'll never know the ticket was any different and you'll have saved a bunch of money...good for you! If there are problems, you might find out just how low you are on the totem pole in terms of getting rebooked. Most people have no issues with these tickets, but every so often a story pops up that shows just what a nightmare they can be.

We paid 2 months prior to our cruise final payment date in hopes of making sure our seats were confirmed. Found out later when paying directly to Princess, the airline will not receive your payment from Princess until you pay in full for your cruise. Thus we ended up losing the seats we wanted.

Do not know if we can send the payment directly to the airline or not. Does anyone know if this is possible, even though the booking is through Princess? Our experience is EZ Air cannot be beat price wise. We did have an issue with a seriously delayed flight and one call to Princess got us on another flight in a timely manner.

Most of the tickets we buy now are non endorseable but we also pay attention to the airline. If the airline has few flights on our route we avoid them in favour of an airline that has many. We had no issue with consolidator class tickets through Toronto, LHR, and Istanbul because BA operated multiple daily flights on both legs.

We do pay attention to fare code. Most especially we want the ability to change in the remote chance that it is required. We were on the verge of buying a United ticket to Bangkok but stopped when we realized that the fare code did not allow any changes. We bought a Delta ticket instead. This is important to us because we often go for a few months at a time. As luck would have it we did have to return early. The change fee on Delta was $200 which we happily paid. Much less expensive than purchasing one ways home which would have been the case with the particular United fare code that we were looking at.

One advantage that we have is that we travel with carry on only. This has made scheduling/re-routing much easier on several occasions when we have experienced flight delays or weather issues when changing aircraft.

The very first question we get is whether we have any checked baggage. We have dodged the bullet a few times simply because of our ability to go directly to another gate without bothering with checked bags.

Many thanks for the replies! I had a feeling that based on what I saw on both the Princess and United site that I had to wait until final payment to lock the tickets. That would change my seat request! I am going to call United to see if I can lock the price and seats.

The tickets according to Princess are" flexible and fully refundable", but I think that is until final payment only.

iancal: How do I find out the fare code? United told me I would earn miles based on the price I paid for the ticket. Thank you in advance for your advice.