FLIGHT EASE QUESTION

[jabcruiser]

We are booked on April 2020 Transatlantic cruise from FLL to Rome, then continuing on Greek Odyssey cruise terminating in Venice.  We plan on staying in Italy for another week or so traveling from Venice to Florence and ending in Rome.  So we will need a one way flight back to Florida from Rome.  My question is whether I will be able to use Flight Ease returning from Rome a week or so after our cruise ends in Venice.  Flight Ease pricing not available for this cruise for another month or so but hoping some fellow CC members can give me some info on this.  Really hoping Flight Ease has some good fares we can use.  We have never used it before so am clueless at this point.  Also, we could fly back to about any city in Florida or even east coast depending on cost, then just fly Southwest back home , even though we are leaving from FLL.  Can we pick any airport to return to based on cost and schedule, or will we have to return to FLL to use Flight Ease?  

Thanks for any insight you experienced international cruisers can give.

Jane

[richwmn]

flight ease is limited as to choices, it can't book travel other than to embarkation points, or from disembarkation points but it can book flights several days before or after the cruise. I believe it also has to route you to the airport that services your home. It can't book just any itinerary you wish.

 

[DC1979]

I was pretty sure when I was looking at flight options that I was able to change the airport to something other than the disembarkation point, although it did require flight to be at least one day after the cruise ended.  I definitely was able to change the origin airport to a different one than my address with Holland America with no problems.  

[richwmn]

24 minutes ago, DC1979 said:

I was pretty sure when I was looking at flight options that I was able to change the airport to something other than the disembarkation point, although it did require flight to be at least one day after the cruise ended.  I definitely was able to change the origin airport to a different one than my address with Holland America with no problems.  

It may have changed. A couple of years ago I was in Europe before a Montreal => FLL cruise. I tried flight ease and was told they couldn't schedule flights other than from and to my "home" airport

[terrydtx]

The best way to find out is to go through your TA or HAL PCC if you booked direct. They have access to Flight Ease and will be able to check prices and book once the airlines schedule are available in another month or so. Remember airline schedules are available 330 days out from the return flight date.

Edited May 9, 2019 by terrydtx

[TiogaCruiser]

3 hours ago, DC1979 said:

I was pretty sure when I was looking at flight options that I was able to change the airport to something other than the disembarkation point, although it did require flight to be at least one day after the cruise ended.  I definitely was able to change the origin airport to a different one than my address with Holland America with no problems.  

Just a heads up.

If you are booked under Flightease, DO NOT use it to go price shopping or change the airport.

 

There have been several threads where someone did one of those and their reservations were cancelled by the system. Reportedly it is a known problem.... unless, of course, it’s been resolved.

[TAD2005]

I booked a one-way fare using Flight Ease from Tampa to Venice, and was able to change the flight date to any date I wanted.  I booked it 7 days prior to the ship's departure from Venice.   I could also change my departure airport from TPA to MCO (Orlando) and compare fares from there.  

[jkrislc]

Flight ease allowed for a lot of flexibility. I was able to start my flights from any airport and select a number of airports to fly home from after the cruise. We're taking a cruise from Venice to Barcelona, but decided to spend some time in Switzerland after the cruise and Flight Ease gave me the option to select Zurich as my return airport to depart from to head home. 

[ski ww]

Is the cost with Flight Ease better then booking your self?

[oceanmom]

It all depends. Most find that one-way or international prices are better. Domestic US not always. Best to do your research before working with FlightEase. Or occasionally there will be air credit promos, or sometimes I have found that calling FlightEase or HAL's flight department, they have special sales. Good luck.

 

One thing I like is booking the flight on FlightEase and not paying until the final cruise payment is made when I use the flexible pricing--which we always do so we can make changes if needed.

Edited May 10, 2019 by oceanmom

[terrydtx]

40 minutes ago, ski ww said:

Is the cost with Flight Ease better then booking your self?

I saved about $300pp for three of us flying to Vancouver from Dallas TX and back home from Fairbanks over what I could find myself. For me Flight Ease was worth about $900 in savings. That was without any promo airfare savings from HAL.

[mauimacho]

I saved $6000 each for Business Class  PHX to CPH for July.

[TAD2005]

When you are comparing flights booked on your own, vs. Flight Ease, remember that HAL does not display flights from the low cost budget carriers like Southwest and Spirit.  

But we have always found that even on domestic round trips, where the prices are the same, the big advantage with Flight Ease is not paying for the flight until cruise final payment.   You will get a airline record locator upon booking, and you can go onto the airline website and view or change seats,  add your frequent flyer number, and when you are within 24 hours,  you will check-in on the airline site, print your boarding passes.   If you have to cancel outside of the final payment date, you simply cancel and you get your cruise deposit back.  If you booked the air on your own, and your boss says "there's no way you're going on vacation right now", you can cancel the cruise, but you have to eat the air fare.

[westcoastcruiser]

5 hours ago, mauimacho said:

I saved $6000 each for Business Class  PHX to CPH for July.

 

We did, too.  Amazing price difference!  

[dfish]

7 hours ago, ski ww said:

Is the cost with Flight Ease better then booking your self?

The cost for my Business Class round trip ticket CLE - AMS was half what the airline was charging on their site.  On domestic flights Flight Ease has been comparable to what I have found myself.

[ski ww]

Thanks, good info. Looking at next summer to Europe for a Norwegian cruise.

[dfish]

3 hours ago, ski ww said:

Thanks, good info. Looking at next summer to Europe for a Norwegian cruise.

I will as well.  I will definitely be looking at Flight Ease and comparing to what I can get on my own.  I will probably end up using Flight Ease.

[Grover_]

On 5/9/2019 at 10:20 AM, richwmn said:

flight ease is limited as to choices, it can't book travel other than to embarkation points, or from disembarkation points but it can book flights several days before or after the cruise. I believe it also has to route you to the airport that services your home. It can't book just any itinerary you wish.

 

 

This has not been my experience.

 

I am taking a cruise from Barcelona to Venice on the Veendam in June.  We are flying in a few days early to Barcelona using Flight Ease For our return flights, I am flying out of Rome 10 days after the end of the cruise and my husband is flying out of Venice 1 day after the cruise.

 

 

[ger_77]

Last year we used Flight Ease to fly to Barcelona where we spent 7 days with our family (which was like herding cats!).  After seeing them off to the airport, we spent another couple of days on our own before boarding the ship for a trans-Atlantic crossing.  It was so easy, just enter the dates and the available flights and prices show up.  One way international flights are less costly using Flight Ease - domestic flights aren't significantly cheaper.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[TAD2005]

You can select any airport you want (within reason) for departure and arrival.  Same for returning home.  Obviously if you are cruising out of Rome, you can't pick an arrival into Mumbai.   Also, you can select any date you want if you plan on touring Europe on your own before boarding the ship or after disembarking.   Again, the date must be reasonable, not 60 days before or after your cruise.   

[Alphen]

Is anybody familiar with the option of a stopover for like 24 hours on longer distances? I am looking for the very long flights that require you to make a stop over to change flights anyway, but does flightease allow you to stay for something like 24 hours in between connections?

[richwmn]

3 hours ago, Alphen said:

Is anybody familiar with the option of a stopover for like 24 hours on longer distances? I am looking for the very long flights that require you to make a stop over to change flights anyway, but does flightease allow you to stay for something like 24 hours in between connections?

I have a current reservation with FlightEase with a 3 day stay in San Francisco, so yes they allowed a stopover when I made that reservation.

 

[Alphen]

15 hours ago, richwmn said:

I have a current reservation with FlightEase with a 3 day stay in San Francisco, so yes they allowed a stopover when I made that reservation.

 

Thank you for this helpfull information!

[Cruising Is Bliss]

I priced our domestic round trip flights three ways. FlightEase, airline on line, and the big box I booked the cruise with. Same price at all three.

[jabcruiser]

Thanks for all the good info from you all.  We are still outside our booking window for Flight Ease but am getting anxious to be able to check the fares.  Approximately a month to go before we can do that and apparently the airlines have not published schedules/fares that long out either  But I will be sure to check fares for both Flight Ease and directly from airlines when we can. I did find a discount airline from Rome to FLL and just checking some fares in the fall appears we could afford Business class with them, assuming rates won't change much but who knows.. Need business class as don't think I can handle economy all the way from Europe.  Probably get a blood clot - not kidding. Also, have read the posts about going into flightease to check fares after initial reservation and then losing original booking.  I will be very careful about making any changes if we are able to do flightease.  Why does HAL make things so difficult?  I ended up just calling them for initial cruise reservation which is good as got way better room than was showing online for our B2B cruise and some extra credit also.  I have generally  done on line bookings previously, but HAL website is so screwed up now decided best to call them.  Worked out better.

Thanks again to all,

Jane