Are there any downsides to using EZ Air?

[fluffybunny22]

Yesterday EZ Air opened for our Baltic cruise. We were able to get business class for a reasonable price and not much more than economy if we booked our airfare directly with the airlines. I don't usually handle the airfare side of our vacations and we've never booked airfare other than with the carrier. My husband wants to make sure there isn't some downside to booking through Princess. He also wants to make sure we aren't stranded somewhere because there aren't any direct flights from our airport to Copenhagen. As an added bonus I also booked my in laws flights so if something goes wrong or I've miscalculated I'll have multiple people mad at me.

[azbirdmom]

I don't see it as being much different than booking directly with the airlines.  A bonus is the better price and if you book flexible air, you can continue to rebook if a better fare arises or cancel entirely at no cost to you.  I've done the latter when a saver mileage award came available, and do the former all the time.  If you are a frequent flyer, you should be able to select the seats of your choosing on the airline website too.  The reservation by the way likely won't be ticketed until after final payment date but it is still valid.  Like any airline reservation, you should check it frequently to ensure there aren't changes or an outright cancellation.  The travel arrangements button at the top of the screen in the Cruiser Personalizer should turn red when this occurs and you should get a notice from Princess (or forwarded from your TA) if there are changes but some have reported they have not been notified.

Edited July 26, 2019 by azbirdmom

[Jeter02]

Do downside at all. All positive. My TA and I are always able find comparable prices and hand select the flights. It's a nice safety net, God forbid your flight is delayed, or you missed a flight let's say day if cruise. Princess will pay for your next flight to next port of call for you to meet up with the ship. Any cruise I take that's not in FLL where I live, I will only do EZ air for that leave of mind.

[fluffybunny22]

2 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

Do downside at all. All positive. My TA and I are always able find comparable prices and hand select the flights. It's a nice safety net, God forbid your flight is delayed, or you missed a flight let's say day if cruise. Princess will pay for your next flight to next port of call for you to meet up with the ship. Any cruise I take that's not in FLL where I live, I will only do EZ air for that leave of mind.

We are all flying in the day before so hopefully we won't miss the cruise. I hope we won't miss the day in Copenhagen either since none of us have ever been there.

[Haboob]

Dunno 'bout downsides, but I've experienced an upside...

 

EZ-Air had us booked on SAS for a return flight from Copenhagen after a trans-Atlantic a few months ago.  Yup.  That was when, five days out of Copenhagen, SAS went on strike and it was time to find another way home with our travel agent MIA, lousy internet, all the spare seats on other airlines snatched up, and a re-booked EZ-Air airline reservation calmly slipped under our cabin door.

[Jeter02]

4 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

We are all flying in the day before so hopefully we won't miss the cruise. I hope we won't miss the day in Copenhagen either since none of us have ever been there.

Copenhagen is lovely. Lots to see and do. You are going to love, as well as the Baltic sailing. Amazing itinerary. One of my most favorite cruises to date.

[satxdiver]

The only downside of using EZair that I have found so far is that the airline credits a token amount of airline miles on international flights.   If you are expecting to get the normal airline credit for flights taken, the amount of miles given will be small.  However this has a very minimal impact on all the positives for using EZair.  

 

Not having to pay for the airline tickets until your final payment for the cruise, being able to cancel at any time up to 45 days before the flight or ship sailing and guarantee that you will make it to the ship and return home no matter what are all fantastic.  Add to that cheaper airfares than what the airlines are offering and it becomes a non-decision. 

 

I know of no other downsides to using EZair.  

[richmke]

Assuming the EZ Air flight is the one you want, there is no downside. If you want a different airline, then you have to book it yourself. For me, it is Delta via EZ-Air, or Southwest on our own. Unless the EZ Air is significantly less, we go with Southwest for the free bags.

 

The big positive about EZ Air is that if the flights get messed up, Princess has to make good. - Schedule change, and the flight arrives too late to make the cruise; flight is delayed and you miss embarkation; Debarkation is delayed and you miss your flight; etc.

Edited July 26, 2019 by richmke

[Coral]

21 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

We are all flying in the day before so hopefully we won't miss the cruise. I hope we won't miss the day in Copenhagen either since none of us have ever been there.

I would strongly recommend flying in at least 2 days early. One reason - Copenhagen is an amazing city and worth exploring. Secondly - with any flight reservations, there can be delays and also missed luggage. I know someone whose luggage took a few days to catch up to them and they went the first few days with out luggage on the Baltic cruise (and they even flew in a day early). Unless you have a direct flight - considering the time in Copenhagen as a way to get past jet lag, see the city and make sure if there are any problems with airlines,  you have time to rebound from that. I flew 2x to Europe last year (plus domestic flights) and half of my flights ran into problems and I missed them due to mechanical issues, weather issues, etc.... One was cancelled all together. I had another friend flying home from a cruise (thankfully it was flying home) and their Air France flight was cancelled due to mechanical reasons. It took them 2 days to get rescheduled on a new flight.

[ggprincess2004]

I do not see any downsides to using EZ Air to book flights, unless your preferred airline is not available on EZ Air.  I have found the rates and the flexibility for international flights excellent, and now use it almost exclusively to book our pre and post cruise flights.  As members of the frequent flier program for any airline we happen to fly on, we are certain to enter the membership info as well as the pre-Check or TT program ID with Princess, and make sure all is well on the airline website, too. 

[fluffybunny22]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

I would strongly recommend flying in at least 2 days early. One reason - Copenhagen is an amazing city and worth exploring. Secondly - with any flight reservations, there can be delays and also missed luggage. I know someone whose luggage took a few days to catch up to them and they went the first few days with out luggage on the Baltic cruise (and they even flew in a day early). Unless you have a direct flight - considering the time in Copenhagen as a way to get past jet lag, see the city and make sure if there are any problems with airlines,  you have time to rebound from that. I flew 2x to Europe last year (plus domestic flights) and half of my flights ran into problems and I missed them due to mechanical issues, weather issues, etc.... One was cancelled all together. I had another friend flying home from a cruise (thankfully it was flying home) and their Air France flight was cancelled due to mechanical reasons. It took them 2 days to get rescheduled on a new flight.

We unfortunately can't get there any sooner than the day before because our son is graduating that week and with having people in town for graduation and the time off for the cruise we are already pushing the bounds of what is doable for my husband's employer and our dogs.

[Anubi]

I booked our Baltic cruise flights last week.  The thing I like the most about EZAir is that you can check daily (if you are that obsessed!) on the price and you will benefit if there is a price drop and you rebook.

 

The process was explained to me thusly:

 

I check my flights every day by clicking on the green 'add or modify flights' button, then select 'change flights' and seeing what the prices are for the results.  It's not going to change your booking until the very end where you click a button to confirm the changes. 

 

After you select the 'new' flights it will show you the old total and the new total, then you click the green 'continue' button, where you confirm the changes.   It's not like you're going to accidentally make these changes just by looking up current prices.  

 

If I don't want to make the changes, I just click the 'home' button to exit.  

 

I always do this while signed in so if the airfare is a good/lower price, I can lock it in immediately.  I've seen some really great deals and wouldn't want to miss them by not being signed in.  We all know how flaky the Princess website can be at times.

 

The green Modify button is your friend.

The red Cancel button, not so much. Avoid this one, unless you really mean it, and you’ll be fine.

 

  

[Cruise Junky]

There's been a few stories of people having flights, airlines and routes changed a couple of weeks before sailing.  I'd never use them.  Too much of a control freak on my flights.

[Thrak]

We booked EZ Air from Sacramento to London because we got the exact same flight numbers on Virgin Atlantic for less than 10% of any other booking service we tried. Hard to pass that up.

[Jeter02]

5 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We booked EZ Air from Sacramento to London because we got the exact same flight numbers on Virgin Atlantic for less than 10% of any other booking service we tried. Hard to pass that up.

Yes. I've experienced the same as well.

[Haboob]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

There's been a few stories of people having flights, airlines and routes changed a couple of weeks before sailing.  I'd never use them.  Too much of a control freak on my flights.

 

I hear the "control freak" bit, but such changes are not EZ-Air's doing.  It's the airlines tweaking schedules to eke out the last cent of profit.

 

So whether they book the seats or you do, if the airline ain't flying that flight anymore...

[Jeter02]

6 minutes ago, Haboob said:

 

I hear the "control freak" bit, but such changes are not EZ-Air's doing.  It's the airlines tweaking schedules to eke out the last cent of profit.

 

So whether they book the seats or you do, if the airline ain't flying that flight anymore...

Alaska air changed my EZ air flight. When I called to question, they said they cancelled my orginal flight, as there could different variables for the cancelled route. When they issued the new flight they did a lovely job on finding one equivalent. Did gave an additional stop on my route, but what to do. Anchorage is not one of those destinations where you can get a non stop from everywhere. 

[Cruise Junky]

14 minutes ago, Haboob said:

 

I hear the "control freak" bit, but such changes are not EZ-Air's doing.  It's the airlines tweaking schedules to eke out the last cent of profit.

 

So whether they book the seats or you do, if the airline ain't flying that flight anymore...

Not always.  Last time we did the Caribbean on Princess someone that booked using EZ Air and I were on the same flight (we were talking on our roll call). I booked it myself.  Two weeks before sailing her flights got changed to a different airline and a different route.  My flight never changed.

[Alaskanb]

We will use EZ Air for the first time in the Fall for our return flights from Europe. Prices allow us to fly in the Upper Class cabin on Virgin Atlantic and first class on Delta --bliss when you are time dis-oriented! We have been promptly informed about flight changes and have had no issues with seat and special service requests through each airline. We have joined their frequent flyer programs. I have made sure we have plenty of time between flights. 

It takes over an hour , maybe 2, to reach an EZ-Air agent by phone, after navigating through Princess customer service who discourage you from doing so. I much prefer direct contact with the airline! So make sure it's important if you need to contact them. 

 

 

[capriccio]

 

49 minutes ago, ggprincess2004 said:

 As members of the frequent flier program for any airline we happen to fly on, we are certain to enter the membership info as well as the pre-Check or TT program ID with Princess, and make sure all is well on the airline website, too. 

 

We used EZ Air on our round trip Washington, DC - London flights last month on United.  We have gold status on United and had no issue choosing upgraded seats (economy plus) on our economy class tickets.  What truly amazed us - given that the EZ Air tickets are usually one of the lowest fare classes - it that we were automatically upgraded at the gate on the return flight to Polaris Business class!  It will probably never happen again, but we sure enjoyed it.

[Haboob]

43 minutes ago, Alaskanb said:

We will use EZ Air for the first time in the Fall for our return flights from Europe. Prices allow us to fly in the Upper Class cabin on Virgin Atlantic and first class on Delta --bliss when you are time dis-oriented! We have been promptly informed about flight changes and have had no issues with seat and special service requests through each airline. We have joined their frequent flyer programs. I have made sure we have plenty of time between flights. 

It takes over an hour , maybe 2, to reach an EZ-Air agent by phone, after navigating through Princess customer service who discourage you from doing so. I much prefer direct contact with the airline! So make sure it's important if you need to contact them. 

 

 

A little insight for you:  EZ-Air is not Princess.  It's an outside service that contracts with multiple cruise lines under various DBAs.

[pjrockman]

It is hard to beat the prices, especially with the Flexible Fares.  We did experience one quirk on one flight.  We had booked Econ Plus through EZ Air from Dulles (IAD) to LAX on United.  When First Class became available at a great price, United wouldn’t let us upgrade (we offered the difference).  They said that it was the type of ticket Princess buys.  They said to wait until at the airport to try to pay for an upgrade if offered.  Sure enough, we checked in and at the Gate they said there were 4 First Class available at $100 per seat upgrade charge.  We took two, but nothing they did would allow them to upgrade our Princess tix.  The very nice Gate person even called 2 other people to try to get it to override the refusal.  No go!  The phone people said the same thing that the initial United person told me: it’s the type of ticket that was purchased.  We aren’t United Gold or anything, so maybe that would have made a difference.  They had a name for the type of ticket..Like F Class, or something like that.  Someone familiar with airline ticket lingo may know more than I do and may weigh in.

 

Safe Journeys, Paul

 

Edit: Correct, they didn’t say Princess, they said the travel agency that Princess uses.  I was just calling it Princess.  But it was a Princess EZ Air ticket purchased through Personalizer.

Edited July 26, 2019 by pjrockman

[Colo Cruiser]

Whenever we have used it it has worked really well and the prices along with flexible air is awesome.

[antsp]

Are bag fees included with the price

[fluffybunny22]

45 minutes ago, antsp said:

Are bag fees included with the price

It doesn't look like the economy air I booked for my in laws includes baggage. They are flying Delta in basic economy and the only baggage you are allowed is what fits under the seat. No overhead baggage.