EZ Air flight price increased while booking-normal?

[BoopTennis]

I have never used EZ Air before, always have booked directly with airline. I saw pricing on the EZ Air site a bit less than direct thru the airline so thought i would try it knowing it is cancellable. Our cruise isn’t until next summer

So i reviewed and selected flights with flexible fares. I got all the way to the end and hit the book button then it came back and said fare had increased do I still want to book? I said no and backed completely out 

is this typical? Ever had this happen? 

[hpeabody]

Maybe not actually normal, but it has happened to me.  I was re-faring an already booked flight that had a price drop and when I got to the last step, it had increased.  Still lower than the original fare, but not the fare presented when I searched.

[franktown]

It happened to me on my last cruise.  After calling Princess found that my return flight was outside the 330 day window.  Waited a few days and was able to book with no problem.  Check prices regularly at 90 days out from sailing my fare dropped almost $200 per person and was able to re-fare.  Thats the nice thing about EZ-Air.

Edited August 28, 2019 by franktown
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[tillys mom]

Price goes up and down all the time.

[BoopTennis]

I understand prices going up and down. But once notified price had increased, i backed out and started over. Same original (lower) price for the same flights showed. I confirmed it and again it came back with a higher price. Feels like a bait and switch maneuver 

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, BoopTennis said:

I have never used EZ Air before, always have booked directly with airline. I saw pricing on the EZ Air site a bit less than direct thru the airline so thought i would try it knowing it is cancellable. Our cruise isn’t until next summer

So i reviewed and selected flights with flexible fares. I got all the way to the end and hit the book button then it came back and said fare had increased do I still want to book? I said no and backed completely out 

is this typical? Ever had this happen? 

How did you see the lower EZ Air price? Was it through your booking or did you do a mock cruise booking?

I have never seen it increase once I stated the EZ Air booking process.

[hpeabody]

26 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

How did you see the lower EZ Air price? Was it through your booking or did you do a mock cruise booking?

I have never seen it increase once I stated the EZ Air booking process.

 

Actually that IS what happened to me in my scenario.  I was in my EZair booking.

[Colo Cruiser]

1 minute ago, hpeabody said:

 

Actually that IS what happened to me in my scenario.  I was in my EZair booking.

Thats too bad.

[skynight]

I would try again tomorrow. The fare may have gone up right during your booking process. Once booked keep checking, if it goes down and you select flexible you can change it. If you find a better price elsewhere you can cancel until you reach day 45.

[aprilsp88]

51 minutes ago, BoopTennis said:

I understand prices going up and down. But once notified price had increased, i backed out and started over. Same original (lower) price for the same flights showed. I confirmed it and again it came back with a higher price. Feels like a bait and switch maneuver 

Yes exactly the same have happened to me multiple times, same feeling. I was told price could change any time, but for weeks I saw the lower price but when click book the price went up, or not available. No one seems to know why, or want to fix the glitch.

[candy4040]

I just checked on our EzAir fare from Minneapolis to Rome and back from London to Minneapolis.  Air fare went down a total of 284 for the both of us.  Love the ability to do this.

 

[CATGUY7]

3 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

I have never used EZ Air before, always have booked directly with airline. I saw pricing on the EZ Air site a bit less than direct thru the airline so thought i would try it knowing it is cancellable. Our cruise isn’t until next summer

So i reviewed and selected flights with flexible fares. I got all the way to the end and hit the book button then it came back and said fare had increased do I still want to book? I said no and backed completely out 

is this typical? Ever had this happen? 

Had exactly the same thing happen last week.  Saw a good price right after bookings were available, went all the way through booking until confirmation, and then was told airfare had increased over $600.00.  Declined and went to the airline website.  Was close to the EZ Air price.  Went back to booking, same thing happened again.  Ended up booking through the airline website at the lower price.  The next day the airline price had increased over $200.00 p/p.  Frustrating, to say the least. 

[BoopTennis]

I tried again today and this time the booking went through at the original price without getting inflated right at the end. 

I have a booking number (American Airlines). How long does it take for the airline to show the booking on their website?

[franktown]

Almost immediately on Delta and United.  Haven't used American.

[CruisinFinsUp]

This happened a number of times for me with Air Canada.  Plus, when I phoned and had Princess do the booking, it also changed on her mid way thru the process.  We had 2 booking numbers for 2 cabins and she was unable to secure the same price for both on the same flight.  

AND the prices were also higher than what was currently available direct on the Air Canada website.  

We finally gave up and I booked direct with Air Canada as the Ez air experience wasn't working for us.  

[Doug R.]

14 minutes ago, franktown said:

Almost immediately on Delta and United.  Haven't used American.

Also on American.

[BoopTennis]

Yup it now shows on the American website. But isn’t letting me pick seats yet?

 

and another question...what about checked bag fees? When i book direct with American i get a couple free checked bags. But on EZ Air site it says does not include checked bag fees?

[cruisequeen4ever]

Yes, unfortunately there was a period of time last year where this kept happening. It was very misleading and frustrating. I assume it’s a glitch.

[t&atravel]

On 8/30/2019 at 8:45 AM, BoopTennis said:

Yup it now shows on the American website. But isn’t letting me pick seats yet?

 

and another question...what about checked bag fees? When i book direct with American i get a couple free checked bags. But on EZ Air site it says does not include checked bag fees?

What EZAir means re checked bag fees is the EZAir price does not include checked bag fees if the airline charges them.  If the airlines charges for a checked bag you will pay that separately to the airline at check in are on the airline site.   If they don’t you’re good to go. 

[denton1]

This happened to me the other day. I figured out that the price went up because I picked mu own seat assignments on American Airlines. They charge extra to do that. The cheap price is if the airline assigns your seat number when you actually check in for the flight. You get whatever is left. 

[katisdale]

You choose your seats on the ez-air site. Go back in to the personalizer. Select travel arrangements and then choose Modify Flights then when it shows the people on the reservation choose the + sign under choose seats. It shows up on the American site very quickly after you have chosen.

 

[Mapu]

On 8/30/2019 at 11:45 AM, BoopTennis said:

Yup it now shows on the American website. But isn’t letting me pick seats yet?

 

and another question...what about checked bag fees? When i book direct with American i get a couple free checked bags. But on EZ Air site it says does not include checked bag fees?

If you get free bags on American when you book direct you will nit be charged when booking through eZ air.

[polmcs]

It could have been the case that EZ Air was looking at the fare buckets on AA without checking on the inventory in real time, or someone else booking the last remaining ticket in that fare bucket whilst you were making your booking and it only checked on actual availability when trying to finalize the booking.

 

The fact that you could book at the lower price might be due to the fact that AA released more seats in the lower fare bucket, or that if someone did snag the last seat in that bucket just before you made use of the AA 24hr free cancelation and the seat went back into inventory.

 

As for seats and bags, I usually get the PNR from the EZ Air page and go directly to AA, pull up the reservation and add my frequent flyer account and I then get my status perks applied to the booking.