More flight ease drama

[I like vacation]

Update:  Well the call just went dead at the 4 hour mark.  Will try an email to Gus now.

[Mary229]

6 minutes ago, I like vacation said:

Update:  Well the call just went dead at the 4 hour mark.  Will try an email to Gus now.

Try tweeting Gus too.  Someone needs to wake the dead over there.  This ongoing customer service debacle was “cute” 24 months ago but they need to adjust and get all hands on deck.  If they can’t answer customer service needs they need to quit offering the service.  

[BEAV]

16 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The Request early ticketing only works if you have made final payment, and then there is no guarantee that HAL will not make the FP to the airline until 30 days out.  We have that issue now with HAL for our Oosterdam cruise in August that had major changes to it itinerary in April. HAL cannot even provide a final invoice so that we can make the final payment for the airfare so we can have United make a change in the itinerary that they, not FE, messed up with all of their schedule and aircraft type changes. Our Original FP was due June19, but HAL moved that to July 22 because they cannot issue an invoice for the cruise or the business class airfare. My TA contacted HAL last week and told them we wanted to pay for the airfare now so we could make changes, but HAL told her even If we paid the air now they would not pay the airlines until 30 days out. Our bigger problem is our flights are booked to get us to Rome 2 weeks before our Aug 21 cruise so, by the time FE pays for our tickets we will be way to close to the Aug 2nd day we fly to Rome.

 

HAL made so many changes to all of the summer Oosterdam cruises from Rome and Venice that they are months behind in invoicing, they haven't even been able to load shore excursions into the system for the changes in our itinerary. As of Monday HAL is only up to the July Oosterdam cruises making changes and adding back in shore excursions and issuing invoices. FE has to make many flight changes for the Oosterdam because the departure and return ports for Venice all got moved to Trieste the end of April. This will by our final time using FE and probably HAL.

 

I understand (and empathize) with your experience, which is completely different from mine. I'm assuming the reason is my sailing (Rotterdam) hasn't had changes as your Oosterdam, so perhaps not quite as backed up in the invoicing stage?

 

I paid for our cruise and flights BEFORE final payment after reading of these multiple air horror story threads. I requested early ticketing, and it was done within 24 hours for our mid-July flights. 

 

Speaking in generalities vs. specifics, the hair on the back of my neck stands straight up when I read how people love the Flex Fares and ability to wait until final payment to pay for air. I say that in the current situation the airlines are in this year as they struggle to meet demand with staff shortages. That's a big red flag to me and eliminates any "feel good" thoughts of sitting back waiting for the process to work automatically. Pre-Covid, I think you could have a little more faith in that department. But certainly not in 2022!

 

Before retiring, I spent my life working in the travel industry with the majority of it in an operations capacity. When things go wrong, they go downhill fast and can take a long time to correct and get back to normal. Enter 2022 and the travel industry!

 

So that's why I encourage folks to be as proactive as possible (as you've been) and not rely on the "system" to work as is designed in a normal world. 

[Roz]

A few days ago I booked my flight to Buenos Aires for my March South America cruise.  I booked directly with United after reading about other CC members' experiences with Flight Ease.  The savings just weren't there and if something goes wrong, I'd rather deal with the airline than be on hold for hours with a 3rd party.

[I like vacation]

4 minutes ago, Roz said:

A few days ago I booked my flight to Buenos Aires for my March South America cruise.  I booked directly with United after reading about other CC members' experiences with Flight Ease.  The savings just weren't there and if something goes wrong, I'd rather deal with the airline than be on hold for hours with a 3rd party.

 I have to take a look at that as well.  We are booked on the January S/A and Antarctica cruise and already have flights booked through Flight Ease.  If the savings isn't there, I will book directly with an airline.

[terrydtx]

26 minutes ago, BEAV said:

I paid for our cruise and flights BEFORE final payment after reading of these multiple air horror story threads. I requested early ticketing, and it was done within 24 hours for our mid-July flights.

We wanted make the airfare payments at the end of February when we booked the final air itinerary and at that time HAL told us we couldn't do that until we were within 75 days of the air departure. Last Friday we were within that 75 day window and now we got the excuse they couldn't issue an invoice and even if we paid now, the tickets wouldn't be paid for or issued until 30 days out from the cruise departure not the air departure. At the time we booked the air in February we got a fantastic BC rate of $2346pp from FE which is why we wanted to pay then to make sure it was locked in. Today the same routes direct with the airlines is over $4000pp. We are going from San Antonio to Rome with one stop in Dulles on United and home from Venice with one stop in Atlanta on delta and there are 4 of us traveling together with the same air. At this point I am not even sure we have the flights other than we still show up in both the United and Delta websites with our confirmed itineraries which is somewhat assuring. 

 

My TA has been on the phone all week walking up the chain of command at HAL to get this resolved but all she is getting when she gets a person on the phone is "Not my department you need to call so and so" but everyone is mostly blaming the Invoicing Department.  she is so frustrated she may not recommend any of her customers ever book with HAL again. She is a franchisee with very large national cruise booking agency and has been my TA for over 15 years. 

 

The scary thing is the excuses we are getting from HAL are the red flags you get from companies who are in financial trouble, I really hope this is not the case.

Edited June 2, 2022 by terrydtx

[LAFFNVEGAS]

16 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

 

The scary thing is the excuses we are getting from HAL are the red flags you get from companies who are in financial trouble, I really hope this is not the case.

I agree a bit of a Red Flag warning but I do not consider it as serious as I felt about Crystal Cruises 8 months into the pandemic and was not at all surprised what happened with them. But I will say if HAL and Princess (yes I lump them together, they have the exact same problesm and managed by the same group and people) do not get a Handle on their current problems it could be some serious problems down the road.

[Travelbug750]

I forgot to add that when FE downgraded us to economy from the premium economy that we paid for, we are on the same exact flights.  All segments have premium economy.  It was just their arbitrary downgrade. 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

The scary thing is the excuses we are getting from HAL are the red flags you get from companies who are in financial trouble, I really hope this is not the case.

They are wholly owned by Carnival Corporation.  I don’t think this is the issue.  

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

They are wholly owned by Carnival Corporation.  I don’t think this is the issue.  

I do not think it is either, but if they do not get their customer service together it could a bigger problem.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I agree a bit of a Red Flag warning but I do not consider it as serious as I felt about Crystal Cruises 8 months into the pandemic and was not at all surprised what happened with them. But I will say if HAL and Princess (yes I lump them together, they have the exact same problesm and managed by the same group and people) do not get a Handle on their current problems it could be some serious problems down the road.

Agreed!!!

[Boatdrill]

I'm on my 4th attempt today to reach HAL regarding changing a return flight booked and fully paid through Flight Ease. The change cannot be done manually through Flight Ease, nor through the airline's website.  

 

Call #1 at 3:33pm: "Expected wait time is more than six hours".  (I hung up)

Call #2 at 4:38pm: "Expected wait time is more than six hours".  (I hung up)

Call #3 at 5:34pm (general reservations line): "Estimated wait time is less than 5 minutes" (call disconnected at 5:48pm).

Call #4 at 5:48pm   (general reservations line): "Estimated wait time is less than 5 minutes". It's now 6:17 pm and I'm still on hold.   They close up at 6:00pm, so who knows if everyone has left their desks for the day, or they're finishing up calls. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Boatdrill

[madera1]

So much anxiety this trip. We got Costco to get through to Flight Ease yesterday and got a supervisor to give our daughters a flight that gets into Venice about 10 min prior to their original flights. This sure beats their move without any notification to a flight that did not arrive until the day following what we had originally booked. They were able to go onto the airline page and pay for premium economy seats. 

[Torquer]

Have tickets really been issued?

This cruise will be the first time we are using FlightEase, and so far things have gone fine for us.  We just made final payment for the cruise and airfare.  The next day I went to FlightEase and clicked the "Issue tickets" button.  Today, I went to the FlightEase site, and clicked the "View e-ticket".  Our ticket numbers do show up there.  I then went to the Lufthansa website to double check and could not get in right now; it looked like a problem on their end.  I then went to the Air France website to double check our return flights, and our flights show up, along with the eTicket numbers and seat assignments.

 

So other than the glitch with Lufthansa, which I think is just their temporary problem, does this mean that HAL actually paid the airlines and the tickets have been issued?  In other words, you would not actually have an eTicket number until this has occurred, is that correct?  Sorry, I don't know exactly how this works and with all the horror stories I have read about FlightEase lately, I want to be completely sure everything is in order with our tickets.

[Mary229]

11 minutes ago, Torquer said:

does this mean that HAL actually paid the airlines and the tickets have been issued? 

My understanding is that when you click issue tickets the ticket is paid, I am not 100% sure.  In my experience all flights are paid no later than 30 days out. 
 

the only change I have noticed of late is I cannot see my seats or pick my seats on select bookings, usually ones where I am flying economy.  For my business class and premium economy I can see my seats and change them regardless when I book 

[johbeaker]

2 hours ago, Torquer said:

Have tickets really been issued?

This cruise will be the first time we are using FlightEase, and so far things have gone fine for us.  We just made final payment for the cruise and airfare.  The next day I went to FlightEase and clicked the "Issue tickets" button.  Today, I went to the FlightEase site, and clicked the "View e-ticket".  Our ticket numbers do show up there.  I then went to the Lufthansa website to double check and could not get in right now; it looked like a problem on their end.  I then went to the Air France website to double check our return flights, and our flights show up, along with the eTicket numbers and seat assignments.

 

So other than the glitch with Lufthansa, which I think is just their temporary problem, does this mean that HAL actually paid the airlines and the tickets have been issued?  In other words, you would not actually have an eTicket number until this has occurred, is that correct?  Sorry, I don't know exactly how this works and with all the horror stories I have read about FlightEase lately, I want to be completely sure everything is in order with our tickets.

Yes, if you have an eticket number, your tickets have been paid for by HAL.  Our travelling party also had airfare tickets purchased through FlightEase paid for by HAL without any intervention at the 30 day mark.  We did not request Early Ticketing, and everything was processed as scheduled.

[iceman93]

On 6/2/2022 at 11:45 AM, terrydtx said:

The scary thing is the excuses we are getting from HAL are the red flags you get from companies who are in financial trouble, I really hope this is not the case.

I've had the exact thought regarding red flags, but about FlightEase, not HAL.  If they're somehow "forgetting" to pay for people's tickets, my first thought was they have a serious cash flow problem.

[Mary229]

I received a notice from HAL this morning about my early July cruise. It said due to unprecedented flight changes and high call volume you can now rebook your flights directly with the airline and they will waive the cancellation fees.  Of course getting a good value on a flight is difficult close to the date 

[jettaleea]

7 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I received a notice from HAL this morning about my early July cruise. It said due to unprecedented flight changes and high call volume you can now rebook your flights directly with the airline and they will waive the cancellation fees.  Of course getting a good value on a flight is difficult close to the date 

I got the same notice...twice! A little unnerving. There's no way to get reasonable flights ourselves at this point.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I received a notice from HAL this morning about my early July cruise. It said due to unprecedented flight changes and high call volume you can now rebook your flights directly with the airline and they will waive the cancellation fees.  Of course getting a good value on a flight is difficult close to the date 

If your flights were changed by the airline due to cancellations or flight changes you should be able to rebook without any change in current costs. I just went through this last week for our August flights after United changed our business class flights to Rome that left us with an illegal connection in Newark. United moved our departure flight in San Antonio that left us 30 minutes to connect in Newark. After calling the airline, United moved us to a much better connection in Washington Dulles at no charge or change to our booked cost through FE. We still depart SAT at about 45 minutes earlier and arrive in Rome at about the same time. BTW we were never informed by FE or United about the changes, I only caught them by doing my daily flight checks online with United. 

 

Our business class seats to Rome and home from Venice, booked last fall, have had numerous changes, all by the airlines, but with FE we are paying only $2336pp. This low cost when we booked was over $1000 less than booking direct and today the same flights would cost us over $4000 so FE saved us a lot of money.

Edited June 7, 2022 by terrydtx

[Mary229]

@terrydtx. I think the issue is getting through to flight ease.  
 

here is the email quoted

 

Thank you for purchasing your flights through Holland America Line's Flight Ease air. Due to an unprecedented number of airline schedule changes and cancellations, our team is currently managing an extremely high call volume with long hold times. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.
We are working on changes in travel date order, and appreciate your patience. We respectfully ask that guests and travel advisors only call if your flight is
in the next seven days.
If your flights have changed and you would prefer to rebook your flights yourself, you may cancel your flight through the Flight Ease tool and we will waive any cancel fees so you may rebook through Flight Ease or purchase independent air.

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

@terrydtx. I think the issue is getting through to flight ease.  
 

here is the email quoted

 

Thank you for purchasing your flights through Holland America Line's Flight Ease air. Due to an unprecedented number of airline schedule changes and cancellations, our team is currently managing an extremely high call volume with long hold times. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.
We are working on changes in travel date order, and appreciate your patience. We respectfully ask that guests and travel advisors only call if your flight is
in the next seven days.
If your flights have changed and you would prefer to rebook your flights yourself, you may cancel your flight through the Flight Ease tool and we will waive any cancel fees so you may rebook through Flight Ease or purchase independent air.

I got the same email, but when I called United directly they made the changes to our flights with no problem, since they were the ones who changed our flights. We even have the same original record locator number with the new flight changes. 

[Lindancer]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

@terrydtx. I think the issue is getting through to flight ease.  
 

here is the email quoted

 

Thank you for purchasing your flights through Holland America Line's Flight Ease air. Due to an unprecedented number of airline schedule changes and cancellations, our team is currently managing an extremely high call volume with long hold times. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.
We are working on changes in travel date order, and appreciate your patience. We respectfully ask that guests and travel advisors only call if your flight is
in the next seven days.
If your flights have changed and you would prefer to rebook your flights yourself, you may cancel your flight through the Flight Ease tool and we will waive any cancel fees so you may rebook through Flight Ease or purchase independent air.

Yes, I got the same letter today.  Our cruise is July 16.  Our flights have not yet been changed, at least when I go into Delta (out) and American (home) and put in the record locator number.  I hope this means I am still good to go.  I am already unnerved this morning after reading the post "Back From Med Cruise on Oosterdam"!

[terrydtx]

39 minutes ago, Lindancer said:

Yes, I got the same letter today.  Our cruise is July 16.  Our flights have not yet been changed, at least when I go into Delta (out) and American (home) and put in the record locator number.  I hope this means I am still good to go.  I am already unnerved this morning after reading the post "Back From Med Cruise on Oosterdam"!

I just read that same "Back From Med Cruise on Oosterdam"! thread and I hope the issues they had were just start up in a new port issues and fixed by the time we board in August. We are taking a private transfer from Venice to Trieste to avoid the shuttle problems and possible crowding.

 

We have both  United and Delta loyalty accounts so our flights on FE are tied to those accounts, so all I have to do is go into the accounts to see if any changes have been made. I do this first thing every morning.

Edited June 7, 2022 by terrydtx

[Vict0riann]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

@terrydtx. I think the issue is getting through to flight ease.  
 

here is the email quoted

 

Thank you for purchasing your flights through Holland America Line's Flight Ease air. Due to an unprecedented number of airline schedule changes and cancellations, our team is currently managing an extremely high call volume with long hold times. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.
We are working on changes in travel date order, and appreciate your patience. We respectfully ask that guests and travel advisors only call if your flight is
in the next seven days.
If your flights have changed and you would prefer to rebook your flights yourself, you may cancel your flight through the Flight Ease tool and we will waive any cancel fees so you may rebook through Flight Ease or purchase independent air.

 

We got that same email today - fortunately, only our return flights from Boston were done by Flight Ease (early August) and I'm not going to worry about it.  I imagine we will also be hearing from our TA who organized our outgoing flights and hotels in July!