EZ Air/Early Ticketing

[CruizinSusan70]

14 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

That's what we did. DW and I each got the five $500 cards over two months for $10,000. They're all spent so we still need more for our next cruises.

I'm currently sitting on about 8100 in cards and was disappointed to hear that you can't use it on EZAir or more importantly, excursions.  Need to wait till bookings open up for spring 2024 as well as the Sphere Class to make future reservations and use up the balance after paying off our 14 day Alaskan cruise for 2023.

 

Edit....Just got off the phone with Princess.  Front end air bookings for our Majestic cruise out of Vancouver are open, but not on EZAir yet.  Air Canada, which we won't use has been open for a few weeks while American and United have opened up within the past week.  I don't want to risk not being able to book the flights I want so I will book the front end on my own and when the back end opens in two weeks, I will get a price quote through EZAir and hopefully get a discount.  Looking for first class tickets.  Even if EZAir doesn't provide a discount, if I can book them immediately and use my gift cards, the 10% savings will be over 100.00.

Edited July 2, 2022 by CruizinSusan70

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I'm currently sitting on about 8100 in cards and was disappointed to hear that you can't use it on EZAir or more importantly, excursions.  Need to wait till bookings open up for spring 2024 as well as the Sphere Class to make future reservations and use up the balance after paying off our 14 day Alaskan cruise for 2023.

 

Edit....Just got off the phone with Princess.  Front end air bookings for our Majestic cruise out of Vancouver are open, but not on EZAir yet.  Air Canada, which we won't use has been open for a few weeks while American and United have opened up within the past week.  I don't want to risk not being able to book the flights I want so I will book the front end on my own and when the back end opens in two weeks, I will get a price quote through EZAir and hopefully get a discount.  Looking for first class tickets.  Even if EZAir doesn't provide a discount, if I can book them immediately and use my gift cards, the 10% savings will be over 100.00.

Let us know if it works for EZAIR.

TIA

[jwattle]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I'm currently sitting on about 8100 in cards and was disappointed to hear that you can't use it on EZAir or more importantly, excursions.  Need to wait till bookings open up for spring 2024 as well as the Sphere Class to make future reservations and use up the balance after paying off our 14 day Alaskan cruise for 2023.

 

Edit....Just got off the phone with Princess.  Front end air bookings for our Majestic cruise out of Vancouver are open, but not on EZAir yet.  Air Canada, which we won't use has been open for a few weeks while American and United have opened up within the past week.  I don't want to risk not being able to book the flights I want so I will book the front end on my own and when the back end opens in two weeks, I will get a price quote through EZAir and hopefully get a discount.  Looking for first class tickets.  Even if EZAir doesn't provide a discount, if I can book them immediately and use my gift cards, the 10% savings will be over 100.00.

For us, gift cards worked just fine for EVERYTHING: excursions, EZ Air, the works. Paid off entire cruise, including excursions, with gift cards. Called Princess to book the excursions and pay with Gift cards; you can also purchase OBC ahead with gift cards, pay with excursions on board and use that OBC.

[dog]

21 hours ago, dog said:

I contacted at this address: 

answer today:

 

gift cards cannot be used for EZ Air or land excursions.

 

followed by:

for EZ Air flexible fare you can call Princess to apply gift card.

This cannot be done online.

 

 

Since there is conflicting information it is best to call about using the gift cards for flexible flights 

[rabin1]

On 6/25/2022 at 11:24 AM, dog said:

 

This is correct:

please read the conditions for use and the exceptions.

Says gift cards cannot be used for Land tours or EZ Air.

 

if Steelers knows better, then please show your source.

Is a land tour the same as an excursion? I thought it maybe meant only the cruise/tours??

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, dog said:

Since there is conflicting information it is best to call about using the gift cards for flexible flights 

 

6 hours ago, rabin1 said:

Is a land tour the same as an excursion? I thought it maybe meant only the cruise/tours??

I'd simply go with @jwattle's post #28 above.  They are very experienced and frequent cruisers and I have never known her to steer us wrong on the Princess board.

[dog]

8 hours ago, dog said:

Since there is conflicting information it is best to call about using the gift cards for flexible flights 

As many of us have found from our personal experience it is better to call back if you think you are getting conflicting information.

I was told for my May 2022 cruise I could not apply my gift cards to my EZ Air booking.

Others say they have done that.

So, don’t rely on social media for answers.

Not all are treated equally at Princess. The FAQ & the response from gift card support are not consistent with what we see here.

[dog]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

 

I'd simply go with @jwattle's post #28 above.  They are very experienced and frequent cruisers and I have never known her to steer us wrong on the Princess board.

Yes, jwattle offers first-hand experience and is always open to other’s opinions.

No speculation, or guessing there.

A delight to have on these forums.

[CruizinSusan70]

11 hours ago, jwattle said:

For us, gift cards worked just fine for EVERYTHING: excursions, EZ Air, the works. Paid off entire cruise, including excursions, with gift cards. Called Princess to book the excursions and pay with Gift cards; you can also purchase OBC ahead with gift cards, pay with excursions on board and use that OBC.

Since we're going to be booking wheelchair accessible excursions for our Alaska cruise for next year, by any chance do you know how many days prior to your cruise do bookings open up?  Since there possibly are a limited number of participants that can utilize these tours I don't want to be shut out of any we wish to go on.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Since we're going to be booking wheelchair accessible excursions for our Alaska cruise for next year, by any chance do you know how many days prior to your cruise do bookings open up?  Since there possibly are a limited number of participants that can utilize these tours I don't want to be shut out of any we wish to go on.

 

There is no longer a specific number of days before a cruise that excursion bookings open up.

 

It all depends on when Princess has the contracts in place.

 

I have one cruise booked where excursions were available over a year in advance. I have another one where they became available 6 month before the cruise.

 

So, just check the Princess website regularly.

[dog]

14 hours ago, jwattle said:

For us, gift cards worked just fine for EVERYTHING: excursions, EZ Air, the works. Paid off entire cruise, including excursions, with gift cards. Called Princess to book the excursions and pay with Gift cards; you can also purchase OBC ahead with gift cards, pay with excursions on board and use that OBC.

 

11 hours ago, rabin1 said:

Is a land tour the same as an excursion? I thought it maybe meant only the cruise/tours??

Since I have not tried to use my gift cards for Land Excursions/ tours I cannot answer. Sorry.

others have posted their first- hand experience.

[jwattle]

7 hours ago, dog said:

 

Since I have not tried to use my gift cards for Land Excursions/ tours I cannot answer. Sorry.

others have posted their first- hand experience.

I meant shore excursions, not Cruise Tours (Land Excursions). Apologies for the confusion.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 7/2/2022 at 12:46 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

 

Edit....Just got off the phone with Princess.  Front end air bookings for our Majestic cruise out of Vancouver are open, but not on EZAir yet..... I don't want to risk not being able to book the flights I want so I will book the front end on my own and when the back end opens in two weeks, I will get a price quote through EZAir and hopefully get a discount. 

 

On 7/2/2022 at 1:57 PM, PacnGoNow said:

Let us know if it works for EZAIR.

TIA

Update.  Bookings opened up today on EZAir even though bookings for our return flight opened up yesterday with the airlines.  I smartly put a 24 hour hold yesterday on our flights that I want.   With regards to our return flight, I snagged seats three and four yesterday and 24 hours later 8 out of the 16 business class seats are gone on the first leg from Vancouver to Dallas on American.   With regards to pricing, I was able to get tier one directly with American, which was only available for the first 4 seats up front.  The price was 606 pp.  When I went back to see if the price was still the same, it had jumped to 821.  Pricing through EZAir was 706.  I was very surprised that the flexible pricing was cheaper than the restricted.  So, I ended up going with my own reservation since it was 100 pp cheaper.

The outbound flights are non stop to Seattle a few days before the cruise since we'll be visiting my daughter in law.  The flexible first class seats were 546 on my own, but only 465 through EZAir, so I ended up going through EZAir since they were 89 pp cheaper.  Don't have to pay for them till final payment is due, so hopefully the entire amount (1 way air + cruise fare) will be lumped together and I can pay for it with my gift cards.

[PacnGoNow]

On 7/2/2022 at 2:21 PM, jwattle said:

For us, gift cards worked just fine for EVERYTHING: excursions, EZ Air, the works. Paid off entire cruise, including excursions, with gift cards. Called Princess to book the excursions and pay with Gift cards; you can also purchase OBC ahead with gift cards, pay with excursions on board and use that OBC.

Turning GC to OBC… can you call PCL and do that over the phone? TIA

[rabin1]

11 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Turning GC to OBC… can you call PCL and do that over the phone? TIA

You can do it on line yourself I always do..........lol

[PacnGoNow]

19 minutes ago, rabin1 said:

You can do it on line yourself I always do..........lol

@rabin1You are so clever. How did you add it yourself?  

[jwattle]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

Turning GC to OBC… can you call PCL and do that over the phone? TIA

I do it by either calling Princess or my TA; online only offered me Paypal or Credit card options

[PacnGoNow]

1 minute ago, jwattle said:

I do it by either calling Princess or my TA; online only offered me Paypal or Credit card options

Thank you!

[jwattle]

My pleasure 🙂 🥂

[CruizinSusan70]

Just went online as well as on the app and it looks like seats can't be picked until they are paid for and ticketed on American.  Has anyone been able to get their seat choice before making final payment?  I would hate to have reserved seats in the system but not together if I can't choose them until after final payment is made.  I was on the phone with a CSR today and she said to do it online, but I'm not able to.

[Steelers36]

12 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Just went online as well as on the app and it looks like seats can't be picked until they are paid for and ticketed on American.  Has anyone been able to get their seat choice before making final payment?  I would hate to have reserved seats in the system but not together if I can't choose them until after final payment is made.  I was on the phone with a CSR today and she said to do it online, but I'm not able to.

I have Business booked thru EZ-Air for FCO-LHR-YYZ.  Both legs are operated by BA.  I elected to book it as with BA for first leg and AA code-share for second leg.  I was able to select Business seats on first leg thru EZ-Air when booking.  Whether I booked second leg as BA direct or AA code-share, in neither case can seats be selected.  I chose to go with AA code-share as I am worried BA will charge a seat selection fee.  I believe I will not be able to select seats until ticketed and do plan to request early ticketing shortly after FP Date.

 

[CruizinSusan70]

20 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 I believe I will not be able to select seats until ticketed and do plan to request early ticketing shortly after FP Date.

I will keep monitoring the seat selection and hopefully there will be two together right after final payment is due.  This way I will be able to pay for everything with my gift cards and save 93 bucks on the one way EZAir flights on our outbound.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Just went online as well as on the app and it looks like seats can't be picked until they are paid for and ticketed on American.  Has anyone been able to get their seat choice before making final payment?  I would hate to have reserved seats in the system but not together if I can't choose them until after final payment is made.  I was on the phone with a CSR today and she said to do it online, but I'm not able to.

Did you book with EZAIR?  Are they true AA flights or a code share?  Booking on the AA app or AA online is different, as those you pick seats once ticketed.

If it is EZAIR, then you should be able to go to the airline website and select seats.

CSR at AA or EZAIR?  

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I will keep monitoring the seat selection and hopefully there will be two together right after final payment is due.  This way I will be able to pay for everything with my gift cards and save 93 bucks on the one way EZAir flights on our outbound.

You can also try on your desktop. Go to princess.com, pull up your ez air booking,

(under travel) modify flight, select seats,

if that comes up, book seats, then check on the airline website.  Make sure ti use the AA booking number and your name, if you don’t find it.  
All my bookings now are Delta and United, so I can’t test an AA flight. 

[CruizinSusan70]

6 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did you book with EZAIR?  Are they true AA flights or a code share?  Booking on the AA app or AA online is different, as those you pick seats once ticketed.

If it is EZAIR, then you should be able to go to the airline website and select seats.

CSR at AA or EZAIR?  

These seats were booked through EZAir, they are true AA flights, a non stop from PHL-SEA 3 days before our cruise.  The CSR was from both EZAir and also AA.  The CSR from EZAir said to contact AA and the CSR from AA said I could pick seats online, which I can't do.  The record locator is attached to my AAdvantage account, which is nice, but I need two seats together before final payment, which isn't until the end of February.