Flight ease! Grrrrr

[Sea42]

6 minutes ago, Crusin-Suzan said:

I can’t even find a number for flight ease!  I finally wrote to guest relations yesterday and have not heard!   Payment is due in 4 days!   We don’t want this flight ease if we don’t have premium economy!   

Your TA really should be helping you with this!

If you can find a different flight on your own, can you just not pay for the flight when you make your final payment?

[Mary229]

Did you check the airline to see if Premium Economy is available at all?   Sometimes it is just not available, that would not be a flight ease issue.  I agree with @Sea42  - when the wait is too long let the TA do it or do it online.  

[JCP3]

Delta has recently changed the aircraft going to Amsterdam.  With Premium Economy seats going from 48 to 21.  I had a reservation in April and one in May that had that change.  I had paid and still have PE but not the seats I wanted.  Both are showing no or only a couple of open seats in PE now. One reservation was with Flight Ease and another directly with Delta.  

 

[Native Floridian 26]

On 1/21/2023 at 3:07 PM, Native Floridian 26 said:

My flights were cancelled a couple weeks ago by United presumably for non-payment.

Actually it was American, not United.

[Denise T]

21 hours ago, mfanderso said:

I just had something happen with my Flight Ease or I guess AA.  We booked Business Class tickets as soon as was available through Flight Ease.  We picked our seats and all was well.  Our flight is in March and the beginning of this month I asked my TA to have the fights paid and ticketed.  Everything was going fine. Friends that are going with us said there was a schedule change.  I didn't receive any notification so went into our reservation on the AA app and saw a slight change in times but I noticed that we no longer had seats.  It seems at the time that they had the slight schedule change they also had an equipment change.  The Business Class is now half the size it was and it appears we got bumped.  Our TA called AA and was told that Business Class was oversold and they couldn't guarantee Business Class seats for us and they recommended another itinerary  with a long layover (ours had been non-stop).  The next day she called Flight Ease and spoke to them.  They said we still had our original seats and give it 48 hours and everything would be fine.  96 hours later nothing had changed.  Our TA called Flight Ease back again and same story, we still have our seats. They are refusing to change to another flight and said we would get our seats at the airport which I am sure at that point will be economy as Premium Economy is also sold out.  If this had happened prior to final payment, I would have cancelled the whole trip.  I think we saved $300 by booking through Flight Ease.  Next time I will pay the higher price and book direct.

I am going through a very similar situation. Had the flights booked through Flight Ease for my Alaska Trip through American. Seats were picked and everything. This past week, my sister-in-law who is going with me told me that there were flight changes on her booking. So, I checked the HAL site and was getting a message that there was an error and that there were changes to the flights and the system would be updated. As of today, I am still getting that message. I was never notified, and my TA was never notified. I go to American with my confirmation number. Boy did the flights change! Going to Anchorage we were going through Allentown, PA to Chicago to Dallas and then to Anchorage. On the return we would be flying out of Vancouver to Chicago and to Allentown. Now, they have us going from Allentown to Charlotte, to Dallas, to Anchorage. No biggie. I am okay with this. The problem is that they have us flying from Vancouver to Chicago to Philadelphia. Philadelphia is about 2 hours away from Allentown where our car will be parked. My TA is working on it, but the big issue is that neither of us were notified of any changes to the flights. My sister-in-law was using American Express travel to book the trip, so she got notified. So, right now, I don't know if I have flights. I am with you. I will book direct moving forward. 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Denise T said:

I am going through a very similar situation. Had the flights booked through Flight Ease for my Alaska Trip through American. Seats were picked and everything. This past week, my sister-in-law who is going with me told me that there were flight changes on her booking. So, I checked the HAL site and was getting a message that there was an error and that there were changes to the flights and the system would be updated. As of today, I am still getting that message. I was never notified, and my TA was never notified. I go to American with my confirmation number. Boy did the flights change! Going to Anchorage we were going through Allentown, PA to Chicago to Dallas and then to Anchorage. On the return we would be flying out of Vancouver to Chicago and to Allentown. Now, they have us going from Allentown to Charlotte, to Dallas, to Anchorage. No biggie. I am okay with this. The problem is that they have us flying from Vancouver to Chicago to Philadelphia. Philadelphia is about 2 hours away from Allentown where our car will be parked. My TA is working on it, but the big issue is that neither of us were notified of any changes to the flights. My sister-in-law was using American Express travel to book the trip, so she got notified. So, right now, I don't know if I have flights. I am with you. I will book direct moving forward. 

If you are already ticketed you can manage changes.  US law and American Airlines policy allows you to change the booking if there has been a substantial change.  Sign up for an American Airlines frequent flier, download the app and you will be notified .  Not only will you be notified but when you go to the website they will present other alternatives.  
 

flight ease is simply a service and has no control over flight schedules.  I use them mainly for their sometimes incredible international rates and for the ability not to pay until final payment date. 

[mfanderso]

2 hours ago, Denise T said:

I am going through a very similar situation. Had the flights booked through Flight Ease for my Alaska Trip through American. Seats were picked and everything. This past week, my sister-in-law who is going with me told me that there were flight changes on her booking. So, I checked the HAL site and was getting a message that there was an error and that there were changes to the flights and the system would be updated. As of today, I am still getting that message. I was never notified, and my TA was never notified. I go to American with my confirmation number. Boy did the flights change! Going to Anchorage we were going through Allentown, PA to Chicago to Dallas and then to Anchorage. On the return we would be flying out of Vancouver to Chicago and to Allentown. Now, they have us going from Allentown to Charlotte, to Dallas, to Anchorage. No biggie. I am okay with this. The problem is that they have us flying from Vancouver to Chicago to Philadelphia. Philadelphia is about 2 hours away from Allentown where our car will be parked. My TA is working on it, but the big issue is that neither of us were notified of any changes to the flights. My sister-in-law was using American Express travel to book the trip, so she got notified. So, right now, I don't know if I have flights. I am with you. I will book direct moving forward. 

I got no notification of schedule and equipment change either. I asked my TA and she said she hadn’t received anything. I had always thought that once the flight was paid for and ticketed, you could deal directly with the airline. The airline won’t talk to us and tell us to talk to our travel agent. Our travel agent calls Flight Ease and after hours on the phone with them they are conveniently disconnected. 

[Torquer]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

If you are already ticketed you can manage changes.  US law and American Airlines policy allows you to change the booking if there has been a substantial change.

I'm not sure if that is true in all cases.  We are booked on a United flight to New Zealand connecting through San Francisco in February, through Flight Ease.  The flight is paid and ticketed.  We are interested  in changing the connecting flight to earlier in case of delays.  When I go to the United website and click on "change flights", an error screen comes up and says you are booked through a third party and I need to contact them to have them change the flights.  I had also thought that once the flight was ticketed, we could work directly with the airlines, but apparently not in this case, or maybe it is because we want to initiate the change, rather than responding to an airline change?

[Mary229]

44 minutes ago, Torquer said:

I'm not sure if that is true in all cases.  We are booked on a United flight to New Zealand connecting through San Francisco in February, through Flight Ease.  The flight is paid and ticketed.  We are interested  in changing the connecting flight to earlier in case of delays.  When I go to the United website and click on "change flights", an error screen comes up and says you are booked through a third party and I need to contact them to have them change the flights.  I had also thought that once the flight was ticketed, we could work directly with the airlines, but apparently not in this case, or maybe it is because we want to initiate the change, rather than responding to an airline change?

I was speaking of when the airline makes a significant change.  If you are changing yourself you will need to pay a fee and that will be through the contractor, flight ease 

[Mary229]

2 hours ago, mfanderso said:

I got no notification of schedule and equipment change either. I asked my TA and she said she hadn’t received anything. I had always thought that once the flight was paid for and ticketed, you could deal directly with the airline. The airline won’t talk to us and tell us to talk to our travel agent. Our travel agent calls Flight Ease and after hours on the phone with them they are conveniently disconnected. 

They will only deal with you if they changed their schedule significantly.  Equipment changes are not included. 

[mfanderso]

On 1/25/2023 at 5:46 PM, Mary229 said:

They will only deal with you if they changed their schedule significantly.  Equipment changes are not included. 

I understand this but if we purchased and payed for Business Class on a non-stop flight and the equipment was changed with a smaller Business Class, can they move us to Economy from Business Class without an option to change to anther flight with availability?  AA says Business Class is oversold and we don't have seats and we more than likely won't be in Business Class.  Flight Ease says their system is more up-to-date than AA and that we still have our seats.  Premium Economy is also sold out.

[Mary229]

33 minutes ago, mfanderso said:

I understand this but if we purchased and payed for Business Class on a non-stop flight and the equipment was changed with a smaller Business Class, can they move us to Economy from Business Class without an option to change to anther flight with availability?  AA says Business Class is oversold and we don't have seats and we more than likely won't be in Business Class.  Flight Ease says their system is more up-to-date than AA and that we still have our seats.  Premium Economy is also sold out.

That I can’t answer.  I was solely addressing the after final payment, ticketed fare with a change of schedule event.

 

 If you are before final payment with flexible air you can make any and all changes without fee , penalty and by using the flight ease website.  

Every other circumstance needs to be dealt with directly with flight ease and may have fees.

[mikebsxm]

My problem with Flight Ease is when selecting flights, I pick their "Top Pick" recommendation.  I go through the many screens to book, and when I click on the "Book It" tab, I get a notice that "my selected flights are not available, Try Again".   I wait a few hours, and try again.  The same flights are still there, same price.  I try booking again, and still get the "flights not available" message.   When I eventually get some flights booked, I check a week later, and I'm advised that my "flights are no longer available and will be updated soon".   That update never happens.  

I've used Flight Ease over the years with no problems, until now.  The system is almost useless as it stands now.

[Iamthesea]

On 1/24/2023 at 6:07 PM, JCP3 said:

Delta has recently changed the aircraft going to Amsterdam.  With Premium Economy seats going from 48 to 21.  I had a reservation in April and one in May that had that change.  I had paid and still have PE but not the seats I wanted.  Both are showing no or only a couple of open seats in PE now. One reservation was with Flight Ease and another directly with Delta.  

 

Same thing happened to us for our flight in May.  Our seats are similar to what we had booked before, although on the return, we are on the opposite side of the plane than I prefer.  When I sleep, I need to sleep on my left side because of an injury.  On the wrong side of the plane, it's going to put my face next to DH when we would both prefer I be leaning toward the window. 😁  There are no other 2 seats on the left side of the plane.  Also, not crazy about our seats on the way over because they back up to the divider between PE and Comfort+.  We prefer to have a PE row behind us.  Oh well...things could be worse!

[Unlvswezel]

OP its been my experience that the Flight (Un)Ease department wants to get you off the phone asap and i wouldn't trust anything they tell you. Might be worth sending an email to the office of the president to get an official answer. Just my opinion but FlightEase is one of the worst ran elements of HAL and is in need of better leadership. 

[Denise T]

On 1/25/2023 at 4:26 PM, Mary229 said:

If you are already ticketed you can manage changes.  US law and American Airlines policy allows you to change the booking if there has been a substantial change.  Sign up for an American Airlines frequent flier, download the app and you will be notified .  Not only will you be notified but when you go to the website they will present other alternatives.  
 

flight ease is simply a service and has no control over flight schedules.  I use them mainly for their sometimes incredible international rates and for the ability not to pay until final payment date. 

I signed up for American Airlines' frequent flier and got the app. My travel agent was able to get everything changed after sitting on the phone with HAL for hours. Turns out they no longer had a flight to Chicago which is fine. I was more concerned with the return flight as they had me going to a completely different airport.  I should have gotten the app immediately as I have the aps for Delta and United. Lesson learned. 

[tweedle47]

I booked my flights to Amsterdam through Flight Ease and upgraded to Premium Economy (directly with  Delta) on the return flight when Delta changed the aircraft.   The price was a little lower than the airlines;  however, Delta changed all my flights (after I was ticketed) which left us with a 4 hr layover at JFK.   I was advised by Delta that I could change my flights, and there shouldn't be any extra charges to do so, because it was Delta who rescheduled the flight,  but had to do so through Flight Ease.   After two hours on the phone, the Flight Ease representative advised me that to changing my flights after full payment had been made would involve the cancellation of all tickets and a rebooking fee - thousands of dollars.   Needless to say, I am sticking with the 4hr layover at JFK!   In future, I will always book direct with the airline.   I am not too familiar with the other airlines, but Delta bookings are very easy to change.

 

[highscar]

Paying for premium economy is a farce.  The last few flight I have been on,   Passengers beside and close to me have NOT paid the premium price.  In one case I had requested bulkhead premium only to Sit 3 rows back. I asked the lady in “my” requested seat when she booked,  she said yesterday and had not paid premium. 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, highscar said:

Paying for premium economy is a farce.  The last few flight I have been on,   Passengers beside and close to me have NOT paid the premium price.  In one case I had requested bulkhead premium only to Sit 3 rows back. I asked the lady in “my” requested seat when she booked,  she said yesterday and had not paid premium. 

It depends on the aircraft used.   There is indeed a true premium economy with larger seats, better meals and more amenities.   Before booking PE you should review the seat maps for the aircraft being used

[Hobby3333]

Way back in November I booked with KLM in PE.   It was a direct flight from IAH (Houston).   I few weeks after booking I received an email from KLM informing me that I had been involuntarily downgraded from PE to economy.   KLM and Delta share bookings and I called and asked if I could be involuntarily upgraded to BC?   Of course the respond was no but that I could change my flight to Delta departing from DFW.   There is about a three hour layover in DTW but DFW is a little closer to us and the departure and arrival times were better.   Point is, you never know what to expect when you travel.  It is an adventure.   Just waiting for Delta to change flight times, equipment, etc.   Haha

[hbsurfcitycruiser]

We just used Flight Ease to fly home from Haneda airport in Japan after our cruise on the Westerdam 2-3 weeks ago. I also paid for premium economy. The issue partly seems to be because Flight Ease is real big on code sharing. So I booked an AA flight but the operating airline was actually JAL. They claim to all be part of One World and it's supposed to be seamless. HA! Well as you all know you get to pick your seats. My husband and I are very very tall. So I selected the pair of seats bulkhead against the window. Seats 17 H & K. We go to drop our bags at Haneda and we were greeted with a million apologies, we were still row 17 but now suddenly wedged in the middle of 4 seats in the center of the aircraft. Meanwhile I am standing there showing JAL that the AA app currently has me still listed as seats H&K. Thank god I screenshot'd this. So yeah. Now this is no one's fault but the man seated next to me on the aisle was just the worst. About 4 hours in to this 10 hour flight I had it and spoke to the super kind staff and we were moved to a bulkhead in economy. That was 100x better. But I have emailed HAL and very pointedly state YOU did not provide me with the product I paid YOU for. So far I have only been offered $100 OBC pp. I am not sure that is fair compensation. Still thinking this over.