Auburn Traveler

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I can tell you that I know of numerous cases mine included that all of the airlines are the same when a flight is booked through Flight Ease, HAL's Flight Ease is a third party carrier and all changes must go through them. I can also tell you I know of numerous problems caused by Flight Ease and not the airline. Flight Ease will quickly tell you it is the airline when in fact it is NOT. Those who have status with an airline can often get the airline to help but if not you must go through Flight Ease.

Like I said before agree to disagree. Never had any problem until we booked with AA and we have used delta and united and they had a code sharing partner. 

@Laminator, well are going to have to agree to disagree.  I have booked many flights through FE where there is code sharing and it was always the main carrier who helped us out and let us know about changes.  It was only through booking with AA and their code share of JAL where we had the issue.  Because we had booked AA and JAL was the code share, American told us because we had booked with a 3rd party it was up to them to issue the correct tix.  This was such BS and in my personal opinion not good customer service.Thank god, JAL worked with FE.  

I for one will not use American Airlines.  On our last cruise with HAL we had booked our flight through Flight Ease and had booked a Japan Airlines that was partnered with AA.  However, the flight AL listed was not a valid flight.  48 hrs before leaving for SFO, we found out to our dismay that AL was made aware of our flight being incorrect but they refused to issue a change order over to Hal noting our flight was actually leaving SFO 3 hrs earlier.  Through the fantastic help of JAL and HAL, we were able to get our flight mess straightened out.  AL refused to help and told us it was our problem not theirs the flight had been changed and hung up on us.  I wrote a very long and detailed letter and we received additional OBC that covered at least 1/2 of our air fare.  So not having AL available is fine with me. Although I understand the frustration for people who live near a AL hub.

Personally, I believe there is more to this story of Hal not using AL anymore.  For a airline carrier to lose this kind of partnership is newsworthy.

We have used FE for years and never had an issue with a airline reservation until we booked with American, like I said first and last time.

We have had friends who fly AL independent of using FE and they have similar nightmare stories as we experienced.

We just our 2nd Emerald River Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest with an extension over to Prague.  Thoroughly enjoyed the trip and can’t wait to do another RC and maybe this time will do lower France.

@islander47, hi there. Send me an email at eastaats@gmail.com, would like to know if you ever decide to do an Emerald River Cruise and I can send you info on what we did.  When I get home, I’m going to check on our banned book policy.

In one word YES

On 2/23/2019 at 4:00 PM, Billthekid said:

Thanks for the input.  Finally was able to talk to Reservations at Holland.  The Flight Ease credit was incorporated into the air quote.  So no more discounts will be forthcoming.  I mentioned that perhaps the air credit should be reflected somewhere within the process.  In the quote, or on the invoice.  Don't know if it fell on deaf ears or not.  Meanwhile, the quote received for business class to Argentina and return out of Chile was fantastic.  Nearest airline quote was at least a couple of thou higher.

That’s great you finally got an answer. I was surprised they didn’t provide that to you when you first started asking them. Our travel consultant with Holland gave us that info. We’ve worked with her for many years. She’s great. When she was out of the office for a couple of months last year her replacement was horrible to deal with. I finally talked with a supervisor and voiced my frustration. Thank goodness Megan is back.  Our business class airfare from sac to Amsterdam and then fll back  to sac came to $1100 each.  Would like to know how you like this cruise you’re going on. Have fun. 

1 hour ago, Billthekid said:

The subject is not whether to use to use Fight Ease or not and its values, but did the $500 Flight credit associated with our cruise fare get applied.  There was no mention on the invoice and reservations department and flight ease group will not let me talk to them only my TA.  So did the Flight Ease quote include the $500 discount or will the final cruise payment reflect the credit.

I believe I did this right.  The credit should of been applied at the time you got the quote for airfare from your TA with Holland.  Or are you using an outside travel agency?  When we booked ours, we worked with our TC from Holland, she gave us the pricing for air minus the air credit.  The beauty of booking with HAL for your air, your payment for the air isn't due until you pay for your cruise.  Unless you are doing one of those restricted fares.  We have found HAL air pricing to be very good.  And once your get the booking and airline confirm #, you can go to the airline web site and change your seats if you are not happy with your selection.  Hope this answers your question