Unrestricted E-Z Air Does The Price Change Drastically?

[H2O_traveler]

We have booked a cruise for Oct and have decided to try the Princess E-Z Air unrestricted fare and were hoping to hear from people who have used this service to see how your experience was.

 

I am aware of the fine print and all the possible outcomes which is why I am interested in feedback from those that have actually tried it. The agent we booked with indicated that the price may change but that from her experience, it has never been much more than $40.00 either way. Considering this particular airfare is a savings of over $1000.00 from booking direct, we decided to try it and thought the $40 difference would be pretty minor.

 

Thank you for any feedback you can provide.

[HRPro]

I'm also interested in this since we're trying Princess Air for the first time on the October TA. I've always booked my own airfare, but the savings were significant with Princess for this trip.

[chrysalis]

The price has always stayed the same for us. Always the best way to fly with open-jawed flight requirements.

[H2O_traveler]

Thank you for the feed back.

 

Excuse my naivety, but I am assuming that open-jawed flight requirements refer to unrestricted?

 

Nancy

[chrysalis]

Thank you for the feed back.

 

Excuse my naivety, but I am assuming that open-jawed flight requirements refer to unrestricted?

 

Nancy

 

Open jaw means that your return flight is from a different place than where you flew to in the first place.

 

The princess website gives the differences in restricted airfares vs unrestricted airfares. Your TA should be giving you the exact differences and penalties for changes or cancelling

[H2O_traveler]

Thank you for explaining, that is exactly what we have is an open-jawed ticket.

 

My TA did explain all the penalties and costs for changes, the big unknown is what the difference may be in the final ticket cost when we go to make final payment assuming we do not make any changes. That is more what I am interested in finding stories on.

 

We have reserved great flights with a fantastic price that I am really hoping will stay as is.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Us too...reserved unrestricted fares and price is good...but I have never done this either so the whole process does not make me entirely comfortable. We will just wait and see...my final payment is due in May so will report on how it all worked out!!

[StLouisCruisers]

In early October 2011, I booked Princess EZ air for 2 one way tickets to Rio. The price unrestricted was $875 per person while the American Airlines price for exact same flights was $2000 each. I decided to try it. Three weeks later my travel agent was on the phone with Princess checking on a cruise price reduction, and the Princess CS representative notified her that the price of the airfare had increased to $1200 per person (remember we had booked it as $875 per person), and if we didn't make final payment immediately, the price would increase. We were out of town at the time, and our travel agent was able to call us on our cell phone (from her cell phone since she had the Princess representative on the office phone line), and ask me if I wanted to make final payment immediately to hold the airfare price. Of course, I did, so we made final payment that day in order to hold the lower airfare price. This was before final payment date.

 

I don't know how often that happens, but it did happen to me the first time I used Princess EZ air, so now I try to find airfare I can live with and book directly with the airlines. I'm not a gambler!

[meemeec]

You can protect your EZ air fare by paying for your cruise and air in full. We've done this twice to make sure we got the great air fares and the money wasn't earning much in the bank :eek:

[blueflicker]

Our TA booked our cruise and was in talks to book our flights through Princess but when we heard that Princess quoted the price approx $300 plus per person based on the exact same flight we had indicated we had wanted, we skipped using Princess and had our TA book the flights herself. Payment for the cruise had been made. No biggie... rather know the price and pay it before it increased again ...we had been watching the flight costs for a couple of weeks now.

[Nomsayin]

Not sure how often it happens, but Princess went ahead and ticketed the outgoing portion of our unrestricted OJ booking for next August in advance of final payment so as to lock in a special lower fare with the airline (UA).

[phabric]

We are going from Toronto, Canada to Heathrow, London in August. Air Canada wants $1,488/pp non stop. When I noticed Princess cruise & air sale I checked it out, Unrestricted was $726/pp mulit airlines non stop which included Air Canada. I got the flights & times I wanted in January. I asked my TA, if the prices go up would I have to pay the new rate and her reply was Yes, as you have only reserved them not purchased them.. I told her pay off the cruise & air right away.

 

Today, Princess wants $1,098/pp for the same flights and Air Canada still wants $1,488/pp.

 

I wanted to purchase preferred seats from Air Canada. My TA had to contacat Princess to release the tickets early. They only release the tickets 60 days in advance. They told me, if they release the tickets early, they would be non refundable from that day and changes would have a penalty charge.

 

With unrestricted, you only reserve the tickets as you have not bought, yet. You can change and cancel the tickets up until final payment and the price might change.

With restricted, you have bought tickets as if from the airlines directly, not able to change without penalty charges.

[flamomo]

Just a few weeks ago I booked my air to London in October for my Crown TA cruise, and saved OVER $1000 on the airfare!! That's as compared to what I could find on my own. And that's for a flexible fare, meaning, it is fully refundable up to 45 days before the flight date.

 

Because it was such a good deal, and to assure that I would not have to pay more at final payment time if the airfare went up in the interim, I went ahead and paid for everything right then.

 

If, for some unexpected reason. I should have to cancel the cruise before final payment date, I would be out nothing.

[Stevesan]

Just a few weeks ago I booked my air to London in October for my Crown TA cruise, and saved OVER $1000 on the airfare!! That's as compared to what I could find on my own. And that's for a flexible fare, meaning, it is fully refundable up to 45 days before the flight date.

 

Because it was such a good deal, and to assure that I would not have to pay more at final payment time if the airfare went up in the interim, I went ahead and paid for everything right then.

 

If, for some unexpected reason. I should have to cancel the cruise before final payment date, I would be out nothing.

 

I did the same thing. Booking business class directly with British Air round trip Houston/London was 3.5 times more than unrestricted.

I checked Princess' air fare daily until that price appeared. Jumped on it instantly!:D

[RAPM5856]

Not at my computer right now, so I don't remember the exact numbers, but for our April TA to Southampton Princess' airfares were way less than I could get otherwise. The nicer surprise was that Princess' recent sale w/lower airfares had me sending off an email to my TA. He was able to get us an additional $500 off our airfares. :DMore spending money.:D

[pjn]

We are going from Toronto, Canada to Heathrow, London in August. Air Canada wants $1,488/pp non stop. When I noticed Princess cruise & air sale I checked it out, Unrestricted was $726/pp mulit airlines non stop which included Air Canada. I got the flights & times I wanted in January. I asked my TA, if the prices go up would I have to pay the new rate and her reply was Yes, as you have only reserved them not purchased them.. I told her pay off the cruise & air right away.

 

Today, Princess wants $1,098/pp for the same flights and Air Canada still wants $1,488/pp.

 

I wanted to purchase preferred seats from Air Canada. My TA had to contacat Princess to release the tickets early. They only release the tickets 60 days in advance. They told me, if they release the tickets early, they would be non refundable from that day and changes would have a penalty charge.

 

With unrestricted, you only reserve the tickets as you have not bought, yet. You can change and cancel the tickets up until final payment and the price might change.

With restricted, you have bought tickets as if from the airlines directly, not able to change without penalty charges.

 

Hello Everyone

 

These are all the same questions I have. We are doing a Med cruise tour in October. The non-stop flights I wanted from JFK to FCO were running $1100. When Princess offered me $425 flexible for the same flight , I immediately booked and payed for the cruise and flight.

 

I do have questions and I am looking for opinions. So I confirmed my flight price, but I have a flexible ticket which means I could change without penalties. Correct? If I cancel my cruise (which I have no intentions of doing) , is my flight refundable also? They are pair for already.

 

I ask because I too would like to book economy comfort seating on my Delta flight. Delta reps said I can't do it because I have not been ticketed. Princess said they don't ticket until 45 days pre cruise. I am wondering if I have to give up my flexible ticketing to insure getting my economy comfort ticket.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Hello Everyone

 

These are all the same questions I have. We are doing a Med cruise tour in October. The non-stop flights I wanted from JFK to FCO were running $1100. When Princess offered me $425 flexible for the same flight , I immediately booked and payed for the cruise and flight.

 

I do have questions and I am looking for opinions. So I confirmed my flight price, but I have a flexible ticket which means I could change without penalties. Correct? If I cancel my cruise (which I have no intentions of doing) , is my flight refundable also? They are pair for already.

 

I ask because I too would like to book economy comfort seating on my Delta flight. Delta reps said I can't do it because I have not been ticketed. Princess said they don't ticket until 45 days pre cruise. I am wondering if I have to give up my flexible ticketing to insure getting my economy comfort ticket.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

No, just wait until about 44 days prior to your first flight and then call Delta with your Locator # and tell them you want to upgrade your seats to economy comfort. If they charge you for the phone call (obviously there will be an upcharge for the seats), then you should be able to do it online yourself.

 

Has anyone had experience with Princess' flights to Tahiti being cheaper than what ATN has online?

[cherylandtk]

If you want to choose your seat now, Princess would have to issue the ticket now, which will put it into non-refundable status and likely only changeable with a substantial fee. Very much like booking the ticket directly with the airlines. If you still want the flexibility of being able to make changes or cancellations without penalty, then you will have to wait to have your ticket issued. Eta-but as noted by drives like Mario, you should still be able to book an EC seat then, just not now.

[pjn]

Thanks for your quick reply!

[Hondu]

We did the flexible air for our recent cruise to South America. We locked in the price at the time by paying in full. American wanted $2300 and eZ-Air was $1100. We were very please with out flights which included American and LAN Argentina. As we understood it, we could have gotten a full refund up to 45 days before sailing without penalty.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I was also told by Princess that the same cancellation penalties apply to the air and the cruise, if using the flexible option and paying off cruise/air before final payment date to lock in price.

[Stevesan]

Hello Everyone

 

These are all the same questions I have. We are doing a Med cruise tour in October. The non-stop flights I wanted from JFK to FCO were running $1100. When Princess offered me $425 flexible for the same flight , I immediately booked and payed for the cruise and flight.

 

I do have questions and I am looking for opinions. So I confirmed my flight price, but I have a flexible ticket which means I could change without penalties. Correct? If I cancel my cruise (which I have no intentions of doing) , is my flight refundable also? They are pair for already.

 

I ask because I too would like to book economy comfort seating on my Delta flight. Delta reps said I can't do it because I have not been ticketed. Princess said they don't ticket until 45 days pre cruise. I am wondering if I have to give up my flexible ticketing to insure getting my economy comfort ticket.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

That is correct:

 

The eZair fare differential reserving directly with the airline for return business class following my Tansatlantic cruise priced at a whopping X2.7!

I locked in Flexible air by paying both the air fare and cruise balance. Both are refundable up until the standard precruise/flight dates.

It is my reservation, and can't be changed by Princess. I confirmed that with the Princess air desk. I was assigned an airline booking number, logged in to the airline by way of "virtuallythere.com", accessed the airline's booking confirmation and selected a seat. I registered on the airline’s web site so I won’t have to go through “virtuallythere”.

I didn't reserve via Cruise Personalizer. I telephoned Princess and a representative made the reservation, patiently talking me through the process and answering questions.

[Quilter n Cruiser]

We used E-zair unrestricted (flexible) last Fall for our TA. We paid in full air and cruise to lock in the price. I was able to go on line to the Delta site with the air locator and pick our seats. This was many months in advance of final payment due date. Out flights went smoothly

[I object 2]

We recently purchased our airline tickets through Princess E-Z Air for our upcoming October transatlantic. We were able to book business class for a great price so we paid for the flight and cruise immediately to lock in the airfare. I used the confirmation number on our cruise personalizer to access the seating information on US Air's website and selected our seats. It was an easy process. The hardest part will be waiting for October to get here!

 

Jan