Ok before I get slammed for

[Grammyluvs]

flying in the day of the cruise...wasn’t my idea and was beyond my control.:(

NOW, we have restricted air tickets thru EZ Air. I know if I cancel or change my flts there is a penalty plus losing the money for the original booking and having to purchase a new ticket. My question is: Can I change the flight out to an earlier date (trying to avoid weather delay) and still keep my return flight without penalties or loss? I just want to change the out bound flight. Btw, my outbound is on USAir and the return is with Amercian.

Thanks

Edited January 28, 2014 by Grammyluvs

[frugaltravel]

flying in the day of the cruise...wasn’t my idea and was beyond my control.:(

NOW, we have restricted air tickets thru EZ Air. I know if I cancel or change my flts there is a penalty plus losing the money for the original booking and having to purchase a new ticket. My question is: Can I change the flight out to an earlier date (trying to avoid weather delay) and still keep my return flight without penalties or loss? I just want to change the out bound flight. Btw, my outbound is on USAir and the return is with Amercian.

Thanks

 

It would help to know where you are traveling to/from and when.

 

But with EZAir, you already answered your own question - if you cancel or change, you have to buy a new ticket. So if you change the outbound, doesn't that qualify as a "change" and mean that you need to buy a new ticket? Maybe I don't understand your question.

 

If you are worried about a weather delay in the coming days, the airlines are issuing weather waivers so you should be able to change flights within the parameters of the weather waiver, even on EZAir tickets.

[Zach1213]

Even with less restrictive tickets, changing the day is generally something that is charged for. Even for a frequent flier - it's one thing to go standby or confirmed standby on an earlier flight that day, but it's something completely different to say "I'm ticketed on Tuesday, can I change it to Monday (or standby on Monday) for free?" Through something like EZ Air, this is absolutely a change that you will be charged for. I just don't see any way that you could get around that - change fee + difference in fare.

 

As mentioned, though, weather MIGHT change things. If there is a big storm coming, waivers are often released by the airlines that allow for changes like this. But you would not know until a few days out at most, and I wouldn't count on it being easy (especially if hundreds or thousands of people flying your airline to your destination are also trying to "beat the storm"). But you can't just call up and say "there might be weather on Tuesday next month, so change me to Monday just in case."

Edited January 28, 2014 by Zach1213

[Grammyluvs]

I understand about paying again for the outgoing ticket....I guess I wasn’t clear. Will I still be able to keep my original flt. back home from SFO to BHAM or will it be cancelled because I changed the fly. to SFO. BTW, I am flying out of Birmingham, Al to Charlotte and then on to San Fran on USAir. Coming home I am flying American from SFO to Dallas to BHAm. I didn’t know how changing one flight going effects the return trip.

Our city is paralyzed today with .5” of snow. Don’t laugh.;) Our weather has been crazy this winter. Trying to be proactive to see what my options are. Thanks

[kenish]

You're EZair / Princess' customer, not the airline's. EZair has their own rules, and how they obtained the tickets is another important variable. For example, you and I may have the same flights and both purchased through EZair, but the ticket stock and the fare rules may be totally different. (Think in terms of TV's purchased through one of the "gray market" / overstock mail order stores in NY. We are no longer Sony's customer and our warranties from the store may be totally different).

 

The only way to get the full answer is to contact EZair. Without the full fare code it's impossible to access the fine print of the fare rules. OTOH if you do have the full fare code (not the PNR / record locator / confirmation code), someone here can provide the full fare rules.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited January 28, 2014 by kenish

[waterbug123]

I understand about paying again for the outgoing ticket....I guess I wasn’t clear. Will I still be able to keep my original flt. back home from SFO to BHAM or will it be cancelled because I changed the fly. to SFO. BTW, I am flying out of Birmingham, Al to Charlotte and then on to San Fran on USAir. Coming home I am flying American from SFO to Dallas to BHAm. I didn’t know how changing one flight going effects the return trip.

 

Only EZAir will be able to answer that. You need to call them. Good luck with that... I'm sure they're being bombarded with calls today so your hold time may be very, very long.

[Zach1213]

You would have to call EZ Air to see if it's allowed on your ticket. But if you have "regular" tickets, it's really quite easy - you just go online or call the airline, change your outbound flight (and pay fees and fare difference), and keep your return flight.

 

But, you may or may not have a "regular" ticket. It may have associated restrictions, which we don't know, that does not allow any change whatsoever without getting an entire new ticket.

 

In the end, you'll have to call them. Not the airline, EZ Air. As mentioned, you're not really the airline's customer.

[RickT]

While I'm personally OK with flying in the day of a cruise I took a look at both your flight and your cruise. You have less than an hour to connect in Charlotte which would be a concern as well as your cruise is off to Hawaii so missing the ship would be a huge problem.

 

1) As others have said, call EZ Air now. Get the facts on what you can and cannot do. Prior to calling them look up alternate US Air flights so you can pick the day/flight you prefer.

2) Go ahead and call US Air. Just because you've booked your flight with Princess doesn't mean they can't (or won't) help you. The worst thing they can say is sorry.

 

Lastly, just to make sure I understand part of your question. If rather than changing your outbound flight you decide to simply not show up and get to SFO another way, your return flight will most likely be cancelled since you didn't show up for the outbound flight (even though it's different airlines). Sometimes doing this seems easier than the process to cancel a ticket but you need to do it.

 

Normally an airline will charge you a change fee and apply the balance of the ticket price towards another flight. Based on the class of ticket from EZ Air the cancellation charge may be 100%. I took a look at the US Air flights and found by leaving on the Sunday your one way flight would be under $300 while leaving on the Monday would be over $500. If you can, go for the Sunday and use the $ you save on a nice meal and hotel.

 

Please come back and let us know what the outcome is.

[Grammyluvs]

Thanks everyone. Birmingham, Al is in a gridlock mess right now with an unexpected ice and snow storm. This is so unusual for us that it has made me very nervous. Our trip begins 3 weeks from today. I wanted to know my options and it sounds like I have some homework to do. Fortunately we have trip insurance:) I appreciate all the help it will benefit me when I call EZ AIRe and the airline.

[frugaltravel]

Only EZAir will be able to answer that. You need to call them. Good luck with that... I'm sure they're being bombarded with calls today so your hold time may be very, very long.

 

I have never called EZAir, but I have called USAirways during irregular operations. Hold time was well over an hour. I can't imagine EZAir would be any worse.

 

Also, OP, I am not so sure contacting EZAir in the case of canceled flights due to the current weather issues is necessary. Sure you will also have a long hold time calling the airline, but on day of departure they are much more willing to assist with such weather waiver delays/cancellations on all sorts of tickets than at other times.

[Grammyluvs]

I am going to wait until about 5 days out from cruise to get an extended weather report. If necessary then, I will try and contact the airline first. My only problem is since we are using USAir going and American Airlines returning, I thought I should use EZAir to make sure they hold my American return flight. If I call USAir to change outgoing, will they hold the return flight as is or do I need to also call American?Thanks

[RickT]

Why wait? See what they can do for you now and take the grief out of your travel plans. If they offer you something you can decide to take it or wait once you have the details.

 

Any change to your outbound flight (either by EZ Air or directly with US Air) will not affect your return flight on American unless perhaps the best choice is to completely cancel that leg and rebook. In that case I'm not sure how the return leg would work.

[Zach1213]

I would wait a day or two simply because, with the nasty weather, the phones will be VERY busy dealing with rebookings, etc. That's true for both EZ Air and the airlines...all of the airlines, but even moreso for those with hubs in the southeast, such as Delta and...US Airways.

 

At this point, I can't seem them doing anything for you free. But it's always worth asking. If it's true that you're flying coast-to-coast on the day of the cruise with a short connection at CLT, that worries even me...and I am not the traveler!

[ducklite]

Keep watching the US site. As soon as they add the travel advisory for your airports at the top, try to change your ticket. Depending in how far you are from the airport, it might be quickest to do it right at the counter. IIR, Birmingham isn't very large, so try to do it mid-morning when lines tend to be pretty low.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[Grammyluvs]

Thanks.....yes, I am sure they are bombarded now. I am worried about the 50 min layover in Charlotte as well.....even more so for my luggage. When i book trips, we always go 1-2 days earlier and hope that is enough. You never know....but at least it gives us a cushion. I would rather sit in an airport a couple of hours and make my connection. This makes me wonder why EZAir sets up these close connections....seems like it would make more work for them with all the rescheduling.Just my opinion

[ducklite]

When things are normal in CLT, 50 minutes is more than enough time for people and bags.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[kenish]

With the US/AA merger, it's a bit easier to get a comprehensive answer and you may not need to contact them separately. That said, they are far from being fully integrated. Although it's worth asking, they may simply direct you to EZair as previously commented.

 

FYI, I got caught up in the flight cancellations through DFW in early December. I have Platinum status with AA, and was automatically rebooked for a day later. I called their dedicated Plat line...normally a live person answers but this time I got a recording that let me enter a callback queue. The automated system said to expect callback in over 2 hours. About 4 hours later I got a callback and the problem was solved by flying to another nearby airport.

 

Point is, even with my mediocre status, when the weather got bad the wait was hours and I was lucky they found a same-day alternate flight. I took a shared van home and another passenger was 2 days late...she never got through to AA despite holding for hours (no auto-callback offered).

 

I agree with others...contact EZair ASAP and "unstress" the situation. Hopefully the weather will be fine and a red herring for you! :)

Edited January 29, 2014 by kenish

[waterbug123]

I would wait a day or two simply because, with the nasty weather, the phones will be VERY busy dealing with rebookings, etc.

 

This is one of those times when having status with the airlines really counts. I was supposed to fly to FLL today on DL, but of course ATL is a mess and my flight was canceled. I was automatically rebooked for tomorrow, then Fri and then even that flight was canceled. I called, and their system recognized my cell phone # and thus my Skymiles status, and automatically routed me to the elite line. (I'm and gold medallion, or elite+ member) and my hold time was less than 2 minutes as a result.

 

This makes me wonder why EZAir sets up these close connections....seems like it would make more work for them with all the rescheduling.Just my opinion

 

Most likely because they get a better "deal" on them from the airlines. Every bargain comes at a price of some sort. In this instance, perhaps the financial savings comes at the cost of a tight connection.

[greatam]

Just a couple of thoughts. Referring to the Sticky about Cruise Air and Airline Deviation, I will bet money these tickets were purchased by the cruise line on a bulk basis at least a year ago AS SEPARATE TICKETS because the merger WAS NOT in place at the time and unless you can provide fare codes, they were most likely bulk purchase tickets.

 

I truly believe these were most likely stack 4 tickets (per the Sticky) because of the BHM origination. There would be no reason for the cruise lines to try to purchase a lot of tickets on a one way basis with BHM as the origination. Just wouldn't be needed as a general rule. BUT definitely a FEW would need to be purchased in the advance contract purchase to accommodate those leaving home from BHM.

 

"Stack four contains these tickets-LAX/SEA, LAX/ORD, LAX/DFW, LAX/JFK, ORD/JFK, ORD/MIA, JFK/MIA"

 

"That is what is left. So somehow, the cruise line has to get those pax from LAX to Miami. Six lucky people will get a one stopper, either ORD or DFW. The rest-Take a combination of cards-lets say LAX/SEA/ORD/JFK/MIA. The cruise line has now fulfilled their obligation to get you to the ship. And because the cruise line does not put the flights together until AFTER final payment, regular cruise air pax are left with PILE 4."

 

The cruise lines now, instead of doing it manually in the air/sea dept, just dump the same, bulk purchased tickets into the handy dandy website and MAKE PEOPLE think it is all NEW. AND then they save themselves 100's of 1000's of dollars for labor costs because the computer does the work and the passenger picks the ticket combination instead of a cruise line employee.

 

Same old tickets "sitting on a shelf" (actually in a computer database) just waiting for someone to attach a name to those tickets.

 

This type of flight would frequently be put together by the Big Three travel agencies, consolidators, bulk purchase agencies and consumers as two separate airline tickets. Not hard to comprehend.

 

I don't think you really have much to worry about. Whether you can get a straight answer from EZ Air is a toss up. I still believe in the underlying framework of this ticket, they are REALLY TWO entirely separate tickets that have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other.

 

So if they are two separate tickets, you can cancel the first and not have it impact the second. But watch carefully for those weather waivers if you think there may be a problem. Of course, the only problem with that is there may NOT be flights a few days earlier. A one way ticket purchased far in advance without even thinking about any possible weather disruption in a REFUNDABLE class may be a life saver. Don't need the flight, you get your money back. Do need the ticket-your travel insurance MAY cover the cost and the ticket MAY be cheaper than trying to get a walk up ticket on another routing if there is bad weather and you have a restricted ticket.

 

Just a few thoughts. Waiting and hoping for a weather waiver may or may not work, particularly to a popular destination or a cruise in the middle of winter.

 

It worked very well for us when we flew PHX/EWR on Oct 31 last year right after Hurricane Sandy. We got to NJ just fine. Then we realized the problems. We had hotel space that was warm and comfortable with lights and toilets that worked. We had a nice rental car. What we did not have was GASOLINE. After realizing that our combination business/concert trip was going to totally busted due to lack of gasoline, we were exploring Plan B. We couldn't even talk the rental agency into letting us exchange the car on Saturday morning for a full gas tank or another car with a full gas tank even though I offered to pay the exorbitant $9.00 per gallon rental car fee if you forget to fill up your rental or don't sign up for one of the gasoline programs. They simply did not have the extra gas.

 

So here we were with a rental car almost out of gas and lines 3-4 hours long to get 5 gallons. That wasn't going very far. We called United. They had already let us change the flight once from Oct 30 to Oct 31. Then they let us change it again on Friday night for free to get us home on a flight Saturday morning.

 

But it is NOT going to work very well for most snow storms or "NORMAL" weather disruptions. Just a few thoughts.

[Grammyluvs]

I appreciate the thoughts “greatam”, they answered my question about the return flts. being retained if I rebook the outgoing. I am seriously considering purchasing a refundable tkt. and not canceling the first one. Then if I see I don’t need the new tkt.I can cancel the second one with refund and still use the original. Right? This is all very confusing for a someone who rarely flies.

We travel by RV 95% of the time.

Thanks everyone for all the thought you have put into this situation.