EZair - charge to change?

[Alaska05]

I have EZair booked for our upcoming Panama Canal cruise this October.

 

I check regularly to see if the prices have dropped and saw a modest savings this morning. Since I've never done this before, I was hesitant to click all the way through to make the change.

 

I got a pop-up warning about a change fee and if I still wanted to continue. I haven't made final payment yet, so I thought I could make changes with no penalty. At the bottom of my air confirmation it says, "No fees will be charged for changes and cancellations made more than 45 days from the outbound flight date or sail departure date (whichever is earlier)." I'm well outside that window.

 

Has anyone else seen this when changing and is it just a standard pop-up?

 

Thanks.

[-Lew-]

If you booked your eZAir flights using the flexible option, you can change your flights as many times as you wish before you pay. Call Princess to confirm if it will set your mind at ease.

 

[mtntwo]

I agree just call Princes. Very easy, did it last month.

You will get a new airline confirmation code so if

you have made seat selection etc you need to again.

[idahospud]

The fee applies to those changes within the 45 day window. I don't know how far you made it into changing your air booking, but right after the no fees outside 45 days notice is this:

Change and cancellation can be made 45 days or less from the outbound flight date or sail departure date (whichever is earlier). A fee starting at $150 up to the full cost of the ticket, per ticket, will apply.

I just made flight changes today for a December cruise and my updated invoice shows no additional fees.

[Astro Flyer]

Like everyone else, I've made many Flexible EZair flight & airfare changes without any fee being charged.

[cruise101]

Question for OP:

 

How do you check for price drops after making the original EZair bookings.

 

I made the EZair bookings and now don't see a link any more for air bookings. So curious as to how you check for price drops.

 

Interestingly, when I booked the Air, I initially booked only the outward leg (to catch the cruise) as our return plans were not yet final. Since I seem to be unable to get to the air booking screen/link, I have had no success in booking my return journey (post cruise), even though our plans are now final. I realize I can always call Princess to book the return journey, but prefer to check various options (via the website, but on my own), and thus am reluctant to call Princess, unless that is the last option.

Thanks in advance for your advice/guidance.

[Alaska05]

Question for OP:

 

How do you check for price drops after making the original EZair bookings.

 

I made the EZair bookings and now don't see a link any more for air bookings. So curious as to how you check for price drops.

 

Interestingly, when I booked the Air, I initially booked only the outward leg (to catch the cruise) as our return plans were not yet final. Since I seem to be unable to get to the air booking screen/link, I have had no success in booking my return journey (post cruise), even though our plans are now final. I realize I can always call Princess to book the return journey, but prefer to check various options (via the website, but on my own), and thus am reluctant to call Princess, unless that is the last option.

Thanks in advance for your advice/guidance.

 

I’m no expert on EZair since this will only be the 2nd time I’ve done it. The first time I didn’t make any changes. But from what I’ve gleaned from the experts on here, this is how you can check on prices.

 

Go to the Princess web site and do not sign in. Start a dummy booking for your cruise and explore the flights offered.

 

This all assumes you are outside the window where you can make changes.

 

I'd also check with the airlines to see what the one-way return flight would cost and compare it to what you get on the Princess site. It might turn out that you could keep your current outbound flight with Princess and book your return separately with an airline.

[Jase0581]

On my last cruise I made a couple changes for lower fares on flexible EZair. On both changes I received that exact same pop-up, but since I was outside of the 45 day window and fares were lower there was no charges.

[cdngrl]

Like everyone else, I've made many Flexible EZair flight & airfare changes without any fee being charged.

 

op, make sure you have a flexible fare. restricted fares can be changed but there is a fee.

 

Question for OP:

How do you check for price drops after making the original EZair bookings.

 

I made the EZair bookings and now don't see a link any more for air bookings. So curious as to how you check for price drops.

 

Interestingly, when I booked the Air, I initially booked only the outward leg (to catch the cruise) as our return plans were not yet final. Since I seem to be unable to get to the air booking screen/link, I have had no success in booking my return journey (post cruise), even though our plans are now final. I realize I can always call Princess to book the return journey, but prefer to check various options (via the website, but on my own), and thus am reluctant to call Princess, unless that is the last option.

Thanks in advance for your advice/guidance.

 

i did this once and was told i cannot book two one way fares.

[Astro Flyer]

Question for OP:

 

How do you check for price drops after making the original EZair bookings.

 

I made the EZair bookings and now don't see a link any more for air bookings. So curious as to how you check for price drops.

 

Interestingly, when I booked the Air, I initially booked only the outward leg (to catch the cruise) as our return plans were not yet final. Since I seem to be unable to get to the air booking screen/link, I have had no success in booking my return journey (post cruise), even though our plans are now final. I realize I can always call Princess to book the return journey, but prefer to check various options (via the website, but on my own), and thus am reluctant to call Princess, unless that is the last option.

Thanks in advance for your advice/guidance.

 

 

In another discussion about searching & making Flexible EZair changes this is how I described the procedure. After the last step is probably when the warning about a fee is displayed but for Flexible EZair that doesn't apply until within 45 days of flying. As posted, I too was hesitant the first time & a Princess agent led me through the procedure even though I am booked through a TA.

 

I use two techniques:

 

First I search & check the EZair prices by doing a potential booking.

 

 

1. If I discover a lower price or better flights I sign into the Cruise Personalizer for my booked cruise under the Travel Arrangements tab
   
2. Click on green box for "Add or Modify Flights"
   
3. Upper right hand corner shows the current airfare & near the bottom of the list is "Change Flights"
   
4. That takes you to the "Flight Search" option to display your flight preferences
   

 

I'm not going further because I don't want to risk changing my flights. As I recall it'll next show other flight & airfare options and can compare to your existing reservation.

 

I'm booked through a TA but called Princess who assisted me the first time with making online changes. I was concerned about making a mistake but after doing it once I now feel comfortable and have made many changes to my EZair flights and airfare.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[Astro Flyer]

op, make sure you have a flexible fare. restricted fares can be changed but there is a fee.

 

i did this once and was told i cannot book two one way fares.

Great point about the distinction between Flexible & Restricted airfares & good to know that 2 one-way flights are not an option.

 

I've never tried to make 2 one-way flight reservations but I was considering it for another cruise where flights will soon be available. I was hopeful that it was possible to immediately book my outbound flight without having to wait until my return flight was available in an attempt to get the best selection & pricing. But since booking 2 one-way options is not allowed will have to use a different tactic.

 

Thanks for the information & now I know that's not an option. Maybe I'll book a Flexible outbound flight & when the return flight becomes available to rebook as a roundtrip if pricing is good. Our next Flexible EZair flight to Europe from the US eventually dropped by 130% after immediately booking our flight as soon as it was available so thankfully with Flexible there are good options to make changes.

[rothbear13]

First time Princess cruiser and therefore first time with EZAir. Just some questions, please. How do you find the fare drops? By checking out the EZAir part of the website or on the airlines site? And if you find a lower fare, how do you change it if you already have chosen seat assignments? Sounds like you do it through the Princess website. Will it keep the flights and seats the same but just lower the pricing? We are doing the Delta Economy+ and since there are fewer seats available in that class I don't want to loose that. I just don't want to screw things up, but DH is fussing about lower pricing. I'm more concerned with the upgrade, although I do want to get the lowest price I can.

 

We are doing the cruisetour with a large group, but everyone is getting flights on their own. We are using a TA, but I'm not familiar with them and am somewhat of a control freak on my vacations. That's why I was doing the air through EZAir and doing the checking myself.

 

Any guidance the experiences Princess cruisers can give me is well appreciated. Thanks!

[Astro Flyer]

First time Princess cruiser and therefore first time with EZAir. Just some questions, please. How do you find the fare drops? By checking out the EZAir part of the website or on the airlines site? And if you find a lower fare, how do you change it if you already have chosen seat assignments? Sounds like you do it through the Princess website. Will it keep the flights and seats the same but just lower the pricing? We are doing the Delta Economy+ and since there are fewer seats available in that class I don't want to loose that. I just don't want to screw things up, but DH is fussing about lower pricing. I'm more concerned with the upgrade, although I do want to get the lowest price I can.

 

We are doing the cruisetour with a large group, but everyone is getting flights on their own. We are using a TA, but I'm not familiar with them and am somewhat of a control freak on my vacations. That's why I was doing the air through EZAir and doing the checking myself.

 

Any guidance the experiences Princess cruisers can give me is well appreciated. Thanks!

I check EZair airfares by using a cruise's flight search option & not from my Cruise Personalizer to discover current prices. If they're lower then I'll use the procedure I previously posted (#10) to make changes.

 

When paying for a seat assignment reservation, mine have been non-refundable. As I recall, each time I've lowered the price (or changed flights) using EZair it generated a new airline reservation locator code. That's why I waited until I was certain about our flights & that the price had hopefully reached the lowest price.

 

If I was in your situation, I don't think that I'd risk losing my seat assignments but would recommend calling the Princess EZair section (weekday business hours?) to confirm my experiences where each fare reduction, even on the same flight, generated a new locator code & thus losing a paid seat assignment. My cruise is booked with a TA however Princess still assisted me with the EZair flight procedure which I do myself.

 

Those have been my experiences & if anyone else has different experiences hopefully they'll post them.

[Colo Cruiser]

First time Princess cruiser and therefore first time with EZAir. Just some questions, please. How do you find the fare drops? By checking out the EZAir part of the website or on the airlines site? And if you find a lower fare, how do you change it if you already have chosen seat assignments? Sounds like you do it through the Princess website. Will it keep the flights and seats the same but just lower the pricing? We are doing the Delta Economy+ and since there are fewer seats available in that class I don't want to loose that. I just don't want to screw things up, but DH is fussing about lower pricing. I'm more concerned with the upgrade, although I do want to get the lowest price I can.

 

We are doing the cruisetour with a large group, but everyone is getting flights on their own. We are using a TA, but I'm not familiar with them and am somewhat of a control freak on my vacations. That's why I was doing the air through EZAir and doing the checking myself.

 

Any guidance the experiences Princess cruisers can give me is well appreciated. Thanks!

 

If you have flexible air it will only charge the price difference of the new airfare if it's higher and you are outside the 45 day window. Or credit you if it's lower.

Yes it is done online in the Princess cruise personalizer through the travel arrangements/EZ Air tab/section/modify.

It will cancel your entire booking and rebook the new flights you select, as well as tell you the total price and give you the new amount. It will compare the new and old price on the screen.

You will lose your seats etc. You have to start over with the new flights you select. Yes it will give you a new airline record locator #.

The good thing is it locks in your new selection before you cancel your old ones.

If you have not made final payment yet it will adjust your air price accordingly for the booking.

If you have paid final payment it will refund the difference to your CC or it will charge the difference in price to your CC if your new flights cost more.