Princess ez air, has it improved the last couple years?

[mamaboss]

I normally book my flights with the airline or travelocity. Maybe 3 years ago I decided to go with EZ Air as it was much less expensive. My flights changed probably 4 times in about 5 month period of time without any notification. The times changed to what I could live with so no problem. I am OCD about checking all my reservations, that's how I knew it. Then I started reading complaints so I panicked and cancelled the flights and booked thru travelocity. Now I am considering EZ Air again.

 

Has it changed for the better in the last few years? I understand flights will change when you book 6-9 months prior. I also understand I need to keep track of my flight changes myself. However some complaints I read a few years back were regarding flights cancelled for no reason, ect. Anyone have any thoughts on current bookings with EZ Air?

[Thrak]

We are booked for the first time with EZ Air and haven't yet taken the cruise. Princess was offering "up to $300 off" of flights and, in our case, that meant a total cost round trip of $0.00. I love it! As for flights being changed - that has happened to us with pretty much every flight we have ever booked. Sometimes the changes were insane such as when we booked a quick flight from Sacramento to Seattle and then to Fairbanks. Delta changed it to a very long flight from Sacramento to LA to Minneapolis/St. Paul and then to Fairbanks. Nope, nope, nope! The airlines have also changed our flights home to be ones that left 5 minutes after the ship was scheduled to port. No way that will work. On our most recent cruise I had booked a flight home from FLL to Sacramento with a short layover in Seattle. The airline cancelled my original flight and the only one available (I had booked using 'miles') ended up taking us forever. From the time we disembarked the ship to the time we pulled in our driveway at home was a whopping 27 hours! (We did end up with $400 each future flight credits though.) It's not EZ Air that is the problem. It's the stinking airlines. They are far, far, far, from a "service industry". Just ask the guy on the United flight that was beaten and dragged off the plane because he didn't want to take a later flight.

[Hlitner]

We recently used EZAIR to get a truly amazing price on Business Class to Singapore and home from Vancouver. The EZAIR deal saved us thousands of dollars over the best price we could get shopping around on our own. Our flight to Singapore (on China Airlines) never changed after we booked, but our return AA flights went through the typical changes that happen with AA, United and Delta.

 

The schedule changes have nothing to do with EZAIR as its the airlines that make these changes. We do agree that its wise to routinely check on your schedule on both the Princess site and the airlines own web site.

 

Hank

[wheezedr]

Have used EZAir in past with no major issues. As Thrak points out the flight changes are a function of the respective airlines not EZAir itself. We found EZAir best when doing flights in and out of separate cities after a one way cruise. That has become less of an issue at least in our area with the growth of airlines like Norwegian and Icelandair which do not penalize for one way bookings. But even booking directly I still get flight changes. Airlines constantly tweak schedules to try to best utilize their equipment.

[ExploringTheGlobe]

I normally book my flights with the airline or travelocity. Maybe 3 years ago I decided to go with EZ Air as it was much less expensive. My flights changed probably 4 times in about 5 month period of time without any notification. The times changed to what I could live with so no problem. I am OCD about checking all my reservations, that's how I knew it. Then I started reading complaints so I panicked and cancelled the flights and booked thru travelocity. Now I am considering EZ Air again.

 

Has it changed for the better in the last few years? I understand flights will change when you book 6-9 months prior. I also understand I need to keep track of my flight changes myself. However some complaints I read a few years back were regarding flights cancelled for no reason, ect. Anyone have any thoughts on current bookings with EZ Air?

 

I've booked my flights through EZAir for the last several cruises I've done. A couple times the flights have changed but that has nothing to do with EZAir, but with the airline. I plan to continue to book through EZAir on other upcoming cruises.

[Coral]

This is my first time using EZ Air for my June cruise. The economy seats from my home town to London were the same on Princess as booking directly with United. My business class seats that I ended up booking for this trip were $5500 less than booking directly with United. So far, some flight changes that United did (not EZ Air). My only complaint is that it takes a few days for Princess's website to show the changed times. Maybe for 48 hours, it will say "there has been a change and it will show up soon". Though I can go directly onto United's site and see the change. So far, so good. There is no way I could afford Business Class with out Ez Air.

 

I also liked that I could keep looking for better prices.

 

Lastly, EZ Air has gone through some growing pains and changes in the past few years. I think it has made it a much better program and I am very likely to use it in the future. When it first came out - it was really confusing and flexible air price could go up which was so weird but now it is better and improved.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Coral

[moki'smommy]

No problems with EZ Air and better rates than I could find otherwise. Yes, I had some small changes on my last cruise, but these were due to the airline. I got an e-mail from the airline informing me of the change, likely because they happened after the tickets were purchased.

[paul929207]

We have used EZAir for our last few trips and have been happy with the results.

[Astro Flyer]

I have never come close to beating the EZair Flexible airfares for international flights to & from the US; our domestic US airfares aren’t always great.

 

As said, flight changes are the result of airline schedule changes & not created by EZair. We always use Flexible EZair internationally & rarely have any flight changes. For an upcoming flight to LHR the departure time changed by 15 minutes & my TA forwarded that change email from Princess to me.

 

A recent experience was finding better flights & paying 60% less than originally without paying until 75 days before our cruise works great for us.

 

Having the option to reduce airfares and/or get better flights without paying until final payment makes Flexible EZair much better than we could find using other booking options.

[mamaboss]

Thank you all. Just the kind of info I was looking for. I realize times change, can't be helped when you book so far ahead. I think I'll go for it. I assume you can cancel anytime prior to final payment but I'll read up on it first.

[moki'smommy]

Thank you all. Just the kind of info I was looking for. I realize times change, can't be helped when you book so far ahead. I think I'll go for it. I assume you can cancel anytime prior to final payment but I'll read up on it first.

You can actually cancel or change EZ Air up to 45 days before travel.

[susancruzs]

I've been very happy with EZ air. I never can match their fares looking on my own because I'm generally doing one way flights. I usually fly Delta and yes, they have changed flights but they always send me an email. I'm retired and so far any of the changes haven't caused any issues. I do check my flights regularly and pricing, too.

[bobmargd]

Booked ez air. The flight was about half price. LAX to Rome Barcelona to Lax

[elliair]

We booked EZair on our last leg from a New England cruise. We left out of Miami because we wanted to fly nonstop. The air fare was ridiculous, I thought they quoted us the wrong price it was so cheap. We're doing the Panama Canal cruise out of LA and booked EZair. We fly round trip for $0 and no gratuities for a 19-day cruise and some onboard credit. Couldn't pass up that deal. Didn't have any trouble with EZair. Our travel agent made all the arrangements.

[Lucky TGO]

We booked EZair on our last leg from a New England cruise. We left out of Miami because we wanted to fly nonstop. The air fare was ridiculous, I thought they quoted us the wrong price it was so cheap. We're doing the Panama Canal cruise out of LA and booked EZair. We fly round trip for $0 and no gratuities for a 19-day cruise and some onboard credit. Couldn't pass up that deal. Didn't have any trouble with EZair. Our travel agent made all the arrangements.

 

Wow FREE is a great price. Nice..:)

Tony

[Renmar]

Just in case that the flight we booked through EZ Air is canceled by the airline will EZ Air still get us to the ship in time by booking us on an other airline and what would happen to the total cost?

I think I read somewhere that they will get you to the ship but it might be in the next port:eek:.

 

Theo

[satxdiver]

Just in case that the flight we booked through EZ Air is canceled by the airline will EZ Air still get us to the ship in time by booking us on an other airline and what would happen to the total cost?

I think I read somewhere that they will get you to the ship but it might be in the next port:eek:.

 

Theo

 

Short answer is yes. They will get you to the ship hopefully before it sails. We have waited on the ship after departure time for pax coming in on an airline. The only time they will have to take you to the next port is because they were not able to get you to the ship in a reasonable amount of time. In that case they have to put you in a hotel for the night(s) and feed you. This of course is their very last resort. We always fly on the day before for this reason.

 

We have been using EZair for the last several years and have no complaints. I always compare their prices to what I can get on the scheduled airlines and often it is cheaper or at worst the same price but with EZair I pay for it at the same time I pay for the cruise and can cancel or change flight arrangements up to 45 days before I fly or the ship boards.

 

Domestic airlines (maybe international?) change their schedules every quarter to balance the load. Once I book through EZair, I log into the airline and put in my information so that they will notify me of changes. It is all so easy.

[geoherb]

I used EZair for the first time last summer. It cost less than half the prices I was finding on my own through various websites. It was our first cruise where we had to fly to Europe. I used EZair again this year to get us tickets to London and back home from New York for our trans-Atlantic cruise in September. So far, the times have not changed on our flights. We're going six days early, so we have lots of leeway to play around with if they do--although I did go ahead and book and pay for our hotel in London.

 

The airfare was under $250 per person. I couldn't believe the deal we got. It's cheaper to buy the airfare and the cruise than it would be to buy the airfare on our own (unless we were willing to change planes twice and travel for over 20 hours).

[PoohUnderstands]

With all the posts about changing flights when with American, United, etc., I am glad that if I am flying within the US, thankfully, I can use SW which never has changed a flight on me and is so easy to book and use. For medical reasons, I pre-board, so the whole process of booking (getting credit for future flights when prices go down) and flying is so easy, I don't even think of using EZAir. However, will be doing my first international flight for a cruise next year and the prices on EZAir are insanely better that will enable us to fly Business Class and avoid United or American too! So I will get to experience the EZAir way later next year.

 

Pooh

[mamaboss]

Hi all! Just wanted to share what luck I don't have, lol. I book everything for myself and separately I book for my brother and his wife. I went in and booked flights I wanted for myself, logged out and right back in to my brothers to book.....his price is 56.34 higher than mine. I'll just have to watch for a lower price. Again, I appreciate the feedback you all gave, thank you!

[fishywood]

Hi all! Just wanted to share what luck I don't have, lol. I book everything for myself and separately I book for my brother and his wife. I went in and booked flights I wanted for myself, logged out and right back in to my brothers to book.....his price is 56.34 higher than mine. I'll just have to watch for a lower price. Again, I appreciate the feedback you all gave, thank you!

 

That's the usual airfare treachery: if you keep checking the same flights from the same IP address, the fare will rise. And rise some more. Try clearing your cache and check the price again. Or just have your brother check for himself--he might find an even lower price than you paid if he has no history of searching EZAir.

[mamaboss]

That's the usual airfare treachery: if you keep checking the same flights from the same IP address, the fare will rise. And rise some more. Try clearing your cache and check the price again. Or just have your brother check for himself--he might find an even lower price than you paid if he has no history of searching EZAir.

 

Now that's some food for thought! I didn't think of that. So I booked on a tablet, if I use my laptop to check I may do better or my phone?

[susancruzs]

I check my EZ air and haven't noticed increases, in fact, for my Fall New England cruise, prices have gone down a great deal. I'm not convinced the prices would indeed go up.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

We love EZ Air. There’s just no way to beat their business class fares to Europe. And, yes, our flight times have changed on occasion, but this has nothing to do with EZ Air and everything to do with the airlines.

[fishywood]

I check my EZ air and haven't noticed increases, in fact, for my Fall New England cruise, prices have gone down a great deal. I'm not convinced the prices would indeed go up.

 

Just "checking" will not give you the final price. You have to drill down all the way to the payment screen--where you will see a message implying that there has been a change in fare just in the intervening moments since you logged on to EZAir. What has happened is that when Princess ran their advertised fare through the airline's booking matrix after you clicked on the specific flight(s) the system recognized you as a frequent inquirer rather than someone who closes the deal as soon as you find the flight you want. Once you keep returning they know they have you over a barrel.