Flight Ease when booking cruise through TA

[Maya_C]

I'd like to book air through HAL because, as I've been reading here, I can reserve flights without a cancellation penalty until the cruise final payment date. Must I work through the TA I booked with to reserve the flight or can I work with HAL directly to make airline reservations? The fewer the people involved, the less the chance of error. Currently, booking the cruise through a TA online is $700 cheaper than booking with HAL, but the TA's online booking form says they don't handle air tickets. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge about Flight Ease.

~Maya

[idiebabe]

I'd like to book air through HAL because, as I've been reading here, I can reserve flights without a cancellation penalty until the cruise final payment date. Must I work through the TA I booked with to reserve the flight or can I work with HAL directly to make airline reservations? The fewer the people involved, the less the chance of error. Currently, booking the cruise through a TA online is $700 cheaper than booking with HAL, but the TA's online booking form says they don't handle air tickets. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge about Flight Ease.

~Maya

 

Up until about 6 months ago if you booked with a TA, you had to call the TA to have them book the flights through HAL. I book with the "Big Box" Agency but I have booked flights direct with HAL through the HAL Website. If you access your Booking under "My Reservations" and click on "Purchase", you will find "Book Flights" on left-hand side. You can then go in and search for flights and book them. There are also filters if you want to book Main Cabin, First Class, etc. or search by a specific Airline. We book "Flexible Fare" so if we have to cancel the Cruise, the flights also get cancelled up until Final Payment with no Penalty as opposed to "Restricted Fare".

 

Hope this helps! :)

[Maya_C]

Hope this helps! :)

 

Eileen, That's exactly the information I wanted. Thank you. ~Maya

[KirkNC]

Good info, I know if you call HAL when you have a TA they will tell you to go through the TA.

[blueboro]

I just booked / reserved flights a few days ago on the HAL Flightease website. However, since the cruise was booked thru a TA, we got no confirmation from HAL. We had to contact our TA for them to officially book and pay for the airfare, and then the following day it appeared on our reservations for HAL.

[idiebabe]

I just booked / reserved flights a few days ago on the HAL Flightease website. However, since the cruise was booked thru a TA, we got no confirmation from HAL. We had to contact our TA for them to officially book and pay for the airfare, and then the following day it appeared on our reservations for HAL.

 

Did you book "Restricted"? I've only booked Flexible Fare and it's added onto my Booking with my Big Box Agency. I pay the Big Box for the Air but it's not due until Final Payment and is reflected in the Balance Owed. The Air also shows up on my Itinerary under my Booking in HAL. When I print out an Itinerary from HAL's site it has all my flights listed coming and going for that Cruise.

[jones4664]

Please be careful with Flight Ease through Holland America. They auto cancelled our first flights and it's been a nightmare since trying to make sure all 4 of us make it to Europe and back. Our cruise is 2 weeks away and I still don't trust them to make it happen. I've called both airlines and they laugh at how many tickets HA has issued and reissued. We have a minor traveling with us but he's on a separate ticket locater for all 4 flights because his name is too long?? Go figure! It's cost us more than the savings we had at the very beginning and HA said everything on their website about our flight is wrong and it can't be corrected but I'm suppose to trust them...LOL

[cbr663]

Up until about 6 months ago if you booked with a TA, you had to call the TA to have them book the flights through HAL. I book with the "Big Box" Agency but I have booked flights direct with HAL through the HAL Website. If you access your Booking under "My Reservations" and click on "Purchase", you will find "Book Flights" on left-hand side. You can then go in and search for flights and book them. There are also filters if you want to book Main Cabin, First Class, etc. or search by a specific Airline. We book "Flexible Fare" so if we have to cancel the Cruise, the flights also get cancelled up until Final Payment with no Penalty as opposed to "Restricted Fare".

 

Hope this helps! :)

 

Wonderful information. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Maya_C]

Please be careful with Flight Ease through Holland America. They auto cancelled our first flights and it's been a nightmare since trying to make sure all 4 of us make it to Europe and back. /quote]

 

Groan. One reason I was leaning toward HAL rather than Celebrity for a Greek Island cruise next May was the flexibility of Air Ease. But if booking mistakes are common and I have the added step of having to book the air through another middleman (an online TA), the chance of a glitch increases. I've used Choice Air for Celebrity cruises with no problems. You search for and book flights the same way, whether you reserved the cruise directly with Celebrity or with a TA. Unfortunately with Choice Air, you have to pay for the airline tickets when you reserve and they are nonrefundable.

~Maya

[ChinaShrek]

As long as you do not make changes to your flight or check your reservation ever again, Flight Ease is fine. It's when you check to see if there is a lower price that you will have problems.

[TiogaCruiser]

I booked air and cruise through the BigBoxCo and had good results. All flight change info came directly from HAL. The changes were minor arrival- departure time changes that the airline made. (Likely they came from a higher authority.)

[blueboro]

Did you book "Restricted"? I've only booked Flexible Fare and it's added onto my Booking with my Big Box Agency. I pay the Big Box for the Air but it's not due until Final Payment and is reflected in the Balance Owed. The Air also shows up on my Itinerary under my Booking in HAL. When I print out an Itinerary from HAL's site it has all my flights listed coming and going for that Cruise.

 

We booked Flexible. It is on both our TA booking and shows up on HAL. Now trying to see if it is upgradeable.

[Hlitner]

I just booked / reserved flights a few days ago on the HAL Flightease website. However, since the cruise was booked thru a TA, we got no confirmation from HAL. We had to contact our TA for them to officially book and pay for the airfare, and then the following day it appeared on our reservations for HAL.

 

Actually you did not need to contact your cruise/travel agency. When you reserve a flight using the online system, HAL will send an e-mail to your cruise/travel agency notifying them of the addition to your booking. Most agencies will then forward that confirmation to their client. I should mention that the flight booking engine used by HAL on their web site has been around for a few years and used by Princess Cruise Lines. HAL has simply modified their system to use that same program.

 

Once you pay for the air you can go on the airline's web site, pull up your reservation using the airline locator code (which is on your HAL reservation page) and print out your boarding pass and reservation info just like you had booked directly with the airline. Even before you pay for that air you should be able to access the booking on the airline web site using the locator code.

 

 

Hank

[mrmoviezombie]

Even before you pay for that air you should be able to access the booking on the airline web site using the locator code.

 

I've had mixed results with that. Often the airline only has it as a reservation, not a paid ticket. Which limits your ability to pick seats or upgrades etc. What we have been able to do is call our TA (and have them call HAL) to ask them to get the ticket actually issued once the air is actually paid.

 

Also make sure you are using the right locator code, The flightease has it's own locator code, and sometimes the different segments have different codes.

[blueboro]

Actually you did not need to contact your cruise/travel agency. When you reserve a flight using the online system, HAL will send an e-mail to your cruise/travel agency notifying them of the addition to your booking. Most agencies will then forward that confirmation to their client. I should mention that the flight booking engine used by HAL on their web site has been around for a few years and used by Princess Cruise Lines. HAL has simply modified their system to use that same program.

 

 

That may be the way it is supposed to work, but when we got no confirmation after booking thru the site...we called HAL and they told us we needed to call our TA.

[cruisewiththekids]

Actually you did not need to contact your cruise/travel agency. When you reserve a flight using the online system, HAL will send an e-mail to your cruise/travel agency notifying them of the addition to your booking. Most agencies will then forward that confirmation to their client. I should mention that the flight booking engine used by HAL on their web site has been around for a few years and used by Princess Cruise Lines. HAL has simply modified their system to use that same program.

 

Once you pay for the air you can go on the airline's web site, pull up your reservation using the airline locator code (which is on your HAL reservation page) and print out your boarding pass and reservation info just like you had booked directly with the airline. Even before you pay for that air you should be able to access the booking on the airline web site using the locator code.

 

 

Hank

 

On the Princess website, you can check airfare before booking the cruise. Are you able to do that on HAL's website? I am not seeing that, but HAL's website is pretty awful, so I might have missed it.

[*Miss G*]

On the Princess website, you can check airfare before booking the cruise. Are you able to do that on HAL's website? I am not seeing that, but HAL's website is pretty awful, so I might have missed it.

No, sorry, you need a booking # in order to log in and check fares. They use the same system, though, so I understand some people check airfares on the Princess site to see what’s available for HAL.

[cbr663]

On the Princess website, you can check airfare before booking the cruise. Are you able to do that on HAL's website? I am not seeing that, but HAL's website is pretty awful, so I might have missed it.

 

I just checked the Princess site and it appears to also require a booking number to check flights. Am I missing something?

[cbr663]

We are getting errors when attempting to book flights using FlightEase. After I select Find Flights, the "We are unable to process your request" is returned. We are 326 days out from departure.

 

Anyone else having this problem?

[JMB1969]

We are getting errors when attempting to book flights using FlightEase. After I select Find Flights, the "We are unable to process your request" is returned. We are 326 days out from departure.

 

Anyone else having this problem?

Is it possible you are trying to book air too early? I know many airlines don't let you book flights more than 9 -10 months out.

 

Sent from my SM-T813 using Forums mobile app

[cbr663]

Is it possible you are trying to book air too early? I know many airlines don't let you book flights more than 9 -10 months out.

 

Sent from my SM-T813 using Forums mobile app

 

That's what I wonder. HAL's site states you can book 330 days before departure. I don't know whether they mean when the departure at the beginning of the cruise or the end.

 

I will wait another week and try again before I call for help.

[Fouremco]

That's what I wonder. HAL's site states you can book 330 days before departure. I don't know whether they mean when the departure at the beginning of the cruise or the end.

 

I will wait another week and try again before I call for help.

Go to the website(s) of the airline(s) with whom you wish to fly and look for a flight on the dates you want. Most will give you a calendar showing how far out flights are available. It's a lot quicker and easier than trying to use Flight Ease.

[Hlitner]

That's what I wonder. HAL's site states you can book 330 days before departure. I don't know whether they mean when the departure at the beginning of the cruise or the end.

 

I will wait another week and try again before I call for help.

 

Unless they have recently changed the software (which has been used by Princess for a few years) you will not even be able to access flight options until 330 days prior to your disembarkation date! We recently used Flight Ease for an Asia cruise and were only interested in a one-way flight to the embarkation port. When we went on the HAL web site 330 days prior to our departure the flight stuff did not work. I telephoned HAL and got transfered to the air folks who told me the exact day I would be able to access info...which was 330 days from the end of the cruise.

 

Hank

[cbr663]

Unless they have recently changed the software (which has been used by Princess for a few years) you will not even be able to access flight options until 330 days prior to your disembarkation date! We recently used Flight Ease for an Asia cruise and were only interested in a one-way flight to the embarkation port. When we went on the HAL web site 330 days prior to our departure the flight stuff did not work. I telephoned HAL and got transfered to the air folks who told me the exact day I would be able to access info...which was 330 days from the end of the cruise.

 

Hank

 

Thanks HAL for the clarification.

 

I also read your post on another thread on how to access flights on Princess without a booking number. Thanks for providing that information also. :)

[airboss1998]

I'm struggling to find FlightEase, even though we've booked.....