EZ Air

[ErLee]

Can someone explain EZ Air to me? I have flights booked for a January cruise on the Sky, and haven’t used the EZ Air system before. I haven’t paid for them yet. It says price and availability not confirmed until payment or some wording along those lines. Does this mean that what I have booked may not actually be available for me if I don’t go ahead and pay for the flights?

[DrivesLikeMario]

It sounds like you've booked flexible air.  That means you do not need to pay for the flights until final payment time.  They are reserved for you but the airline does not consider them actually booked until they are paid in full and ticketed by the cruise line.  Ticketing will automatically happen at about 45 days prior to your first flight unless you specifically ask your TA to have Princess ticket your flights earlier. 

If the price of your flights goes down and you've seen the lower fare on Princess' website, then you can cancel your air and rebook it at the lower price as long it is before final payment.  This is a really unique (and wonderful) feature of EZ Air.  You can check prices of your flights in your Cruise Personalizer any time.  It pays to watch the pricing.  Many people get multiple price drops before final payment time. 

[pmjnh]

1 hour ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

It sounds like you've booked flexible air.  That means you do not need to pay for the flights until final payment time.  They are reserved for you but the airline does not consider them actually booked until they are paid in full and ticketed by the cruise line.  Ticketing will automatically happen at about 45 days prior to your first flight unless you specifically ask your TA to have Princess ticket your flights earlier. 

If the price of your flights goes down and you've seen the lower fare on Princess' website, then you can cancel your air and rebook it at the lower price as long it is before final payment.  This is a really unique (and wonderful) feature of EZ Air.  You can check prices of your flights in your Cruise Personalizer any time.  It pays to watch the pricing.  Many people get multiple price drops before final payment time. 

 

 

Thanks for this great explanation. Having never used EZ Air, but plan to do so for our 2020 Baltic cruise, can the prices go up with flexible fare before final payment date?

[DrivesLikeMario]

13 minutes ago, pmjnh said:

Thanks for this great explanation. Having never used EZ Air, but plan to do so for our 2020 Baltic cruise, can the prices go up with flexible fare before final payment date?

That's the even greater thing - no!  They can't go up in price!  Isn't that great?  It's the best of both worlds.  Sometimes, I reserve a price and flight I can live with early on, then I check often for my ideal flight and price over the coming months.  Then I cancel and re-book if it suits me. 

[Kenswing]

16 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

That's the even greater thing - no!  They can't go up in price!  Isn't that great?  It's the best of both worlds.  Sometimes, I reserve a price and flight I can live with early on, then I check often for my ideal flight and price over the coming months.  Then I cancel and re-book if it suits me. 

That's pretty much what I do also.  I book as soon as flights become available then re-fare as the opportunities arise.. 

[pmjnh]

43 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

That's the even greater thing - no!  They can't go up in price!  Isn't that great?  It's the best of both worlds.  Sometimes, I reserve a price and flight I can live with early on, then I check often for my ideal flight and price over the coming months.  Then I cancel and re-book if it suits me. 

 

Thats great, thanks again for clarifying this.

[ErLee]

Thank you for the explanation!

[satxdiver]

It is a win-win deal and no money is paid until the final cruise payment with no cancellation fees.  The flight arrangements can be changed by you up until 45 days before you fly.  The airline will list it on their website as a reservation pending payment so on most airlines you can pick your seat assignment as soon as you make the reservation.  It is similar to the airline hold you can do when booking a flight but a lot longer than the day or so hold allowed by the airlines.   

[silversneakers]

9 hours ago, Kenswing said:

That's pretty much what I do also.  I book as soon as flights become available then re-fare as the opportunities arise.. 

Just don't do what I did.  Booked EZ air flights and upgraded directly through the airline website (not EZ Air).  When the price went down for my original flight (significantly)  I checked with the airline first to see if there would be any consequences and glad I did.  They told me that the confirmation booking number would change and therefore it would cancel my paid upgrade as it was "non refundable".....so I just stayed with what I had originally booked. Lesson learned.

Edited June 1, 2019 by silversneakers
clarification

[phabric]

13 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

 

Once you have reserved flexible air and want to check the price - 

- on your Personalizer,

- go to Travel Arrangements

- it will list your present flights

- at the bottom, click on the GREEN section -  Modifiy —— NOT THE RED

- Click on - change flights

- add the flight information you want -  

(departure - it is the day you want to arrive and not the day you leave)

- choose the flights you want

- if it is the same price - leave the page

- if cheaper -  click on the flight you want

- choose your next flight

- next - it will show new flights

- at the bottom - will show old and new price

- if you want the new price click continue 

 

Each time, you change the booking, you will receive a NEW AIR BOOKING NUMBER.  You will have to add information you had on the old booking, ie - seats, airline numbers.

 

Payment is at final payment, and you are able to change up to 45 days before the flight with no penalty.

 

I check daily, and have found my flights have gone up and down and I Modify and have  saved a few $ for the same flights.

 

[BigGuy25]

And, some airlines will let you choose seats before the payment is actually made and others won’t. We’re traveling to Barcelona and then back from Rome in October. The three Delta legs have seats assigned ... the one Alitalia flight doesn’t.

[BigGuy25]

Update: Just happened to log onto Alitalia today to look at the booking and our seats are now assigned ... even though we’re still 3 months out from the 45 day purchase date.

[DrivesLikeMario]

British Airways seems to be the main one who won't reserve seats ahead of time.  I'm sure there are others but that's the one I'm most familiar with as I regularly pay seat fees far in advance.

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

British Airways seems to be the main one who won't reserve seats ahead of time.  I'm sure there are others but that's the one I'm most familiar with as I regularly pay seat fees far in advance.

Lufthansa

[brt49]

On 6/1/2019 at 7:38 PM, DrivesLikeMario said:

British Airways seems to be the main one who won't reserve seats ahead of time.  I'm sure there are others but that's the one I'm most familiar with as I regularly pay seat fees far in advance.

I'm flying Business class in August and I was able to choose my seats.

[phabric]

On 6/1/2019 at 7:38 PM, DrivesLikeMario said:

British Airways seems to be the main one who won't reserve seats ahead of time.  I'm sure there are others but that's the one I'm most familiar with as I regularly pay seat fees far in advance.

 

I have British Airways booked for Oct and was able to reserve Premium Economy seats when I booked EzAir.  My seats show up on British Airway website seat plan.

[Jezabel2924]

On 6/1/2019 at 4:38 PM, DrivesLikeMario said:

British Airways seems to be the main one who won't reserve seats ahead of time.  I'm sure there are others but that's the one I'm most familiar with as I regularly pay seat fees far in advance.

That is what happened to us last year for our Baltic Cruise with BA.  We are flying to London this year on an American flight "run by BA" expecting to have to wait for seats again.  Surprisingly, we were able to select seats before final payment this year.  Both flights were with EZair.

[DrivesLikeMario]

4 hours ago, phabric said:

 

I have British Airways booked for Oct and was able to reserve Premium Economy seats when I booked EzAir.  My seats show up on British Airway website seat plan.

I've booked about 8 flights with BA and always have to pay for seat assignment because I don't have one of the following and these are the only way you get to choose your seats for free 7 days or more in advance.  You must have:

 

1.  Silver or Gold Executive Club status/OneWorld Sapphire/Emerald status OR

2.  Booked Flexible Fares (called PlusFlex)

3.  Be a passenger with a lap child
 

Airlines that don’t currently charge fees for selecting standard seats:

• Aeroflot
• Aeromexico
• Air Canada (except for the cheapest economy “Tango” fares)
• Air China
• Air Europa
• Alitalia
• American
• ANA
• Asiana
• Brussels Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• China Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• Delta (except for basic economy fares)
• Emirates (except for cheapest economy fares)
• Ethiopian
• Etihad
• Kenya Airways
• Korean Air
• Japan Airlines (JAL)
• LATAM (except for certain domestic flights within Chile)
• Qatar
• Royal Jordanian
• Singapore Airlines
• Swiss
• TAP Air Portugal
• Turkish
• United (except for basic economy fares)
  From ThePointsGuy:

  British Airways, ...requires seat selection fees. These fees apply to both paid and award bookings. Standard economy-class seats for UK domestic and Euro Traveller flights start at 7 GBP (~$9.50) each way, and at 20 GBP (~$27) on longer, international flights. Standard seat selection in World Traveller Plus (BA’s premium economy) starts at $27 per person, each way.

  British Airways also charges for business-class seat selection, which is significant.
  
  On a good day, I pay $111 per person, per international flight which for two is usually $444 at the cheapest rate.

Edited June 5, 2019 by DrivesLikeMario
sp

[Derbydeb]

Princess eZAir Fiasco!!!!

I and my husband booked flights using Princess eZAir for the first time for a return business class flight from Athens, Greece to the U.S. on April 11 2022. I was able to use the option to select our seats on Delta. We provided all the required information.

We made final payment in December 2021 and noted an Air Booking Number and an Airline Confirmation number on our Travel Summary along with the flight details.

We received 2 emails from Princess in February regarding flight changes: 1-- a change to one of the flight numbers and 2 -- a five minute change in departure time. These were the only communications we received regarding our flights.

I had a weird feeling the day before our flight home when I was unable to check in using the Delta App. I received a message "unable to check-in at this time"  "please try again later."

When we arrived at the Delta counter to check our luggage, the agent said she could not find our tickets. I was really freaking out! Another agent came to help and after what seemed an hour they told us "yes, we found your confirmation number, but you were not ticketed!" They advised us that since we had paid for tickets to contact Princess eZAir about the problem.

We tried every phone number I had saved in my contact list but could not get through. 

I was so terribly stressed. A Delta representative (problem solver) came over and assured us that Delta would get us home. We may have to purchase new tickets and then take it up with Princess eZAir when we got home. And she would have her staff continue to try and  reach Princess eZAir.

I was very grateful that I was a Delta Skymiles Gold Medallion member as I'm not sure we would have received such immediate assistance, and very glad we arrived 4 hours early for our flight.

Outcome??? While the Delta rep was looking into booking new flights for us, another agent finally reached eZAir. She learned eZAir had ticketed us, but on a totally different airline and schedule!!!! She took us to an agent at American Airlines with the information and we were issued tickets and our bags checked. 

After searching every email including those in trash and spam, we never found a single communication from Princess eZAir regarding a change to another schedule or different Airline!!!!!

Being first-time with eZAir we realize we should have contacted eZAir before our cruise when the travel summary wasn't showing ticket numbers, but we didn't understand this at the time and just thought since we had paid in full and had a confirmation number, we were set.

Lesson learned. 

I have yet to receive any response from Princess eZAir. This was an extremely stressful situation that thankfully worked out in the end, but now I am leery of using eZAir ever again.

 

Still devoted Princess Cruises fans.

Deb and Mike