More flight ease drama

[kristapb]

We are flying to Athens before our Oosterdam Venice cruise on June 13.  Specifically, we had booked our flights for today (May 31) through Flight Ease.  SAS, through Copenhagen.  These flights were mysteriously cancelled once before (a couple of weeks ago) but after several hours on hold, a very nice Flight Ease agent reinstated them and ticketed them.  Theory was that FE had missed paying for them, but at that point, it all looked good and we got ticket numbers.  Yesterday we were driving to New Jersey from VT to catch our flight out of Newark the next evening.  Suddenly I get a notification from the SAS app that our itinerary has been cancelled.  Not the flight - that was still showing as going.  Just our itinerary.

 

The short story is, that FE answered the phone relatively quickly (10-15 minutes) and eventually sorted it our.  We are now on a Delta direct to Athens, which is great (no connections to worry about), but have to fly out of JFK instead of Newark. So it all worked out ok, but I really wonder what is going on with Flight Ease.

 

Moral of the story is - keep an eye on your reservations, so if anything happens, you can address it timely.

[canadianbear]

There seems to have been a lot of issues with Flight Ease these past few months.  Certainly makes one wonder what is going on and can they be trusted with bookings any more.  We will certainly think twice about whether we use them on our next cruise.  Glad your situation worked out.

 

Have a wonderful holiday and cruise! 

[Mary229]

Yikes.  Not good.  I would send a letter or email through the investor relations page.  I was caught up in the same glitch you were and have been checking daily. 

[daisy-mae]

Thank goodness for cell phones. In this type of situation one would be in a real pickle were it not for a mobile device.

[madera1]

We are currently trying to find out what has happened with our daughters flights to Venice as well. There departure flight was dropped.

[Kobra_Kommandor]

They cancelled our flights to VCE and put us on a new route for our June 25 Sailing adding about 5 hours of travel time with added stops and layovers.  Not happy.

[kristapb]

Madera and Kobra - was this a case of the airlines cancelling the flights, or HAL flight ease just somehow cancelling the itinerary?

[madera1]

They told me that the airline had canceled the flight.; however, still found it available elsewhere.

[Laminator]

20 minutes ago, madera1 said:

They told me that the airline had canceled the flight.; however, still found it available elsewhere.

That was their excuse when our flights disappeared. Supposedly there was a change in the flights. There were no changes. 

[Mary229]

Flight Ease is a contracted third party provider.  HAL may need to look for someone else if these problems persist.  I would not like that to happen because they offer some excellent deals.  When Chase Ultimate Rewards changed contractors all of the great deals disappeared too.  
 

sometimes I am too suspicious and wonder if a competitor contractors might be sabotaging their systems to get the contract - worse things have happened in the world of corporate espionage.  Flight Ease serves much of the CCL fleet and it would be a juicy contract 

[I like vacation]

I tried to contact the air department earlier today and received the recording that my "wait time is more than 6 hours".  Since they close at 6pm I guess they are correct.  Our 18 day Viking Passage is only 45 days out and I would like to find out my seat numbers..

[Mary229]

8 minutes ago, I like vacation said:

I tried to contact the air department earlier today and received the recording that my "wait time is more than 6 hours".  Since they close at 6pm I guess they are correct.  Our 18 day Viking Passage is only 45 days out and I would like to find out my seat numbers..

Depending on the airline and fare class you may not be able to select seat numbers to 30 days out when HAL actually pays.  That seems to be a new thing.  

[Laminator]

10 minutes ago, I like vacation said:

I tried to contact the air department earlier today and received the recording that my "wait time is more than 6 hours".  Since they close at 6pm I guess they are correct.  Our 18 day Viking Passage is only 45 days out and I would like to find out my seat numbers..

Depending on what airline you are flying you may not be able to choose your seats. Your seats may not be assigned until right before the flight.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Laminator

[I like vacation]

4 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Depending on what airline you are flying you may not be able to choose your seats. Your seats my not be assigned until right before the flight.

 

5 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Depending on the airline and fare class you may not be able to select seat numbers to 30 days out when HAL actually pays.  That seems to be a new thing.  

 

Thanks for the replies.  Last week I called the air department and they told me to call Lufthansa direct for the seats.  After waiting for another 45 minutes Lufthansa told me that HAL had to issue the tickets first.  That was the reason for the followup call today.  I will try to call Flight Ease when they open in the morning. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by I like vacation
sp

[Laminator]

Just now, I like vacation said:

 

 

Thanks for the replies.  Last week I called the air department and they told me to call Lufthansa direct for the seats.  After waiting for another 45 minutes Lufthansa told be that HAL had to issue the tickets first.  That was the reason for the followup call today.  I will try to call Flight Ease when they open in the morning. 

HAL usually pays the airfare at the 30 day mark. There have been issues with that lately so make sure you keep on checking. 

[terrydtx]

We have flights booked with FE for our 2 August cruises, United to Rome and Delta from Venice. I check both airlines' websites every day just to make sure nothing changes. Last week United made several changes to our flights and aircraft type for the Aug 2 flights to Rome. Instead of a connection to Rome in Newark we got moved to a direct flight to Rome from Washington Dulles. I never got any messages from either United or FE on this change, but I caught it by checking our flights on United. I immediately was able to go into our United account and get the seats we wanted. These fights were all Business class seats.

 

BTW we were able to book our seats when this was booked on each airline website and make changes if wanted or needed. I have not had to call either airline directly. The key is when you book with FE you MUST provide your airline loyalty number to tie the reservations to your online account, without this it is very hard to keep track of flights and seats.

[I like vacation]

Todays attempt to contact FE is a bust.  Called at 1000 and recording stated less than one hour wait.  Now approaching 2 hours of listening to the annoying music track.  Does anyone have a better phone number than 1-800-628-4771 to call?  I will try again much earlier tomorrow. 

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, I like vacation said:

Todays attempt to contact FE is a bust.  Called at 1000 and recording stated less than one hour wait.  Now approaching 2 hours of listening to the annoying music track.  Does anyone have a better phone number than 1-800-628-4771 to call?  I will try again much earlier tomorrow. 

That is the same number my TA has to use to contact FE. I found that if I call at 8:00am CST, when they first open, I can get through in about 10 minutes.

[rajkr74]

 

 

I was quarantined on the Nieuw Amsterdam with Covid on April 30th and called FE to cancel my flight.  I had to wait on hold for 2 1/2 hrs. to get a rep.  My wife stayed on the original flight and flew home May 1st while I stayed in Canada for 10 more days.  I did not know the date for the end of my quarantine, so I called back the next day to rebook my flight home.  This call left me on hold for 3 hrs.  I didn't care since I was stuck in a hotel room with the cell phone hooked to a charger waiting. Where else did I need to go...lol. Once I got a rep, in both cases, they were friendly, pleasant and very helpful in canceling and rebooking my flight home on the 11th of May. They even booked me into Eugene OR rather than Portland OR where my original flight went.  That meant not having to travel 2 hrs to pick me up in PDX...nice.

[silversneakers]

18 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We have flights booked with FE for our 2 August cruises, United to Rome and Delta from Venice. I check both airlines' websites every day just to make sure nothing changes. Last week United made several changes to our flights and aircraft type for the Aug 2 flights to Rome. Instead of a connection to Rome in Newark we got moved to a direct flight to Rome from Washington Dulles. I never got any messages from either United or FE on this change, but I caught it by checking our flights on United. I immediately was able to go into our United account and get the seats we wanted. These fights were all Business class seats.

 

BTW we were able to book our seats when this was booked on each airline website and make changes if wanted or needed. I have not had to call either airline directly. The key is when you book with FE you MUST provide your airline loyalty number to tie the reservations to your online account, without this it is very hard to keep track of flights and seats.

I think IF you book business or first class you can book your seats but not main cabin seats. I only  know this because I had main cabin, then rebooked to business class and it was at that point that I could book my seats.  I then changed back to main cabin but was not able to book seats once again.

[BEAV]

19 hours ago, I like vacation said:

I tried to contact the air department earlier today and received the recording that my "wait time is more than 6 hours".  Since they close at 6pm I guess they are correct.  Our 18 day Viking Passage is only 45 days out and I would like to find out my seat numbers..

Go to your air booking and hit the “request early ticketing” tab. 
 

Enter your airline booking number on the airline’s website and see if it’ll allow you to choose/assign your own seats. Some airlines require ticketing first, while others don’t. 
 

Be proactive and don’t wait around for Flight Ease’s flawed process to magically work out at the 30-day mark. 
 

The majority of issues people report are those that are relying on the system to work automatically. 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by BEAV

[Travelbug750]

I want to thank you for publishing the phone number for FE.  Supposedly, they are working on an issue that they caused for the past week but I still have not heard back from them.  I purchased Premium Economy seats SFO/AMS, departing on June 5th.  I made the reservations in January, paid in full in March.  Sometime in the past few weeks, someone at FE moved us from Premium Economy to regular economy.  I know  this because Air Canada actually looked up the history of the record and saw that it was FE that made the change.  We are booked through Costco and, I have to say, I am disappointed at their lack of help.  The only thing on my agenda tomorrow is to sit and wait on hold until I get someone at FE to listen to me.  We leave in less than two weeks now and I really don't need this stress. 

[mjdenn]

20 hours ago, Laminator said:

HAL usually pays the airfare at the 30 day mark. There have been issues with that lately so make sure you keep on checking. 

I had a different experience.  We paid in full at C-90 but found that FE did not activate the eticket.  After activating the ticket on the HAL site we were able to reserve seats.

[terrydtx]

51 minutes ago, BEAV said:

Go to your air booking and hit the “request early ticketing” tab. 
 

Enter your airline booking number on the airline’s website and see if it’ll allow you to choose/assign your own seats. Some airlines require ticketing first, while others don’t. 
 

Be proactive and don’t wait around for Flight Ease’s flawed process to magically work out at the 30-day mark. 
 

The majority of issues people report are those that are relying on the system to work automatically. 
 

 

 

 

 

The Request early ticketing only works if you have made final payment, and then there is no guarantee that HAL will not make the FP to the airline until 30 days out.  We have that issue now with HAL for our Oosterdam cruise in August that had major changes to it itinerary in April. HAL cannot even provide a final invoice so that we can make the final payment for the airfare so we can have United make a change in the itinerary that they, not FE, messed up with all of their schedule and aircraft type changes. Our Original FP was due June19, but HAL moved that to July 22 because they cannot issue an invoice for the cruise or the business class airfare. My TA contacted HAL last week and told them we wanted to pay for the airfare now so we could make changes, but HAL told her even If we paid the air now they would not pay the airlines until 30 days out. Our bigger problem is our flights are booked to get us to Rome 2 weeks before our Aug 21 cruise so, by the time FE pays for our tickets we will be way to close to the Aug 2nd day we fly to Rome.

 

HAL made so many changes to all of the summer Oosterdam cruises from Rome and Venice that they are months behind in invoicing, they haven't even been able to load shore excursions into the system for the changes in our itinerary. As of Monday HAL is only up to the July Oosterdam cruises making changes and adding back in shore excursions and issuing invoices. FE has to make many flight changes for the Oosterdam because the departure and return ports for Venice all got moved to Trieste the end of April. This will by our final time using FE and probably HAL.

[terrydtx]

41 minutes ago, Travelbug750 said:

I want to thank you for publishing the phone number for FE.  Supposedly, they are working on an issue that they caused for the past week but I still have not heard back from them.  I purchased Premium Economy seats SFO/AMS, departing on June 5th.  I made the reservations in January, paid in full in March.  Sometime in the past few weeks, someone at FE moved us from Premium Economy to regular economy.  I know  this because Air Canada actually looked up the history of the record and saw that it was FE that made the change.  We are booked through Costco and, I have to say, I am disappointed at their lack of help.  The only thing on my agenda tomorrow is to sit and wait on hold until I get someone at FE to listen to me.  We leave in less than two weeks now and I really don't need this stress. 

Do the flights you got moved to even have Premium Economy seating?  Not all airlines and aircraft have PE seating. When flights get moved around and different aircraft are substituted you could lose PE. Our United flights to Rome were originally on a 777-300 aircraft which have the new Polaris lay flat business class seats, we are now on a flight with a 767-400 which are the oldest United original Polaris seats and much smaller and cramped than the newer 777 and 767-300 planes. United also moved our flights from departing Newark to Rome to now leaving from DC Dulles to Rome.

Edited June 2, 2022 by terrydtx