Be Aware: Continuing Airline Reservation Issues

[terrydtx]

22 minutes ago, Torquer said:

@terrydtx Try the technique I show in the referenced post (comment #56) for getting into FlightEase to manage your flights:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2856034-more-flight-ease-drama/?do=findComment&comment=63359158

That is not my issue, I have no problem getting into flight ease, when I do, I get only the new flights t booking form, it will not display up my currently booked flights. According to the FE people, our flights are not available to be seen in flight ease because of the changes to our Oosterdam departure and return ports from Venice to Trieste.  FE keeps telling me and my TA that our flights are there, but they will not pay for them until we are 30 days out from our cruise departure or July 20th, even though we have made our full final payment for the cruise and flights. To be this is total BS and horrible customer service. I see no reason why HAL and FE will not pay for our flights now since they have my money.

[kazu]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

That is not my issue, I have no problem getting into flight ease, when I do, I get only the new flights t booking form, it will not display up my currently booked flights. According to the FE people, our flights are not available to be seen in flight ease because of the changes to our Oosterdam departure and return ports from Venice to Trieste.  FE keeps telling me and my TA that our flights are there, but they will not pay for them until we are 30 days out from our cruise departure or July 20th, even though we have made our full final payment for the cruise and flights. To be this is total BS and horrible customer service. I see no reason why HAL and FE will not pay for our flights now since they have my money.

 

that’s how Flight Ease has always worked but I have called in the past B.C. (Before Covid) and requested they ticket me early once I made final payment so I could change seats, etc.

When I made the request, it was done within 24 hours.  Might be time to change the tune and instead of asking if they can see the flights - ask them to ticket them now?  the worst they can say is no - but I can assure you it’s been done in the past.

It’s one of the reasons I don’t use Flight Ease while I have points unless they offer an enticing flight I can’t get with my points (which they have 😉)

[dfish]

5 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

that’s how Flight Ease has always worked but I have called in the past B.C. (Before Covid) and requested they ticket me early once I made final payment so I could change seats, etc.

When I made the request, it was done within 24 hours.  Might be time to change the tune and instead of asking if they can see the flights - ask them to ticket them now?  the worst they can say is no - but I can assure you it’s been done in the past.

It’s one of the reasons I don’t use Flight Ease while I have points unless they offer an enticing flight I can’t get with my points (which they have 😉)

About two weeks ago I requested early ticketing for my sister and me.  We were ticketed almost immediately and I have ticket numbers.  I then tried it for our friend who is coming with us, but it said there was a schedule change that wasn't yet in their system.  They said the system would be updated shortly, but it never was.  I finally had my PCC look into it.  She got the change accepted and it now shows but when she asked if it could be ticketed early, she was told no.  I guess I got in just under the wire.  

[jeh10641]

This is all so discouraging for travelers this year. I hope it improves by next year. We are flying first to NYC for a week (late Sep. 2023), then to Amsterdam for a week (early Oct. 2023). Taking a train from Amsterdam to London for two days then another train to Southampton for two days before our cruise.

 

As an aside, in regards to staffing, RCI just had a job fair in Barcelona that had to be extended because of the huge turnout. I also heard today (06/12/2022) that Trinidad and Tobago are having a recruitment surge for cruise employees. Maybe????

 

Jim

[opa&oma]

We just returned from a European cruise which we had booked our flights  through FE . We were the last to find out that British Airlines had canceled our connecting flight and we had been rebooked to fly home first to Dubai ,  on Emirates , with a 6 hour layover, then to California, for a total of 23 hours flight time.  We only found this out when we were onboard, and checked with guest relations on our flight home. Almost had a heart attack!  We refused this flight and guest relations were able to rebook on Air France, with 2 stop overs, as opposed to our original 1 stop over. At no point were we able to personally speak to FE or have any control over our flight plans. Until HAL gets control of FE, I would discourage anyone from using it.

[Mary229]

28 minutes ago, opa&oma said:

We just returned from a European cruise which we had booked our flights  through FE . We were the last to find out that British Airlines had canceled our connecting flight and we had been rebooked to fly home first to Dubai ,  on Emirates , with a 6 hour layover, then to California, for a total of 23 hours flight time.  We only found this out when we were onboard, and checked with guest relations on our flight home. Almost had a heart attack!  We refused this flight and guest relations were able to rebook on Air France, with 2 stop overs, as opposed to our original 1 stop over. At no point were we able to personally speak to FE or have any control over our flight plans. Until HAL gets control of FE, I would discourage anyone from using it.

Ar least someone at HAL was able to help you.  Welcome home.

I agree customer service has been a dismal failure 

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, opa&oma said:

We just returned from a European cruise which we had booked our flights  through FE . We were the last to find out that British Airlines had canceled our connecting flight and we had been rebooked to fly home first to Dubai ,  on Emirates , with a 6 hour layover, then to California, for a total of 23 hours flight time.  We only found this out when we were onboard, and checked with guest relations on our flight home. Almost had a heart attack!  We refused this flight and guest relations were able to rebook on Air France, with 2 stop overs, as opposed to our original 1 stop over. At no point were we able to personally speak to FE or have any control over our flight plans. Until HAL gets control of FE, I would discourage anyone from using it.

Holy cow. Via Dubai?  That’s insane. Glad you were able to get it changed. 

[jettaleea]

Several questions for those who have had problems with FE.

 

Did you ask for early ticketing?

 

Did you sign into the airline to add your information and book seats?

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, jettaleea said:

Several questions for those who have had problems with FE.

Did you ask for early ticketing?

Yes many times and we were told it wasn't available because of both expected airline changes and HAL itinerary changes. My TA also asked for early ticketing as we were ready to pay for the cost upfront.

 

Did you sign into the airline to add your information and book seats? Yes we did, we actually provided the information at the time we booked on online FE forms as well as requesting our seats. We have been able to go back and check our flights and seats with both United and Delta.

[Hlitner]

While I understand some folks want early ticketing for various reasons, one might want to think carefully.  Once ticketed you cannot cancel or take advantage to possible price drops.  The beauty of the Flex Air options is that you do not need to pay (or get locked-in) to a reservation until much closer to your cruise.  Even with flex air it has traditionally been unlikely that your price will change (except if taxes change).

 

Hank

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

While I understand some folks want early ticketing for various reasons, one might want to think carefully.  Once ticketed you cannot cancel or take advantage to possible price drops.  The beauty of the Flex Air options is that you do not need to pay (or get locked-in) to a reservation until much closer to your cruise.  Even with flex air it has traditionally been unlikely that your price will change (except if taxes change).

 

Hank

Very sound advice

[gailellen12]

On 6/6/2022 at 5:08 PM, Kamfish642 said:

July 10, 2022, 14-Day Best of Norway cruise on MS Rotterdam VII

 

In late April 2022, my Travel Agent contacted me after noticing that my flights reservations had unknowingly been cancelled.  She contacted the HAL Flight Bookings and had same flights rebooked, but HAL representative was not able to provide an explanation on how this occurred.

 

Jumping ahead to late May 2022, I was unable to select seats on the Lufthansa flights identified on the HAL website for my cruise.  I contacted a HAL Representative via telephone and was told that I would need to contact Lufthansa directly and likely pay a fee for advance seat selection.  I then called Lufthansa and was told that they could not assign or have my seats paid for since "Ticket has not been issued," even though electronic ticket numbers were listed on their website.  Lufthansa representative indicated that I would need to contact HAL to resolve.

 

After both my Travel Agent and I contacted HAL multiple times, we were either transferred to or instructed to call the HAL Flight Bookings.  On numerous times, we were both simply placed on hold and after 4 hours disconnected.  This is no way to run a cruise line or customer service in general, and as such, I have filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

 

In further discussions with my Travel Agent, she believed that the e-Ticket numbers listed on the Lufthansa website indicated that HAL purchased flights through Delta Airlines.  So as my last resort I contact Delta Airlines.  The Delta representative informed me that information available to her showed that flights had been refunded to HAL but it was unclear to her the reason why tickets were refunded.  However, she informed me that our only recourse was to contact HAL to resolve.  How can this be resolved when every time we call HAL Flight Bookings, we are placed on hold for 4 hours and disconnected!!!

 

Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated!

My issue was that Flight Ease failed to ticket my Philly to Barcelona flight and I am currently 2500.00 out of pocket since I needed to purchase my own ticket on the spot.  Interestingly they had ticketed my return journey just fine. Needless to say I am currently actively pursuing Holland via my travel agent  Booking and ticketing correctly seems like it should not be all that difficult🥴

[jettaleea]

1 hour ago, gailellen12 said:

My issue was that Flight Ease failed to ticket my Philly to Barcelona flight and I am currently 2500.00 out of pocket since I needed to purchase my own ticket on the spot.  Interestingly they had ticketed my return journey just fine. Needless to say I am currently actively pursuing Holland via my travel agent  Booking and ticketing correctly seems like it should not be all that difficult🥴

Had you checked in on the airline site and received a seat assignment? Just trying to figure out how to minimize issues.

[gailellen12]

26 minutes ago, jettaleea said:

Had you checked in on the airline site and received a seat assignment? Just trying to figure out how to minimize issues.

Yes. A seat assignment had been made  In fact after I purchased the ticket out of my pocket I ended up in the previously assigned seat for the flight 😜

[jettaleea]

1 hour ago, gailellen12 said:

Yes. A seat assignment had been made  In fact after I purchased the ticket out of my pocket I ended up in the previously assigned seat for the flight 😜

Thank you for your answer.

[rotjeknor]

Booked flights early june thru FE for flights in august. Called the Rotterdam office yesterday and asked the agent to print to the tickets so I could book the seats (not on the FE website but directly with Delta) . Within 5 minutes I could book the seats. So , I had a good experience with FE . Now let’s just hope the flights are not canceled….

[jettaleea]

We called Delta today to register my scooter so I can gate check it. The agent changed our seats to as near the front as possible on all 4 of our flights. Really hoping we have no issues when we fly July 15.

 

God bless 

Lee Ann