EZ Air - Changing a flight time (same day)

[always smiling]

We booked our upcoming Feburary 2023 cruise via Princess EZair (the first time I've ever used it instead of booking directly with the airline) and now there is an earlier flight available which I would prefer (it's only a 3 hour difference, but it would be nice to be home at 4:00 pm vs. 7:00 pm).  I have tried the Princess on-line chat (which after 1 hour of chatting just dropped), plus 3 separate calls with 3 different responses to just change our return flight to the earlier one.  The first person told me they don't see the flight??  The second one told me there were no seats, to which I replied I could see over 50 seats available on the carrier's website, and then they put me on hold and told me they were having technical difficulties and to call back.  The third person said they could only change if we paid an additional $870/person.    Sorry for the long ramble, but is this a hopeless task on my part?  Thank you very much for your advice.

 

Teri

[Sea Hag]

26 minutes ago, always smiling said:

We booked our upcoming Feburary 2023 cruise via Princess EZair (the first time I've ever used it instead of booking directly with the airline) and now there is an earlier flight available which I would prefer (it's only a 3 hour difference, but it would be nice to be home at 4:00 pm vs. 7:00 pm).  I have tried the Princess on-line chat (which after 1 hour of chatting just dropped), plus 3 separate calls with 3 different responses to just change our return flight to the earlier one.  The first person told me they don't see the flight??  The second one told me there were no seats, to which I replied I could see over 50 seats available on the carrier's website, and then they put me on hold and told me they were having technical difficulties and to call back.  The third person said they could only change if we paid an additional $870/person.    Sorry for the long ramble, but is this a hopeless task on my part?  Thank you very much for your advice.

 

Teri

We also have a cruise next February, and it's not been an easy task to find acceptable flights to and from Sacramento and Fort Lauderdale. I ended up canceling EZ Air and booking flights with the airline, which I know doesn't help you. The only valid input really have on this is that every time I've adjusted flights on EZ Air there was a cost difference, sometimes a huge cost difference. I think that $870 pp additional is an extra huge difference, but that might be what it is. I wish you luck.

[Shelly97060]

Go onto Princess “find a cruise” and do a search for your cruise.  Once you find your cruise you can get a flight quote which will give you and idea of what it will cost to make the change you want, 
 

If you booked Flexible Air you can then go into your Personalizer on Princess.com , go to the air section, and select change/modify flights and see what the new pricing will be compared to your current pricing. If you don’t like it you can back out of it and keep existing flights.   Doing this will modify and refare ALL your flights, not just a single segment.  

 

Also even though the carrier may have many seats available those may not be available to Princess because of the way blocks of specific fare codes are allotted for EZAir. 
 

 

[rjack22]

Cost of flights has gone up a lot since you booked.   I know my EZAir flights have.   If I were to change them I would have to pay the current price.   Is it worth the extra money to arrive 3 hours earlier?

[always smiling]

Thanks everyone, the cost is the same for our seats (we are flying first class for this trip because it's what my mom wanted to do) and they were the flexible fares.  It's really not a major issue, it was just a nice convenience to be home and back at PHL 3 hours earlier.  Who knows, I'll try calling once more and maybe get a different outcome 🤔

[cr8tiv1]

Have you already made final payment on your cruise and EZ Air?  Not sure if that would make a difference.  

[katisdale]

You need to manage your flights on the Princess site, not on the phone. EZ air is a consolidator. Just because seats show as available on the airline site does not mean they have been released to EZ air. I have had luck and no luck on changing flights. 

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, always smiling said:

We booked our upcoming Feburary 2023 cruise via Princess EZair (the first time I've ever used it instead of booking directly with the airline) and now there is an earlier flight available which I would prefer (it's only a 3 hour difference, but it would be nice to be home at 4:00 pm vs. 7:00 pm).  I have tried the Princess on-line chat (which after 1 hour of chatting just dropped), plus 3 separate calls with 3 different responses to just change our return flight to the earlier one.  The first person told me they don't see the flight??  The second one told me there were no seats, to which I replied I could see over 50 seats available on the carrier's website, and then they put me on hold and told me they were having technical difficulties and to call back.  The third person said they could only change if we paid an additional $870/person.    Sorry for the long ramble, but is this a hopeless task on my part?  Thank you very much for your advice.

 

Teri

Did your 45 day deadline pass for making changes on EZAIR?

Did you go to the cruise personalizer and on Travel..EZAir to see what is available in first class if you wanted to change it?

 

Your earlier flight may not be available on the contracted rate with the airline.

 

Are you ticketed yet?  
Do you have a TA or CVP that could help?

[Steelers36]

42 minutes ago, always smiling said:

Thanks everyone, the cost is the same for our seats (we are flying first class for this trip because it's what my mom wanted to do) and they were the flexible fares.  It's really not a major issue, it was just a nice convenience to be home and back at PHL 3 hours earlier.  Who knows, I'll try calling once more and maybe get a different outcome 🤔

You need to self-service this to stop the delays and aggravation.  Login to your Cruise Personalizer.  In the travel section, pull up your current flight information.  Check to see if you are ticketed.  It is early to be ticketed for FEB 2023 travel, but check it anyway (or did you request early ticketing?).

 

It is important since once your are ticketed, you are subject to airline rules for changes and cancellations.

 

EZ-Air may offer you alternate flight choices (I could the same for a time after I was ticketed for our Europe flights this fall). 

 

If you can, simply use the EZ-Air booking pages to CHANGE FLIGHT.  Put in your selection parameters and see what comes back.  You will see new price quotes and can tell if any difference to what you paid already.

 

Either accept the change or cancel out.  No risk to losing what you have by shopping around.  As others have mentioned, you may not see a good price via EZ-Air for the new flight you want.  Keep checking.

 

If ticketed, why not ask the airline if they can switch you out?  If you are ticketed, you won't be able to refund and take money to book directly with the airline (most likely that is the answer).  If not ticketed, you can cancel out of EZ-Air up to the 45 day mark for a refund.  Then, you can book direct wit your airline.

 

 

[dog]

Read up on EZ air terms.  You can get your travel agent to Chang your flight or follow advise above and manage change yourself on the princess website. Do not pay extra. You do not fly until Feb23, with EZ air flexible you can change or cancel- see their terms.  Good luck 

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Have you already made final payment on your cruise and EZ Air?  Not sure if that would make a difference.  

The only difference is when I've paid for everything & then I change flexible flights it takes 24-48 hrs to get the money back as a credit card refund. If I haven't paid yet then I just owe less. 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, dog said:

Do not pay extra.

Correct - if you mean fees/svc charges.  But the actual airfare for the earlier flight could be higher, lower, or the same as the flight the OP is booked on.  Guest has to pay any fare difference, or receive back a refund.

[cr8tiv1]

Thanks @Ombud and @Steelers36.  Let me get this straight.

 

If I booked a flexible fare AND made final payment....If fare goes down:

 

1.  There is no change fee

2.  I will get a refund of the difference returned to my credit card?

 

That seems like a win-win situation to use EZ Air.

 

I do understand making changes before final payment.  Never tried to do after final payment.

[Ombud]

7 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Thanks @Ombud and @Steelers36.  Let me get this straight.

 

If I booked a flexible fare AND made final payment....If fare goes down:

 

1.  There is no change fee

2.  I will get a refund of the difference returned to my credit card?

 

That seems like a win-win situation to use EZ Air.

 

I do understand making changes before final payment.  Never tried to do after final payment.

Correct if not ticketed yet. Plus last time I opted to ticket at 46 days out (supposedly tickets automatically at 45 days out) I got the lower fare with almost $100 back in 2 days. I didn't change anything except opting to "ticket now." Supposedly restricted fare was less than flexible fare

 

CVP says that's how it's supposed to be.  

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Ombud

[cr8tiv1]

@Ombud  I already knew your answer.  OP was asking about AFTER final payment.  I was curious too. Thanks

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@Ombud  I already knew your answer.  OP was asking about AFTER final payment.  I was curious too. Thanks

With FP at a typical 90-day mark, there is about 45 days where flight can be changed if Flexible Fare chosen.  You can also request early ticketing.  I did this earlier this year because I knew I had the rock-bottom fare and didn't want to leave it to Princess/EZ-Air because many reports indicated people were not being ticketed and were also reports of cancelled bookings due to lack of payment.

[cr8tiv1]

@Steelers36you always make sense.  Now I remember the 90/45 day rule.  Oops.

 

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@Ombud  I already knew your answer.  OP was asking about AFTER final payment.  I was curious too. Thanks

Like I said, the latest I've ever changed and gotten a refund within 2 days was when I changed at 45 days before my flight. As Steelers stated final payment for cruise remains at 90 days (or when booking if booking within 90days). So its easy to have PCL owe me if I shift my flight (either to ticketed or an entirely new flight)  and refund is within 2 business days

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Ombud

[Ombud]

Clarifiation. I book 135 days out. Pay in full @ 90 days. Change flight at 46 days. Get refund

[dog]

9 hours ago, always smiling said:

Thanks everyone, the cost is the same for our seats (we are flying first class for this trip because it's what my mom wanted to do) and they were the flexible fares.  It's really not a major issue, it was just a nice convenience to be home and back at PHL 3 hours earlier.  Who knows, I'll try calling once more and maybe get a different outcome 🤔

I see your cost is the same for the earlier flight and you have flexible air and your trip is February 2023!!!!

good luck!!!

[caribill]

13 hours ago, always smiling said:

Thanks everyone, the cost is the same for our seats (we are flying first class for this trip because it's what my mom wanted to do) and they were the flexible fares.

 

Cost is the same on the Princess web site or cost is the same on the airline web site?

 

If you are seeing the same cost on the Princess web site, you should be able to switch your flight at no change in fare.

 

As someone else pointed out, you cannot change just one direction. In effect, you must rebook your embarkation flights also -- if still available --- and at the current Princess pricing for those flights.

[always smiling]

Unfortunately, we are ticketed now as my mother was nervous after reading about people having issues with flights being changed, etc. so decided to have it ticketed.  I know that it's probably too late to get it changed, I just figured I'd reach out to see if anyone had any luck.  I should have clarified that the price was the same on American's website, not on the EZair site (which isn't showing our current flight out of PHL.  I did contact American and spoke with an incredibly helpful person who told me that she could not make the change (she tried) and when she came back on suggested that because the return flight is so far away, the flight schedule/time for my March 9th flight could change and that would be my best chance to get it moved to the earlier one.  If we only hadn't ticketed it 2 weeks ago, I'm sure we would have had no issue.....live and learn!

[dog]

1 hour ago, always smiling said:

Unfortunately, we are ticketed now as my mother was nervous after reading about people having issues with flights being changed, etc. so decided to have it ticketed.  I know that it's probably too late to get it changed, I just figured I'd reach out to see if anyone had any luck.  I should have clarified that the price was the same on American's website, not on the EZair site (which isn't showing our current flight out of PHL.  I did contact American and spoke with an incredibly helpful person who told me that she could not make the change (she tried) and when she came back on suggested that because the return flight is so far away, the flight schedule/time for my March 9th flight could change and that would be my best chance to get it moved to the earlier one.  If we only hadn't ticketed it 2 weeks ago, I'm sure we would have had no issue.....live and learn!

Ticketed. That is why you would have to pay more.  Sorry 

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, always smiling said:

Unfortunately, we are ticketed now as my mother was nervous after reading about people having issues with flights being changed, etc. so decided to have it ticketed.  I know that it's probably too late to get it changed, I just figured I'd reach out to see if anyone had any luck.  I should have clarified that the price was the same on American's website, not on the EZair site (which isn't showing our current flight out of PHL.  I did contact American and spoke with an incredibly helpful person who told me that she could not make the change (she tried) and when she came back on suggested that because the return flight is so far away, the flight schedule/time for my March 9th flight could change and that would be my best chance to get it moved to the earlier one.  If we only hadn't ticketed it 2 weeks ago, I'm sure we would have had no issue.....live and learn!

Important to know all the rules.  When you book with a consolidator, only the consolidator can change your ticket.  After ticketing you are subject to BOTH the consolidator and the airline rules and fees.