EZAIR booking without actually paying for tickets question

[ISABELLA]

Does anyone have experience in booking flights without paying for them till final payment time?

We are planning to take a cruise on Sun Princess from Rome to Barcelona next year. According to Princess website, I can book flexible fare without actually paying for it, but if I want Premium Economy seats, I have to call airline and purchase tickets. Does this " no pay" option applies only to economy seats?

Looking for some with first hand knowledge to explain.

Thank you very much in advance.

[chrysalis]

that's news to me....we have booked PE seats in the past and not have had to pay for them until final payment.

 

Perhaps is depends on the airline in question....

[LACruiser88]

We regularly book Business Class seats via EZair and pay for them at cruise final payment date.  So, PE seats should not be any different? 🤷‍♂️

[Daisyloo]

We have booked premium economy several times through EZair, and not paid until final payment.  That was with Air Canada. 

[jwattle]

When you are looking at flights, make sure that before you actually search the flights, you are picking Premium Economy in the dropdown (the default is economy flights.).

[Steelers36]

I agree with all posters that preceded this post.  👍

[SCX22]

You can change the class of service when you go into EZAir to book your flights.  There is a drop down menu where you can select the class of service.

 

If you purchase a economy class ticket through EZAir and want to upgrade after the fact (paid upgrade or using miles), then you have to take that up with the airline directly.

[waltd]

What Airline?    

[Steelers36]

What difference does it make?  Airline upgrades are handled by airline policy and often FF status.

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

What difference does it make?  Airline upgrades are handled by airline policy and often FF status.

You can pay to upgrade too.  We booked economy award tickets to and from our last cruise and paid United to upgrade to PE. 

[SCX22]

What might make a difference is whether or not EZAir has ticketed the reservation.  Some airlines require the reservation be ticketed as a prerequisite to allowing for upgrades.  In this case, you would have to pay EZAir in advance of final payment so your air reservation can be ticketed and fully manipulated by the airline.

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, BamaVol said:

You can pay to upgrade too.  We booked economy award tickets to and from our last cruise and paid United to upgrade to PE. 

SFO -> Munich $205 to go from economy to PE aisle seat on the United app. Cheaper than booking PE.  

 

(flight's in 50 days)

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Ombud

[happy42cruise]

We booked 1st class on Alaska through EZair (flexible), price went down so cancelled & rebooked at the lower fare.  Haven't reached final payment date yet.  I'm not sure where you read the "Premium Economy seats, I have to call airline and purchase tickets." but I think you need to check the EZair booking site again using different cabin classes to see what it offers you for flights.  Good luck, hope you get good flights at good prices.

[BamaVol]

9 hours ago, Ombud said:

SFO -> Munich $205 to go from economy to PE aisle seat on the United app. Cheaper than booking PE.  

 

(flight's in 50 days)

 

Priced according to demand, for sure.  For us, MCO-YVR COST $250 to upgrade. But coming home, ANC-MCO was only $120. 

[DCThunder]

The OP should also realize that you can't book EZAir tickets until approximately 330 days prior to the cruise end date. Air for a cruise sailing in December 2024 can't be booked until February 2024 for instance.  And they ought to check if there's been a fare change several times after the booking is made as prices often change, sometimes in the passenger's favor.

[ISABELLA]

Thank you all for your valuable information. I did pick PE fare in the search ( Canada/ Belgum air) and went to pick seats, it stated that I need to call airline to get that fare booked.

Also, when you book fare without paying for it, did that booking guarantee your price?

[Fortunate 2 travel]

23 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Does anyone have experience in booking flights without paying for them till final payment time?

We are planning to take a cruise on Sun Princess from Rome to Barcelona next year. According to Princess website, I can book flexible fare without actually paying for it, but if I want Premium Economy seats, I have to call airline and purchase tickets. Does this " no pay" option applies only to economy seats?

Looking for some with first hand knowledge to explain.

Thank you very much in advance.

We booked business class and didn’t have to pay until final.  We did however pay early.  Need to be careful. Our experience was that even when we paid we weren’t ticketed.  When I call and requested that they ticket our flights, they were going to change the flights we were holding to a much worse schedule .  After over an hour on the phone, I was finally able to get them to ticket us on the flights we originally scheduled.  It was a very frustrating experience.

[ISABELLA]

57 minutes ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

We booked business class and didn’t have to pay until final.  We did however pay early.  Need to be careful. Our experience was that even when we paid we weren’t ticketed.  When I call and requested that they ticket our flights, they were going to change the flights we were holding to a much worse schedule .  After over an hour on the phone, I was finally able to get them to ticket us on the flights we originally scheduled.  It was a very frustrating experience.

I can see them possibly changing schedule if flights are not paid, but on what ground they will not ticket, if fare is paid for. That is disturbing. 

This is somewhat new experience for me with Princess. I never had any issues booking flights with Celebrity. 

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Thank you all for your valuable information. I did pick PE fare in the search ( Canada/ Belgum air) and went to pick seats, it stated that I need to call airline to get that fare booked.

Also, when you book fare without paying for it, did that booking guarantee your price?

And that's why I don't pick Canada Air. But I can't get a seat on my Lufthansa either (flights only and hour so no biggee)

2 hours ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

We booked business class and didn’t have to pay until final.  We did however pay early.  Need to be careful. Our experience was that even when we paid we weren’t ticketed.  When I call and requested that they ticket our flights, they were going to change the flights we were holding to a much worse schedule .  After over an hour on the phone, I was finally able to get them to ticket us on the flights we originally scheduled.  It was a very frustrating experience.

That's what I experienced with Delta so I was really frustrated. And, at the time, I could see the 9:30 Delta flight to Rome connection in JFK 1hr50m after arrival. But the flight no longer existed (changed to 11:55). EZAIR wanted me on a 7:30 flight but I'd get to the airport at 6:20. Thanks i pick my own flights

 

[DCThunder]

2 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Thank you all for your valuable information. I did pick PE fare in the search ( Canada/ Belgum air) and went to pick seats, it stated that I need to call airline to get that fare booked.

Also, when you book fare without paying for it, did that booking guarantee your price?

Selecting seats sometimes depends on the airline.  Once you book the flight with EZAir, you will get a record locator for the airline (at least the major US based carriers).  If you have a connection in Europe to an airline alliance partner airline, you often have to go to the website of that airline, input your locator number, and then select your seat.

 

For instance, I'm flying from EWR (Newark) to ZRH (Zurich) on United.  I was able to select my seat on the EZAir booking site.  Then I fly from ZRH to FCO (Rome) on Swiss, which is a Star Alliance partner of UAL.  I had to go to the Swiss airlines site to pick my seat, even though I have a confirmed booking through United.

 

I take it you may be Canadian, so I don't know how this would work for you, but I suspect its similar.

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Thank you all for your valuable information. I did pick PE fare in the search ( Canada/ Belgium air) and went to pick seats, it stated that I need to call airline to get that fare booked.

Also, when you book fare without paying for it, did that booking guarantee your price?

If you are flying PE class with Air Canada, you should be able to do seat selection during the EZ-Air booking process.  This has always been the case, unless recent change sometime in 2023.

 

Your note is a bit confusing, because a guest would never be calling the airline to book a fare.  Yes, possibly need to use airline website to do seat selection.  Note that AC does not allow seat selection in Economy class until flight is ticketed by EZ-Air/Princess.  You can request early ticketing once you have paid for the flight.  If you do that, you are then subject to airline rules for your class of ticket and no more flexibility via EZ-Air.

 

I never had a problem with not being able to ticket at my booked price.  Of course, prices can change up or down after booking and you can re-book for a lower fare.

 

3 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

I can see them possibly changing schedule if flights are not paid, but on what ground they will not ticket, if fare is paid for. That is disturbing. 

This is somewhat new experience for me with Princess. I never had any issues booking flights with Celebrity. 

Airlines can have schedule and equipment changes all the time.  AC is notorious for late changes.  You should keep on top of both the EZ-Air booking and your booking record on the airline website.  Be prepared to make adjustments if they change your flight.  

 

Princess and EZ-Air have no sway over flight changes made by airlines.

[John99]

EZ Air provides 4 options – Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First Class.

 

Is First Class the same as Business?

John

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, John99 said:

EZ Air provides 4 options – Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First Class.

 

Is First Class the same as Business?

John

It depends on the airline.  In the USA, the airlines still use the term FC, but it is really Business for domestic travel and would only get a FC experience if travelling overseas.  In Canada, Air Canada doesn't have FC - just Business for domestic (includes USA and North America).  The BC is quite elevated for international flights and they now use the term Signature.  International BC is like FC.

 

Other international airlines have a FC section on some planes for overseas, along with their BC product. 

 

Most airlines have PE for overseas flights.

 

Check out the airline websites for ones you are considering and you will easily find out details of their service classes and on which aircraft types.

[ISABELLA]

All are such great points. Definitely will need to evaluate all options. Cruise is in May, so there is time.