EZ AIR TORPEDOES ANOTHER PRINCESS PASSENGER

[Sweet Jie]

Our cruise to Australia leaves San Pedro next Sunday, October 8th.  Our flight home from Sydney is on November 7 th.   May the Gods forgive me, but all I want to do is upgrade my already requested seat to a Business Class. (Assuming a Business Class seat is available).

I can’t get anywhere. I don’t want to cancel or any flight.  We’re booked on 11/7. We WERE happy.  Can’t even find out if seats are available. There are deadlines we would violate. There are 38 days until we fly home from Sydney.

There are parties apparently we have to go through, EZ, QANTAS, AND American. American is operating the flight for Qantas (Qantas equipment).  Additionally, we may have to incur if we can successfully upgrade. “Much ado about nothing.”

Bottom line, EZ AIR has lost any chance of doing future business with us.  We’re going to book two future cruises on this cruise.  It seems, from all that I read recently on CC,  EZ  should change their name to “muddy the waters” air.

[cruisequeen4ever]

EZ Air is a middleman, while providing some extra protection for cruisers and typically offering very competitive prices. It does add a layer of stress and inconvenience if something goes awry, though. I’ve been playing the airfare game for our upcoming transatlantic. I think you really have to book what you want from the start, or it may not be possible. 

[jwattle]

Your gripe, in this case, isn't with EZ Air; it is also with the airlines. Once the booking is paid, the power to upgrade is in the hands of the airline. I know firsthand, as I booked ours, and desired to upgrade. I was told that, if prior to payment, I could go in, cancel the air, and rebook, choosing business/premier economy as my preferred; other option was to pay for the air selected and contact the airline to bid for an upgrade or pay for it directly. As you see, once the air is paid for, it is all up to the airline to let you either bid or pay for the "enhancements".

 

[Mary loves to travel]

You should be able to see what seats are available by going to the airline website & doing a search for your flight, as if you were going to book.

 

But, of course, that won't tell you if EZAir has any of those seats available.

Perhaps doing a mock booking on the Princess site without logging in?

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Mary loves to travel

[wallyj]

Hi @Sweet Jie, welcome to cruise critic as this appears to be your first post?

 

You might not have been aware, but EZAir specifically reminds passengers using their services, you have 45 days from your flight OR start date of your cruise to make changes to flexible air bookings, so you if wanted to upgrade to business, you needed to enquire if it was available 45 days prior to Oct 8th! Also business is not always available thru EZAir on every flight as it depends on their contracts with each airline.

 

In this case, YOU did not follow protocols to have EZAir help you in this case, you needed to contact them more than 45 days from Oct 8.

 

Now that you have a ticketed flight, it is up to the airline, if you can upgrade. Some fares with  EZAir are in a fare class that are non eligible for upgrades, so that may also be a factor.

[wallyj]

1 minute ago, Mary loves to travel said:

You should be able to see what seats are available by going to the airline website & doing a search for your flight, as if you were going to book.

 

But, of course, that won't tell you if EZAir has any of those seats available.

Perhaps doing a mock booking on the Princess site without logging in?

 

 

Passenger is beyond penalty date, so would incur fees/penalties for trying to change even just to upgrade to business if they want EZAir to help.

[gsmith2424]

17 minutes ago, jwattle said:

Your gripe, in this case, isn't with EZ Air; it is also with the airlines. Once the booking is paid, the power to upgrade is in the hands of the airline. I know firsthand, as I booked ours, and desired to upgrade. I was told that, if prior to payment, I could go in, cancel the air, and rebook, choosing business/premier economy as my preferred; other option was to pay for the air selected and contact the airline to bid for an upgrade or pay for it directly. As you see, once the air is paid for, it is all up to the airline to let you either bid or pay for the "enhancements".

 

That's pretty much what I experienced. We got our flights booked and did early ticketing. By doing the early ticketing it locks in the ticket to where EZ Air can't change the route/times and pretty much kicks the changes (including class upgrades) to the eirline not EZ Air. We were also able to get premium seats picked only after we did the early ticketing option. One situation where EZAir could (might not be all situations) do a change for you after early ticketing is if the airline cancels the flight and the airline changes the day of the flight. We had this happen on our TA coming up and EZ Air was able to change us to a direct flight on AA over the LH flight we had. It's a rare situation but only one I know of where EZ Air could do a change after ticketing. 

[gsmith2424]

36 minutes ago, Sweet Jie said:

There are parties apparently we have to go through, EZ, QANTAS, AND American. American is operating the flight for Qantas (Qantas equipment).

That sounds more like a code share flight. It's flown by Qantas using Qantas equipment but AA is able to sell seats on it (will have an AA flight number usually a 4 digit one for code share, ex. AA7xxx). If you haven't contacted AA (not EZ Air as the ticket has been issued already) I would to see what the process would be to see about an upgrade and if its even possible. Like others have also said the ticket might not be upgrade able due to what fare class it is as some can be upgraded and others can't

[Ombud]

I've been frustrated with EZAIR recently as well BUT it was Delta that misled me despite assuring me the 3rd party consolidator (EZAIR) was at fault. Nevertheless my CVP & EZAIR fixed it. (Delta 9:30 flight no longer exists, Delta tried to rebook me to 11:15 but that would land 1 hr after the connecting flight to Rome left). I'm now on United and requested United put me on their upgrade list. A little different than having a Premium Economy ticket and wanting a Business ticket. But the same finger pointing

 

@Sweet Jie if you have status on AA I also suggest that you try going to their website & put yourself on their upgrade list

Edited October 1, 2023 by Ombud

[cr8tiv1]

Welcome to Cruise Critic where hopefully you will find some answers.  Unfortunately, this time, you will be offered a lot of guidance for the NEXT time you book through EZ Air or directly with an airline.

 

Everything that has been said above is accurate.  You had 45 days past final payment to make any changes without penalty.  That is the bonus of going through EZ Air.  Final payment was 90 days prior but you still had some wiggle room.  Even when my ticket was cut at 90 days, I was still able to make modifications and even cancel my flight, as long as it was before the 45 days deadline.

 

Once the ticket is paid for and handed over to the airlines, you are at their mercy.  As one AA rep told me....it's their (Japan Airlines) aluminum tube and therefore up to Japan Airlines for any thing.  

 

Air Canada won't even let you pick "free" seats until 24 hours check in.  If you want to pick seats, you would have to pay....for selection.  

 

Every airline has their little twists and turns.

 

I was under a lot of stress on my last cruise using EZ Air.  But it all worked out in the end.  Maybe you will be allowed to bid up for a better seat.  Good luck.  I have used EZ Air 4 times now and still think their prices are better.  I like the flexibility.  I have one more booked 300 days out.  I wouldn't want to pay the airlines the fare today for a cruise next summer.

[Sweet Jie]

Thank you all for your helpful comments.  The reason I ended up in this situation is because I very recently came into a windfall and we decided to splurge on our long flight home. That’ s why the late timing. 

 

[cr8tiv1]

2 hours ago, Sweet Jie said:

Thank you all for your helpful comments.  The reason I ended up in this situation is because I very recently came into a windfall and we decided to splurge on our long flight home. That’ s why the late timing. 

 

 

All is not lost...yet.  Keeping trying directly with the airlines (Qantas owns the plane/equipment).  The most they can say is "no".  

 

https://www.qantas.com/us/en/manage-booking/upgrade/bid-now-upgrade.html

[SCX22]

EZAir is a consolidator.  Air consolidators are not able to alter reservations once they are made.  In order to make a change to a reservation, the consolidator has to cancel the booking in it's entirety and make a new booking, which can involve penalties.  EZAir has worked out to have the leeway of being able to cancel up to 45 days in their contract on Flexible Fares.

 

Such are the rules with booking with a consolidator.  If you want flexibility to make to your hearts desire, best to book directly with the airlines, but mostly likely there will be penalties or additional costs.  You will also miss out on potential savings and the ability to cancel and/or rebook up to 45 days prior to flight departure with no penalty by booking with EZAir.

 

If your EZAir reservation has been ticketed, you should be able to pull up your reservation on the operating airline's website and check for the ability to upgrade there.  If you are on a codeshare flight, make sure you have the PNR issued by operating airline's reservation system; sometimes it's the same; more often you will have a different PNR.

[wallyj]

11 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

 You will also miss out on potential savings and the ability to cancel and/or rebook up to 45 days prior to flight departure with no penalty by booking with EZAir.

 

The OP has added they just came into a windfall and have now just decided to see about the possibility of upgrading to Business, which unfortunately for them, they are way past the penalty date to have Ezair assist. They may have possibility to upgrade directly with operating airline Qantas, but subject to fare class rules they purchased thru Ezair.
 

They are looking at the RETURN flight after a long cruise , so in this case, their no fees change date was 45 days prior to START date of cruise which is earlier than their flight date.

[SCX22]

28 minutes ago, wallyj said:

They are looking at the RETURN flight after a long cruise , so in this case, their no fees change date was 45 days prior to START date of cruise which is earlier than their flight date.

 

Correct, the 45 day countdown is from the flight date of the first flight segment.  In the Cruise Personalizer under the Travel Tab, there is a Manage Flights button.  When you click on that the Manage Flights Screen populates and the final date to make changes on an EZAir Flexible Fare reservations is shown in a box on the top right hand corner and is always 46 days prior to the date of the first flight segment.  Princess says you have 45 days, but their systems always show 46 days and theoretically if all goes as planned (which it doesn't always) the reservation will be ticketed at 45 days.

 

There was one instance where EZAir hadn't ticketed my reservation at 42 days and after calling EZAir, I was able to cancel inside the 45 day grace period, and re-book at a lower fare.  I think the metric for allowing a change is if the reservation has been ticketed.  (The exception is, of course, if the airline has a schedule change or flight cancelation.)

 

I'm trying to figure out what EZAir's fault is in the OP's situation.  

Edited October 1, 2023 by SCX22

[charliedalrymple]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

All is not lost...yet.  Keeping trying directly with the airlines (Qantas owns the plane/equipment).  The most they can say is "no".  

 

https://www.qantas.com/us/en/manage-booking/upgrade/bid-now-upgrade.html

 

Sorry to throw cold water on this, but the chances of your getting an upgrade on Qantas using the bid function are very slim.  All of the available seats will go to customers with Qantas frequent flyer status.  Also, if you have bid on an upgrade, you won't be able to pay for an upgrade at the airport until your bid has been resolved (yes or no)--often not until you are at the gate.

[bra98sda]

Call Princess and ask to be transferred to travel services. Most airlines will waive the penalty fee if upgrading to a higher class of service for the same flight regardless if ticket is issued or within penalty period. It’s more money for the airline. Definitely use the website to make a mock booking and check the flight price. If you don’t see availability for the upgraded class of service, there is nothing Princess will be able to do. It cannot hurt to try to work directly with EZAir Travel Services. 
 

EZAir uses private fares so the rules are different than if you book directly with the airline. PCL is the issuer of the ticket of the private contracted fare. Even if the airline shows seats available on their website, there is no guarantee your ticket will allow the upgrade based on the contracted availability for Princess to sell that seat in the desired class of service. 
 

Regarding the issuing of tickets. Because the fares are flexible fare contracts, most of these airlines begin penalizing at the 45 day mark of flight departure. Tickets will be issued based on the date the contract requires the ticket to be issued. Theoretically, your ticket could be issued many many months before final payment…even if you are only deposited on your booking. Also, some of the airlines penalize immediately. Princess still allows these particular ticketed flight to be canceled and will not pass that penalty on to you. 
 

Hope you get what desire!

Edited to add. Realized you are ready to leave. If this is regarding your return flight, you may try going to guest relations on board. Request an email to be sent to travel services regarding the upgrade for return flight. If you have two tickets issued, one for outbound and one for return, you can be quoted the cost of the upgrade you require. 

 

Edited October 6, 2023 by bra98sda

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 9/30/2023 at 11:11 PM, SCX22 said:

EZAir is a consolidator.  Air consolidators are not able to alter reservations once they are made.  In order to make a change to a reservation, the consolidator has to cancel the booking in it's entirety and make a new booking, which can involve penalties.  EZAir has worked out to have the leeway of being able to cancel up to 45 days in their contract on Flexible Fares.

 

Such are the rules with booking with a consolidator.  If you want flexibility to make to your hearts desire, best to book directly with the airlines, but mostly likely there will be penalties or additional costs.  You will also miss out on potential savings and the ability to cancel and/or rebook up to 45 days prior to flight departure with no penalty by booking with EZAir.

 

If your EZAir reservation has been ticketed, you should be able to pull up your reservation on the operating airline's website and check for the ability to upgrade there.  If you are on a codeshare flight, make sure you have the PNR issued by operating airline's reservation system; sometimes it's the same; more often you will have a different PNR.

Everyone should read your post and understand the derails of their airline booking BEFORE finalizing their flight.

Agree also without both reservation codes you stand little chance of making a change so latr.

[Steelers36]

15 hours ago, bra98sda said:

Call Princess and ask to be transferred to travel services.

 

There is nothing for Princess nor EZ-Air to do in this case.  It is quite clear the OP is ticketed and mere hours from departure.  They need to deal with the airlines directly for upgrade opportunities.  The OP is not understanding how EZ-Air works, but I expect they have a better understanding after reading this thread.

[Sweet Jie]

10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

There is nothing for Princess nor EZ-Air to do in this case.  It is quite clear the OP is ticketed and mere hours from departure.  They need to deal with the airlines directly for upgrade opportunities.  The OP is not understanding how EZ-Air works, but I expect they have a better understanding after reading this thread.

Steelers why can’t someone at EZ, Princess, or Quantas say “ I know who to call,” that can say yes or no or look it up an make a pending or a final decision  in this

matter. There must someone who knows  “who the man is” in such matters. I got nowhere with anyone.

[PacnGoNow]

28 minutes ago, Sweet Jie said:

Steelers why can’t someone at EZ, Princess, or Quantas say “ I know who to call,” that can say yes or no or look it up an make a pending or a final decision  in this

matter. There must someone who knows  “who the man is” in such matters. I got nowhere with anyone.

The operating carrier is AA you say?  Then, if this is an AA flight, the UG, if permissible would be done by AA. 

 

You should have an AA record locator or PNR.  AA can pull the record up by their true flight number and date.  Did you call them to see if UG was available?

 

Did you check in for the flight?  Usually, UG would be offered to buy or use miles.

 

Most important thing, who is operating the flight.  This is not an EZ Air function.  They have nothing to do with UG’s.  Unless you initially bought a premium economy or business class fare.

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

On 9/30/2023 at 7:57 PM, Sweet Jie said:

Our cruise to Australia leaves San Pedro next Sunday, October 8th.  Our flight home from Sydney is on November 7 th.   May the Gods forgive me, but all I want to do is upgrade my already requested seat to a Business Class. (Assuming a Business Class seat is available).

I can’t get anywhere. I don’t want to cancel or any flight.  We’re booked on 11/7. We WERE happy.  Can’t even find out if seats are available. There are deadlines we would violate. There are 38 days until we fly home from Sydney.

There are parties apparently we have to go through, EZ, QANTAS, AND American. American is operating the flight for Qantas (Qantas equipment).  Additionally, we may have to incur if we can successfully upgrade. “Much ado about nothing.”

Bottom line, EZ AIR has lost any chance of doing future business with us.  We’re going to book two future cruises on this cruise.  It seems, from all that I read recently on CC,  EZ  should change their name to “muddy the waters” air.

If you go on the AA website, flight 72 is an AA flight SYD LAX and it is sold out in Business class.  IDK if that’s your flight or not.  The other nonstops are operated by Qantas.

So, if that is your flight, you would call AA and request an UG and the price.

 

If you have AA miles, they may be able to put you on an UG waitlist.  
 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Sweet Jie said:

Steelers why can’t someone at EZ, Princess, or Qantas say “ I know who to call,” that can say yes or no or look it up an make a pending or a final decision  in this

matter. There must someone who knows  “who the man is” in such matters. I got nowhere with anyone.

Yes, you might think and expect someone able to help you.  I am not sure if you have been asking the right questions and speaking the right way.  You seem to be confused on the airline situation.  There is no way AA is operating a flight using Qantas equipment.  AA has a codeshare with Qantas as they are part of the One World group of airlines.  I am going to guess that you booked with AA, but you booked the QF flight instead of the AA flight.

 

I am also guessing you may be flying SYD-LAX.  Both airlines have a flight on Nov 7 (and probably every day) from SYD to LAX. 

 

For the Qantas flight it is very easy to go on their website and pretend to book a Business 1-way on their flight.  It shows that 20/50 Business seats are still open as of writing this note. 

 

If I go on AA site to book the same thing (as a codeshare), AA will also sell a Business seat, but there is no seat selection (they refer you to Qantas to select a seat after booking the ticket). 

 

AA also operates their own flight within minutes of the QF flight.  QF sells codeshare on the AA operated flight. 

 

The first thing you need to understand is exactly which airline is operating your flight and then who you purchased ticket from.  Sounds like you bought from AA for the QF flight.

 

If so, you need to be looking to AA to sell you an upgrade now.  Otherwise, you would be asking at the airport from QF check-in folks if they have a seat they can sell you an upgrade to.  IDK how QF operates, but generally, same-day upgrades are going to their frequent flyers or guests who paid fuller fares and they are getting comp'd or using FF points to get moved up. 

 

Are you a member of AAdvantage FF program?  You should be.  You should be logging in to AA and pulling up your flight and making sure your personal info is all entered, including contacts and AAdvantage member number.  At that point, I am thinking their system will inform you by offering an upgrade for $X if your ticket and you are eligible.  Again, this is typical airline protocol, but I am not a regular AA customer and don't use One World airlines much.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

If you go on the AA website, flight 72 is an AA flight SYD LAX and it is sold out in Business class.  IDK if that’s your flight or not.  The other nonstops are operated by Qantas.

So, if that is your flight, you would call AA and request an UG and the price.

 

If you have AA miles, they may be able to put you on an UG waitlist.  
 

 

 

Not sure how you saw it that way, because I see over 20 open seats in J Class for that AA flight (Nov 7).  There is also 20 seats on the QF flight.  Although the OP did not state a true situation in Post #1, my guess is he bought tickets from AA on the QF flight.  So, your next thought is correct in that it needs to be AA who sells the upgrade prior to Nov 7 and then IDK if he has any chance on day of flight with QF.  If the flight booking has his personal info and AAdvantage Member Number, AA website should be offering upgrade if he is eligible.  Anyway, I hope he can figure this out because I think naivety is getting in the way of an answer or solution.

 

[PacnGoNow]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Not sure how you saw it that way, because I see over 20 open seats in J Class for that AA flight (Nov 7).  There is also 20 seats on the QF flight.  Although the OP did not state a true situation in Post #1, my guess is he bought tickets from AA on the QF flight.  So, your next thought is correct in that it needs to be AA who sells the upgrade prior to Nov 7 and then IDK if he has any chance on day of flight with QF.  If the flight booking has his personal info and AAdvantage Member Number, AA website should be offering upgrade if he is eligible.  Anyway, I hope he can figure this out because I think naivety is getting in the way of an answer or solution.

 

When I looked last night on the AA website for availability, I did not see seats available in business, but doesn’t matter now, as I’m not even sure of the route, the flight, the true operating airline, etc.

It would really help next time to get more details.  

When they look at their reservation on the airline website, it should show what an UG would cost.  Not sure the OP ever did see the airline website they are traveling on.

Seems to me, they just want to buy UG’s.  That would be quite expensive.  You would have to see what the current fare is in Business class and subtract what they paid, which EZAir was probably low. Then, you would pay the difference in fare.  What ever the operating carrier is, could figure the difference.  Yes, they can do that at the airport, if there are seats available…,IF the UG’s have not been given out already.

It would be quite expensive.

 

They may not be AA Advantage members and that’s why it’s confusing to them.  
 

But, this has nothing to do with EZAir.

 

I wish them luck.  

Edited October 8, 2023 by PacnGoNow