Everything fell apart, suggestions/help needed

[Zoemakes5]

Well, thought I had everything all handled and things were looking great. Had two package quotes from a company for our Nov. trip, including rental car, tickets, plane tickets, and hotels and all I needed to do was put in the deposit and decide where we wanted to stay.
Well, apparently, I took 1 day too long to determine where we wanted to stay and the result was an additional $1200 onto or quote due to major increase in airlines!! Grrr! I was so upset!
Anyway, this is my question....
I'm looking for a good travel agency that will include air flights and allow you to put in a deposit, not pay for everything up front.
The ones I've looked at so far (Dreams Unlimited and Small World) don't include the flights.
Any good suggestions?

 

[lntsmom]

http://www.themagicforless.com/

does trip planning. If push comes to shove, can you just book things individually? That's the way I did mine, paying cash all along the way. I reserved rooms 4 months in advance. Bought our air tickets 3 months in advance. Got the Disney tickets about 6 weeks in advance. Then, paid for the hotel and transportation when we got there.

I paid cash for everything, and managed to spread the cost out over several months. It's the only way I could do an expensive vacation!

 

[karylrocks]

I agree that it may be best for you to book things individually. I had heard that airfare is expected to go up, but I checked today and the fare for the flights we are taking is the same as it was last week. You might want to check on the fares yourself and go ahead and book it right away if you find a good price. You can then go ahead and book your hotel and car rental; they usually don't require any deposit (just a credit card number) to hold your reservation, and you can purchase your admission tickets any time. Or, purchase your airfare and then pay a deposit on a package that includes everything else.

 

[LuvTigger]

I don't know of any travel agencies that allow payments on airfare (I'm actually quite surprised that you found one that allows payments!). I think most travel agents require full payment of a package, except for the WDTC packages (which, as you said, do not include airfare).

With DL, I usually book airfare separate, but I get a hotel/ticket package because I find that DL packages are usually a pretty good deal. (I use DU for all of my Disney bookings.) So with the package I booked for this September, I paid them a $200 deposit and I'm making periodic payments until the final payment is due about a month before my trip. I booked the airfare seperate (and I actually booked the airfare after I booked the hotel stay because I was waiting for a decent fare). I haven't booked my car rental yet because the rates are still pretty high.

I think the other posters offered a good suggestion. Perhaps you could start reserving rooms and a car (just check the cancellation policies), then work on getting the hotel and tickets? I would still consider packaging the hotel and park tickets though. In DL, I generally find them to be a good deal, offsite or onsite. And some offsite hotels have their own packages independent of Disney (HoJo used to have one) that included tickets to DL and maybe other parks as well.

Good luck, keep us posted!

 

[boosmom96]

I have to agree with everyone else. Airfare has to be paid in full at the time you make the rservation. Alaska Air will allow you to put reservations on a 24 hour hold, but that is the only hold of heard of. We looked into booking our airfare with our package for our upcoming DL trip, but we would have had to pay for the entire package immediately, so I booked the package with a $200 deposit and then did the airfare seperately. Airfare rates have really been jumping around. Our's took a one-day $30 spike in price about 2 weeks ago. I hope this helps.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Northwest Airlines also allows a 24 hour cancellation. You do have to set it up as though paying. Not sure if they charge and then refund--or just wait to charge it at 24:01 after the reservation was made.

 

[zukeeper]

Well, apparently, I took 1 day too long to determine where we wanted to stay and the result was an additional $1200 onto or quote due to major increase in airlines!!

My experience is similiar in that hotel and airfares went up, although I am planning on booking vacation and air separately (I think it is less expensive that way). I have found that air out of Seattle is much cheaper flying into LAX now. In the past SNA has always been less expensive and is closer, but for the savings, with 6 people, I'll be flying into LAX. Look at different airports - you have 3 choices: LAX, SNA, and Long Beach. Also check expedia for airfares. This will give you a good idea of which airport is cheaper before talking to the travel agent.

Good Luck!

 

[cmwade77]

I don't know of any with just a deposit but a lot of times the entire cost of the trip through expedia or travelocity can be about the same as most companies deposit and both can generally include your tickets.