TA's Is This True?

[gkashmira]

We had a room block with the hotel and later prices dropped and after some pestering the hotel reduced asll our room block rates to the lower published price. As for airfare we just left everyone on their own and we watched ticket prices until they dropped to around $300 each and then we bought them and sent out a message to guests that these prices are available and probably wouldn't drop further so make their reservations! I guess what I don't understand is why you have to have a charter flight? Can you not reach your location by regular flights? Are charter flights cheaper?

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkashmira We had a room block with the hotel and later prices dropped and after some pestering the hotel reduced asll our room block rates to the lower published price. As for airfare we just left everyone on their own and we watched ticket prices until they dropped to around $300 each and then we bought them and sent out a message to guests that these prices are available and probably wouldn't drop further so make their reservations! I guess what I don't understand is why you have to have a charter flight? Can you not reach your location by regular flights? Are charter flights cheaper?

My TA told us she can pass on the price drops if its a charter flight. Some cities don't have a charter option though, so people flying from there are booking commercial.

[BillysBride]

My understanding was that the charater price is cheaper. She was specific about quoting "..thats for charter." and i would hope that all these stipulations netted us a better price, if not I won't bother. I doubt we'll be able to go charter anyway as our guests are all over this state and a couple of others. No one is leaving out of the same airport. I imagine it will only be us, my mom and step dad and my sisters leaving out of the same airport.

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillysBride My understanding was that the charater price is cheaper. She was specific about quoting "..thats for charter." and i would hope that all these stipulations netted us a better price, if not I won't bother. I doubt we'll be able to go charter anyway as our guests are all over this state and a couple of others. No one is leaving out of the same airport. I imagine it will only be us, my mom and step dad and my sisters leaving out of the same airport.

my guests are coming from all over & some are booking charter. If charter is available in their city, they book it. If not, they take commercial.

[BillysBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan my guests are coming from all over & some are booking charter. If charter is available in their city, they book it. If not, they take commercial.

I'm gonna call her and clarify today, Morgan. I need to know if I understood her wrong, or if for some reason its different here. I can't imagine it would be, but I don't know. I mean, a charter flight wouldn't JUST contain people from our group, so I don't know why their wouldn't be one that a handful of us couldn't take advantage of. Bah!

[TA Dina]

As far as pricing now for next year, what she's giving you for this year is really just a guess-timate as to what it will be next year. Depending on where you're going, April is going to be a busy time of year anyway, so it's hard to gauge. And it's hard to figure is it better to book early or later? I can tell you the trend is starting to go back to "the earlier the better". I've seen prices climb as the availability becomes more limited. Of course on the flip side, I've seen some great last minute discounts. However for a wedding, I don't think going last minute should even be a consideration (even for guests). For obvious reasons.

 

Depending upon what you book (air only, hotel direct, complete package) will affect whether or not a price adjustment can be done if prices drop. Usually what I've found is we can adjust prices on some packages if it's before final payment. Of course, there could be restrictions, so just because one TA might say no it can't be done, doesn't mean she/he's necessarily not being truthful. If you're buying published airfare, no adjustments. What you pay for at the time of purchase is what you get.

 

As far as group blocks, talk it over with your TA and see what works best for your group. If not everyone is traveling together at the same time, a group block may not be the best choice for you. I find alot of couples would rather have their guests call me direct to just book their own vacations, rather than try to navigate through the process themselves & trying to get everyone to travel all on the same days. Any TA can still do a group block, but again, you want to make sure that is the best option for your specific group. I don't think you'll see any price adjustments with a group block though. They're basically locking in a price for you in advance, so the hotels are unlikely to drop them even lower down the road.

 

Charters are just a way a tour operator sells a flight. It's not just your own group on a plane. Many times it will price out cheaper than published airfare if you are doing a land package with it. For example from Philly we have Apple Vacations doing charters to Cancun and Punta Cana. If I sell it all together with the land part, it comes out cheaper overall. However if I have a customer who just wants the flight (say because they prefer those flight times), to sell that as air only, will be much higher than other airlines. It gets tricky. I'm sure your TA will go through this all with you. If not, make sure you ask him/her.

 

Don't know if any of that helps or not, but hopefully it does. My best advice is to ask lots of questions.

[BillysBride]

Yes, Dina it helps a LOT. Thank you so much for the info. I am planning to write some things down to remember to touch on when I speak with them again.

Thanks again!

[Stormsong]

Hi there.

 

I found a DW specialist/travel agent and we actually booked our trip 1.5 - 2 YEARS in advance. Well, we met with her to figure out what we wanted, etc. She was able to give us prices, etc. We knew it was tentative, due to hotels. But, we got REALLY goood prices. We are flying right before the peak season...end of Nov. I figure, the sooner you look, the sooner you can give people a heads up on your wedding. We wanted to give advance notice, so people could save up and come with us.

 

Hope that helps.

[BillysBride]

Stormsong- seriously? Wow, I'd never heard of such a thing!

 

How does it work exactly, since not only are there no prices for hotel this far in advance, but also the air. I assume they just started a file for you and started taking payments toward whatever the final costs would be. Were your accomodations actually booked that far in advance, as in a room reserved?