Air reservations

Hi. Did most ?of you get air reservations through Tauck or independently? Any suggestions

Comments

  • I think you will find a mix of folks who booked air with Tauck and those who booked air on their own. We had every intention of booking the air through Tauck. One big advantage is that I believe you do not have to pay for your air until final payment. There also has been some discussion in the travel forum about Tauck "requesting" seats you want, but not guaranteeing them. You could ask about that if you speak to folks in the air dept.
    Now, having said that, we booked the air on our own. We booked the trip a long time ago and were waiting for Tauck and Qantas to open up the dates to book the air. Qantas came out with the rates, but Tauck was not yet able to book air. I saw the Qantas rates rise while waiting for Tauck. Finally, after a few weeks, we decided to just book the air ourselves. Turns out it was a smart move for us because when Tauck came out with the rates, it was $1000 more than what we paid. Before booking with Qantas, I was told (by Tauck) which flight to book for the Australia-New Zealand flight. I would suggest you call the airlines yourself and also speak with the folks in the air dept at Tauck. If the rates are the same, you might want to go with Tauck, knowing that they will take care of everything.

  • Joanie,
    We booked our long haul flights thru our travel agent and were quite pleased with the fares. For the Sydney to Wellington leg, we did better booking it on our own.
    Best,
    Ed

    joanieK wrote:
    Hi. Did most ?of you get air reservations through Tauck or independently? Any suggestions
  • Thanks for info. Am in process of having travel agent book us for 1/7/2016 cruise. Naturally, no airfare rates available that far out!
  • We book through Orbitz. Always get better rates than either the travel agent, direct from the airlines, or Tauck. You also get full credit for airline miles.
  • edited December 2014
    joanieK wrote:
    Thanks for info. Am in process of having travel agent book us for 1/7/2016 cruise. Naturally, no airfare rates available that far out!

    Most (all?) airlines don't start taking bookings until 330 days before departure. I do my own booking for all but the most difficult arrangements which I let Tauck handle. When I handle the booking, I do it far in advance, between 300 - 330 days out. Doing so can save quite a bit! I checked online just now- the exact same Delta business class flights we are taking to/from England/Ireland next September would cost me an incredible $3395 more per ticket, more than double, if instead of booking on 3 November like I did, I booked them today!!!! Was it because when I booked, Delta was using 2014 instead of 2015 fares? Who knows, but I'm not complaining!

    There are benefits to be had by using Tauck, however- delayed payment, liberal change/cancellation policy, changes and updates to ensure you get to your destination and home again, all handled by Tauck, etc.

    Also, there are negatives handling the booking yourself, especially that far in advance- they changed flight times which required rescheduling of my flights to Munich last summer and they have already made one change to my flights to/from England/Ireland next fall. The Munich flights were actually better and the change to the Ireland flights had no impact, so it wasn't a big deal. Since the changes were a result of Delta scheduling, there was no cost to me. The changes were a surprise, however, because I hadn't signed up for email alerts. Luckily, I discovered them in a routine check which is always a good practice, no matter what!

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