How far out do you start booking your overseas holiday

[Flying mermaid]

I think we've had this discussion before . I research the hotels I want (usually Accor), and price them on-line. Then I give my TA the list and a 'target price'. If she gets that price (or close), she books it; if not she passes it back to book myself.

Why not just book them when I research? Sometimes the TA gets better prices (sometimes very worthwhile difference - especially upmarket places) and she gives me great service otherwise, so I'm happy for her to get an easy set of commissions.

yes - often subjects get repeated I don't stick to any hotel group ( although do have a slight preference for Four Seasons, so always include them in the ones I look at). Friends keep telling me about their wonderful TAs and then I usually find I am giving them information their TA just doesn't seem to know. I found I had to check everything they did when I used one, so easier just to do it myself and I enjoy it. The other thing with booking an hotel direct, is that they will often look after you a bit better. I generally book a suite rather than a room as I like to read and Mr FM and I often end up with different sleep patterns because of jetlag - it affects us very differently. With suites I find I can usually do much better directly with the hotel than through a TA - possibly things have changed - it is many years since I have used a TA. A serious question - what does a TA do for you that you can't do for yourself? You have mentioned prices and that certainly is not my experience (they were often the same, but never better), so what else? Possibly I am just too much of a control freak to allow anyone that much control over my holiday!

 

[codash1099]

I think we've had this discussion before . I research the hotels I want (usually Accor), and price them on-line. Then I give my TA the list and a 'target price'. If she gets that price (or close), she books it; if not she passes it back to book myself.

Why not just book them when I research? Sometimes the TA gets better prices (sometimes very worthwhile difference - especially upmarket places) and she gives me great service otherwise, so I'm happy for her to get an easy set of commissions.

That's exactly the way I do it. My TA is happy with the arrangement - she generally winds up with better than 50% of the bookings.

 

[JohnK]

I am constantly in planning mode.

Currently July 2015, October 2015 and December 2015 are in the planning stages.

I try to have the flights booked ~9 months out. Sometimes more. I have been looking to book awards for July 2015 with both QF and AA and struggling to get the dates I want. May look to book cheap economy with QF at next sale.

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

We tend to spend our points on J to LAX from BNE, family of four, flying only some sectors together.
We booked June/July 2015 some 345+ days in advance. Always book one way at a time and we are usually quite flexible on return dates. No issues getting what we want but I will use the call centre for availability if needed.

Cheers
BF

 

[ellen10]

Rewards flights I always try to book as far out as I can.
I had trouble getting return flights back from NYC to SYD in J in October in 2015. Call centre could not help.
But now all flights locked in and the planning part has begun. Woohoo!
Travel and planning is my passion and hobby. Whenever I have gone to a TA they cannot match what I am after.
I find myself planning and booking friends and families trips a lot lately. Just booked and planned my young next door neighbours first trip to the UK and Europe next year in June. So I can enjoy the planning stages through others as well.

 

[OATEK]

Rewards flights I always try to book as far out as I can.
I had trouble getting return flights back from NYC to SYD in J in October in 2015. Call centre could not help.
But now all flights locked in and the planning part has begun. Woohoo!
Travel and planning is my passion and hobby. Whenever I have gone to a TA they cannot match what I am after.
I find myself planning and booking friends and families trips a lot lately. Just booked and planned my young next door neighbours first trip to the UK and Europe next year in June. So I can enjoy the planning stages through others as well.

Your are obviously in the grip of the travel bug - I recognise the symptoms!

A recent quote from my daughter about my "help" in booking her upcoming honeymoon stay in Hawaii: "Thanks Pops!! The cheapest I have seen it is for $2020 - 1 bed, ocean view + kitchen. I just got it for $1800!!"

 

[Pushka]

The one issue I've found with using a TA is that any changes I might want to make must go through them. I find that kind of annoying given I'm the one doing the paying.

Ellen10, I've had the same experience. I love researching and have found better prices than a TA I was using at the time. The last straw was when I had to cancel a Q flight they slapped me with an $800 fee and when I queried the cost of this with the ticket conditions it should have been $200. So a $600 TA cancellation fee. Fair enough if they'd done the research but they hadn't. I had told them the exact flights I needed to book and all they did was book them. Never again.

I use USA TA's now and they don't dare charge cancellation fees. But I only use them for Cruises because of all the random freebies they give. For instance we booked a 2015 cruise a couple of months ago. Then they had a sale last month. So out of the blue the TA sent me an email saying they'd just applied $300 OBC to our ship account. Along with another one of the promos this has given us free alcohol (and I am talking high end spirits - Grey Goose vodka and French wine - no limits) for 13 nights.

 

[Kolo]

Pushka, I'm interested in your use of a USA TA. Are there any issues with consumer protection if you do this? Also, presumably you pay in USD. And finally, would you like to recommend them?

 

[Pushka]

Pushka, I'm interested in your use of a USA TA. Are there any issues with consumer protection if you do this? Also, presumably you pay in USD. And finally, would you like to recommend them?

Hi Kolo. The Australian TA industry was deregulated on July 1 and the same level of protection doesn't apply anymore unless they have taken out particular insurance. I always use a credit card which offers protection.

I use vacationstogo.com. While they handle the booking it is the cruise company itself who charges to the credit card. And my booking appears on the cruise company website immediately.

Yes, USD and currency fluctuations impact. I had to cancel a cruise a couple of years ago and unlike Aussie TA's, you get your deposit back in full. In this case because the Aussie $ had fallen after I'd paid the deposit I actually got back more than I'd paid!

They aren't always cheaper so you need to DYOR. And they can't book Princess Cruises.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Sometimes it's the little things a TA does that indicates how diligent they are eg doing seat selection on carriers where there's no fee to do so eg a lot of US domestic carriers. If this isn't done early sometimes you'll end up with split seating despite checking in nearly 24 hours before at the same time as the trans Pacific flight.

If you ask a TA to do this and they tell you "oh you just get to the airport early" or "you can checkin online" they're just too lazy to do it.

A serious question - what does a TA do for you that you can't do for yourself?

You have mentioned prices and that certainly is not my experience (they were often the same, but never better), so what else? Possibly I am just too much of a control freak to allow anyone that much control over my holiday!

When it comes to planning your own trip, being a 'control freak' is probably one of the best attributes you can have. You can never have too much OCD!

I think some people don't give themselves enough credit when it comes to doing their own bookings so go to an agent (one particular chain comes to mind) because they don't trust themselves not to stuff it up. However what often happens is the TA does stuff it up when the person themselves would've done fine had they done it themselves.

The irony is some of these young inexperienced (fresh out of their 3 week training course) TA's have a confidence level that does not match their ability which is the opposite of the client who has the ability not the confidence.

Hi Kolo. The Australian TA industry was deregulated on July 1 and the same level of protection doesn't apply anymore unless they have taken out particular insurance. I always use a credit card which offers protection.

I use vacationstogo.com. While they handle the booking it is the cruise company itself who charges to the credit card. And my booking appears on the cruise company website immediately.

Yes, USD and currency fluctuations impact. I had to cancel a cruise a couple of years ago and unlike Aussie TA's, you get your deposit back in full. In this case because the Aussie $ had fallen after I'd paid the deposit I actually got back more than I'd paid!

They aren't always cheaper so you need to DYOR. And they can't book Princess Cruises.

We've used Vacations To Go for our Celebrity Summit Caribbean cruise - needed good excuse to fly to SJU! Handy for people wanting to do a bit of a status run (well was prior to 01Jul, less so now) before their SWMBO was 'onboard' with the whole points & SC earning thing.

I know of one savvy AFFer who uses VTG for cruises as once they've paid a deposit and any time up to final payment if the price drops they will deduct that amout off the final payment. Once final payment has been received, if there is any further reduction on the cruise fare then they receive that as onboard credit.

They couldn't even spend that so had to get some chips at the casino then cash in their 'winnings'.

 

[Pushka]

We had some left over OBC last cruise and no need for the casino. They credited it to our credit card.

 

[Bindibuys]

Add me to that list of "I LOVE to organise our travels and that of family/friends". Currently have the general lay of the land for our next 6 week holiday in 2016. (Turkey/Egypt/Jordan/Israel/Dubai)
Flights will be booked 355 days out, then I can add/subtract extra days from the base itinerary to fill the gap. The cruises will be my point of reference and work back/forward from there.
I am generally not one for cancelling rooms once they are booked, enough homework done re location/transport etc.
Friends have asked us to do Route 66 with them in 2017, (they will go via Harley's and us in car) so this will be the next 6 week break.
I also recommend vacationstogo. We were booked on Caribbean cruise while Sandy was in action. They kept us fully informed of the changes.