Small Group, Delta Comfort+ Seats
I learned 2 new things today.
First, that even if a popular tour has a separate Small Group designated tour listed - in this case Best of Ireland - the original Best of Ireland tour still has small group departures. I had thought that when they added the Small Group Best of Ireland tour for 2017 that what remained in the original Best of Ireland was just the larger groups. Right now the Small Group listing is completely full for 2017 but the Best of Ireland has plenty of openings including 6 small group departures. We were trying to get 4 of us on the same trip. By changing our start date 3 days we are set with only a couple of hotel differences. Still don't get Ashford Castle, but the Dublin hotel is less expensive so we opted for an extra day on top of GofT.
Second, Tauck can now book Delta Comfort+ seats AND ike most seats they book we can wait to pay til later. Before I had to book coach with Tauck, pay for the airfare to get a confirmation number, then work directly with Delta for the seat upgrade. Tauck air dept took care of it all. Yeah!
TTFN
First, that even if a popular tour has a separate Small Group designated tour listed - in this case Best of Ireland - the original Best of Ireland tour still has small group departures. I had thought that when they added the Small Group Best of Ireland tour for 2017 that what remained in the original Best of Ireland was just the larger groups. Right now the Small Group listing is completely full for 2017 but the Best of Ireland has plenty of openings including 6 small group departures. We were trying to get 4 of us on the same trip. By changing our start date 3 days we are set with only a couple of hotel differences. Still don't get Ashford Castle, but the Dublin hotel is less expensive so we opted for an extra day on top of GofT.
Second, Tauck can now book Delta Comfort+ seats AND ike most seats they book we can wait to pay til later. Before I had to book coach with Tauck, pay for the airfare to get a confirmation number, then work directly with Delta for the seat upgrade. Tauck air dept took care of it all. Yeah!
TTFN
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If you had seen the big discussion I started in July about "Best of Ireland" (small groups) vs the new "Best of Ireland, Small Groups" it might have saved you some grief, and you would be staying in Ashford, etc. It just shows that the stay at Ashford Castle is popular. At least you'll have Mount Juliet Hotel (falconry?). While there, walk to the paddocks out back to see the horses. I'm glad we took the SG tour last year- we stopped at both (and if we had desired could have done falconry at both.) Also, we stopped at Blarney Castle and in Waterford for a short tour and demonstration at the factory. Of course it didn't help that the new SG tour page kept disappearing last summer and early fall!!
I don't know when you go through Tauck if you can select seats for other airlines Tauck may use, but it does work with Delta (at least business class seats.) Actually our Tauck agent was surprised when we asked and she was able to book the seats for our Romantic Germany tour last August. We usually book flights on our own so have to pay up front, but at today's interest rates there isn't much difference paying now or paying later, except if you wait to book. Our Germany trip was a late add and the Tauck contracted price was much less than I could get booking directly with Delta. We usually book using the Delta website, but what bothers me about that is that it doesn't show overall seating or available seats on legs flown by partner airlines (KLM, AF) even for business class so you can't select seats when you book. For our upcoming Danube trip, I had to go to the KLM site to see the seating arrangement and what was available, then, after making reservations with Delta, I went back into the KLM site, where, using my Delta confirmation #, I was able to reserve seats. It probably would be easier making reservations over the phone, but I've had agents give me the runaround trying to get me to reserve a flight I didn't want so I try to stick with the website.
Actually I did alot of reading and knew that some hotel changes were likely. Glenlo Abbey sounds interesting especially if we have a chance to have dinner in the Orient Express rail cars (Pullman Restaurant). Was looking at the bicycling possibilities as well. And I like the changes to the hotels in Dublin (Conrad vs Merrion) and at the end (Mt Juliet vs Lyrath Estate). Will definitely check out the Falconry.
The big surprise was the small group dates buried in the original Best of Ireland. The Small Group BofT is totally packed yet the others are showing wide open so I don't think I'm the only person confused on this. When I called this morning I initially explained to the rep that my husband and I weren't locked into the date with had, just wanted a smaller group and for our 2 companions to be able to join us. Was a ways into the discussion before he mentioned this very easy solution. The itinerary is the same and we were't all that worried about which hotels.
Re Delta, definitely changes have happened. Even while talking to the Tauck air rep she was reading an email and realized the change in the payment of Comfort+ - waiting til the final bill is due rather than upfront.
Was also amazed at the difference in airfare. We opted to add an extra paid day in Dublin since the Conrad was a little less expensive than the Merrion. Turns out the difference in airfare arriving on a Thur vs Fri just about paid the cost of the extra day in the hotel. More time in Dublin and chance to get over jetlag.
Guess I better go back the Christmas preps that I've been ignoring all day.
ttfn
Do you always fly out of Raleigh? How much further is it for you to fly out of Charlotte? Lufthansa has a wonderful non-stop flight most days from Charlotte to Munich and from Munich short flights to other European cities. We almost always take that flight, including our trip in late October to Munich and from there to Vienna with a return flight from Amsterdam to Munich and from there to Charlotte.
Almost always from RDU. The drive for us to RDU is 2+00 while the drive to CLT is 4+30. We flew out of Dulles (our daughter lived in N. VA) to Africa for K&T on Ethiopian AL. Our daughter moved but we will likely fly out of Dulles for Botswana, SA, and Zambia tour in 2019- cheaper, quicker no long layovers in AMS, LHR, or JNB just one stop in Addis Ababa.
We mostly fly Delta which also flies out of New Bern (45 miin.). While the outbound connections to Atlanta aren't too bad the inbound is terrible and overall cost is higher. If we didn't fly Delta we could fly out of Greenville, NC (30 min.) where there are two flights per day to CLT. But there is a big difference in cost from there too. Last year Delta started non-stop service from RDU to CDG for much less than the Lufthansa from CLT to MUC. I do a lot of what-if flight planning but have my own set of priorities- shortest enroute and layover times, best/layflat business seats, late morning/early afternoon departure, then cost. I wish we lived closer to major airport.