Comparison?
After a huge fuss with American Airlines over refundable tickets they won’t refund, we find ourselves with tkt credit we must use by the end of the year. We are doing Tauck- Kenya and Tanzania end of Sept/Oct. I am looking at Amawaterways Egypt vs Tauck’s Egypt Jewels of the Nile. We’ve done Ama before and it’s very nice. We have a very limited travel window due to other trips and family obligations. It needs to be either the 11/28 Tauck or the Dec. 2 Ama trip. I really don’t know WHAT I want to see in Egypt so it’s difficult to compare the trips. If any of you have a spare moment, could you glance at this itinerary and tell me what I might miss if we chose Ama over Tauck? https://www.amawaterways.com/destination/egypt-river-cruises/2022/secrets-of-egypt-the-nile/itinerary
Comments
If it is time sensitive. Then I would grab either of the tour dates, Egypt especially is going to be even more popular at that time of year and you don’t want to find the trip you want is full.
CaraBethP - I’ve had some experiences with American Airlines during the past few pandemic years. They always refuse refunds and many people just take that as final. We even had them approve a refund for me but deny it for my wife. Same reservations and record locator. If you want to win this you must be persistent. Several emails to the CEO plus one registered letter resolved our issue for the first problem. The next problem was a credit that expired the end of the year. With persistence directed to the CEO I got them to extend the cancel date to be more in line with my needed travel date.
The emails and letters never reach the CEO I’m sure. His staff wants to solve these problems before they come to his attention. Be persistent almost to the level of harassment and you will get them to change the end date of your credit to what you need.
I've had some serious problems with American Airlines. I will only travel with them as a last resort.
Regarding Egypt, the itinerary is about the same for all the tours. Pick the one that works best for you. But I'd favor Tauck if I had a choice because of the after-hours visit to the Valley of the Kings.
@BSP51 thus far wasted time arguing via phone and email. So, I filed with the Ky Attorney General and the FAA. They both responded that they couldn’t “punish” AA but could enforce a substantive response from AA. I created a brief that was filled with every instance of AA changing our itinerary (8 times in 3 months. AA made the change that made in non-refundable.) , ATT records of the times and dates of phone calls, American Express records of the charges. I sent it in a neatly tabbed and annotated binder registered mail to AA, the attorney general and the FAA. I will now do the same to their CEO. Thank you for your suggestion!
Impressive record keeping, CaraBethP!
BTW, the correct USPS service to use for stuff like this is Certified, not Registered Mail. Registered is primarily for sending items of value (jewelry, bullion, stock/bond certificates etc.) You're just spending more on postage than necessary when Certified will accomplish the tracking and deilvery record you want.
I had one AA cancellation due to Covid. Fortunately, the ticket was purchased with FF miles and was credited back to my account in 2 days. I had no issue with cash refunds from Delta and United.
CaraBethP Hi
Going back to your dilemma Egypt is AMAZING!
I would do Egypt again with TAUCK. I was there Sept. 2021 with them and would go back again.... no doudt .
I would take Tauck over AMA. I've been on only one AMA river cruise (because it was for my daughter's birthday and Tauck was all booked up 9 months in advance). The cruise itself was fine, but I was one of the unfortunate few who contracted norovirus. I don't blame AMA for the virus. However, when I recovered enough to feel a little better, I asked for tea and toast. I was told that they would not bring me toast because they had put the toasters away for the day. That is NOT Tauck's level of service!
@BKMD i believe I did send certified. They had to sign and I received a post card back with the signature. We’ve done one Ama- Nuremberg to Luxembourg. It was nice. We saw many wonderful things. Had the opportunity to choose different small group activities. The food and dining experience was WAY below Tauck standards enough that I almost didn’t want to eat and tried to always finish before the group.
Re: American Airlines- our July trip we had to cancel was to FCA- Glacier Natl Park. American was the only viable choice for us out of Nashville. That was #1 on our bucket list. I made all the park reservations at midnight last June 30, the first minute reservations were open. I bought refundable flights. And then, May 22 our grandson won the regional soap box derby. My husband, the granddaddy, had been his coach and mentor. That car and 2 years of racing were the only GOOD thing that 9 yo grand boy had during Covid. So, we are taking him to Akron to race in the nationals. If AA would just extend the date on the tkt credit, we could use it for Glacier next year.
CaraBethP - You really have tried. Commendable. Hopefully the contact to the CEO will push them over the top. Our credit ended in Dec of 2022 and I was able to get them to extend to end January 2023 as that is when we needed to travel. Good luck.