Booking airfare
What are the advantages of booking airfare with Tauck, rather than booking alone?
Several flights are available that are preferable to the itineraries Tauck's travel department offers. They are unable to book those for some reason, so we are left with choices of 5-hour layovers or traveling through airports we'd rather avoid. There are plenty of seats available. We were also told Tauck would only book Main Cabin and we need to upgrade on the airline's website because the airline wants the extra fees.
They are also unable to book the first leg and final leg of one traveler's flight. That traveler needs to fly from a different city to meet up and travel with me. So she has to book her flight into and out of my city. I don't understand, as not every traveler travels from the same city. And when we traveled with Tauck last year her flights to and from our meet-up city were booked with no problem.
What am I missing here?
We have travel insurance through Tauck. If we book our flights is air travel covered? If we run into problems with our flights, will Tauck help us work around issues or are we on our own?
Comments
The advantage of booking through Tauck is that they monitor the flight. Also, you can pay for the ticket at the final payment for the trip. If you cancel after it is ticketed, then you have to file a claim with the insurance company if there is a medical condition in order to get the cost of the ticket back. (To my recollection, if there is no medical condition documented and you cancel, I think there is a fixed amount you stand to lose on the ticket--I'd verify.) If you book the flights by yourself the insurance will also cover your cost if there is a documented medical condition.
I often used to book my own tickets, but when Tauck canceled the tours in 2020 I still had nonrefundable airline tickets. The airlines did not want to refund the money as long as the flight was not canceled. (Fortunately I was able to get refunded at the last minute only because one of the countries required quarantine for 10 days.) Had I booked the ticket through Tauck, the airline ticket would have been automatically refunded if the tour had been canceled.
You don’t say where you are flying to and what tour as it makes a difference. Tauck conditions have changed and new rules apply depending on the destination
I always book business class / first class directly with Tauck for European travel and have done so for years without problem. Whoever told you Tauck only books main cabin is misinformed.
Ah. I remember, they don’t book business for domestic travel.
SoCal duo - I could be wrong but I thought the rules for paying for flights if booked through Tauck changed a bit ago. For Exotic trips (any trip outside of Europe) I thought the airline ticket had to be paid for when Tauck booked it, not at final tour payment date. For non-Exotic trips the airfare could be paid for as you indicate, at the tour final payment date.
If anyone knows for sure if there are different rules for flight payments, when Tauck books the flights, based on the type of tour please weigh in.
Sam - I believe I read the same thing.
I always book my own flights. From my perspective, introducing a third party is an unnecessary complexity with some loss of control.
Smiling Sam - Recently I have booked trips to Europe. I know that domestic trips have to be paid for right away--no different from doing it yourself. Previously when I booked Exotic trips I did the reservation by myself.
Two days ago, I called Tauck to see about booking business class from Boston to Paris next year. While I recognize that there are benefits to booking directly with them, our tickets would be $900. more each! So I booked with Delta myself to save $1800.
If you have Tauck's insurance yes flights you book on your own are covered. No Tauck is unlikely to help you if there is a problem with those flights.
In some cases Tauck also does premium economy reservations. You need to do a reality check with Tauck sometimes depending on the agent. Some will recognize short time frames with connecting flights. I also find they don't monitor flights. Maybe I am misunderstanding SoCal Duo.
Best to call Tauck to verify exactly what they do. By the way, we went to Morocco last year--an "Exotic" trip. We booked the tickets through Tauck and they ticketed the trip after the final payment. At the time we made the reservation there were 3 choices of cabins to sit in.
Thanks to all for responding. We are flying from Salt Lake City to Edinburgh for the Scotland cruise. Then, flying back from Glasgow.
Tauck contracts with the airlines for flights. They don't contract with all airlines e.g. Southwest. They won't book itineraries with transfers less than 2 hours minimum to make sure you don't miss your connections. Prior to booking I search for flights with Delta and sometimes United. Their websites will often list itineraries with an hour or less connection time. Very risky especially transferring thru major hubs like Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam.
As to whether they can book a specific seat class - it depends on the airline. Delta used to not let them book Economy Comfort. You had to book and pay Tauck for an economy ticket. Then use the confirmation number to go to Delta, pay the upgrade fee and pick your seats. It was kind of a pain but either way you're going to pay extra. That ended several years ago with Delta but what they are allowed to do now will depend on the airline and the contract with them.
Flying from SLC, you should be able to get a Delta flight from SLC direct to Amsterdam, then you backtrack to Edinburgh. When we did Week in Scotland flying from Albuquerque we flew into Amsterdam and did the same backtrack to Glasgow. Amsterdam is the easiest European airport to transfer thru compared to Heathrow or Paris. Because you're going to Scotland (no longer EU) you don't have to go thru passport control.
Claudia, that's very helpful. We want to go through Amsterdam, and we see the itinerary on Delta but Tauck is unable to book that, although seats are available, and the layover is just over 2 hours. Maybe a little too close for a comfortable connection? An alternative flight is SLC through Atlanta to Edinburgh with a good layover also. The Paris layover they suggested is 5 hours and gets us in so late an entire day of our stay there is lost so that's why it's not the best choice.
I also don't understand why my traveling companion can't be booked from Spokane unless she books that herself, then meets up with me and travels from SLC. We did that last year when we traveled to Iceland with Tauck. If something has changed, that's fine, but that hasn't been explained.
I trust Tauck. I'm just frustrated because the two people we've talked to so far haven't been able to explain this in a way I understand. After the holiday weekend, I'll connect with them again and I'm sure we can figure it out.
It really does seem to depend on which agent you get. With your choices, I would go via Atlanta and directly to Edinburgh.
The only major issues we've ever had booking with Tauck was in 2020 ( just before covid) when I had waited until about 6 months before the tour and Tauck had nothing that worked - routing I didn't like, price, etc. In that case I did find a much better option on delta's website. Of course it was later cancelled due to covid.
I Also tried to use Taucks take Off With Tauck airfare deal for a tour this summer and they had nothing that worked at all that met their pricing for that deal. I would have had to pay to get to a major hub which kind of defeated the purpose.
And yes Atlanta is also a good option. Definitely better than JFK.
I agree about Amsterdam airport, easy to get around, totally dislike Charles De Gaulle, I always book my own air, find it easier than booking with Tauck.
I always research my best options and then try to get Tauck to find it. If they look hard enough, they can usually find it, although I have heard there are things they can not book, it has usually worked out.
We've been traveling with Tauck since 2003. We've done it both ways many times. It really depends on where you are going as some places are harder to book than others. BUT - these past 5 years we have found MUCH cheaper airfare on our own. We always check with Tauck and see what they can get, but we always do better on our own. We have to budget our trips with Tauck, so saving on airfare is HUGE for us. We can't afford 1st class, but we do tend to go Premium Select and save money on our own over Tauck. We also book on our opening day which is 330 days from our return flight home. Yes, by booking that early, there are sometimes changes, but we get notified very quickly by Delta/AA/or whoever we are flying with and changes are quick and easy and free.
We have 4 trips booked currently and we booked air on our own MUCH cheaper than Tauck could do for us.
Tauck provides air as a service only, they are a tour company, not a full service travel agent so there are limits as to what they can and will do with respect to flights. They can only book flights on certain carriers with which they have contracts. We used Tauck air many years ago on our very first tour- England, Scotland, Wales. Tauck flew us to AMS then to Edinburgh.
Tauck does not ‘see’ certain alternate times of flights with the same airlines on their system either.
We always research but use Tauck less for flights than we used to, the attraction was always because we did not have to pay for flights in advance and now mostly they want you to pay upfront. So when we book the flights, we get five times points instead which we can’t get if Tauck books when cost is the same.
I know in respect to other members in this forum I'm just a baby, time-wise or postings. But I book my own flights. As AlanS says Tauck only provides air as a service only.
For my upcoming Sept. 29th trip to the UK I was quoted a price with Air Canada more than double what I got on my own with WestJet.
Not in steerage either LOL. But I I also think that they only check with major carriers i.e Air France, British Airways, Delta, Lufthansa or such.. Whereas I do a search on the web for flights.
Never heard of Westjet. Which airport do they fly into in London?
I just made air reservations on my own with British business class. In business class, we were compelled to “purchase” our seats! Yes, you read that right, purchase. That amounted to a pretty penny coming and going. I really don’t want to be at the mercy of the airline choosing my seat on the day of departure and not taking into consideration what each business class ticket initially cost. This was a 700.00 extra to purchase ahead of time assigned seats! I don’t want bulkhead, I don’t want to sit near the bathrooms (been there; and done that) or the galley (too much noise and constant chatter from the flight crew (it was non-stop on our last Qatar flight) so I purchased our seats. It’s nuts, I know. Just saying.
Now who's not googling?
Westjet is a Canadian airline. https://www.westjet.com/book/cheap-flights-to-london-england
😂 I’m not that interested to know. We flew to London a few weeks ago on British air. Our return flight was American Airlines. American cancel our flight and could not get us another flight until 48 hours later…storms in the US caused this However, our friends on BA did not have their flight canceled. We ended up flying via Phoenix, with a wait for that flight, 4 hour layover then on to Philly, only seats available were economy. We felt worse after that than a long distance flight on the other side of the planet.
Regarding sitting together, we rarely interact on our flights and just do our own thing which is mainly Mr B sleeping like a baby😀
On my upcoming tour I actually fly from Toronto direct to the start city of the tour, Edinburgh. At the end of this tour I fly out of London Heathrow to Shannon. I follow it up a day later with an eight day tour of Ireland and fly home out of Dublin. Total of 24 days.
OurTravels34, that is ridiculous to be charged for the seats. from London to Shannon my choices were Aer Lingus or Ryan Air.
I chose the lesser evil of Aer Lingus and chose my seat for no fee. Otherwise Aer Lingus nickel and dimes you to death.
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British - WestJet is a Delta partner and yes a Canadian airline, I flew with them when I went to Nova Scotia direct flight from Orlando a rarity for me, unfortunately coming back I took Endeavor (another Delta partner) from Halifax to LaGuardia and then to Orlando so a 3 1/2 hr flight became 9 hours with the long layover.
Some of our group flew Aer Lingus on our trip and their bags were ‘put to one side’ as they were told and never put on their flight. Three days to get back to them. Originally, many of us were going to use Aer Lingus and do a stop over in Dublin on our way back to the US, but they wanted $800 extra on Economy to do that. I checked it out and yes, they charge a fortune for layovers for a few days. So the airline missed out on 50 of us traveling together.
Well this is a good topic. I remember paying for preferred seats on Qatar business class so my family can be seated together and lo and behold, our seats get changed and there’s not anything I can do about it because the airline has the discretion to change seats. It says that on their “carriage of contract. The EU rules are diffferent.