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BalooNumberTwo
06-07-2005, 07:26 PM
Okay i am trying to book a vacation package on their web site and i won't let me book rooms or set up air fair. I have 9 people that are a part of this trip.
5 Adults ranging from 62 to 18 and 4 children ranging from 17 to 5. first it tells me that i am not able to have more than 8 people in a room. well, duh...going to have two rooms. thats another thing it doesn't let me decide how many rooms i want. I kind of wanted a rough estimate so i deleted the 5 year old..and it let me proceed. next on to airfair... won't let my reserve more than 6 seats...lol...guess i'll be walking to LAX. anybody else have any problems with this? I know it says that if i have anyproblems i could call AAA during business hours. just thought i could ask you friendly people! any help would be great...

Baloo#2

momtotwins
06-07-2005, 07:33 PM
Okay i am trying to book a vacation package on their web site and i won't let me book rooms or set up air fair. I have 9 people that are a part of this trip.
5 Adults ranging from 62 to 18 and 4 children ranging from 17 to 5. first it tells me that i am not able to have more than 8 people in a room. well, duh...going to have two rooms. thats another thing it doesn't let me decide how many rooms i want. I kind of wanted a rough estimate so i deleted the 5 year old..and it let me proceed. next on to airfair... won't let my reserve more than 6 seats...lol...guess i'll be walking to LAX. anybody else have any problems with this? I know it says that if i have anyproblems i could call AAA during business hours. just thought i could ask you friendly people! any help would be great...

Baloo#2

You need to speak directly with a AAA representative to book your trip. It won't let you book more than 1 room. You can book 1 "room", whether that room is a standard room, suite, or 2 BR suite, but anything beyond that, you need to call. Same with airfare.

They are quite easy to deal with though. Give 'em a call. They won't mind if you ask them to price various alternatives.

Emma
06-07-2005, 07:34 PM
YOu have to book one room at a time.

But If I were you, with a trip that compicated, I'd call and AAA Travel Agent. You'll get the exact same price, and you'll have someone who know's what they're doing.

BalooNumberTwo
06-07-2005, 07:35 PM
YOu have to book one room at a time.

But If I were you, with a trip that compicated, I'd call and AAA Travel Agent. You'll get the exact same price, and you'll have someone who know's what they're doing.


Thank you both very much! have a good nite!

brettb
06-13-2005, 01:51 PM
YOu have to book one room at a time.

But If I were you, with a trip that complicated, I'd call and AAA Travel Agent. You'll get the exact same price, and you'll have someone who know's what they're doing.

If you're lucky! I didn't have the limitations of the large group and so forth, so I didn't need to speak with real agent and I wish I hadn't!

I'm in the "Mid-Atlantic" region, but even when you dial in to your local office directly, if you push the button for an agent, you get the next available agent from a pool of the various offices. So I got a woman from an office an hour away. I suspect these folks around here book a few hundred WDW trips for every DL trip the book so they don't seem to know very much about DL. (And I still knew more about booking WDW trips than any of the AAA agents I spoke to. The first one was quoting rates that didn't include the AAA discount and if I hadn't known and pointed it out to her, she would have obliviously booked the trip at rack rate.) And any questions I had, she had to call Disney herself and call me back. It was a small game of telephone.

And when it came time leave a deposit, she asked me to come in to the office so they could take an imprint of my credit card. I could have faxed a copy, but their fax machine was broken. So I asked if I could go to the local office. Yes, but they're only open until 6pm during the week. But I called to confirm a few things before heading to the local office early on Saturday and inquired about their fax machine. It was working again. So they faxed me the forms and I filled in my Discover card information and signed by the X.....

And then I get a call. Their card verification system only verifies Visa and Mastercard. Could I fax them a copy of my driver's license, too? Sure. Then she faxes me a copy of the itinerary and asks me to sign and fax back. Fine, but I only get a copy of one of two itineraries (there's a trip to WDW planned, too). So she has to fax me the WDW itinerary again and I have to sign and fax back.

Hopefully working with agents in other regions isn't nearly as painful -- in terms of both their knowledgability and payment processing. I'd consider physically going to my local office - then I'd know I was dealing with a local person. But if they aren't making my life easier or getting me a better deal than I could get myself, I won't feel bad booking on my own after an initial inquiry.

phillyorig
06-13-2005, 04:13 PM
persoanlly I would just go to the office and talk to the travel agents. They are there to help you!!!
I booked our trip myself but used their trip ticket(they are going to hear about that),the books and almost bought the tickets to dl there.

I hate using the phone for alot of reasons people have said hee. You want personal service, go in person IMO.

hbquikcomjamesl
06-13-2005, 06:20 PM
I second the motion on going to the most convenient local office, and seeing a travel agent face-to-face. That's what they're there for, and they can set things up that simply can't be set up through a web site.

In fact, I encourage you to develop a good, friendly working relationship with a travel agent., so that whoever you're dealing with knows your likes and dislikes, and has a file on what he/she has done for you in the past, for future reference. I also encourage you to debrief with your travel agent after returning from a vacation he/she has booked for you, particularly if you did something off the beaten path, because you could make him/her a better travel agent by doing so: nobody can know EVERYTHING about a destination just from direct experience, and it's entirely possible that a travel agent may be working ENTIRELY on the experience of others.

I had an excellent working relationship for about 5 years with Julie Johnson, formerly of the Harbor Blvd/Costa Mesa AAA office, late of the office by John Wayne Airport, and now of the new Ladera office (which is very convenient to her home, but, sadly, is completely impractical for me).

And if there are aspects of your vacation you'd rather handle on your own, or that you MUST handle on your own (e.g., JetBlue, whose best fares are only available from their web site), your AAA travel agent shouldn't have any problems with it, especially if you've built up a working relationship to the point where he/she knows you aren't trying to deprive him/her of commissions.