Any upside to purchasing flights through ABD?

[DisneyWishes14]

I was on the phone with a vacationista yesterday discussing our upcoming Australia ABD and I happened to mention booking flights. She suggested I speak with ABD's air department for pricing which I haven't done, as of yet. I never book third-party air as I like to be in control of our tickets should we have a delay, etc. and need to contact our air carrier. I'm just wondering, other than a possible price discount, if there is any upshot in booking air through ABD? Our trip isn't, as yet, guaranteed, so if it is canceled for some reason, I assume booking air with ABD has an advantage in terms of cancelled flight fees? I just don't know! If you have any experience booking air with ABD, please let me know!

 

[sayhello]

You are correct in that, if your trip is cancelled, it's much easier to deal with changes or cancellations if you purchased your air through ABD. You can still get it taken care of if you purchase the airfare yourself, but it's much easier & more straightforward if you booked it through them.

Booking the airfare through ABD is like purchasing through a Travel Agent. You can tell them the exact flights you want, and they will price them out for your, and only book if you approve of it. Or you can have them do the research and present you with options. You do lose a certain amount of control, same as if you book through a TA, but you can go in and chose seats, and things like that yourself. Any actual flight changes would have to go through ABD travel.

For me, if they can get me the flight I want for a significant discount, I'll book through them. If it's the same price, I'll book it myself. Sometimes they've saved me a lot, sometimes they couldn't, sometimes (like Japan) they couldn't get me the flights I wanted except as a codeshare, plus they couldn't book or guarantee Premium Economy for me, so I booked it myself.

Sayhello

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You are correct in that, if your trip is cancelled, it's much easier to deal with changes or cancellations if you purchased your air through ABD. You can still get it taken care of if you purchase the airfare yourself, but it's much easier & more straightforward if you booked it through them.

Booking the airfare through ABD is like purchasing through a Travel Agent. You can tell them the exact flights you want, and they will price them out for your, and only book if you approve of it. Or you can have them do the research and present you with options. You do lose a certain amount of control, same as if you book through a TA, but you can go in and chose seats, and things like that yourself. Any actual flight changes would have to go through ABD travel.

For me, if they can get me the flight I want for a significant discount, I'll book through them. If it's the same price, I'll book it myself. Sometimes they've saved me a lot, sometimes they couldn't, sometimes (like Japan) they couldn't get me the flights I wanted except as a codeshare, plus they couldn't book or guarantee Premium Economy for me, so I booked it myself.

Sayhello

Great info, as always, Sayhello! Thank you so much! I will go ahead and price it out with ABD and go from there - thank you for your advice!

 

[lpm23]

Same for me. I always compare prices. i find if you are going in business class Disney often has a better rate

 

[Donalyn]

Our experience was that they found the same tickets that I was looking at and basically the same price tag, but we got upgraded seats on the way there. Pretty happy with that.

 

[OKW Lover]

For us, the answer would be to go through ABD if there is any chance at all that you, or ABD, will need to cancel the trip.

 

[Toddupton]

Also if you are using your Disney credit card you will get the 6 months no interest if adventures by Disney books it for you. You will also have your flight covered by the insurance if you booked that through them as well.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Also if you are using your Disney credit card you will get the 6 months no interest if adventures by Disney books it for you. You will also have your flight covered by the insurance if you booked that through them as well.

Wow! Thanks for the great advice everyone! lpm23, we are looking at business class, so you're info is good to know.

Toddupton - I didn't think of that! Great point! I am planning on using my Disney Visa, so this is great to know - thank you!

 

[sayhello]

You will also have your flight covered by the insurance if you booked that through them as well.

Even if you book your airfare yourself, your flight can also be covered by ABD's insurance if you fly directly to the starting point of the ABD, and leave from the ending point of the ABD. Of course, these kinds of policies always change, so I'd check with ABD before relying on it.

Sayhello

 

[calypso726]

I was on the phone with a vacationista yesterday discussing our upcoming Australia ABD and I happened to mention booking flights. She suggested I speak with ABD's air department for pricing which I haven't done, as of yet. I never book third-party air as I like to be in control of our tickets should we have a delay, etc. and need to contact our air carrier. I'm just wondering, other than a possible price discount, if there is any upshot in booking air through ABD? Our trip isn't, as yet, guaranteed, so if it is canceled for some reason, I assume booking air with ABD has an advantage in terms of cancelled flight fees? I just don't know! If you have any experience booking air with ABD, please let me know!

Personally, as a travel hacker, points and miles enthusiast or whatever you want to call it, there is no way I’d book airfare through any third party. The flight is part of the vacation experience for us so we are going to fly in business or first class in lie flat seats and collect another set of airline pajamas and not pay any money for it either. Booking through a third party will cost us more money and won’t be the flight experience we prefer. We have been on 11 ABD trips and every one of our flights was booked with points and miles in a first class lie flat seat. All of our ABD trips were also booked with Disney gift cards purchased for 5 miles on the dollar which helps us get the miles for our flights.

With that said, if something gets cancelled then we are on our own with flight arrangements. While on the post stay in Japan our flights were cancelled due to the incoming typhoon. Getting flights out was rather challenging to say the least. So like anything else there are pros and cons. I’m pretty certain had we booked flights with ABD they would have handled everything.

Some will prefer the convenience of having ABD handle everything and some, like us, will risk it to try a new plane experience.

For those wondering how we fly and travel on points and miles, come say Hi over on the Budget Board’s“I love credit cards” thread.

 

[pjacobi]

I don't know specially about ABD, but most tour operator usually work with airlines to offer a "contract" price airline tickets. It's usually a fixed price somewhere around the midpoint of lowest and highest fare. If you book early, you can usually get a better price than the contract rate. If you book last minute, the contract price may be much better than the sky-high price for last minute tickets. The tour company may also be able to get special fares on business or first class seats that may not be available to individuals.

-Paul

 

[sayhello]

I don't know specially about ABD, but most tour operator usually work with airlines to offer a "contract" price airline tickets. It's usually a fixed price somewhere around the midpoint of lowest and highest fare. If you book early, you can usually get a better price than the contract rate. If you book last minute, the contract price may be much better than the sky-high price for last minute tickets. The tour company may also be able to get special fares on business or first class seats that may not be available to individuals.

-Paul

ABD does *not* offer contract price airline tickets.

Sayhello

 

[seitz]

Will ABD book international flights? On the ABD FAQ page I read “Please note that our Vacationistas can only make domestic US flight reservations.”

 

[kaseyC]

Yes, they will book international flights. We got quotes for our China ABD and just last week for our Rhine River cruise. For us though, the prices have been much higher than what I have found myself using Google Flights.

 

[sayhello]

Will ABD book international flights? On the ABD FAQ page I read “Please note that our Vacationistas can only make domestic US flight reservations.”

I *think* they mean only domestically-based (from) reservations. I believe they cannot book flights for people from Canada or Europe, etc.

They *definitely* book from US *to* international destinations. I've had ABD do that for me multiple times.

Sayhello