Booked Australia 2012

[rxtiger]

I booked the Australia tour for June 2012. Anyone else going yet? For anyone that has been on the Australia tour, how did you arrange airfare? I am tempted to just let ABD handle everything, but I do have some FF miles that could be used.

Anyway, thought I would share

 

[Bobo912]

If you find a good fare you can just let ABD know and they will book it for you. I always check on my own first, then call and ask them to find me a fare. For the 3 trips I've booked so far, they haven't found the best fare until I pointed it out to them. I'm considering this trip for 2012 too. If you find a good fare please share the info. Looks like this trip is quite a bit more pricey than the 2011 Australia trip.

 

[rxtiger]

Thanks for the advice. I will probably do just that. Part of me just wants to let ABD handle it for the peace of mind. You are correct, I was taken a back a little by the increase in price, but it looks like the additions are going to be very nice.

 

[Tozzie]

While it did go up in price they also added two additional nights to the trip. I have wanted to go to Austrailia since I was about 12 years old. I am thinking of possibly doing the trip for March of 2013. I am just leary of booking this early due to what they did with incentives in the previous two years. I have zero interest in the new Itineraries, I would love to go to London if they would just drop the France part from it I would be there in a split second.

 

[Bobo912]

Now that I can see the details of the itinerary it does seemed to be packed full of fun things to do. It is so very tempting. I'm with you on waiting to book, Tozzie. Two years running incentives have come out in October. So I'll put it off at least that long.

ETA: I think the airfare may turn out to be a bit higher too. I've been pricing return flight from Sydney, but now the return flight is from Hobart. Not as many airlines to choose from out of that airport.

 

[Waybuloo]

Now that I can see the details of the itinerary it does seemed to be packed full of fun things to do. It is so very tempting. I'm with you on waiting to book, Tozzie. Two years running incentives have come out in October. So I'll put it off at least that long.

ETA: I think the airfare may turn out to be a bit higher too. I've been pricing return flight from Sydney, but now the return flight is from Hobart. Not as many airlines to choose from out of that airport.

All Aussie airlines will fly out of Tassie (Hobart) to Sydney. You can see prices on webjet.com.au - book your international travel from Sydney, it's usually the cheapest

 

[rxtiger]

Does anyone know if they are sending confirmation emails now or are they still sending the packet in the regular mail? Just curious.

 

[Bobo912]

Does anyone know if they are sending confirmation emails now or are they still sending the packet in the regular mail? Just curious.

When I booked our last trip this past January, the rep asked if we wanted the packet emailed or snail mailed. I asked them to email it and received an email containing the whole packet as a PDF attachment. If they didn't ask, I suspect you will get your's through regular mail. But you could call them and I bet they would email it to you.

 

[RSM]

Does anyone know if they are sending confirmation emails now or are they still sending the packet in the regular mail? Just curious.

When I booked today, the ABD rep simply said they would mail the packet within the next couple of days. She didn't give an option of receiving it electronically.

 

[rxtiger]

When I booked today, the ABD rep simply said they would mail the packet within the next couple of days. She didn't give an option of receiving it electronically.

Thanks. When I booked, she confirmed my email so I assumed they might be emailing the information now, but I have not received anything. Did you book the Australia trip?

 

[rxtiger]

Received my confirmation email this weekend. I know the trip is a long way off, but I always like to getting correspondence about my upcoming adventures. I would be interested to know if anyone else has booked the new Australia Adventure.

 

[RSM]

Thanks. When I booked, she confirmed my email so I assumed they might be emailing the information now, but I have not received anything. Did you book the Australia trip?

We booked the Central Italy trip. Haven't received anything at this point (email or packet), but it has been less than a week since we booked (they did charge my credit card for the deposit though)

 

[rxtiger]

I called this past Friday, apparently they were playing catch up on sending out the confirmations. I did find out they had keyed in my email address incorrectly and had tried to send out my confirmation by email that morning. It was corrected and I got my email on Sunday. I also got the packet in the regular mail today.

Now I just have to monitor airfares. Looking like ~ $2500 per person right now. Hopefully this will come down with time.

 

[Bobo912]

I hope you'll be able to find a better airfare. I've been checking it for awhile and it seems to always be around $2500. I booked the Australia ABD 2 years ago and at that time the airfare was $1500. Times have certainly changed. Our trip in 2009 was canceled and we went on the Alaska trip instead. I thought this might be the year we decided to book Australia again, but the airfare is making me think twice.

 

[rxtiger]

I hope you'll be able to find a better airfare. I've been checking it for awhile and it seems to always be around $2500. I booked the Australia ABD 2 years ago and at that time the airfare was $1500. Times have certainly changed. Our trip in 2009 was canceled and we went on the Alaska trip instead. I thought this might be the year we decided to book Australia again, but the airfare is making me think twice.

Thanks, I hope so also. I will certainly let you know if I am successful.

 

[RSM]

I called this past Friday, apparently they were playing catch up on sending out the confirmations. I did find out they had keyed in my email address incorrectly and had tried to send out my confirmation by email that morning. It was corrected and I got my email on Sunday. I also got the packet in the regular mail today.

Now I just have to monitor airfares. Looking like ~ $2500 per person right now. Hopefully this will come down with time.

$2500 pp, Ouch! We are looking at ~$1800 pp for ours. Hoping it drops, but I'm not sure whether to just book it or run the risk that we can't get the flights we want if we wait.