Cancellation fee question (long) AAA

[forgetitharris]

Bear with me please!! I am still on the fence and I still haven't booked anything except my air fare which is driving my DH absolutely mad.

Ok I got a quote from triple A for our Sept 24 - Oct 1 trip to Pop with the dining plan. It is a decent quote, cheaper than anything Disney is offering me at this time. So I am asking all the questions I need answered by the TA and I ask about the cancellation policy and I state that I understand that my park tickets would still be good at a later date, but what about room and dining package. I have all ready explained to her that I purchased travel insurance with my air fare months ago.

She responds with: I can buy Disney's travel insurance for $119, which would cover everything including my all ready covered air fare. Plus if I cancel outside of the 45 days there is a $50.00 per person cancellation fee, if you cancel 45 to 30 days penalties are $100.00 per person.

(sorry this is long), I guess my question is the outside of 45 days (maybe I dreamed it) but I thought there was not a penalty for outside the 45 days is this just a triple A thing or have I been mistaken about the whole thing?

One last thing am I going to need to double up on trip insurance since I purchased the air fair portion all ready?

Maybe I'll make it to Disney?

Me

DH
DD 7
DD 2

 

[Fionasmommy]

There shouldn't be a cancellation fee if you cancel a package more than 45 days out. Inside of the 45 days, you can still make changes without being charged a penalty IF your total price goes up. If the price goes down, it's $100.

I also book through AAA, and I've never had any additional or different fees added on by the AAA office. Your tickets would be tied in with the package - there must be tickets for it to be a package - so if you cancel the package you're also cancelling the tickets.

IIRC, the maximum cancellation fee is $200 - which is cancelling within days of check-in. At that price, particularly if you already purchased travel insurance w/ your airfare, I wouldn't buy any more.

 

[CarolA]

AAA can charge you however. Your office may charge the cancellation fee since if you cancel they don't get the commission for selling the package and they feel they should get something.

I don't understand the park tickets thing. They are part of the package. If you don't go the tickets get cancelled too...

 

[xbatman]

It may vary from region to region, but I booked through AAA and from what is on my receipt, I understand it to be $50 for cancellation - not $50 per person. That is AAA's fee to cover anything their time, etc. for anything they've done so far, but I think $50 per person is excessive.

 

[Fionasmommy]

OP, it may be well worth it to take your business to a different AAA. You don't have to use your state office, you can book through any office as long as you're an AAA member. We live in Colorado but always book through AAA Mid-Atlantic in Maryland. I love our agent, and we always receive exceptional service - she bends over backwards to accomodate all my crazy requests, changes, etc. There are never any additional fees, everything is booked by phone or email and my agent ships our receipts and docs. It's so easy - probably easier than booking locally!

 

[Trekker]

Inside of the 45 days, you can still make changes without being charged a penalty IF your total price goes up. If the price goes down, it's $100.

This is not the first time I have seen this information posted, I believe this to be inaccurate, can anyone tell me where this info came from?

Here is what the cancellation/change policy says on Disney's site:

Cancellation and Change fees
• For a cancellation made 44 to 6 days prior to arrival, there is an additional cancellation fee of $100 per package plus any cancellation fees assessed by hotels or other suppliers.
• For a cancellation made 5 days or less prior to arrival, there is an additional cancellation fee of $200 per package plus any cancellation fees by hotels or other suppliers. . In addition, with respect to Grand Gathering experiences, no refund will be given for cancellations made 5 days or less from the experience date. No refunds will be given to no-shows.
• For a change made 44 days or less prior to arrival or that results in a rate change, there is an additional change fee of $50 per package plus any change fees assessed by hotels or other suppliers.
• For changes, the change fees must be paid in addition to any increase in rate resulting from the change.
• In addition: If your air travel has been ticketed, there will be an additional cancellation or change fee per ticket equal to the cancellation or change fee assessed by the airline. Please note that (x) cancellation of a nonrefundable airfare results in a charge equal to the entire amount of the airfare and (y) cancellation of a refundable airfare must be made at least 1 business day prior to departure.
• Vacation insurance is nonrefundable if not cancelled within 14 days after booking (for bookings 14 days or less prior to arrival, vacation insurance is nonrefundable if not cancelled at least one day prior to arrival). Upon any cancellation, the charge for vacation insurance will be added to the other applicable cancellation fees.
• If you cancel, amounts paid, minus cancellation fees and other amounts owed, will be promptly refunded.

 

[forgetitharris]

THANK YOU, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!


I took everyone's information, looked up Disney's policy emailed what that policy was to my AAA TA and asked if these fees were theirs and she just responded and apologized to me because I was right!!

Now I just want to make sure she will help me if I want to change something because a bigger and better deal comes along.

Maybe I will finally book this vacation today ......... or tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help and reassurance.

Me (a little less confused)

DH

DD (7)

DD (2)

 

[RangerPooh]

I can sympathize....
This morning I called AAA to ask about adding two extra days to our package and if there would be a charge if we canceled those days BY August for our December trip. The agent that we spoke to just kept reading to us that the lit states (I'm guessing the same WDW travel guide that I have) charges will be placed when canceling within 45 days of arrival...yada-yada-yada...

I got frustrated as I already know that and it wasn't the correct answer to my question. She suggested that I call back another time to speak to someone else. DH then called and it was the same gal who gave the same answer. That was all this morning. Just a few minutes ago the agent whom we boked with returned our call and got everything straightened out.

What I find to be frustrating is that not all agents are familiar with Disney parks. IMO if you are to book a vacation for someone you should be familair with the way it works and ahve been there before. I can't even count the number of times that I ahve gone to an agent to se if they can get a better rate than I can and they have NEVER ben to either DL or WDW and try telling me incorrect information.

Sorry about the rant.

 

[forgetitharris]

OK Trekker, now I have more questions?

Do you know what the hotels fee may be for cancellation less than 5 days out? One night stay price?

I guess per package is throwing me. So if I bought magic your way plus dining for me, DH, & DD(7) is that 3 packages 1 for each or just one package for our family.

Now I just want opinions since you seem to understand this cancellation policy a whole lot better than me. I bought travel insurance with plane tickets that were bought months ago, with this new info do I need to buy more, additional for this package part of my trip. I was leaning towards taking a chance when I thought my only fee would be $200.00 now I'm getting nervous.

We aren't planning on cancelling, but you just never know what will come up with two kids.

Thanks again

Me

DH

DD (7)

DD (2)

 

[Fionasmommy]

This is not the first time I have seen this information posted, I believe this to be inaccurate, can anyone tell me where this info came from?

I got the info from my TA, and I have personally made about 4 changes to my package inside of 45 days (all within the last month, actually) and I have never been charged a fee. We check-in in just under 2 weeks, and I'm still going to add dining and maybe one more day.

I also made changes to a package during the free dining period last fall - upgraded resorts once and upgraded tickets once - and was not charged because my package total went up.

So it definitely is the general rule, whether they advertise it or not.

ETA: Trekker, I'm sure you're right about the fee being $50 and not $100. I was racking my brain trying to remember, since I've never had to worry about paying it I wasn't totally sure. Thanks for posting the correct info!

 

[Trekker]

It sure would make sense that if the change you are making causes your price to go up that they would not charge a change fee - but looking at the written policy it looks like if they wanted to they could add the fee. Maybe the way it is written is not how it is enforced.