co-op travel agent

[CAL2]

hi, a work friend of mine is paying for his DD DS inlaw and their 3 DC (3 5 10) to go to Disney next March. His DD got a quote from a co-op travel agent, for a 14 day package incliding tickets and flights for all 5 of them staying at POFQ, the price was over £8k.

i advised him the the price for the flights would be for reserved seats,so therefor more expencive and the travel agent would not be able to tell them who they would be flighing with or what time untill 11 months from the return date of their holiday, he repied they told her they booked the flights with Virgin.

The other thing that puzzled me was that they were quoted for POFQ and i know they dont sleep 5, so i thought maybe its because the youngest child is 3 and would have a cot.

i told him i would look on Disneys website and get him a price without the flights, but when i looked the dates didnt go out that far so i rang Disney, she told me the avalability and prices for march 2016 wont be released for another 2-3 weeks. i also asked about POFQ and gave the ages of all 3 children and she told me no they dont do rooms for 5 but they do at PORS.

so my question is, how is this travel agent able to give her price before Disney releases them, tell them they can stay at POFQ and give her flights that havent been released yet ? anyone in the know of how this is possible ?

thanks
cal

 

[chmurf]

so my question is, how is this travel agent able to give her price before Disney releases them, tell them they can stay at POFQ and give her flights that havent been released yet ?

to make it simple, they quote a price, which they estimate to be higher than the price of the flights, accomodation, and so on.

You don't get tickets and you don't get disney ref until the airline and disney release their prices.

In case the prices are higher when they're released, the agent will charge you extra, in case it's lower, then they keep the money.

Another poster might explain more in depth, but roughly they just lock in your booking
you're not buying a product (eg flights/accom) you're booking a service (the agent's service) and they will book, on your behalf, once the flights are released.

T&Cs need to be carefully read and understood as the price quoted might only be an estimate. And should the price be higher, you either pay for the cost increase or lose a deposit or penalty fee

it all depends on the T&Cs

(please note that this is a very rough explanation, there are many agents, and many policies.)

 

[CAL2]

thanks for your reply, kinda thought that was what they were doing, as they had no actual prices to go by. dont understand though how the agent thought she could book them into POFQ. all very misleading
cal

 

[chmurf]

dont understand though how the agent thought she could book them into POFQ. all very misleading

lots of us here have found out that most travel agents have absolutely no clue when it comes to WDW.

 

[scoobydooby]

I booked our first ever trip to WDW years ago with the Co op. They were expensive in retrospect and had no specialist Disney knowledge. That said they were not awful.

 

[General Panic]

Hi
The current Virgin Holidays programme is on sale up to April 2016 so it's most likely that's where the agent quote originated. Virgin holidays do get advance allocation of seats to sell themselves before Virgin Airlines release them to the general public around 11-12 months ahead.

As to the POFQ that is most likely an agent error and should be PORS...

Edit :- Just had a look on Virgin's website and they actually term it as Port Orleans Resorts , they didn't differentiate between the 2. Costing it for early March 2016 in one room from Gatwick with 14 day Ultimate i was getting £6880.67 just now. Other dates especially later with Easter on maybe higher but it certainly does work.

I book every year with a Travel Agent who has been to WDW over 20 times and other Disney Parks as well. My brothers who go with him are confident he at least knows a bit of what he is doing...that would be me

 

[CAL2]

thanks for that general p, they were quoted over 8K no free dining, so hopefully they will wait to see if Disney offer it for 2016 it will save them around 2k
cal