Major reason to use a "Disney travel company"

[Cindy6457]

We booked our hotel, park hoppers and meal plan with Disney but our plane tickets were bought separatly with AirTran (thru Priceline). Everything was paid in full back in Aug. for our trip the first week of Nov. On Oct 4 I get a phone call from Priceline saying our flight home has been cancelled and there were no other flights so they would be refunding my money. Back in Aug the airfairs were great and were the reason we could go in Nov. Now, even with the refund, we would have to come up with at least $500 to get another flight this close to our date. When I called Disney Travel and told them the situation, they were so nice and considerate that I started crying. I had to cancel the whole trip but they did not make me pay the $200 cancellation fee. Not sure yet if it was legal for an airline or Priceline to take my money for 2 months and not give us anything for it in return. We will stick with Disney Travel from now on.

 

[RMAMom]

I am sorry that happened to you but I think it is simply a reason not to use priceline. Had you booked directly through Airtran you would have gotten the same price and when they canceled your flight they would have probably just placed you on another flight.

 

[DebbieB]

Your tag says Washington State, I looked at Seattle and there are several dates in early/mid November with no return flights on AirTran's site. So even if you booked direct or through Disney, you might not have been able to switch. AirTran has a habit of last minute flight schedule changes.

 

[goofy4tink]

Your tag says Washington State, I looked at Seattle and there are several dates in early/mid November with no return flights on AirTran's site. So even if you booked direct or through Disney, you might not have been able to switch. AirTran has a habit of last minute flight schedule changes.

While that may very well be the case, it is always the best idea to book directly with the airline. I have heard way too many people reporting on bad experiences booking through a third party. That third party really doesn't much care about your flight....they aren't going to go the extra distance for you. At least not the majority of the time. Book with the airlines..then you have some options if something goes wrong.

 

[DebbieB]

While that may very well be the case, it is always the best idea to book directly with the airline. I have heard way too many people reporting on bad experiences booking through a third party. That third party really doesn't much care about your flight....they aren't going to go the extra distance for you. At least not the majority of the time. Book with the airlines..then you have some options if something goes wrong.

I agree, booking direct is best. The point I was trying to make is people say if they have a flight cancelled or changed by the airline that you can just call up and they will give you want you want. Some of the time that's true but not always, depending on how many flights the airline has. I've always been skeptical of AirTran, it seems they have a habit of selling tickets with popular times and then changing them when it's too late to move. It happened to me once, our early arrival into Orlando got pushed back to later within a month of the date.