Please advise on flights--same day arrival?

[trampslady]

I work for an airline, but I'm too chicken (I think) to nonrev to Europe. So, I've started looking at my options for purchasing air fare. I have questions!

Should we have Disney book? Advantage?

Working for an airline, I've seen the crazy folks who book their flight to arrive just an hour or so before a cruise--not a good thing. Is it safe to book an overnight US flight to arrive morning of meeting up with our tour? Makes me nervous, but I love the idea of saving vacation time!

In the event the tour (Germany September 26, 2008) is cancelled by Disney, any recourse on flights?

Any advise would be much appreciated. This is our first international flight!

 

[carolinadj]

You can shop for flights on your own and then give the info to ABD to book for you. That is what we did. I would highly recommend that you let them do the booking. Example: Disney called us while we were waiting for a connection in Atlanta to tell us that airport crew were going on strike in Italy and it could affect our flight.

As far as arriving on the day the tour begins, several in our party did that and were fine with it. They took a nap before our first meeting and dinner that evening. Others said they would come in a day early if they had to do it all over again. So I guess you are the only one who knows whether or not you can "bounce back" from the long flight. The meeting and dinner are over early if that helps, so you can get to bed in time for a long overnight rest.

 

[wdwsos]

In the event the tour (Germany September 26, 2008) is cancelled by Disney, any recourse on flights?

If you purchase your air through AbD, and your tour is canceled by Disney, they will make every attempt to move you to another tour in the same season and will take care of all re-booking fees. If another trip isn't possible, they will refund the total package, including air.

Per the fine print, if you purchase air on your own, they will still try to move you to another trip, but the re-booking fees for your air are your responsibility. If you can't find another workable date and you need to cancel entirely, the refund is for land and insurance only (unless you've made a claim).

That said, if a trip is cancelled by AbD, I believe they will work with you to find another trip at their expense. However, this is said as a travel agent and NOT as a representative of Adventures by Disney. I know they've taken care of re-booking fees in the past, and I think a few people on this board can attest to that.

I'm going on my third AbD trip, and have always purchased the air through them. It's never been higher than what I could find on my own, so it just made sense to do it this way. Five times $1350.00... I needed the peace of mind!

Dotti

 

[MJGirl]

Hi ... I booked on my own. I flew out of Toronto the night before (left at 10:30 pm) on a direct flight and arrived in London around 11:00. There was a poor baby near me, so I didn't get much sleep during the flight. On arriving in London, I forced myself to stay awake. We went and did the London Eye, then back to the hotel to get freshened up for the welcome dinner. Halfway through dinner my body was giving in. We got back to the room around 8 pm and both my daughter and I were asleep before 9. The next morning we were up at 6 am and ready to go. Hope this helps.

 

[rkdahl]

Is it safe to book an overnight US flight to arrive morning of meeting up with our tour? Makes me nervous, but I love the idea of saving vacation time!

Personally we would never book any major event like this, cruise, ABD, etc to arrive the day the event starts. Especially on an overseas flight. There are just too many risks to wrecking the trip. You can have weather problems, connecting flight issues, mechnical failures, luggage delays, etc.

I fly a lot for work, and between work and vacations I'm approaching 3 million miles on my favorite airline! And I have seen far too many travel issues that cascade to arrival delays to risk a precious vacation starting out all wrong. I've also seen ships leave knowing flights have just landed but they can't get the people to the port in time so they have to fly to the next port. Hey ...thats sounds like fun!

If everything goes perfect you might be OK.... but in todays travel world they rarely go perfect. And especially on international travel. Of course, a lot depends on your routing, your connection cities, the time of year, the history of previous flights, the airline, etc.

It's all a matter of risk and impact. If you are late, delayed, tired, no sleep, no luggage, or miss the start by 1 or 2 whole days......whats that worth to you? Is an extra day on the front end to ensure you get there worth the possible impacts? Only you can decide, based on your circumstances.

I would never do it with my family. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[violeo]

hello,
i didnt book my flight with Disney and my tour was cancelled. Disney called and offered me 2 options:

1. refund me the full amount
2. put the money for the plane trip towards another adventures by disney tour.

so if disney cancels oyur trip they will refund you in some way. however if you cancel...your S.O.L

 

[trampslady]

I think we've decided to purchase tickets. We will depart Dallas Ft. Worth NONSTOP to Frankfurt at 4:10 pm to arrive at 9:05 am the day we are to meet our guides by 3pm.

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[ears2BWV]

We let Disney book our flight as well. We were going to just make it under the gun with the time limits set by Disney, and that was not setting to well with us. Plus the time difference threw us over the edge. The only flight out from our airport to make all the connections is at 6am . With two teens we just decided that we should just come in early and get a good nights sleep before our adventure.

 

[eva]

We are arriving the day of at 8:25 am for our Viva Italia trip. But it is just DH and me and there is another flight leaving 4 hours after ours that is only half booked right now. I know that may change, but it may give us a back-up if necessary. I think you have to judge your individual situation. If I had children, I would definitely come in the day before to let them get over the jet lag a bit. We lived in Germany when our children were young and they needed that extra day every time we came home for a visit. But DH and I sleep pretty good on planes. Guess it comes from a lot of business travel. I sleep straight through on red-eyes. If this were a cruise and we had the chance of missing the ship, we would definitely fly in the day before. As a matter of fact, we do just that for DCL trips.