TA just cost me more money

[dhardawa]

I have a wonderful aaa ta Emailed her the dates we wanted and resort got the same price as Disney but also got the aaa perks. Such as planet Hollywood $15 vouchers. Min golf vouchers. Arcade game card. Story time at Epcot And preferred fireworks viewing at plaza landing

I thought those perks were just part of the plan. I know I've gotten the Planet Hollywood and golf vouchers (along with some other things) when I booked directly through Disney.

 

[Marionnette]

I thought those perks were just part of the plan. I know I've gotten the Planet Hollywood and golf vouchers (along with some other things) when I booked directly through Disney.

You're right. The only AAA perk is the preferred fireworks viewing. The others are standard Disney package extras.

 

[jmartinez1895]

You're right. The only AAA perk is the preferred fireworks viewing. The others are standard Disney package extras.

The perks that we received for booking with AA are the fireworks viewing area, special story time with a character, diamond parking pass ( but we have a handicap tag so makes no difference to us) and a discount card for various places around " the world".
As of yesterday I do not think that the perks outweigh the stress this has caused me.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

Why allow them to get paid without doing the work?

You get a couple perks for booking through AAA: Diamond Parking Pass, and reserved fireworks viewing chief among them.

When I've used a AAA TA, I've treated it like do-it-yourself. And times when I have been unable to get my specific agent on the phone, I've been politely persistent and demanded to be taken care of immediately by any available agent. Which is one part of the AAA TAs you have to watch out for: they don't play well as a team. Once somebody has a locked-in commission, the others don't want to take care of you. For me, the whole point of booking through AAA is the backing of a large travel oriented organization....not the whims of the schedule of one individual.

Which is the long way of saying use the 1-800 number for AAA travel agents when you need something urgently....despite the occasional protest the can (and I think are obligate to) help you out even if its somebody else's commission.

 

[bankgirl05]

The perks that we received for booking with AA are the fireworks viewing area, special story time with a character, diamond parking pass ( but we have a handicap tag so makes no difference to us) and a discount card for various places around " the world".
As of yesterday I do not think that the perks outweigh the stress this has caused me.

I am tryin to sort out from my AAA agent whtether or not I am even eligible for this perk since we tchnically did not "purchae" the diing plan, and the fine print says "storytime and fireworks preferred viewing require the purchase of a AAA vacations Package and a Disney Dining plan." My agent emailed me back that she is out of the ofice until Monday, I will waituntl then if she doesnot answer me Monday by noon, I am cancelling and just rebooking myself.

Best of luck to you!

 

[25eels]

I tried booking with AAA a few years ago, hoping the help of a Disney specialist there would make it easier for me to navigate all the options.

Turns out the Disney specialist had never been to WDW or DL.

 

[jmartinez1895]

I am tryin to sort out from my AAA agent whtether or not I am even eligible for this perk since we tchnically did not "purchae" the diing plan, and the fine print says "storytime and fireworks preferred viewing require the purchase of a AAA vacations Package and a Disney Dining plan." My agent emailed me back that she is out of the ofice until Monday, I will waituntl then if she doesnot answer me Monday by noon, I am cancelling and just rebooking myself.

Best of luck to you!

The way me and my agent understood it was that you must purchase a vacation package that includes dinning. If you are able to get the free dinning offer you are still purchasing a package that includes the dinning. I guess we shall see, right now I have little faith in anything that this office is telling me.

 

[stmize]

I email my aaa ta usually. Did that this morn at 9:32 and by 10:10 I had my conf numb

 

[jenseib]

I will tell you that I know that TA's were on the phone with waits of 4 hours plus that day. So she might not have even gotten it, but it is wrong that she wasn't informed correctly. it's my understanding that AAA has a contract with Disney to receive promotional items ahead of time, so they should know at least 24 hours prior.

 

[jenseib]

Having an existing reservation does nothing but work against you. I know the appeal of being able to do reservations 180-10, but that's all. It doesn't put you ahead of new FD bookings and it give Disney the impression that it doesn't need to offer discounts when so many are booking at rack rate.

It would have been so much easier to book a new reservation the morning if online.

so true.

 

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

I tried booking with AAA a few years ago, hoping the help of a Disney specialist there would make it easier for me to navigate all the options.

Turns out the Disney specialist had never been to WDW or DL.

Wow, that is not true at all in my AAA office. He is CLEARLY a Disney vet, and has all the signs/certificates/pictures/etc. to show for it, LOL.

I have also never had any trouble asking a quick question or dropping a payment with another agent at my AAA.

I guess its just one of those YMMV things. Different offices have different practices/attitudes. I use a rather large office I think, with quite a few agents, maybe this makes a difference. My first trip I used a random girl there, and she did NOT know what she was doing - and neither did we. But we still had fun (that was our first time, on our honeymoon).

I do agree with the PP who said to book the trip you want/can afford when you want it, and don't assume discounts will be forthcoming. That only makes Disney think they don't need to discount because more of their rooms are already full. I booked with a PIN code, then FD became available. As I said, I didn't switch because my PIN was a better deal (1 adult and 1 child FD vs. 30% room), but the TA was well aware of the discount, and told me it may come out and he would compare and let me know which was better. He did it immediately when FD came out.

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

While I love my AAA membership, the triptiks, discounts, luggage sales, tour books...I would not use their travel agents to book anything other than a simple hotel room and I actually book those myself. You need a Disney Specialist for a thorough WDW booking. Or-you can do it yourself.

I completely agree. I used to be a Disney Specialist for travel. I worked as an outside agent (meaning I worked from home, got my own clients) for a travel agency in town. I completed the online College of Disney Knowledge course and then went down to WDW to do the onsite 'graduate' level CoDK training. For a Disney fanatic, it was like a dream come true going to that training, definitely one of the best weeks of my life!

My point in telling you this, there were a few AAA agents in my group, all from different AAA offices. While they all had done the online CoDK course, they were not really all that knowledgable about the parks and all the little ins and outs that a true Disney fan knows. A couple of them had never even been to WDW prior to this training! I'm sure they were fine agents for other things, and for sure could successfully book you a trip, but if you want someone who is totally on top of all discounts and can really help you make your trip fabulous in every way, definitely go with an agency who specializes in Disney.

 

[maxiesmom]

Dreams Unlimited Travel, they know WDW- or book it yourself. I would have been very annoyed too.

This!!! I would never ever use AAA to book a Disney vacation. Only a Disney specialist, or I would do it myself.

I would be beyond ticked. Cancel with them, and take care of it yourself.

 

[Shmily1]

AAA agents would have done the CDK training, but wouldn't necessarily have a passion for all things Disney like a good TA that specializes in Disney would. It wouldn't be their priority as much.

It doesn't matter if your original booking had dining on it or not, you could add it at any time up until a week before you go, which this deal is definitely far enough out. If you are going on the specified dates and the room type you are wanting is available, the deal applies to your trip, if you or the TA applies it.

There were many TAs posting that they were on the phone for hours working on getting this deal for their clients. I know several that were on for a very long time, and even saw one that the call dropped after all that wait and they had to call back and start all over.

OP, good luck with your trip. I hope you have an awesome time!!

 

[jenseib]

AAA agents would have done the CDK training, but wouldn't necessarily have a passion for all things Disney like a good TA that specializes in Disney would. It wouldn't be their priority as much.

It doesn't matter if your original booking had dining on it or not, you could add it at any time up until a week before you go, which this deal is definitely far enough out. If you are going on the specified dates and the room type you are wanting is available, the deal applies to your trip, if you or the TA applies it.

There were many TAs posting that they were on the phone for hours working on getting this deal for their clients. I know several that were on for a very long time, and even saw one that the call dropped after all that wait and they had to call back and start all over.

OP, good luck with your trip. I hope you have an awesome time!!

Yep, I know many agents on for 2-3 hours only to have their called dropped, some more than once. The phones were totally messed up that day.

 

[DisneyOrBustColorado]

I am mad because all morning long the standard room was available, but now that group of rooms is already booked and I now have to pay more for a garden view. It is not a lot of money, but it is the principal of the thing.

This same thing happened to me last year & I did use a Disney specialized TA from a well known, much talked about agency. Needless to say I didn't use that same agent this year. I also didn't cancel my trip last year because she had worked with us & I hated to take away her money upon completion of our trip. This year I used a different TA. IF Free dining becomes available this year & I can not get in touch with my Disney TA to book the free dining deal for me before the good rooms run out, I am going to have to re-book through Disney & cancel the reservation through my TA. I hate to take away someone's living, but TA's are supposed to save you money not cost you more money. As far as I am concerned my Disney Specialized TA should have automatically added the free dining, especially since I told her that I was watching for it. Instead I had to try to call her to get her to add it to my reservation. I just can't be out the money this year so I may have to cancel through my TA if this happens again.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I would ask them to pay the difference for messing up and if they don't keep going up the chain of command. Someone should get in trouble for it. That said I had a Disney specialist TA do the same thing to me the first year free dining came out. We had to switch resorts to get the rate we originally had because our first choice of resorts booked up. She didn't bother to keep checking the original resort for us for an opening either even though she was supposed to. Sadly, when I took it to the owner she could care less. It was not the Disney specialists TA listed above on the dis though and I am sure most do a good job.

Just curious - 'supposed to' because you and she specifically discussed and agreed that she would continue to repeatedly check availability at your first choice resort after you contracted at the one where your reservation was actually made, possibly to the detriment of her other clients? Or because you expected she would since you didn't get your first choice?

If they had made an attempt to call I would be satisfied, but she thought that because we are checking in on the last day if the offer then it would not apply to us so she did not even call until after 4pm when I insisted that we could get the free dinning.
If it where not for the fact that I almost have the trip paid for by using gift cards then I would cancel. I still might, it would just be a pain to make sure it all gets refunded to the cards, but we shall see.
I am going to give my TA a few days to get well and see if she calls me back and see what she has to say. You can bet that I will never book with AAA again.

Bluntly, I think you're expecting too much from someone who's responsible for running all aspects of the AAA office and who isn't a Travel Agent and can't reasonably be expected to know what a Travel Agent knows. It stinks that the AAA Travel Agent's illness interfered with the start of the Dining Plan Free booking window, but hey, she's human. Yes, ideally she'll be back to work before you have to go through the inconvenience of getting all your gift cards refunded and booking on your own. That won't make the category you want open up, but it's your decision.

We went this year last week of February . Was going to be just the wife and I at first. We went to our local disney TA. Got a price for all star sports, qs dining, 4 day park hoppers and airfare of about $3400. Then we decided to take the kids( parents couldn't watch them at that time) I called disney direct, got same hotel, same week , free dining and my DD was 2 so she was free, same days park hopper and air fair. Also added FP+ and it all cost about $3200!! Two more people on flights, one more park ticket, free dining did help of coarse, and FP+ all for $200 bucks less by booking with disney. Every time I go to a TA for disney I save more by booking direct. I go on the web site and play around with arrival days and hotels ( let's face it that's have the fun ) then call disney and tell them what I saw and they usually save me some on that price .

Apples to oranges. Same resort, etc., but - same room category? With/without travel insurance? Does your local Disney TA charge a service charge for booking airfare? Most Travel Agents do, since airlines pay a minimal to no commission on ticketing (and Travel Agents get all their revenue via commission from the service providers, charging the customer for almost nothing except booking airfare)? Do you know absolutely that the airfare didn't drop between the two inquiries? Or whether Disney has access to bulk fares that your local TA doesn't?

 

[angwill]

Supposed to because, yes her and I specifically discussed it and agreed that that was part of her service she offered as a Disney travel specialist. If it was to the detriment of her other clients that was not my problem nor my concern. I would hope it would not be at their detriment that she would simply check each morning that she called to make reservations for her other clients. Why would you assume it would be at the detriment of her other clients? Why would you ask if we specifically discussed and agreed she would check availability? Did you assume that I would just assume she would do such without asking and discussing it first? I don't assume people will just do things without discussing it first. I do expect the service I am promised when I hire someone to do a job. If you don't expect the service you pay for when you hire someone that is your issue so please don't try to make it mine.

Just curious - 'supposed to' because you and she specifically discussed and agreed that she would continue to repeatedly check availability at your first choice resort after you contracted at the one where your reservation was actually made, possibly to the detriment of her other clients? Or because you expected she would since you didn't get your first choice?

Bluntly, I think you're expecting too much from someone who's responsible for running all aspects of the AAA office and who isn't a Travel Agent and can't reasonably be expected to know what a Travel Agent knows. It stinks that the AAA Travel Agent's illness interfered with the start of the Dining Plan Free booking window, but hey, she's human. Yes, ideally she'll be back to work before you have to go through the inconvenience of getting all your gift cards refunded and booking on your own. That won't make the category you want open up, but it's your decision.

Apples to oranges. Same resort, etc., but - same room category? With/without travel insurance? Does your local Disney TA charge a service charge for booking airfare? Most Travel Agents do, since airlines pay a minimal to no commission on ticketing (and Travel Agents get all their revenue via commission from the service providers, charging the customer for almost nothing except booking airfare)? Do you know absolutely that the airfare didn't drop between the two inquiries? Or whether Disney has access to bulk fares that your local TA doesn't?

 

[dakcp2001]

I don't understand why anyone would book with a TA these days anyway. TA are going the way of the dodo. I get that people from other generations still use them since that is how they have always done it, but no one I know still uses them for domestic trips. Unless you are traveling out of the country, you can usually do a lot better on your own. I have never had a TA even come close to what I can get on my own. There is so much Disney info out there, you really do not need a TA unless you are short for time and use one that specializes in Disney.

 

[jenseib]

I don't understand why anyone would book with a TA these days anyway. TA are going the way of the dodo. I get that people from other generations still use them since that is how they have always done it, but no one I know still uses them for domestic trips. Unless you are traveling out of the country, you can usually do a lot better on your own. I have never had a TA even come close to what I can get on my own. There is so much Disney info out there, you really do not need a TA unless you are short for time and use one that specializes in Disney.

You can not get Disney any cheaper on your own than if using a TA and TA's often provide an incentive, planners, and lots info. Not all ,but many do. also there is a TON of bad or wrong Disney info out there.
A lot of people doing it on their own get their info from the phone CM's which sad to say are awful and don't know what they are talking about half of the time. For some, doing it on their own is the way to go for them, but for many, a TA can guide them and give suggestions, etc.
Obviously their are a lot of Disney TA's because when free dining was announced to the public the rumor was their were over 500 TA's on hold waiting to get through.
I have done it both ways and was happy everytime.