Two Airmiles Tickets Questions

[ottawamom]

1. When purchasing flights with AM they quote the # of AM and approx taxes and fees. Do they get you for anything else later on in the booking process (other than insurance of course). Do you get just a confirmation # or do they send other paperwork for the flight. Also can trip (not medical) insurance be added on after purchase or does it have to be done pre-purchase.

2. Park tickets (Disney World). Are the tickets they send RFID enabled credit card style tickets or do you just get a # that you can enter into MDE. If I purchase tickets now will they still be good if a major change to ticket structure goes through this weekend (I'm pretty sure I know the answer I just need confirmation of my thoughts).

I am preparing to bite the bullet on a December 2016 trip.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I can only answer your park ticket question. They send you the RFID cards. You then enter the number from the back to MDE. Very simple process. Normally, the tickets would still be valid later on regardless of price increases. However, the rumours are flying about the changes coming to tickets being about tiered pricing. If that actually happens you won't know until it happens what the rules will be pertaining to previously purchased tickets. I'm sure they will still be valid but maybe you would have to pay an upgrade for a high season....don't know, it's a wait and see situation.

I think I would be inclined to go ahead and order the tickets before AM up's the required miles.

 

[ottawamom]

Thanks for the info. Good to know. The dreaded increase/change is supposed to happen some time very soon. I pray they don't go with tiered pricing (not that I travel during high season). Have a great trip.

 

[pigletto]

I picked up my airmiles ticket from the post office yesterday. It's the credit card style as dancin' mentioned. It took all of 30 seconds to add it to MDE .

I am wondering the same as you. There's no way to know what changes are coming down the line this weekend, but I went ahead and purchased my other three tickets from Air Canada Vacations yesterday because I figured my best odds were to buy now. Waiting will only guarantee that you will pay more in some way, whether that be money or airmiles. The only thing that is almost certain is that they won't cost less or stay the same.

 

[ottawamom]

So true. I'm hoping if the increase/changes come about on the weekend that I may be able to get online and get tickets through AM before they update their system. (fingers crossed)

 

[LemonNeko]

I can answer part of the questions about the tickets. The last time I booked which was for last October the only extra charges I had was the baggage fees everything else was included in the taxes fee.

 

[ottawamom]

Thanks LemonNeko that is also good to know. I don't really care for myself if there's a surprise at the end, its just that I will also be booking for a friend and I want to make sure she has all the info up front before committing to the holiday. Ok I also want to look like I know what I'm talking about

 

[MidnightParade]

For plane tickets you can add on insurance after your purchase. They even send a separate email afterwards letting you know you can do so. They have trip(non medical) options as well. I actually don't remember them giving a warning that you will have to pay baggage fees at the airport but I know Westjet does that so I'm prepared.

So yes, just the taxes and fees as they tell you up front.

And they sent us the Westjet confirmation number via email after. They also have an air miles confirmation number for the transaction. Double check which one you are looking at as they are similar and I spent ten minutes trying to input the airmiles number into the Westjet app

 

[dancin Disney style]

So here it is....today's new price structure.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/magic...icket-pricing-and-tier-date-range-details.htm

 

[ottawamom]

Prices are up. Don't know that I like the new way they are doing one day tickets. Doesn't affect me though. Just checked the Airmiles website and they haven't put through an increase for their tickets yet so I jumped and purchased tickets for December 2016. There was some talk of an expiration date coming on tickets at WDW. It appears to be only on the one day tickets and not the multi-day tickets at this point.

 

[pigletto]

I'm glad you were able to get your tickets at the same airmiles price. For anyone else reading, I noticed the tickets ar Air Canada Vacations hadn't increased yet as of this morning.
My thinking on the new tiered pricing is that it's only on the one day tickets for now and that it's a way of easing the public into a big change. I would bet the farm it's coming for multi day tickets as well. Whether that is next February or sooner remains to be seen.

 

[dancin Disney style]

My thinking on the new tiered pricing is that it's only on the one day tickets for now and that it's a way of easing the public into a big change. I would bet the farm it's coming for multi day tickets as well. Whether that is next February or sooner remains to be seen.

I think you are right on the money. I also think this whole thing is about spreading out the crowds so that there is never a slow season.

 

[ottawamom]

Just to update. Ordered tickets on Sunday through Airmiles. Prices haven't gone up yet on the airmiles site. Booked flights today again through Airmiles. Everything went exactly as everyone told me it would. I looked at AM this morning and prices for the trip were all over the place. I was concerned that Air Canada was going to be increasing their prices as they were way cheaper than WestJet or Delta. I remember someone saying on a previous thread to jump on flights when you find one that you like because they may not last. So that's what we did today.

Thanks everyone for your info and advice.

 

[ottawamom]

For plane tickets you can add on insurance after your purchase. They even send a separate email afterwards letting you know you can do so. They have trip(non medical) options as well. I actually don't remember them giving a warning that you will have to pay baggage fees at the airport but I know Westjet does that so I'm prepared.

We got the email as we didn't sign up for the insurance when we did the booking. Neat thing was they offered us 50AM to get the insurance quote.

 

[Burgermom]

At the moment I only have enough airmiles for one plane ticket to Orlando but I need three. Anyone else encounter this situation? Do you usually buy the remaining tickets through airmiles (the points plus cash option) or do you buy the remaining tickets through the airline directly? Is there a price difference?

 

[dancin Disney style]

At the moment I only have enough airmiles for one plane ticket to Orlando but I need three. Anyone else encounter this situation? Do you usually buy the remaining tickets through airmiles (the points plus cash option) or do you buy the remaining tickets through the airline directly? Is there a price difference?

Most likely you would be better off using the miles for park tickets. With airfare there are taxes and fees to be paid but if you use the miles for a park ticket or some other item there are no additional costs.

 

[ottawamom]

You are going to need to do a little comparison shopping. Go to the airlines website and see how much it will cost to book directly with them. Depending on where you are traveling from you may want to wait until 3-4 months from your trip date. That's when you will likely see seat sales on your flights. Compare the amount you get on the airline website with what the airmiles site says you'll have to pay. When I was looking recently I found airmiles to be more than what I could get from the airline directly.

If you're a gold member you can get a discount on companion flights with airmiles. There are many factors at play here so you'll need to get out some paper and crunch a few numbers to see which option works best for you.