Why do you not book your air through ABD?

[Birdie dog]

Serious question. (I travel frequently or at least traveled prior to covid, lately, not so much.)
Anyway, when we booked our first ABD to Italy and Switzerland, I checked with the air department and with the price being very reasonable and a full refund with no effort if ABD cancelled the trip (and they did), it was a win/win for me. The money has already been returned to my credit card and when we can rebook air for the same trip next August, I'll 100% use ABD's air again.
I do understand that they don't book the discount airlines and I'm not sure about how many European carriers they use, and can see that may be a problem for some. But, honestly the easy refund wins out. If you don't book your flights through ABD air, why not?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Two words - airline miles. We like to take advantage of airline rewards when we can. There's nothing wrong with booking through ABD, though.

 

[Birdie dog]

Two words - airline miles. We like to take advantage of airline rewards when we can. There's nothing wrong with booking through ABD, though.

Totally didn't think of that. And it's an excellent reason!

 

[laceltris3]

Because of the reports here that when people are able to cancel their ABD under the terms of their current policies, the refund does not extend to airfare, and ABD insists it isn't refundable or even a credit to the individual.

That's a big NO from me. Even if you can ultimately go through 3 levels of management, not worth it. Especially for the same price I can get on my own. I would never use ABD air.

 

[Birdie dog]

Because of the reports here that when people are able to cancel their ABD under the terms of their current policies, the refund does not extend to airfare, and ABD insists it isn't refundable or even a credit to the individual.

That's a big NO from me. Even if you can ultimately go through 3 levels of management, not worth it. Especially for the same price I can get on my own. I would never use ABD air.

There's a big difference between *me* cancelling and ABD cancelling. I personally wouldn't buy air at all unless I knew 100% I intended to go. And with covid, I'm now buying travel insurance just in case...

 

[CaliKris]

We have booked air through ABD several times and they were actually able to get us a very good price on business class seats once. It has definitely been easy to get refunded when our trips have been canceled lately.
ABD will book air for the starting and ending cities only. If you want to travel somewhere else before or after your ABD, then they won’t book it.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Ditto on airline miles. We prefer to use miles to book upper class tickets and have cheap insurance, I.e. easily cancellable.

 

[DollyM]

We have booked air through ABD several times and they were actually able to get us a very good price on business class seats once. It has definitely been easy to get refunded when our trips have been canceled lately.
ABD will book air for the starting and ending cities only. If you want to travel somewhere else before or after your ABD, then they won’t book it.

For my 2019 Alpine Magic trip, ABD booked me from the US to London, arriving about 10 days before the ABD started. I bought my own ticket from London to Milan. I don't recall if ABD would have booked the London to Milan segment; I booked it myself because I hadn't planned out all my pre-adventure travel when I asked ABD to book the flights. They also booked my return flight from Zurich on the same ticket as the US to London segment.

 

[Birdie dog]

For my 2019 Alpine Magic trip, ABD booked me from the US to London, arriving about 10 days before the ABD started. I bought my own ticket from London to Milan. I don't recall if ABD would have booked the London to Milan segment; I booked it myself because I hadn't planned out all my pre-adventure travel when I asked ABD to book the flights. They also booked my return flight from Zurich on the same ticket as the US to London segment.

I've considered flying into London and then on to Milan. It's good to know you can book it that way.

 

[ErinF]

Two words - airline miles. We like to take advantage of airline rewards when we can. There's nothing wrong with booking through ABD, though.

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but do you mean that you are using airline miles to book your airfare? When I first read your reply, I was taking it to mean that you needed to book on your own in order to get frequent flyer miles. If we use AbD to book flights, can we still earn miles?

 

[sayhello]

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but do you mean that you are using airline miles to book your airfare? When I first read your reply, I was taking it to mean that you needed to book on your own in order to get frequent flyer miles. If we use AbD to book flights, can we still earn miles?

Yes you can. Just like booking through any Travel Agent, you still earn miles. ABD just cannot book using your miles.

Sayhello

 

[ErinF]

Yes you can. Just like booking through any Travel Agent, you still earn miles. ABD just cannot book using your miles.

Sayhello

Thank you so much!!

 

[Bobo912]

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but do you mean that you are using airline miles to book your airfare? When I first read your reply, I was taking it to mean that you needed to book on your own in order to get frequent flyer miles. If we use AbD to book flights, can we still earn miles?

If you have a credit card that gives double miles for airline purchases you will not get double miles if you book you flight through ABD, since it doesn't appear as an airline charge on your statement.

 

[sayhello]

If you have a credit card that gives double miles for airline purchases you will not get double miles if you book you flight through ABD, since it doesn't appear as an airline charge on your statement.

That's interesting. I did not know that one.

Sayhello

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but do you mean that you are using airline miles to book your airfare? When I first read your reply, I was taking it to mean that you needed to book on your own in order to get frequent flyer miles. If we use AbD to book flights, can we still earn miles?

No such thing as stupid questions, only stupid answers!

But yes, as others have already said, we have used airline miles to book our flights to get us to our ABD destination. But you should still be able to earn miles if ABD books for you with an airline you get rewards with.

 

[cschaaf]

Only been on one ABD and we booked our own flights because we did a pre trip on our own. The ABD trip started in Ho Chi Minh City, but we wanted to do some pre-trip stuff in Hanoi (which was stop #3 on the ABD). We flew into Hanoi, spent 3 days seeing things that weren't on the ABD tour (Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh), then flew to HCMC the day before the ABD kicked off.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Because of the reports here that when people are able to cancel their ABD under the terms of their current policies, the refund does not extend to airfare, and ABD insists it isn't refundable or even a credit to the individual.

That's a big NO from me. Even if you can ultimately go through 3 levels of management, not worth it. Especially for the same price I can get on my own. I would never use ABD air.

Yea, I REALLY wish they had made this clear when we gave them nearly ten thousand dollars for airfare early last year (pre-pandemic). We're currently being held hostage (our feeling, anyway) because they refuse to refund money ear-marked for -UNBOOKED airfare- on a reservation with a refundable deposit. Never again!

 

[kaseyC]

In my case, I ended up booking our own air for our China ABD because the prices ABD quoted me for Business Class were way higher than I found for myself. I even gave them the exact flight info I was looking at but they said they couldn't find those flights. So I booked directly with Finnair myself for about 3K less than ABD quoted me for flights on other airlines.

 

[Birdie dog]

I got a steal from ABD air for my (canceled) Italy Switzerland ABD this year. We rescheduled to late August of 2022 and flights are currently double.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Talked to ABD again recently, and learned of one benefit of booking air with them to consider: If your flight that you booked through them gets cancelled, they will help you re-book with another air line to get you to your trip on time. I don't think it's a guarantee, but they will help you if they can.