Cool-The OAT crew. Do all of you travel together carrying little green bags and holding hands? Aknard, I'm here for you always. Wanderlust5 trolls for OAT whenever he/she gets the chance. ShayTay, well she is an agent by all definition. Happy to keep this thread at the top-good work.
Ted

Wow. I'm trying to do some research about a first and affordable (for me) trip to Africa and I keep finding a lot of really wonderful helpful people with specifics and some obnoxious creep who keeps following them with insults about their motives, but never offering any good advice himself. What's up with that. Why do some people come here only to pick at what everyone else says? Wouldn't offering alternatives and other specifics be of a lot more use here than nit-picking?

I've been mainly searching for OAT comments and I find virtually nothing but raves from everyone who has gone with them, but I do find some horrible insults of them which oddly seem to all come from people who have apparently never traveled with them. I think I'd rather listen to those who have traveled with them than those who haven't.

Hi Patrick! I was thinking the same as you while reading this thread...our budget revisions this past year(!) have me looking at the OAT trips as well. That they include international airfare gives me a good comparison for potential itineraries from other sources that I am considering. (And that Ultimate Africa trip which includes multiple flights rather than long overland trips is really intriguing.) We're looking at September-October dates...so far it seems there are availabilities just about everywhere, leading me to think that prices (not from OAT) may have some flexibility.

Still, I too have had friends who traveled with OAT (to other places) and enjoyed their experiences. Not to have to dither about details is kind of liberating.

For NeoPatrick,
Don't know if you've come across any OAT bumping threads yet but just so you're aware http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...erbooked--.cfm (I've seen other threads on the Europe and Asia forums as well). It does seem like those who have gone on their trips are generally happy.

I have read the bumping threads and frankly I take most with a grain of salt. I was told (off the record) that some people who have made 37 calls about details and nit picking worries have been deliberately bumped, but of course I can't verify that. When I had a discussion with a phone rep about this bumping issue, she did tell me that they used to offer some "stand-by" positions and no matter how clear they made it -- people seemed to go ballistic when the time approached and they couldn't get on the tour. No one can verify how or why any OAT tours were really "overbooked", so I still have to realize that we're only hearing one side of the story.

One good thing is that OAT has changed a lot of policies in the past couple of years (since most of those posts). One thing is that I suspect they possibly used to sometimes "bump" single travelers when they could get a couple to replace them. Now they offer at least 2 single places on most trips from the start and they have no need or even ability to bump them as they are filling the booked single accomodations only. And the best part (for me) is that this year and probably next year they completely waive any single supplement on most of their trips. So a single really does travel for half price of a couple -- few companies do that.

I'm sitting here astounded looking at some OAT trips, like the Ultimate Africa for less than $300 a day all inclusive including a number of flights -- and a 30 day Thailand/Viet Nam trip that ends up being less than $100 a day -- again pretty much all inclusive. At those prices I don't expect Abercrombie and Kent quality!

"I was told (off the record) that some people who have made 37 calls about details and nit picking worries have been deliberately bumped..."

Never thought of that. Nip the problem in the bud.

You are right about the pricing being good, with the international air included. Especially for a first trip, that is hard to beat. If you become a repeat, you may want specifics not offered by OAT.

After I investigated the bumping, I found it was mainly on cruises.