Sawadee.com policy re: itinerary changes
 

Okay, so this one's a bit of a doozy, but need some input, so bear with me while I explain...

I'm starting to book most of our hotels for December--and some of those I'm definitely planning on going through sawadee.com to book. I'm already 1 step into the reservation process for some of these places, but I'm hesitant to put down the deposit yet.

Here's the 'x-factor' part: all this insanity going on with Thai Air and, more specifically, the changes that are in-store for the winter LAX schedule. My only real fear is that, once they change that schedule, which, according to them, will definitely have a layover in Kansai, that will most likely change the departure time from LAX (which is now scheduled for late evening.) That schedule change could result in any number of things...of most concern, a different arrival day/time. That kind of change, of course, could effectively affect some of our itinerary and, hence, some of our hotel bookings.

Already checked with my insurance policy and it does not cover any fees associated with airlines schedule changes (that aren't due to some catastrophic even.)

So, any experiences with how discount sites (specifically sawadee) handle changes? It seems from reading their fine print that a cancellation is not too forgiving (forfeiture of the complete initial deposit) but have no idea how they handle changing stays by 1 or 2 days.

Any experiences with this? (Thanks for bearing with me...)

The last time I booked with sawadee.com was a few years ago, but, at that time, there was an option to purchase some sort of cancellation insurance for a very low price. I actually did cancel a booking, used the cancellation insurance to get a refund and in spite of sawadee telling me the money would be refunded it didn't appear...not until I disputed the charge with American Express was the money actually refunded, and I received a nasty e-mail from a rep at sawadee telling me NOT to contact the credit card company again.

I had a similar problem one time. I went ahead and booked the days that were certain and waited until flights were formalized to book the other dates. Everything worked out fine. I had more bookings than absolutely necessary, but so what. A few more documents, but at least I was assured of lodgings for the certain dates.

billy---there is plenty of time to make the hotel res, why don't you wait a while to see what thai air is up to....except for places that have limited availability you should be fine...

why not make a back-up reservation with the hotel directly on a non-pre-pay basis so as to assure you a place at that hotel...

Thanks for the advice, all.

Kim, apparently they don't offer the insurance anymore--not that I'm surprised.

Bob, I'm holding backup reservations at said hotel in question. The disparity is HUGE this time (about a $600 savings between discount site and direct from hotel) and I worry about waiting until September or October for Thai to finally get their act together (the way they've handled the JFK fiasco isn't encouraging.) We are going in high season and I don't want to risk losing a room at that lower rate if it takes Thai months to announce their intentions.

Guess I'll just have to wing it and see what happens...still no clear answer though on how sawadee.com handles changes to the date of arrival/departure...even from them.

Oh well...