immelbatoast

Hey there, this is my first post to the boards but I've been lurking here for awhile planning our Costa Rica honeymoon. You all have great advice!

This is our first trip to CR and we'll be flying out from LA...it seems like LACSA has awesome flights for just under $600 each (and they're nonstop too!) - are they good?

The more important question is...is there some sort of travel insurance we can use to get the cost of tickets/hotels (at least partially) refunded in case we can't go? My husband is in the Navy and he can't even request his leave time until 1 month beforehand (which we'll be doing our vow renewal then), and it's not guaranteed he'll get the time off. We're hoping that there won't be any problems, but you really never know in the military. Even the option to at least change his name to my friends name if he can't go so we aren't out $3k.

We might go through AAA for the hotel bookings (my cousin works for them and is going to see if that will save us money) so I'm thinking they might have something, but she said we're better off booking the flights ourselves since there's additional charges through AAA.

Thanks so much! We're cementing our plans tonight so you'll probably see another posting of our plans & more questions

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Technically, there is no such thing as LACSA anymore. It was absorbed into TACA airlines several years ago. Your flight will have a "LACSA" designation, but it will be a TACA plane and crew, To answer your question, they're just fine.

siempretrvls

I agree with Jeff. It was no different flying with them than on any other airline these days. Yes, travel insurance is a GREAT idea. You can cover your hotel,flights,luggage, medical emergencies and it is quite reasonable. For a list of insurance providers my hotel in Mal Pais had given me www.insuremytrip.com. I used RBC and I believe it was approx. $200 for both of us for full coverage with $50,000 medical. I did have to file a claim in the past(with RBC) and they paid with no problems. Great protection because anything can happen at the last minute and it's nice to know you're covered!

immelbatoast

Seems like there's never a straight up "airline" anymore...I know with as much as I travel I never know who is actually flying the plane, lol. Thanks for the okay on them. Thank you also for that insurance website, I'm checking it out now and it looks like a great service!

kencolian

Make sure you buy the travel insurance as soon as you buy your flight tickets. If you wait to long (more then 24-48 hrs in some cases) you will not be able to get cx for any reason and or it will be more expensive. I have bought insurance through insure my trip 2x but thankfuly have never made a claim.

Last time I checked AAA did not have any CR info. But it is very easy to book hotels yourself. If you go during the green or shoulder seasons you can find some good deals

immelbatoast

Thanks, I'll watch out for that and make sure I really look into the insurance before I buy the tickets. AAA did have a few tour books for CR, and I know they do some bookings (they seem reasonably priced but we wanted more freedom to choose hotels). 3 tour packages I have in front of me are through Avanti, American Airlines, and Brendan. I'm not sure if AAA will get me a better deal on these places I picked but I figure it's worth a try since it's my cousin.

dariow

Yes, get travel insurance. I was in an auto accident and the insurance covered my 2,000 dollar deductible on the rental car and my lost items and missed hotel days.