OAT - Anyone who had trips cancelled?
Dec 14th, 2010 | 08:00 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
OAT - Anyone who had trips cancelled?
We are OAT travelers and book our air independently so we can take the most direct route on our carrier of choice.
Lately, though, I have heard OAT sometimes cancels a trip because of too few bookings. Has anyone had this experience with OAT?
Since the cost of changing an International ticket is $200+ and a last minute change really ups the price, it would be nearly prohibitive to rebook a trip.
The customer service line at OAT is not very upfront about the number of bookings, etc. Would appreciate some feedback if anyone has any. Thanks.
Lately, though, I have heard OAT sometimes cancels a trip because of too few bookings. Has anyone had this experience with OAT?
Since the cost of changing an International ticket is $200+ and a last minute change really ups the price, it would be nearly prohibitive to rebook a trip.
The customer service line at OAT is not very upfront about the number of bookings, etc. Would appreciate some feedback if anyone has any. Thanks.
Dec 16th, 2010 | 11:09 AM
#2
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 10,509
Likes: 0
All tour operators have this option and sometimes have to use it (they can't very well run a tour designed and priced for 25 people if only 5 sign up). There should be a date specified when they will say the trip is guaranteed to go or not. For a mid-August tour with another tour company, I think they said that they would let us know in/around May if the trip was a guaranteed departure or not.
If you buy trip insurance, it should cover your costs incase of a cancellation by the tour operator (OAT). Look at insurance policies and make sure the policy you wish to pick would cover such an event. Check your credit cards, sometimes they have built in insurance policies for traveling. www.insuremytrip.com is the main insurance source I can think of off top of my head but there are others out there.
If you buy trip insurance, it should cover your costs incase of a cancellation by the tour operator (OAT). Look at insurance policies and make sure the policy you wish to pick would cover such an event. Check your credit cards, sometimes they have built in insurance policies for traveling. www.insuremytrip.com is the main insurance source I can think of off top of my head but there are others out there.
Dec 16th, 2010 | 05:26 PM
#3
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 27,709
Likes: 1
"All tour operators have this option and sometimes have to use it"
Not true. Some tour operators guarantee all their trips will go regardless of the number of participants, some guarantee a subset. E.g Intrepid says: "Our trips are guaranteed to depart once they have one fully paid traveller (unless minimum group size specifically states otherwise); this means at times we can have very small groups."
Not true. Some tour operators guarantee all their trips will go regardless of the number of participants, some guarantee a subset. E.g Intrepid says: "Our trips are guaranteed to depart once they have one fully paid traveller (unless minimum group size specifically states otherwise); this means at times we can have very small groups."
Mar 29th, 2011 | 10:30 AM
#5
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
I had a "Route of the Maya" trip canceled because the Belize extension was overbooked. I rescheduled for a couple of weeks later and OAT gave me a 50% discount on the extension and reimbursed me for the cost of rescheduling the flight to Miami which I had booked myself.
