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Hazards of booking a tour with flight included

Posted by on

We booked a great tour of Egypt that included a super deal with free airfare from JFK (direct flight) to Cairo. Also, it is a direct flight to Cairo, which only Egyptair has.

However, we couldn't extend the flight booking to our nearby airport. So, I had to book flights that considered delay independent of the Egyptair flights. I had a companion certificate with Delta and got a great deal of flights from JAX to JFK.

Problem amounted to having to book hotel rooms on each end of the trip, adding hundreds of dollars. Also, the Egyptair flight is now delayed several hours (so we have almost a 24 hour delay in JFK going to Egypt.

The perils of a free cheap flight.

Posted by
4697 posts

So sorry, but thanks for sharing, to help others. Time to go into NYC?
Safe travels!

Posted by
1923 posts

It is tempting to book airfare included because usually the price is much less than if you booked yourself. But you are taking a chance. Some persons have had very good experiences booking flight included and some very bad with others just so so.

Posted by
6502 posts

Also the peril of using a companion certificate? Could you avoid those hotel costs by paying Delta some change fees to shorten one or both layovers? (The hotel might be welcome after the return Cairo-JFK flight.)

My experiences with flights booked by tour companies are limited, but not good. They've usually involved red-eyes or unnecessary layovers. I remember flying from Seattle to Beijing via San Francisco, and realizing four hours after leaving Seattle that I was flying back over it (more or less). The tour company cares less than we do about timing or convenience of flights. Of course it's hard to beat FREE.

Posted by
8375 posts

I think that this type of issue could have come up this time of year whether you had paid for the flight or not. The real issue here is the two separate tickets. That is where the challenges come in.

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