Waitlisted for V Italy April 8. How long to play chicken when it comes to airfare?

I'm confused about your dates. Are you talking about April 2024 tours? I know some people like to book airfare this far in advance but I never have. I usually start looking at airfare about 6 months out, but that's just me. In your situation, if the airfare thing would stress me out, I'd opt for a different tour and purchase my airfare now. But since that airfare thing wouldn't stress me out (yet) I would wait a while in the hopes that a single would opt out. I guess I didn't know those willing to pay the single supplement would run into 'non availability', I didn't know there was a limit on how many singles could be on the tour as long as they paid the supplement.

Probably because there are a limited number of single rooms in hotels.

I'd see where you are on the waitlist. If it's first or second,I''d wait. If not first or second-I'd book another tour and get the airfare.

Yes it’s for April 2024. I was wondering if anyone this year has gotten on a tour after being waitlisted.

Especially curious about the single supplement issue. I never expected that to come up. Evidently there’s only so many slots of single rooms available and if I stayed with this tour I’d have to share a room. I think it’s great for those who do it but I know it’s not for me.

So I can ride it out for a couple of months but 6 months out I know I’m going to be worried about the airfare issue.

Hi Lyn, I think it’s a good plan to wait until the 6 month mark then make your decision. I’ve done several tours solo but didn’t share a room. Hope it works out for you!

You can ask the office where you are on the waitlist. They may also be able to tell you how often singles drop from the trip, if they've noticed if it is more common or less common than for couples.

But the unfortunate news is that there may not be any movement on the waitlist until about 120 days before the tour date which is when deposits become non-refundable.

I did talk to the office, and very nice they were too, and there are ‘probably 5’ set aside rooms for singles and one of those goes for the guide. I forgot to ask if I’m the only one waiting on waitlist for this reason. But I still decided to reserve another tour that didn’t have a single supplement issue (she checked for me) almost during the same dates. And you can be signed up for one and waitlisted for another, I checked.

I can coast along for at least 3 months I think before I’ll get antsy about the airfare and availability. So I’m either doing Village Italy or South England come April. I’ll be quicker next year for 2025.

I can’t speak for the “one person dropping out” situation…but I was contacted 3 times as a waitlisted single supp person…..I didn’t see the first email….for a few days and waited too long on the second (a couple of hours) but when I saw the 3rd email, I couldn’t type fast enough….ha…..I didn’t worry about flights till after signed up….and I start the “looking for flights” game…when I find a flight that meets various criteria….and I can live with it price wise, I nab it.

Oh Jen, that is encouraging. How far from the start date of your tour were you notified? Maybe there’s more people dropping tours than I would think.

I joined the waitlist on 01/02/23……and I remember getting the first email in Feb…..I didn’t expect it so I wasn’t looking for it…..when I got the second email…I was caught off guard again…..I had to check and see if I could get to Avignon on the last day of the tour so I missed it again…... Third time was the charm and signed up at the beginning of March for the mid August tour…..I follow two RS fb groups and have noticed people commenting that they had to cancel, for various reasons, trips scheduled for this year….so if I were you I would waitlist first choice and come up with a plan b that makes you just as happy…..good luck! You’ll have a great time no matter what happens!

Jen, thanks for the response. I am feeling much more hopeful. I was thinking that it would be so late before anyone dropped I wouldn’t be able to wait that long. Can’t believe you had 3 opportunities by March for an August tour.

I do want to do the south of England tour but my heart is really hoping the Village Italy tour comes through for me next spring. Even though I’ve told myself not to get ahead of myself I’m already looking at post tour travel possibilities. Parma maybe, or Bologna perhaps; reading about food tours this morning has made me very hungry!

I, too, have waitlist experience. In mid August 2022 my husband and I signed up for an Athens and the Heart of Greece tour scheduled for mid May 2023 and were waitlisted. I kept a close eye on my email and in late October received notice of an opening for our desired tour. So, once registered for the tour we wanted, we still had over 6 months to buy airfare and make plans. On a side note, the friends we traveled with had traveled on another RS Tour in 2022 after originally being waitlisted. They said their opening for that tour came up with plenty of planning time. So, fingers crossed that an opening will come for you!

Thanks Traveling Ducks, fingers crossed I’m also lucky.

I got a further update to a question from the RS tours office. I’m one of 3 (!) people waitlisted for this tour but all of us get notified by email at the same time whenever the first opportunity to add one of us occurs. No guess as to what my chances are of course. I’m a little surprised that there are that many single folks signed up for this tour that 3 are on a wait list and it’s still not a filled tour.

I was waitlisted for the London tour in September 2023–after our Portugal tour. I cancelled last week when negotiations with American Airlines was settled (due to trip credit from Covid in 2022 which made the Portugal tour impossible). Price was the same as a couple months ago on AA. Typically I book airfare about 6 months out.
This was my first experience with waitlisting and nothing opened up but still 3 months out.

Personally, I would just go for the Best of South England tour in 2024 and put other one off until 2025. The South England tour is a fabulous tour and you won't regret going on it. I wouldn't want the stress of wondering about the waitlist.

As far as flights go, this is a perfect example of a time to use frequent flier miles if you have them. If I am unsure if I will really be taking a flight, I book it with miles which makes it fully refundable for me.