Overseas Adventure Travel - what they don't tell you!

I feel your anguish. Please note however that seat selection terms are fully disclosed in the Air Travel Handbook provided upon booking. Those terms are consistent with the items that you’ve listed. For those reasons I prefer to handle my flight arrangements unless a significantly lower fare with them is available. I especially love that when booking a RS tours that travel arrangements are my responsibility.

Sorry for your upset,but this is not unique to OAT. You will find this with other tour and cruise companies too. If you are in BA business class, you aren't going to be beside the toilets.

This is how blocks of airfare work. The purchaser signs a contract to lock in a certain amount of seats on a flight. There is a date at some point in the future where they have to ticket the seats or they can release those seats with no penalty. Until they are ticketed you can make as many changes as you want, so the purchaser will wait until the last moment. This way if you change your mind and cancel they don't have to go through the hassle of dealing with the airline. Also, the closer they get to the flight the less likely it is to have an itinerary change.

I just bought 116 seats on two flights for a corporate event in July. If you look at those flights, the seat map is completely open and you may wonder why those two departures are so much more expensive that the other roundtrips that day. This is because I have 50 seats reserved at $330 on one airline, and 66 seats at $375 on the other airline. Both of those tickets are selling for around $650 now, although there are other departures on that same route for much cheaper. I have until April or May, depending on the airline, to release those seats or ticket them.

I understand your anger. However, British Airways charges for Business Class seating assignments. I had to pay about $150 per person to choose the actual seat I wanted after paying the Business class fare. Sucks, but several airlines do that. American Airlines and United do not.

I am going on my first OAT tour (Japan) in April. Traveling with my BIL and his wife. They have used OAT before and loved it. My hubby and I have been independent travelers for over 40 years. When we contacted OAT for the air, they quoted me $9000 per person for Business Class. I booked it on my own and paid $7000 per person RT on the identical flights they wanted to book (UA). I asked them how much the transfer would be for us to the hotel...$300 per person. I booked a sedan limo for $130 total. This tour is not cheap. Spending almost as much as we spent for a cruise to Antarctica last year.

There is no need for the post to be removed. they are not really bashing OAT; just warning fellow travelers about the consequences of booking flights with the tour rather than booking flights independently. It probably applies to all tour companies, not just OAT so is well worth publicizing.

It is, as the person above stated, standard for tour companies reserving blocks of seats on a flight to hold off sending payment until shortly before the travel date, when the payment for the tour has become non-refundable and people are unlikely to cancel. The actual tickets will not be issued until the airline receives that payment.

And British Airways will not allow passengers to pay to choose their own seats in advance of check-in until the tickets have actually been issued. (As noted above, the cost to personally choose one’s own business class seat in advance is significant, $160 or more for the most desirable seats.)

It is unfortunate that the OP was not aware of this in advance, but I’d say they have a right to gripe. However, not everyone pays the extra to choose their biz class seats on British Airways, at least in my experience. So there may well be good seating options left even 45 days ahead. (Although if you are flying a plane with the new Club Suites, the window seats may all be taken. But many people flying with a companion choose the center paired seats anyway).

Please note however that seat selection terms are fully disclosed in the Air Travel Handbook provided upon booking. Those terms are consistent with the items that you’ve listed.

If that is the case, then the title of this post is misleading, as OAT DOES tell you what the policy is upfront.

If I were to be annoyed with anyone in this situation, it would first be the friend that insisted on keeping things simple, and then with myself [an experienced traveler] for listening to her. Sometimes you have to take charge when you're in the right...

As others have pointed out, OAT makes their policy known ahead of time, so there is no reason for you not to have know this. I agree that it's usually better to book your own flights, rather than rely on the tour company, but you chose not to do so, knowing that that you would lose some freedom of choice. It's also very possible that this is because the flight is through British Airways, which has been know to force travelers to wait for seat selection. Either way, you chose it so you are stuck with it. I am sorry because I know it's frustrating, but I would try to get over it and enjoy your trip.

Sorry to hear of your bad experience and it's a good reminder that if you want to control your seating that relying on the tour operator may have unhappy results. I hope you still have a great trip.

Happy travels

No experience but I am thinking this is a common problem. My brother had Viking book their flights to Budapest and they ended up on Aer Lingus connecting to Danish charter airline. If a person has specific airline or seat requirements best to book yourself. Also stick to US airlines for free seat selection. For a US airline, even when the flight is reserved but not yet paid for, seats can be reserved.

Maintain politeness in all replies, please. Guideline #2. #9 also in effect.

BA you have to pay for seat assignments whatever class you are in. Crazy but true.

I also have had a ridiculous time understanding the apparently new rule about getting specific airline seats. British Airlines told me OAT needed to "issue" the tickets and then they would accept my request for a particular seat. This was a while ago. I have traveled a great deal also and this is the first time I haven't been able to get my requested seat assigned ahead of time. And yes, I also paid for upgraded seating.

I have traveled a great deal also and this is the first time I haven't been able to get my requested seat assigned ahead of time

But apparently you haven't travelled using a tour company 's flight bookings... Next time thoroughly read the policies BEFORE booking.

These are helpful insights. I book my own airfare, even when I've traveled (twice) with OAT. I have an upcoming trip with Road Scholar for which I was considering booking airfare through them. It's good to be aware of these little details so that I can ask good questions to help make decisions.

I've traveled with OAT nine times. Because I live in Mexico, I have to do my own air arrangements (or fly to a US gateway city).

On three of my nine trips, itineraries changed after I'd booked my airfare. That's the downside of not using OAT to handle air arrangements. However, in two of those cases, OAT reimbursed me for the cost of changing my flights, and in the third case, the airline did not charge me.

It's a shame, OP, that you didn't come on this forum once over the 29 tours you've taken with OAT to share about your trips and how much you enjoyed them. (I assume you did, since you took so many.) But anyway, welcome to the forum, and I hope you will have lots of awesome future travel experiences to share with us.

itineraries changed after I'd booked my airfare

Can you say more about this, Lane? I take it that your start/end dates or start/end cities must have changed - otherwise your flights wouldn't have been affected?

... before we try to get at the OP note that the thread is from April and just woken up today.

The original poster was a one and done

itineraries changed after I'd booked my airfare

1. I booked a tour to New Zealand with a pre-trip extension in Australia. They canceled the pre-trip extension because not enough people had signed up. But I went ahead and did the pre-trip itinerary as an independent trip on my own. So I didn't have to modify my original air booking. The reimbursement more than covered the additional airfare I had to pay to fly from Australia to New Zealand, which would have been covered as part of the pre-trip. And the entire time in Australia was significantly cheaper to do on my own than the cost of the pre-trip, which of course was refunded.

2. I booked a tour to Bulgaria and Romania for last fall, but OAT decided to cancel that itinerary altogether. (It was a new tour, and I believe they had some bad reviews from the first several groups that went. They've apparently revised the itinerary significantly and are offering it again. I'm signed up for it next spring.) Rather than take the refund and try to cancel the flights, I decided to do their tour to Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia. So instead of canceling the flights, I just modified them, and the reimbursement from OAT covered the cost to do so. I believe they also gave me a credit because of the cancelation, but I can't remember how much.

3. I had two back-to-back tours scheduled in October/November 2023. The first was to Egypt, and the second was to Israel. I was in Egypt on October 7, the day of the Hamas attack. The next day I heard from OAT that they were canceling the tour to Israel. I contacted Turkish Airlines and modified my return ticket. They charged me a hefty sum for that, but after some effort, where I pointed out that my scheduled flight out of Ben Gurion Airport was canceled anyway, they agreed to give me a credit (which I've since used).

Thanks, Lane, those are good scenarios to keep in mind, especially the possibility of a pre-trip cancelation where I had better be willing to follow a backup plan.

I'm curious why Lola said, "There is no need for the post to be removed." No one who posted prior to her said anything about removing the post. Why would a post be removed simply over negative commentary? This travel forum would be useless without hearing the honest appraisals of the posters!

Daisy, you are 5 1/2 months late to this particular party. One of the preceding posts was deleted. Long ago. Do you have anything to add to the subject matter of the thread?

I am glad I saw this RS travel forum while checking OAT reviews. This reinforces my realization that it is always better for tour guests to book their flights themselves, for all the various reasons explained in this RS Forum. I used another Tour company and had those described issues. Plus, the airline bumped my business class reservation when the tour company dragged its payment to the airline less than 40 days before departure. This caused the tour company and me to scramble and find another reservation departure. The tour company thought it could simply put me on later departure flights arriving 8+ hours after my original reservation. I had to insist that I specifically picked my early departure flights, in order to arrive morning time in the city where the tour would start. Unfortunately the tour company could only find flights arriving in the early afternoon. I was not happy but their original business class price quote was the best I saw.
This spring, I used the same tour company to go to Austria & Switzerland. Their airfare quote was over $7,200!! So I took care of my own flights and luckily in watching the price fluctuations, I was able to buy reservations for $6,400. Two weeks later, United had a big sale, and I was able to call-in and United gave me a 1,400 credit that could be used within 12 months. I also extended my trip for 2 days. ALL was quickly done free of charge on the phone with United!
This made me realize that when tour guests let the tour company book their flights, if flight prices are reduced, the tour company gets to pocket the savings!! Another reason for the tour company to stall paying the airline.
Therefore I would never entrust my flight reservations to the tour company.

Hi, I've booked with OAT and some things to consider-if they're offering a promo (my trip next summer there's a 10% discount on trip including airfare right now IF paid in full from bank acct vs cc by a certain date), vs rewards on your credit cards or with airlines, returns that money might make invested, etc. They told me I could always cancel their airfare for a refund, or book airfare later. I read some BBB reviews about travelers unhappy with flights booked for them by OAT, failure to assist with changes, or delays in refunds so when booking with OAT for Patagonia this December-instead of letting them book airfare for me at $1600 I booked myself changeable and refundable seats for $1231 with $50 airport transfers (paid to OAT). I have a deposit on Portugal for next summer and am not sure about airfare because of their promo and flights seem high, BUT they also told me their quoted flight price could go up, SO I'd have to pay them more! Weighing what to do by my deadline!

Regular visitors to this forum have seen countless posts and comments recommending booking airfare directly with the airline and not with third-party aggregators like Expedia or Orbitz or Travelocity.

The takeaway from this thread, I think, is that this also applies to tour companies. When you have a choice between having the tour company handle your flights for you or doing it yourself, always go with option B. Booking directly with the airline gives you much more control and much more of a leg to stand on if something goes awry.

It surprises me that this thread has such long legs. My comment in July that it was from April is wrong. This thread was started by a person with only exactly one post - the OP - who has never returned, and that was on the 2nd of February!!

That's a lot of words and time for a "one and done".

People with more recent issues needing assistance are advised that you can get attention to your problem with a new post dedicated to your problem.

This thread was actually a good reinforcement for me. I was considering letting a (different) tour company book my flights for an upcoming trip.

The attraction, especially for my travel mate, was the security of also having their airport transfers. She balked at letting the third party book our flights, even with the security aspect, when the prices quoted by the tour company were roughly double what she was finding.

With additional research, we were able to spend (some of) the flight savings to address secure transfers in a different way.

glad that worked out, CWsocial - sounds like there would be enough left over for a nice meal too

Oh, excellent point, Nigel!