Hi Travelers'
Please can you share your opinion regarding -
Tour Package & Airline whether buy these separately Or through tour company ?
If separate then need to buy Travel Insurance through separate company, Right ?
Please can you share what Travel Insurance Companies are good ?
Thank you for your help.
Regards
Shaan
We use Travel Guard. When we had claims, they were processed quickly and paid in full. These claims were in the $15000 to $20000 range.
My experience is limited to Uniworld, but it's probably the same with its sister companies (Luxury Gold, Insight, Trafalgar, Contiki, and a couple more I can't remember). They have usually offered airfare at about two or three hundred cheaper than on the airlines' websites. However, they cannot always offer the exact flight I want. So sometimes I buy from them, sometimes I get it on my own. It's worth asking if you research beforehand and know what flights are desirable to you. As for travel insurance, I have gone without so far (knock on wood).
I would prefer to purchase my own airline ticket for a number of reasons:
Choice of flights/days. I like to arrive a couple of days in advance of tour/cruise so I can get over jet lag etc. and to stay a couple of days longer to decompress before returning home. Also so I can chose my preferred stopovers. Coming from West Coast I would usually stopover in UK to see family or friends.
If tour company or travel agency books flights you may not be able to collect FF points or even travel with preferred carrier.
Might not be able to select seats, choose class of flight, baggage etc.
Would this be considered a third party ticket? Therefore possibility of problems if flights missed or delayed.
I always book my own flights at a substantial savings. I start looking about 6 months out and don't mind flying foreign airlines. I like choosing my own gateway city and picking the most direct connections. As an example, for a tour in Tuscany in the fall, I have a flight to Florence with a 4-hour layover in Copenhagen. I won't be antsy about how long it takes at Immigration wondering if I will make my connection. For about $29 I can use the SAS lounge, eat and grab a shower. And, I saved more than $400 over what the tour company would have charged me.
Insurance - there are many discussions on this forum about insurance. Look at SquareMouth.com and InsureMyTrip.com to do some comparison shopping to insure only those items you really need to cover.
