Posted by Trym Espeseth on January 9, 2007 at 1:05 PM
Hi !
My wife and I booked 16 days in Africa through our usual tour operator. 8 days in Mozambique and 7 days in SA. They suggested the interniary with international flights. It was prepaid 20000 USD vacation to celebrate my wifes 50th birthday and Chirstmas, so we did not save on anything. There was a short call between the inbound flight from London and the outbound plane to Pemba, but it was the tour operators suggestion. Well we missed the plane due to short delays. We thought that OK a night in Jo«burg and off we go next day. Nothing to worry about. Alas the next available flight was due in four days, and the tour operator did not have a backup plan. Advice to fellow travellers.
-Do not pay in advance if you can avoid it.
-Check and double check interniary and make sure there are back up plans on the weak spots in the interniary
-Do not trust touroperators . They are OK as long things go smoothly, but when things go wrong they are more interested to keep your money than helping you
Happy New Year
Trym
That had to have been frustrating. I hope the rest of the trip went well.
Guy
Posted by Trym Espeseth on January 9, 2007 at 3:38 PM
Thanks Guy
No it did not went well. We never came Mozambique. Instead we went down to the Cape Area, but did not find any joy there due to these problems. Bought new plane tickets and went back home. Did not take a single picture on this trip
Trym
Posted by Ed Cordes on January 9, 2007 at 11:06 PM
Wow! Sorry to hear of your problems. I would have been beside myself with anger if I were left high and dry! Over the years I have learned to always double check the between flight times. Tour operators and airline agents tend to not leave enough time. This is especially true now with flight doors closed well before departure time.
One possible work around is to have trip insurance. The policies I have used not only cover if you have to cancel for a major cause, they also cove situations like this. The last policy I had will cover hotel and getting alternate flight arrangements for you. Granted, if there are no flights for a few days there is only so much they can do. However it is the ins co that will then become your ombudsman who would rather pay to get you to your destination than pay for extra hotel and meals during a problem period.
BTW, I would use another tour operator n the future.
Discussion
3 repliesMy wife and I booked 16 days in Africa through our usual tour operator. 8 days in Mozambique and 7 days in SA. They suggested the interniary with international flights. It was prepaid 20000 USD vacation to celebrate my wifes 50th birthday and Chirstmas, so we did not save on anything. There was a short call between the inbound flight from London and the outbound plane to Pemba, but it was the tour operators suggestion. Well we missed the plane due to short delays. We thought that OK a night in Jo«burg and off we go next day. Nothing to worry about. Alas the next available flight was due in four days, and the tour operator did not have a backup plan. Advice to fellow travellers.
-Do not pay in advance if you can avoid it.
-Check and double check interniary and make sure there are back up plans on the weak spots in the interniary
-Do not trust touroperators . They are OK as long things go smoothly, but when things go wrong they are more interested to keep your money than helping you
Happy New Year
Trym
Guy
No it did not went well. We never came Mozambique. Instead we went down to the Cape Area, but did not find any joy there due to these problems. Bought new plane tickets and went back home. Did not take a single picture on this trip
Trym
One possible work around is to have trip insurance. The policies I have used not only cover if you have to cancel for a major cause, they also cove situations like this. The last policy I had will cover hotel and getting alternate flight arrangements for you. Granted, if there are no flights for a few days there is only so much they can do. However it is the ins co that will then become your ombudsman who would rather pay to get you to your destination than pay for extra hotel and meals during a problem period.
BTW, I would use another tour operator n the future.