Home for the Holidays
Last time around, we dealt with the details of choosing, booking, and verifying all details of your trip. Many of you have done this now, and as we approach the very busy holiday season – we wish you Bon Voyage! for your Christmas Holiday trips. This will be a short season however, as in January 2010 which is only one month away, people will start making their plans almost a year in advance for the next Christmas Season.
When you have a plan to go to the Philippines or just about anywhere else during the Holiday season such as December, it is advisable to book early so that you will have a choice of the dates you wish to travel, both outgoing and returning. A lot of people will make reservations during January & February 2010 for next years holiday season, and even if the fares are somewhat high during this peak season of travel, by the end of March you will find seats are scarce on the dates you wish to travel. Another peak season is June, July, and August – which is the time that families can travel, as children are on their summer vacation from school. The impossible can usually be done right away, but miracles may take a little while longer. Try not to get caught in the situation where you are asking your travel agent on December 1st to find seats for Dec 19th or 20th – which this year will be the busiest dates of the year for the airline carriers.
Reserving in advance has its good points and bad points, as with most things in life. Booking in advance can get you the dates and flights of your choice, with as little as a 25% down payment of the airline fare. The balance can be paid either within 30 days at no additional charge, or over the next months on a payment plan, and with a reducing balance and interest rate that is only approx half of the usual credit card rates, the finance therefore does not become a major factor in your purchase. Should you find it necessary to cancel your plans however, you will loose the 25% deposit that you have paid towards your ticket. If you do not need to cancel entirely, but wish to change the travel dates at a later time, there will be a change penalty – so while it is wise on the one hand to book in advance and secure your reservations, do not do this unless you are certain that you will be able to make your trip on the dates chosen, or regretfully, penalties will apply.
At any time during the year that you have purchased a ticket, you can make changes by paying the applicable penalty. In most cases, this is a relatively minor but annoying administration fee charged for the cancellation and re-issue of new tickets, and the work involved arranging and obtaining them. However, there are times that these change fees can be a little more costly. If you have purchased a “Seat Sale” ticket, for example, and now you wish to change your date to a time outside of the designated seat sale dates of travel – you will be faced with not only the change fee, but in addition the increase in the fare between the seat sale price versus the regular price. This can start to be a significant difference. The same applies on regular fare price tickets, where the “season” changes as a result of your new travel date. In this case again, there will be change penalties, plus the amount of the fare increase relative to the season change. Again, it is always advisable to be quite certain you will be able to accomplish your original travel plans when making an airline ticket purchase – but should you require changes either on the departure or return, they can be arranged either through your agent, or through the airline directly, but always be aware that change penalties will apply and can be a simple administration fee, or up to a significant change in the airfare.
Another way to proceed, especially if you are not sure of or not fixed on your dates, is to make your trip plan with a more flexible date range for travel – and start making regular monthly payments in advance of the travel. Your money is safe because as we have advised you in previous columns, a licensed travel agent must keep your money in a bonded Trust Account, where legally it remains your property until such time as you have received your airline or other travel documents. Then, you can keep your eye on the number of seats available on the dates you wish to travel, and then make your purchase when the seats available becomes a little too close to you’re your comfort zone. In the meantime, your payments are accumulating, and before you know it you will have at least the 25% deposit required when you decide to purchase, and maybe even 50% or 75% towards the total amount leaving only a reasonable balance to clear. We can tell you that this procedure of “Pay Now – Fly Later” is considerably less expensive than “Fly Now – Pay Later” – which is available, but an expensive procedure which should only be used in the case of an absolute emergency.
Happy Holidays
