Review: Vacation in Australia & New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne, Phillip's Island, Featherdale Wildlife Park, Waitomo Glowworm Caves

I would pack less. I would make sure to ask if the hotels are air conditioned. I would find out ahead of time what food is available at each mealtime. I would make my own flight arrangements that are refundable and NOT on Qantas and with at least 6 hours layover between flights and did I say NOT on Qantas?

TRAVEL COMPANY COMMENTS:

Thank you for taking the time to post your review, we sincerely appreciate your comments and feedback. It is always extremely disruptive when you trip starts with a significant airline delay like you experienced out of Houston resulting in missing your Qantas flight out of Dallas. Once your trip has commenced, the airline is in charge of the flights and will not permit the travel agent to make changes. The airline exercises full control over re-booking in the case of missed flights and also has the authority to book you on another airline (which the travel agent does not). With this in mind, the only course of action is to deal with the airport staff at the time of the issue, your agent would not have been able to make the rebooking actions American could. As you were traveling business class and American advised you there were no other business class seats available for several days, due to the peak December travel period, we understand you made the decision to purchase new tickets on a different airline to ensure you could still depart on your trip as planned. In this situation, Qantas would not normally allow a refund of their unused tickets but as a courtesy to you & our company they did authorize a refund in full of the unused flights and this has now been credited to your card as you are aware. I understand you are now working closely with your agent to submit a claim to the travel insurance company for the difference in price between the Qantas and the new Air New Zealand tickets you purchased and we are hopeful you will be reimbursed, the decision for this is in the hands of the travel insurance adjustor.

Regarding your comments for an itemized price breakdown, one of the reasons destination specialist travel companies such as our company offer a complete trip package, and do not provide a breakdown of trip component costs, is that we have private negotiated rates with the best accommodations, guides and transportation services.  Our contracts stipulate that these negotiated rates are kept confidential and may only be offered as part of a trip package. Violating this can lead to a termination of the contract or damage the strong, long-standing relationships we have with our preferred partners. These relationships help us keep our pricing competitive, negotiate special value-added bonuses, clear availability issues and ensure our clients are given the best consideration and service. Similar to online pricing, many of the rates we confirm on your behalf have strict cancellation penalties in return for lower costs.

Our affiliate offices in Sydney & Auckland are contactable outside of business hours by an answering service, any calls are immediately passed on to the on-call agent and your call is returned as quickly as possible. They are our company's ground handling office and do not book airfares so they are unable to assist with this part of your trip, for airline issues we always recommend dealing with the airline and our company directly. I am sorry to hear you did not find our on-the-ground affiliates helpful when you did have the need to contact them but I believe they passed on the information to your agent who followed up immediately.

I am delighted to read you enjoyed your time in Australia & New Zealand and thank you for your kind comments regarding your travel agent's service.