Airmiles Armchair Chatter

Your comment about safety concern reminded me of something I had never heard before on a plane. If we dropped something we were told to call a flight attendant to retrieve it at it was fire hazard for a passenger to retrieve something off the floor between the seat rows.

I don't recall hearing "fire hazard" before. Nor can I figure out how.
 
Totally off-topic here but i don't want to deal with "others" who might feel the need to share comments that won't help me figure this out.

Ok so it actually IS still related to AM and the hassle i endured over the stupid travel vouchers for our upcoming trip (dropped to double-digits today and I'm stupidly excited!) Our travel agent has done next to nothing for us -- never been to Florida never mind Disney and has zero idea what's involved, I had to tell her that i needed the reservation number for Disney to add it to my account and that it's different from their number. I've received nothing from them since we paid for the trip -- still waiting for her promised help with booking meals (she's convinced you can't do it more than a month out) so i can tell her that I did that myself 6 months ago (she doesn't need to know I'm still working on that, you get the point!)
My questions:
  • will we ever get the stuff from Disney that I'm used to receiving? Mainly the yellow luggage tags for our baggage? I booked the darned ME myself because she insisted it just happens without any interaction on her part :headache: Will they instead go to the agency because they booked the trip?
  • If there is some kind of weather related problem with the flight will we be able to contact WestJet ourselves and change the booking (last trip there was a freezing rain warning and i just changed it to the night before) OR will i need to use them as a go-between. IF that's the case, what happens if the agency is closed?
  • How do i tell what class of seats she has booked for us? I have a feeling it's the lowest of the low because if I want to pre-select our seats the price ranges from $50 - $75 and that just seems really high. Don't usually care on the way down cause I can easily get on the computer, but coming home we tend to like to make sure we sit together.

The last time we traveled to Disney, we were travelling with a DVC member under their reservation. Since they were arriving before us, we ended up having to sign up for the Magical Express ourselves and ended up calling to get the tags sent to our home address. We hadn't received them about a few weeks before our trip so they just re-sent them. There's no harm in calling ME to see which address they are being sent to.

As to the seat selections - for reference, we booked our flights with Air Miles. For our YYZ - MCO leg of the flight, seat selection will cost us from $35-55/seat. When I try to book the same leg with a basic fare, the seat selection costs are $50-75/seat. When I search the economy fare, it shows $35-55/seat. Sorry :oops:
 
I much prefer to handle my own bookings. A lady at work has a tripped booked for next April and is using a travel agent. They did apply the Canadian discount on the tickets but when it came to the room discount they told her it wasn't available, which is technically true, it wasn't available on the standard room she had booked however it is on the preferred and works out to be $20 more but come with $30 per person gift cards and she has 4 people going. The travel agent is going to book her dining and fastpasses, I guess that would be handy? But I change things so often I can't imagine letting someone else be in control lol.
 


I’m wondering if there’s any recourse you would have against the travel agent if they book you a basic fare and not tell you. When I was trying to book a basic fare via the WestJet site, I had to agree to a disclaimer explaining the price difference between basic and economy and difference in entitlements. I’ve heard so many stories about basic fares and the costs associated with any changes. If you were under the impression you had a regular ticket and then later found out you didn’t when you needed to make a change or miss a flight, you would think they would be responsible for properly informing you.
 
Same re:taking my own bags on the bus! I just want the tags & stuff to add to the scrapbook :P The highlighted section is what's driving me round the bend .. I HATE not being in control -- I want to change things and can't :(



Last time around when we got to this point, we paid the change fee on our flights and extended our resort reservation from 2 weeks to 20 nights. Sigh!
I wouldn't say that I hate not being in control over this stuff but I most certainly prefer having control.

If you want to extend just call the airline and see what they say you can do. Like I said the airlines are different when it comes to third party bookings....as in the agent books the ticket with the airline same as you could. As far as the resort....that's an easy one because you can book the additional nights on a separate reservation. MANY times I've had two reservations at the same resort. Sometimes it's because a discounted rate was only available for part of the trip and other times it's because I've added days. So far, I've never had to change rooms. You just call them and ask to link the reservations together and again when you check in you mention it.
 
I’m wondering if there’s any recourse you would have against the travel agent if they book you a basic fare and not tell you. When I was trying to book a basic fare via the WestJet site, I had to agree to a disclaimer explaining the price difference between basic and economy and difference in entitlements. I’ve heard so many stories about basic fares and the costs associated with any changes. If you were under the impression you had a regular ticket and then later found out you didn’t when you needed to make a change or miss a flight, you would think they would be responsible for properly informing you.
Nope on that. Unless you have asked for something specific all they have to book for you is a seat on the dates you want. It will always be the lowest fare possible. However, if you happen upon a travel agent that actually has experience traveling he/she may ask you for specifics before hand to allow you all the possible options. Those agents are rare. Take a place like Flight Centre....no experience is required to be an agent there. If you can pass the personality test you're hired. They teach the minimum on the booking system and that's it. It's not uncommon to see an agent in there open up their own webpage and fill in the blanks for booking....same as you could do at home.
 


Nope on that. Unless you have asked for something specific all they have to book for you is a seat on the dates you want. It will always be the lowest fare possible. However, if you happen upon a travel agent that actually has experience traveling he/she may ask you for specifics before hand to allow you all the possible options. Those agents are rare. Take a place like Flight Centre....no experience is required to be an agent there. If you can pass the personality test you're hired. They teach the minimum on the booking system and that's it. It's not uncommon to see an agent in there open up their own webpage and fill in the blanks for booking....same as you could do at home.

Good to know. This is why I prefer to do it all myself. We have dealt with agents before and when there’s been an issue, they have dealt with it appropriately, but I can often find what they can for the same price or cheaper.
 
So as reported a few pages back, Shell has a promo on right now for 10% back on min $50 purchase. Does NOT have to be gas. So I tried and bought a $50 GC on Oct1. just received my $5 credit on my online CC account. So it is legit. Now I know its been all over RFDs, but wanted to make sure and let everyone here know as well.
Unfortunatly I have not been able to find any Disney GC at any Shell. So the other thing I am doing is buying prepaid mastercards. The ones that are $200 or $250 if you can find them. This way with the $7 activation fee you are still up 6-7%. I can then use them to buy Sobeys GC, or Disney GC and still get a savings that way.
Promo is on till end of Dec.
Prepaid cards under the $200 you really are not saving with the activation fee.
Every penny helps.

This promotion has ended. As of October 8, 2019 at 10am EST, no new card enrolments or statement credits for new purchases will be processed. Please visit shell.ca for other available promotions.

got killed early
 
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On the boom coupon for Lawtons in Atlantic Canada it says to scan the back but there is nothing to scan when you look on the back. Any thoughts
 
Ok, I swallowed hard, picked up the phone, actually called WestJet (the Duck HATES the phone!!) and the great agent confirmed my thoughts... we've been booked on a basic level fare and that means we get NOTHING! No Reward dollars, can't change the seats we'll get assigned when we check-in without paying a fee ranging from $50 - $75 😱 and no way at all to upgrade to whatever the premium seats. Knowing that we might not get to sit together has me unsettled -- I've already set an alert on my phone to make sure I'm sitting at the computer ready to hit check-in at the 24hr mark.

BUT at least there is a 2nd coupon for Rexall on the Airmiles website now. I'll create a post for that now <sigh>
 
Good thing to know for those who deal with a travel agent. You need to spell out everything you want/need. I never would have thought I would have to mention that I wanted regular economy as a minimum. Like @dancin Disney style said I can't believe they can do that without confirming it with you first.

I'm sure your flights will be uneventful and on time in clear blue skies.
 
STOP THE BUS ITS OVER.
This promotion has ended. As of October 8, 2019 at 10am EST, no new card enrolments or statement credits for new purchases will be processed. Please visit shell.ca for other available promotions.

got killed early, lots taking advantage of this deal.

supposed to go till end of Dec. Dead after 10 days. This puts Pickle power to shame. Unfortunately I think someone will be losing a job by not putting restrictions on GC and Lotto and Tobacco.
 
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STOP THE BUS ITS OVER.
This promotion has ended. As of October 8, 2019 at 10am EST, no new card enrolments or statement credits for new purchases will be processed. Please visit shell.ca for other available promotions.

got killed early, lots taking advantage of this deal.

supposed to go till end of Dec. Dead after 10 days. This puts Pickle power to shame. Unfortunately I think someone will be losing a job by not putting restrictions on GC and Lotto and Tobacco.

No way! I didn't even get a chance to use it...lame.
 
Ok, I swallowed hard, picked up the phone, actually called WestJet (the Duck HATES the phone!!) and the great agent confirmed my thoughts... we've been booked on a basic level fare and that means we get NOTHING! No Reward dollars, can't change the seats we'll get assigned when we check-in without paying a fee ranging from $50 - $75 😱 and no way at all to upgrade to whatever the premium seats. Knowing that we might not get to sit together has me unsettled -- I've already set an alert on my phone to make sure I'm sitting at the computer ready to hit check-in at the 24hr mark.

BUT at least there is a 2nd coupon for Rexall on the Airmiles website now. I'll create a post for that now <sigh>

I booked base fares for a recent flight. From what I understood, even when you book at 24 hours you won’t have the option to pick your seats. The system assigns them. And the price to prebook seats is dynamic, so as the plane fills the cost to reserve seats goes up. It’s really an unpleasant situation and such a transparent cash grab. I will definitely be considering options closely next time we book flights (not our next disney trip, though. only direct option is on swoop, and with a toddler it’s worth biting the bullet and accepting “a la carte” discount fares...)

We bought the base fare and paid for seat selection in advance, because the total cost was still cheaper than the next fare level, but it took me a whole afternoon of research to make that choice. It’s really awful that your travel agent has just booked basic without any input from you, and I would definitely be complaining to the company.
 

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