AAA Booking for Honeymoon?

KittennDave

All,

We're honeymooning in October in California and considering using AAA to help us book flights and hotels since I'm a member and I'd be comfortable with them.  Anyone have experiences booking with them or things to know?  The website doesn't seem very informative about policies or charges or anything so I'm having trouble deciding.  In the past we've used them for maps/trip-tick and books for when we go on vacations, which is free information.

Experiences? Good? Bad?

Thanks ladies!

TheSlowskys

I believe they have a booking charge.

I've looked at Apple, AAA, Liberty, etc., but I seem to always find the best deals on Expedia or Orbitz, and occassionally travelocity.

GoodLuckBear14

I used them about seven years ago to book my first flight to Ireland.  For our honeymoon, DH and I booked everything ourselves because AAA would have charged us even though we are both members.  The big thing I remember learning from AAA is that if you have any connecting flight, leave a minimum two hour connection time.  On my first trip to Ireland, the flight out of Cleveland was delayed and people who had booked themselves were panicked because they were going to miss their connecting flights in Philadelphia.

KittennDave

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_aaa-booking-for-honeymoon?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:e6115757-5058-47ff-8ee7-1b4bd30b25f6Post:564dd14c-9571-4c08-b30e-5ae8b6cbc1e0">Re: AAA Booking for Honeymoon?</a>:
[QUOTE]I used them about seven years ago to book my first flight to Ireland.  For our honeymoon, DH and I booked everything ourselves because AAA would have charged us even though we are both members.  The big thing I remember learning from AAA is that if you have any connecting flight, leave a minimum two hour connection time.  On my first trip to Ireland, the flight out of Cleveland was delayed and people who had booked themselves were panicked because they were going to miss their connecting flights in Philadelphia.
Posted by GoodLuckBear14[/QUOTE]

Ooo good advice, thank you! Hopefully we won't have connecting flights (I'm never a big fan of those, but if it's necessary I'm game).  Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of the flights and hotel than is necessary, normally we handle trips like these ourselves, I just thought perhaps an agent could help ease the stress (since so much is already stressful right now) and provide us with deals or extras we couldn't find on our own.....but maybe I'm misinformed! <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-surprised.gif" border="0" alt="Surprised" title="Surprised" />

shortncrazy

We had originally looked at trips through AAA, but I made the exact trip with an added excursion for about $300 cheaper. I think that anything counts! Plus our flight is now non-stop both ways where as AAA had a stopping and for about two hours! I don't know how you feel about this, but AAA will send you trips and you could go on expedia and make the same trip and see the price difference.

I would use expedia for sure though! It was simple and they offer different payment options which is nice! Hope this helps

daria24

We booked our flights, hotels, and rental cars for our 3 week HM through AAA. There weren't any booking fees. I *might* have been able to save more money doing everything on my own but it was so much easier having someone else doing it. It was worth my time to just spend an hour in the office, rather than days doing research. Plus if anything goes wrong, I have a 24 hr number to call and someone else has to fix it. 

kdksweetie

I booked through AAA. I got all the flight information from them and did my own research. No matter what way I did it - they got it cheaper for me. I basically found the same prices for the hotel and airfair, but they were able to get the car rental for lots cheaper than I could. Granted, I haven't gotten any paperwork from them yet, as they say they send it out a few weeks before the trip. We won't be flying out until September - so we will see. Bonus - the lady was willing to help with all of my questions. Great.

I say- use em.

eelyak321

We're having AAA book our HM flights and hotels because we'll be city-hopping.. we're following our hometown sports teams for 2 weeks and going to all of their games for our HM. The timing of our wedding and when the teams' schedules are released would be hectic for us to plan ourselves simply because there is soo much that we would have to figure out in the month before the wedding. My impression when I met with them to introduce the idea was that it wouldn't be an extra charge, but I know for our situation even if it would be, we would pay it because it would likely be cheaper than another travel agency and less hassle than doing it ourselves. However if you have the time and patience to do your own research I think the pros and cons of each side are about even, it just depends on your situation- how much control you like to have over that stuff, how much effort you would be willing to put forth to do it yourself, etc.

ncd5015

We used AAA to book our HM and it was great! We had no idea where we wanted to go and she really helped us narrow it down! We have a flight connection but we're only stopped for about 45 minutes and we didn't have any booking fees. When I asked if transportation to and from the hotel was available, she said she had already taken care of it! She was there to answer all of my questions and gave honest opinions.

KittennDave

Wow, sounds like I'll call up our local AAA and see what they have to say! Might be worth it even if there is a booking charge to be able to have a single point of contact for the process, but perhaps not (we're planning on 2 weeks in California, doing San Diego/Monterey/San Francisco, not necessarily in that order).  I'll post back with what we decided ;-) Thank you so much everyone, you were all really helpful!!! *hugs*

futuremrandmrsrioux

We booked our honeymoon (flights, hotel/condo, and car) through AAA and it was cheaper than anything I could find. We didn't have any booking fee and the travel agent was so knowledgable.  She also got us upgraded at the condo we're staying at because we're on our honeymoon. So much easier having someone who knows their stuff help you with the booking process.

squnkie

You don't have to book with them, but if you go into one of their offices, they will do a free travel consultation - even for non members! I got a ton of great info from them and lots of free books with sample itineraries and most popular hotels etc... I wouldn't necessarily book with them, but since they are completely free to go in and talk to, I figure why not?

RunDog

We booked with AAA not just for the discount, but because of the convenience. They booked our hotels and inter-island flights for us. They also have a wonderful website through which we can book activities (pleasantholiday.com). The agents usually have a lot of travel experience and can provide some nice tips you wouldn't find through expedia.com or wherever.

KittennDave

Update! I actually reached out to our local branch through their website and someone who was really helpful came back and when I said we'd have to come in on a weekend she gave me dates that would be good and asked where we were thinking and for what, she's seemed really helpful, excited to go in and meet with her!  So there's a recommendation, if you're thinking about it reach out to them on the website (perhaps using your wedding email if you've created one? no possibility of spam for later then!) :-)