I haven’t used a TA since the 80s, but I am looking to book a multi-stop air itinerary this spring. I have used google flights to get prices for it, but I want to use credit card points for some of it - not all.
So, I would like to find someone who can both find me the right days to travel on this (flexible within a certain period) and who I can pay in two parts (one part being refunded by my card, that’s how my credits work).
The trip is to New Zealand with stopovers both ways, least $ options for 2-4 nights going out or back seem to be Hawaii and Fiji but I’m open.
Unless you want a national travel agent, I’ve found it best to use a local one that others have recommended. I know a good one in Honolulu but none in Ohio.
I am not clear on the payment part. Are you wanting to pay on the same day with 2 methods or having the payments on different days?
See if you can bundle the stopovers (hotels and rental car) and flights through one airline’s vacation package. They have agents that can price it out for you.
Good idea snowball. Airbnb is my plan for Hawaii or Fiji but it might make sense to do a hotel for one or the other if it kicks me over into TA territory.
Payments can be same day, just need one to be under a certain $ amount.
If I were 30 and not 50 I’d use STA Travel - they do multi stop trips to the area all the time for students and “young people”. I suppose I can ask if it’s possible to do one for me but I think they can’t.
Flyertalk and some of the other message boards have folks skilled at using points but have no personal experience using them. I’ve used a few national ones because I had to due to the party that was paying for the flights but I was not impressed with their service.
I used the local Amex travel agency. I was booking a week in Maui, plus multiple flights afterwards. They had a Hawaiian expert, and my gal spent hours to get all the connecting flights. No charge for all the flights, and I got upgraded to ocean view in Maui. She also booked local tours for us. Great.
I dropped AAA awhile back but I will ask anyway, thanks. Amex…I don’t think we have it.
Also not using points - using a credit card. The points come from the card, not the airline, so they just credit me back what I spend, up the the limit I specify. I could just buy flights separately but that seems to be a lot more $$. I’ll check flyertalk though good idea.
It looks like you need to treat this purchase as though you were paying for one ticket in part with one card and in part with another. Is that it? A quick call to the airlines involved might let you know how hard it is to do that. I’ve never tried it with plane tickets but it’s pretty common at restaurants, Amazon, and time you use a gift card but have to top off the difference with a different card.
No, I want to use them. They’re points but they translate into dollar amounts so as long as I buy a flight at $x, I can use $x(100) points to pay for it.
My card uses Travelocity for award booking - I could book that way for free rather than paying and getting a refund - but it doesn’t have the good fares I am seeing if I book direct, probably because the good multi-stop fares involve calling an airline (weird, I know).
I suppose if i have to book by calling the airline I could maybe split it into two payments as suggested above, have to see.
Update: I called a local TA who didn’t want to work with me to book only airfare (never even asked if I would want to book anything else, his loss I guess).
I wound up calling Air New Zealand and booking over the phone. Super helpful guy who played with dates for me, and various stopover options, I think we spent an hour and a half on the phone. He got me a great price and was able to split the payment so I could use my CC points for all but $200 of it. Included a stopover on the way back (2 nights in Fiji) but not on the way there.
Just today booked air from North island to South (cheaper than taking a rental car on the ferry and back, as it turns out), and now onto rental car for south and maybe north too, and looking at Airbnbs and tours and stuff.
I searched this forum for New Zealand tips and found some threads but they’re all too old and are closed so I may start a new one, because there’s a lot still to figure out!
I was charmed by the small town of Akaroa and the Banks peninsula. There are families there that take the conservation and restoration of the ecosystem very seriously. I had a very informative day with Pohatu Penguins family run company.
There are many areas known for their wineries but that is not my scene. I am trying to remember, I think Napier and Picton are such areas.however, in Picton we rode around the waterfront and bays of Queen Charlotte Sound with the boat that delivers the mail and supplies to cottages and lodges. There is a major hiking trail through there too. In Napier we concentrated on the Art Deco architecture and visited a small aquarium. We had bad weather which kept us focused more on the indoors.
In Dunedin we did more penguin conservation things and walked through their amazing train station and gardens. Our tour guide was through 4 Nature and she was a scientist able to answer all our questions. She even made us cookies for a snack!
My sister is a LOTR super fan so we had fun seeing Hobbiton. I was more entertained than I thought I would be the he cute little hobbit houses and information about how scenes were filmed.
Still working off memory, we stayed in Auckland at the Hilton on points. It is right on a pier over the water yet very easily walkable to the sites and restaurants. There was a moving memorial to WW1. The maritime museum was excellent. I highly recommend it.
I wished I had the opportunity to stay longer. I went to some other places but they are not coming to mind right now.
Thank you for the ideas! I’d love to see a penguin but I’m not sure how far out of the way we’d have to go from Christchurch (where we are flying in and out for the south island).