Reserving flights through Road Scholar

I booked my own travel, I arrive within the time frames of our arrival and departure times. I haven't left yet, but I don't foresee any problems, I arrive 4 hours earlier. On our departure, our hotel is right next to the airport, I can just take the free hotel shuttle to the airport. I got a great deal, and I live near a major city with an international airport.

I book on my own as I have airline program miles and normally get flight and hotels for points. Most often I fly in a day or two early depending on the location. I then do the off the beaten path adventures not included on the RS trip or even visit something included that I know I would want to spend more time exploring. I also like to link together two trips when I can to save travel money so those travel arrangements can get complicated.

I always use RS. One stop shopping, they get me there, I have a great trip, and they get me home. It's worth a few more $$$ as a few times I could have gotten cheaper overseas flights. But the peace of mind is worth is :).

I booked my own it was $200 less than what RS quoted me. I do think the one reply below made sense though, do your own research, then tell RS exactly what you want and you should get a price you are willing to pay.

I always book my own but I've done only domestic trips with RS. I'd definitely consider booking thru them for an international trip. I did talk to them about airfare to Vancouver but the price was about $300 more than I found on expedia.

Curious about the flight arrangements from DULLES/DC to arrive in Croatia for a September flight? If using Road Scholar's assistance, how long is our flight to arrive in Split, Croatia? How many connecting cities? My wife will be traveling on her own....as I will already be Europe. many thanks Rick

In reply to ricruns011649:

I booked my own travel to Split from Houston in 2105. Nonstop (United) flight to Frankfurt; then connecting flight (Lufthansa) to Split.

Thanks, great idea if you're much earlier than the trip gets in to use the hotel shuttle if the hotel is close to the airport. It beats waiting. Is there anyone going on the Ireland tour on July 13th

In reply to ClaireAnn:

I recently booked international through RS. They found a price that was slightly less for the same class of travel I had looked into, on my own. They even made sure my Global Entry/Trusted Traveler data was entered correctly.

I book my own if domestic or easy to figure out but use RS if I'm not sure the best way to go. Be careful though, as I had one trip where my flight was cancelled and I had to call the RS emergency line to rebook because it was a weekend. Airline wouldn't let me rebook because I hadn't made the reservation. Worked out fine but gave me some stress.

In reply to bje013100:

I booked my first RS trip, an international one, and used their travel service.  I was very impressed by their speed of response, cost, and connections offered  with adequate times allowed for transfers.  Their  flight price was about $400 less than what I had found on my own and included airport transfers.  As far as accruing  FFmiles save your boarding passes and if  you are using "partner" airlines and they are not credited  it is easy to do after you get home.

When we booked our flights through RS for our trip to Ecuador (Galapagos Islands) an ice storm in D.C. cancelled our outbound flight. RS rebooked us, and we arrived at the Quito airport at 1:00 a.m., several hours later than originally planned, but a driver and car were waiting for us to take us on the long drive into our hotel in the city, and we didn't miss a minute of our trip. I am not sure we would have been able to accomplish this seamless transition on our own!

In reply to hjones022832:

I had RS book a flight from Portland Oregon to LAX to connect with their flight to French Polynesia. I assumed it was a good price. Turned out to be over $300. I later priced it on Alaska airlines at. $199. I book my own flights now.

In reply to susanschwartzhh031237:

Yes, my wife and myself. Ellen & Ken. Have you heard from anyone else going on this trip? Looking forward to meeting our group.

In reply to hjones022832:

RS (Holbrook Travel) can do personalized flights too. I did explore my preferred airline and didn't like the options, too many connections and length of time. Holbrook Travel gave me a difference airline with better connections at about the same price. I also had my flight upgraded to first/business class. On my next international RS trip, I entered my preferred airline, TSA precheck number in the profile. Also requested business class flight and that was automatically updated on the total program cost. I just have to work through RS for the flight from my hometown to program city of departure. RS seems to making it easier to travel especially when it's up to the client to get to the first point. I was unsure of the program itinerary statement saying a RS representative will meet arrivals at the airport for group flights only on my recent Costa Rica trip. I was surprised to see a RS sign and asked about it and he was meeting 4 of 7 of us on the program. We came in at the same time on different airlines.