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Airfare and check in days for Timeshare - Question
mlrplast wrote:Why do most timeshares have Fri/Sat/Sun check in when are the inexpensive airfare is for midweek?We may have to forgo our week in Hawaii because of the expensive weekend airfares to Kona!
Any suggestions or comments - anyone? thanks!
You don't necessarily have to check in on Fri/Sat/Sun. You can check in on Monday. You may lose a couple of days, depending on what your check-in day is, but that would be better than losing your entire week due to high weekend airfares.
R P.
mike1536 wrote:mlrplast wrote:---------- More than once I've extended my vacation (oh darn, LOL) by one night to take advantage of cheaper airfares. Sometimes the airfare savings more than pay for the extra night.Good tip, thank you!
This would work if a person had a very flexible schedule (which we do not - not until we retire in a few years).
When we book our airfare weeks/months ahead (for a certain vacation period - we book our timeshare week in Hawaii a year or more in advance). There is no way to know whether there will be any space available for an 'extra' day at the timeshare (at our timeshare, they do NOT allow you to book these extra days well ahead of time - you can only request them a few days ahead or while you are still at the resort.
It is then pretty difficult to take advantage of the cheaper fares traveling midweek unless you can be very flexible. We have just resigned ourselves to fare shopping right up until time that we must cancel our timeshare week and then have to offer it for rent or trade.
No one really wants to lose a day or two of their vacation when you must fly 9 hours each way to get to/from Hawaii.
We did fine a good fare on AA.com at the last moment - but it turned out to be a nightmare. We left StL at noon on Sat. and were to arrive in Kona at 10:45 PM Hawaiian time Sat. night. Sadly, AA cancelled our flight out of LA at the very last moment (they also cancelled the last flight OUT OF KONA that same night - a sick in, we heard) and we ( and many others) were the last flight of the day.
We were stuck in a crappy flea motel for 24 hours. So, we lost ONE of THREE of the sunny days that week in Hawaii. Our return flight left at 12:05 a.m. on the following Sat., so because of flight scheduling - we lost two days out of seven and then the flight cancellation cost us another whole day. Of the 5 days we were in Hawaii - we had torrential rain 3 out of 5 days. I know it is winter in Hawaii, but the locals said it was more rain than anyone had seen in 15 years - and we were not in Hilo!
We learned a very valuable lesson. NEVER book the last flight in or out of anywhere. You are left with NO options. Sorry to complain - but this was a very disappointing trip. But, we were not the only disappointed travelers that night.
But, Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I appreciate it.
mlrplast
C. M.
Last edited by mlrplast on Dec 30, 2007 04:55 PM
As someone else suggested, why not fly during the week and rent a hotel or a condo-hotel unit until check-in day at your resort. That way you don't lose any of your vacation time and the flight planning should be much easier.
One other question, if you book your week in Hawaii a year in advance why don't you also book your airline reservations at that time? If you should have to cancel, many airlines will issue you an online voucher for travel within a year's time. Check with whatever airline you plan to reserve with about their cancellation policy. I would never wait until the last minute to book airfare ... just too risky.
R P.