Fine (Print) Lines, Wrinkles in Package Tour Brochures

Dollar for dollar, it’s hard to beat a package tour.

Working through a travel agent, you deal with only one company, which arranges your air travel, your hotel and the transportation between them. That company negotiates a better price for the whole package than you can because it gets volume discounts for delivering thousands of customers yearly to the airlines and hotels.

And just because you’ve come on a package tour doesn’t mean that you have to run with an escorted group and spend all day in buses. Most package travelers set their own agendas, keep their own hours and choose their companions.

But--you knew there had to be a “but”--package tours and the companies that offer them are far from perfect. Over the last couple of weeks, in planning a package trip for my wife and myself, I’ve been dealt several reminders of that.

Our destination is the South Pacific. The trip has been arranged, through a travel agent, by Tahiti Vacations, a well-regarded veteran tour operator that specializes in the area. But the problematic issues can crop up from Azusa to Zimbabwe.

The brochure. Naturally, it’s designed to show the destination at its best and the prices at their least. Page 23 says in inch-high type that for the nine-day journey I have in mind, prices begin at $1,749 per person, assuming double occupancy, including transpacific flights on Air France. So far, so good.

The season. The added costs start with the tour operator’s “seasonal supplement” charge. Tour operators often charge more for travel during periods of highest demand, but this operator doesn’t draw great attention to that fact. Warned by my travel agent, I notice an asterisk at the bottom of Page 23, which directs me to a small box on Page 5, which notes that my summer departure carries an extra $100 cost per person. OK, fine, add $200 to the tab.

The carrier. More surprises. Though Page 23 suggests that Air France is the only carrier offered with this itinerary, the only booking available for me is through lesser known AOM French Airlines.

The miles. I had expected to rack up 8,232 Air France mileage credits and later use them on United flights, since Air France and United have a reciprocity agreement. But it develops that AOM French Airlines has no comparable frequent-flier partners, so I lose that opportunity. Later, I discover that United’s agreement with Air France excludes Pacific routes like mine--so I wouldn’t have gotten mileage credit with United anyway. (There is a compound moral to this chapter: Never take mileage credit for granted from anyone; and just because United is widely advertising its rededication to simplicity and candor in customer relations, well, never take mileage credit for granted from anyone.)

The timing. I made my booking on June 24 for a trip that would begin July 18. In the world of air fare ticketing, that would be just in time to qualify for the 21-day advance-purchase discount. But in the world of tour operators, 30 days before departure is a more crucial date. (That’s when tour operators generally have to pay airlines and hotels for blocks of seats and rooms, or give them up.) And sure enough, my tour company booking falls under the heading of “late reservations” (fine print, Page 35) because it’s within 30 days of the departure date. The standard penalty is $50 per person--but my travel agent persuades the tour operator to cut that fee in half. So, $25 more per person.

The payment. The next warning from the travel agent is yet another fairly substantial price boost. The main price listed in the brochure is based on payment via check or money order. If we want to pay via credit card the cost is 3% higher. My brochure’s finest print notes that “prices quoted include a discount assuming payment will be in the form of cash or agency check,” but never specifies that the difference is 3% of the bill. Still, there’s no negotiating it away. I decide to spend the extra 3%. Another $170.

The insurance. This tour operator seems to have just the thing to put my mind at ease: a “special policy waiver” that, for a nonrefundable $39 a person, will allow us to cancel up until seven days before departure and get the rest of our money back. Sign me up, I say. A few minutes later, the travel agent is back on the line with bad news: Since I booked less than 30 days before departure, the tour operator won’t sell me the coverage.

The bottom line: Most tour operators do these things. And my travel agent’s prompt information on tour company policies gave me time to shop around a little more. In the end--no thanks to the maze-like phone system of Tahiti Vacations--I decided that this package was still the best way to go, costly warts and all.

So, a happy ending? Well, I hope. In the travel business as elsewhere, no happy ending is guaranteed. And as you read this, my wife and I are out on an island in the Pacific, testing my tour operator’s follow-through. Hey, somebody’s gotta do it.

Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips. He welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053 or e-mail chris.reynolds@latimes.com.