The Perils of Planning Vacations

November is spring break month.

You thought it was April? Oh, no. Now is the time to begin planning, if you want a good family spring vacation or you’re sending a son or daughter on the road with friends.

One reason, obviously, is that places you may want to stay and airline flights you might need could soon be sold out. But travel experts give another reason for early planning:

Take extra time to make sure you aren’t signing up with someone who can’t deliver the promised goods.

“Do comparison shopping,” said Debbie Mahdi, director of Southern California’s Better Business Bureau, based in Placentia. “Let’s say several tour groups offer basically the same rate for a trip. But then one has the same trip for a much lower price. Chances are that one’s got problems you don’t want.”

It’s an old axiom, but it’s never more true than in the travel business: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

But consumers have plenty of ways to tell how to weed out the untrustworthy. Here are a few hints offered by government and travel industry experts:

* Pay by credit card, not cash or checks. It gives you more protection. This cannot be emphasized enough.

* If no one you know can vouch for a tour operation, check it out with the consumer affairs department at the American Society of Travel Agents at (703) 739-8739.

* If it’s a charter flight, call the federal government’s Public Charter Licensing Division at (202) 366-2396 to be sure the charter group is licensed.

* Read the fine print. Make sure you know all the “outs” that the tour operator has for not living up to what is promised.

* Avoid telemarketer vacation packages or offers you get in the mail.

Student Express Vacations, which specializes in assisting students with spring break planning, adds this warning: Ask your prospective vacation planner for verification that it is bonded by the Department of Transportation. Insist on the name of its insurance carrier. Then hit the agency with this: Do you maintain an escrow account for your customers’ deposits? You do? Prove it.

Here’s an important tip from Madhi of the Better Business Bureau: Don’t be content with promises that you’ll stay in a first-class hotel. Make the tour operator say which hotel, then call that hotel on your own to see whether the tour brochure’s promises match what’s real.

“There’s nothing worse than thinking you have an ocean view when you’ve only got an alley view,” Mahdi said.

Carol Kennedy, who owns the Travel in Style agency in Placentia, urges you be aggressive in confronting potential tour operators: “If they give you an air carrier, tell them you want to know the backup. Find out how long the agent has been in business. And make sure you know which associations they belong to.” If you aren’t satisfied with every answer, Kennedy suggests, then make up your mind you’re going to pay a little extra to get a better guarantee.

“In this business,” Kennedy said, “you get what you pay for.”

If after all this advice you still get ripped off, don’t hesitate to call the Better Business Bureau. Madhi’s staffers often have been successful in negotiating repayments on complaints. But even if you can’t get your money back, at least you’ll be putting the tour company on record to provide information to the next spring-break shopper to come along.

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers can reach Hicks by calling (714) 564-1049 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.