Overseas Adventure Travel

Book to trip with overseas adventure Time 10 months ago England Scotland and wales. The airline Park came through I specifically said I wanted American airlines when I booked it today when I looked and I tried to get on the website I called overseas adventure the first person quit speak English the next one wasn't much better finally they told me they had booked me on British Air and since it's now 90 days unless I would have to pay the difference on their mistake I proceeded to cancel two more trips overseas adventure so this year I have canceled six trips in the future with them.

After 2025 I doubt if I'll be taking any more trips with them. They never admit to a mistake they never do a financial compensation they're rude and obnoxious and all they say is they're sorry I've worked too hard in my life for my money to be spent with people that are ungracious I'm knowledgeable and rude

I am currently on the OAT AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 30-DAY TOUR. A complete waste of my time and money.

This is my 18th tour with OAT. WORST tour ever. If I could change my airfare I would fly home early.

Out of 30 days, 15 days are driving, flying and freetime. The meals are limited if you can eat them.

Drinks are not included. I bought my own food so I can keep myself healthy.

In the Outback the tents had no electricity. The bathroom facilities were unacceptable. The bathrooms were a football field distance from the tents.

To use the facilities at night there were no escorts to protect us from wild animals and snakes. Breakfast was bread and coffee. Our group of 16 were cramped in an all-terrain vehicle 11 hours for an 8 hour overnight stay.

I spent $12,000.00+ to be on this tour. Not to mention the time and effort it took to get here.

I am losing time and income from my business, paying a petsitter $40.00 a day, and paid $220.00 for long-term parking.

The highlights of the tour are optional tours at a cost of 1,000+ The optional tours are not worth the money so I sit in my hotel room.

Now, the tour guide's daughter has joined our group in Queenstown for 4 days to celebrate her 21st birthday. I never agreed to that. I was told. So happy birthday because I'm paying for that.

I have contacted OAT customer support with no response to date.

I have one more tour with OAT in November. That tour will determine if I travel with OAT in the future.

We had previously taken an O.A.T. trip to Southeast Asia.

We loved it. O.A.T was flawless putting all the pieces together. This time, my wife and I had some time on our hands deciding to take another O.A.T. trip.

We chose New Zealand this November. Upon talking to the travel advisor we opted for them to take care of all aspects of the trip including air reservations. I asked about seat selection and upgrades and was told that at this point in time it was too early. They could not book them.

I should later contact Air New Zealand. I received a travel payment confirmation from O.A.T. It contained no airline seat assignments. Worse there was no six digit Airline Booking Reference to use on the Air New Zealand website.

Fed the trip data into the app CheckmyTrip. Came up with the air reservation trip reference. Put the info into the Air New Zealand site and it said I had to call O.A.T.'s. Did so.

Worse Air New Zealand said they dont have to pre-assign seats at all (unless I guess you pay extra). They will assign seats at check-in. Checked the flight. There were multiple addons including more foot room availability in Economy.

Called an O.A.T advisor. He tried to update the reservation couldnt. Couldnt get enhanced economy seating. Couldnt get a seat assignment.

What he could do is Upgrade to either Business Class or Premium Comfort. The cost over $6,000 more r/t. The lower cost enhancements unavailable through O.A.T. would have cost $520.Unwittingly or knowingly a Bait and Switch.

I paid the $$ and with it came the ability to choose seats. We discussed that the O.A.T. contract info does not match up with the reality. He said where does it say it?

Here I quote

"Our Air Service Counselors can assist you if you would like to personalize your flight schedule, including arriving early, staying later, or upgrading your seat options. Our Air Service Team books the most ideal routing at the best value based on airline availability and your itinerary schedule. Due to the unprecedented number of schedule changes airlines are currently experiencing, please wait 120 days before your trip departs to finalize your air arrangements.

"

In the end they were unable to fulfill the above obligation. It would have been less expensive and far more convenient to book directly.

I am currently on the OAT Australia & New Zealand 30-day tour. If I could change my airfare I would go home early.

This is my 18th tour. It is the worst tour ever.

Out of 30 days, I will have spent 15 days flying, driving, and freetime. I spent $12,000+ to be here. The highlights of the tour are optional tours at a cost of $1,000.

So, I sit in my hotel room. The optional tours are not worth the money spent.

In the Outback, the tents had no electricity. The bathrooms and showers were a football field from the tents. No escorts at night to keep us safe from wild animals and snakes.

It took 11 hours of driving in an all-terrain vehicle for an 8 hour overnight stay. Breakfast was bread and coffee. There are 16 people in the group all cramped in the back of a van.

Now, the tour guide flew her daughter to Queenstown for her 21st birthday to join our group for 4 days. I never agreed to that.

I was told. Is that OAT protocol?

I saved for 10 years to be on this tour.

Not to mention the time and effort it took to get here. I am losing time and income from my business, paying a petsitter $40.00 a day, and paid $220.00 in long-term parking.

I have contacted OAT customer support with my concerns with no response to date.

I was on an OAT trip to Tasmania/Australia/New Zealand 12/1/23-1/5/24. Cyclone Jasper (CJ) manifested approximately 12/5/23.

At that time, our guide, GH sent email to OAT office in Sydney (S) about CJ recommending that our group be diverted from the Cairns/Port Douglas (C/PD) segment of the tour to another location in Australia. Our C/PD segment was scheduled for 12/16-12/20/23. CJ made landfall at PD on 12/13/23. CJ then stalled for several days in the area until 12/18/23.

CJ caused power losses, drinking water shortages,trees to uproot,overflow of rivers and creeks,and mudslides and destabilizing damage on many roads. People needed to be rescued. C airport finally closed (12/16-17/23). Mossman and Daintree River also flooded.

Crocodiles were seen floating through Ingham. CJ was the wettest tropical cyclone to impact Australia on record. On 12/16/23, while we were in Ayers Rock, G told us that after CJ had hit things were back to normal in C/PD. When we landed in C.

we were met with torrential rain. After several detours, we arrived at the hotel about 12 Midnight. P told us to be in the lobby at 9am for the Wildlife Tour. On 12/17/23 morning, P told us that there would be no trip to the Wildlife Zoo nor any planned activities.

We were confined to the hotel. Some of us wrote emails to OAT about our situation in PD. On 12/18/23, we all received an email from Marisela R. Perez, Traveler Relations, OAT that acknowledged the situation we were in and attributed it to circumstances beyond OAT's control.

She reiterated that our safety remained OAT's priority. We were angered by her letter. On 12/19/23, planes started to fly in and out of C airport. All the various roads between C and PD were impassable.

PD started up a Ferry Service between PD and C. On 12/20/23, we took the Ferry from PD to C and then flew from C to S as originally scheduled. On 12/22/23, we all received another email from Marisela reiterating that the change in program in C/PD was out of OAT's control. As a gesture of good will, we were provided a travel voucher for $500.00 per person to use on any OAT or Grand Circle Tour within the next two years.

This second letter angered us even more. We wrote a group response where we all agreed to reject the $500 credit offer from OAT and requested compensation of $10,000.00 cash for each person for OAT's gross if not criminal negligence for sending us into an existing dangerous situation putting our lives at risk. G mentioned the suggestion for altering our itinerary was nixed by Sandrine Le Gillard, VP Regional General Manager, South Pacific. On 1/23/24, Marisela spoke with SC and said the Executive Team would not authorize any refund at all.

On 1/28/24, I sent an email to Harriet Lewis, Chairman of the Board with Grand Circle Corporation (GCC), Brian Fitzgerald, CEO GCC and Nicholas D'Angelo, Executive VP Traveler Relations OAT. I requested the following from OAT: 1. A letter from OAT acknowledging their accountability in this grossly negligent incident with an apology 2. Compensation of $10,000.00 for the gross negligence.

3. A conversation with a person in the OAT organization with authority over quality control and processes to get assurance that this will never happen again-to anybody. On 1/31/24 Marisela and I spoke. She said that she was speaking on behalf of Brian Fitzgerald.

She said that the decision to send our group to C/PD was based on phone calls to the airline where OAT was told that the planes were flying and to the tourist businesses in C/PD where OAT was told that the tourist venues were open. That was the info OAT had at the time and what happened in PD was unexpected. This is "Force Majeure" or "Act Of God". However, the foreseeable conditions in PD nullifies the third test of unforeseeability to trigger the "Force Majeure" clause.

I received a refund of $27,000.00 that I had paid in full for four OAT trips. I will no longer travel with OAT.

I signed up for a trip and said very clearly that I did not want the travel insurance that OT offers. I paid the bill in full and then about three weeks later I received a check in the mail, reimbursing me for travel insurance based on their assumption that I had already paid for the travel insurance.

But I have not paid for the travel insurance so they didnt owe me that 800 and some dollars, I did not cash the check and I waited for a couple of weeks before I then found OT to ask what to do with the check. Their response was that I was supposed to deposited in my account and then write a check back to them and mail it to a PO Box of their address. That seemed a bit convoluted and so I asked if they could not just please cancel payment on that check. A few weeks later I have not heard so I called again and was on the phone for a long time and talked to several people and things were supposed to get worked out a few weeks later and was on the phone for a long time again talking to several people again and they finally made an agreement that they would stop payment on the check.

They asked that I contact their finance department to request that they cancel payment on the check and that took a couple of phone calls to reach the person I was supposed to talk to who did not seem to know anything about the case , so I went through the whole explanation with .them. About two weeks later I received something in the mail saying that I was all cleared and that the check has been canceled.