The BIG Florida Wedding - August/Sept 2022 - UPDATE 5th August!

[Goldia]

Wow, how lucky that the BA website wouldn't let you book the seats you originally found, then the next bit of luck that you decided to not book up on the first phone call and check what Jim thought, which meant you got the fantastic person who waited while you booked a random flight so they could cancel and you could then get an extended voucher. Wow! That's amazing customer service. I read about that trick of booking and then cancelling to extend the expiry date of the 2 for 1 voucher AFTER I'd used 2 of our vouchers for the club Europe flights to and from Rome...oh well it was still worth it, not the best use of vouchers, but it was such a small number of points and only £50 pp in taxes. I'm so glad it worked out for you and Jim.

The complications of the other booking are a bit of a pain. Hmm...Hope and Sam alone in a hotel room in Miami, what could go wrong? surely they could get a train or something upto Orlando and then meet up? The night at Animal Kingdom Lodge sounds great, and with a great view too. Well done you for sorting it all out for them. It's one thing trying to find a bargain for yourself but having to sort out something that is acceptable to others must have been pretty stressful.

The plans for the honeymoon part of the trip seem to be coming together too. It's so exciting!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Wow, how lucky that the BA website wouldn't let you book the seats you originally found, then the next bit of luck that you decided to not book up on the first phone call and check what Jim thought, which meant you got the fantastic person who waited while you booked a random flight so they could cancel and you could then get an extended voucher. Wow! That's amazing customer service. I read about that trick of booking and then cancelling to extend the expiry date of the 2 for 1 voucher AFTER I'd used 2 of our vouchers for the club Europe flights to and from Rome...oh well it was still worth it, not the best use of vouchers, but it was such a small number of points and only £50 pp in taxes. I'm so glad it worked out for you and Jim.

The complications of the other booking are a bit of a pain. Hmm...Hope and Sam alone in a hotel room in Miami, what could go wrong? surely they could get a train or something upto Orlando and then meet up? The night at Animal Kingdom Lodge sounds great, and with a great view too. Well done you for sorting it all out for them. It's one thing trying to find a bargain for yourself but having to sort out something that is acceptable to others must have been pretty stressful.

The plans for the honeymoon part of the trip seem to be coming together too. It's so exciting!

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Thank you Abby! The gods really were looking down on us that day with not booking it the first or second time. Sometimes it really does pay off having a little stress thrown in 😂. Mind you, I always find booking flights a little stressful so this was nothing new 😆

I had never heard of that go around for the 2-4-1 vouchers and I’d probably still be unaware! Gutting that you only found out after booking Rome but at least you managed to use one for this years holiday.
Which Amex have you got? We’ve only got the Blue but I think we’re going to have to stump up and change to the Black as the rules have changed.

Yes it’s really not ideal with the kids staying in Tampa for the night but I’m hatching a plan that may involve my MIL going to pick them up from the airport and taking them back to Orlando. I know for a fact she won’t mind but I feel very cheeky asking her!

It was so complicated trying to sort their flights out, especially with the size of the party and trying to make everyone happy, but we got there in the end!

I just can’t wait to feel that wall of heat hit my face as we leave the airport and know it was all worthwhile 😁

[lfc_sarah]

Wow what a difference a person can make who actually does their job well and cares about people!

This is going to be one amazing trip 😍
I hope you manage to sort a plan for Hope and Sam!

[WIGGYSMUM]

Originally Posted by smithlane

Hello everyone! I’m so embarrassed this has taken me so long to update 🙈, can you believe it’s 2022 already?! We can finally say we are getting married THIS YEAR! Eeek

Even though the first half of 2021 was fairly crappy all round we ended up managing to go away twice and ending the year a heck of a lot better than when it started!

In August we had a very relaxing and fun week in Crete with our friends which you can read all about HERE

God it felt good to have the sun on our faces after what had turned out to be a very disappointing summer weather wise!

We then had an action packed 10 nights in Canada at the end of September with Jim’s sister and BIL Helen and Nick which you can read about HERE. He finally put a ring on it whilst we were in Canada, halfway up a mountain actually, which is better late than never as here I am organising our upcoming wedding

So lots to update you on!
We have a slight reduction in numbers for the Orlando part of the holiday. Helen & Nick and kids are now just coming for the wedding week on Anna Maria Island so it will just be Jim & I and the kids with Bill and Sylvia in the huge 7 bedroom villa . A little annoying as we now have to pay more but it hasn’t worked out hugely more expensive which is a relief. We can now play musical bedrooms if we want

We still haven’t booked our Anna Maria Island accommodation yet but hope to get it sorted soon.

I have finished booking the accommodation for the honeymoon week though. So I’ve booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn next to Sawgrass for one night on our way up to Hilton Head Island

The plan is to wave everyone off at Tampa airport then drive up through Florida, hopefully stopping by a little town called Micanopy for something to eat before arriving at the hotel in the evening. The next morning Jim will play golf at Sawgrass before we drive up to Hilton Head Island.

I also booked a room at the Renaissance St Augustine Historic Downtown hotel for our last night in Florida before flying home from Orlando the following day. I’ve splurged a little on this hotel but it’s actually really hard to find decent accommodation at decent prices in St Augustine! It looks really lovely though, in a fab location.

A quick recap on where we’ll be staying

20th-27th August
Villa in Formosa Gardens - booked
27th-3rd Sept
House on AMI - yet to be booked
3rd-4th Sept
Hilton Garden Inn Sawgrass - booked
4th-9th Sept
Air BnB Palmetto Dunes HHI - booked
9th-10th Sept
Renaissance St Augustine Downtown - booked

Now for the most exciting news though, our flights are booked!
Anyone who is looking to go this Summer will know just how ridiculously expensive flights are. The really great bargains of years past just don’t seem to be materialising this year, I guess that’s the Covid effect and that the demand outstrips supply with this being 3 years since going to the US for a lot of families (including us)

It was always going to be a bit tricky trying to book everyone’s flights as Jim and I are staying on for an extra week so we figured we’d get ours booked and then the kids would fly to and from Florida with my parents and sister & Co. They would be old enough and sensible enough to fly home on their own but it makes me feel better knowing they’ll be with family.
Bill and Sylvia have booked their flights and are actually flying out 4 days before everyone and are staying at a hotel in Disney Springs first. Helen and Co are going to fly into Miami as it’s coming in a lot cheaper and they quite fancy a night or two there before driving across to AMI.

I looked at so many different flight combinations it was giving me a serious headache, I just couldn’t get any half decent indirects for less than £600pp especially now that you have to add luggage onto the cost
I looked at my trusty BA flight and car but as many of you will know, car hire is through the roof so it was making the fly/drive package ridiculous.
We had some Avios points that I figured we could use but only enough for indirect in Economy. Annoyingly we have a 2-4-1 voucher from our Amex card but it expires this February and with the rules changing with how the companion vouchers can be used with our type of Amex, any future ones would only be able to be used in economy as well.

I knew booking economy flights with no 2-4-1 voucher was the worst way to spend the points but the taxes were around £350pp which was a lot cheaper than the cash alternative and they included luggage too. They were also direct coming home which made them seem better value.
I tried to book them online but I kept on getting an error to say one of the flights was unavailable so to start again. I tried a few different routes and I kept on getting the same message. Not wanting to throw my laptop out of the window I figured it’d be quicker to give BA a call and get them booked over the phone

I spoke to a nice lady who confirmed that the outbound flights I was trying to book were now unavailable and the only route left was via Dallas and not getting in to MCO until gone 11pm. I was a little unsure as to whether I should book them and I wanted to check with Jim first but he was at golf so I said I’d call back in a little while, hoping all seats hadn’t sold out in the meantime.
Typically, Jim didn’t care how we got there or at what time so I called back to get them booked.
This time around I had the most wonderful agent who went over and above what she had to!
We were chatting about what flights we wanted and in the conversation I mentioned our 2-4-1 voucher and how annoying it was that it would expire before we were wanting to go.
She said “hang on, where there’s a will there’s a way!”
To cut a very long story short, we could use our voucher if we booked 2 throwaway flights for a date before the voucher expired, she would then cancel them and that booking would be converted into another voucher that didn’t expire until September 2023! She waited very patiently on the phone while I booked 2 flights to Paris using the 2-4-1 voucher. These were £35 each in taxes and 9000 points.
After a few minutes the booking was showing on her system so she cancelled them her end and put a credit voucher on our account. The money was credited and points were refunded too!
So we now had a 2-4-1 voucher that we could use for our Florida trip. She looked at flights that went into Orlando but couldn’t see any reward seats for the outbound, however said there were 2 Club seats going into Tampa that we could have instead. I think I actually squealed as I never in a million years thought we’d be able to fly Business! We unfortunately didn’t have enough points, even with the voucher to fly Club both ways but we have WT+ from MCO on return which is still miles better than what I was expecting
So for the grand total of just over £1100 and 125,000 points we have 2 return direct flights to Florida, one in Club and one in Premium. Happy. As. Larry!

I felt guilty that the kids weren’t coming with us for like a minute but then figured they’re getting a free holiday so can’t really moan. This is our wedding after all . They of course think it’s mightily unfair that we get to travel in style while they’re left in cattle class with their grandparents but I’m afraid it fell on deaf ears and I told them to get over themselves . For any new readers, my ‘kids’ will be 19 and 17 so I’m not abandoning toddlers

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Brilliant and exciting update !
What a lovely bit of pixie dust you had showered for those flights too 🤗

[WIGGYSMUM]

How lovely for your niece and nephew to have a stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge 😊
Love you are now getting mum guilt , that’s them flights you have booked 😂

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by smithlane

Thank you Abby! The gods really were looking down on us that day with not booking it the first or second time. Sometimes it really does pay off having a little stress thrown in 😂. Mind you, I always find booking flights a little stressful so this was nothing new 😆

I had never heard of that go around for the 2-4-1 vouchers and I’d probably still be unaware! Gutting that you only found out after booking Rome but at least you managed to use one for this years holiday.
Which Amex have you got? We’ve only got the Blue but I think we’re going to have to stump up and change to the Black as the rules have changed.

Yes it’s really not ideal with the kids staying in Tampa for the night but I’m hatching a plan that may involve my MIL going to pick them up from the airport and taking them back to Orlando. I know for a fact she won’t mind but I feel very cheeky asking her!

It was so complicated trying to sort their flights out, especially with the size of the party and trying to make everyone happy, but we got there in the end!

I just can’t wait to feel that wall of heat hit my face as we leave the airport and know it was all worthwhile 😁

See more...

Our Amex is the paid for card as that gives us 2 years to use the voucher. Given the scarcity of reward flights and most bookings needing to be made at exactly 11 months out to secure them along with the fact we can only travel in school holidays we need the additional time to be able to use the voucher. Even with the fee I still think it's good value, there's no way we would have been able to go to DC in Club without it and it really was a fantastic experience.

[Sparksy72]

That is amazing news about your flights! The Universe works in mysterious ways - you were obviously meant to fly out there in style. 🤩 AKL was a total bargain, what a wonderful treat for the kids.

I bet Hope and Sam will just enjoy hanging out in the room watching YouTube or Netflix, however I can totally understand why you would prefer they went straight to Orlando. Have you priced an Uber, just out of curiosity? Might be cheaper than a hotel room for the night. 🤨

It is just so lovely to see everything coming together, you are super organised! 💖

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by lfc_sarah

Wow what a difference a person can make who actually does their job well and cares about people!

This is going to be one amazing trip 😍
I hope you manage to sort a plan for Hope and Sam!

See more...

Absolutely! You could tell she took great pride in her job. To be honest I'm yet to come across any of the BA customer service staff that aren't friendly, this one just went that bit further which was an amazing surprise!
Thank you for reading along

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by WIGGYSMUM

Brilliant and exciting update !
What a lovely bit of pixie dust you had showered for those flights too 🤗

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We are very excited! I'm not sure how I'll ever be able to go back to Economy again

Originally Posted by WIGGYSMUM

How lovely for your niece and nephew to have a stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge 😊
Love you are now getting mum guilt , that’s them flights you have booked 😂

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It will be really special for them as it's their first time in Florida and what a welcome it will be!
Oh god I know right , I reckon they'll be in their 30's and I'll still have mum guilt

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Our Amex is the paid for card as that gives us 2 years to use the voucher. Given the scarcity of reward flights and most bookings needing to be made at exactly 11 months out to secure them along with the fact we can only travel in school holidays we need the additional time to be able to use the voucher. Even with the fee I still think it's good value, there's no way we would have been able to go to DC in Club without it and it really was a fantastic experience.

See more...

I think you're right, it's definitely something I will look into. I reckon I'll always want to go at least Premium after this Summer and having the 2-4-1 voucher will be the only way it will be possible!