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Has anyone traveled on the AA ACA $0 fares?

Has anyone traveled on the AA ACA $0 fares?

Old Jan 19, 2006, 8:46 pm
  #76  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,884
Originally Posted by Viajero Joven
The views were worth $0?

Haha. I missed this. Touche.

The views alone were worth the price of dinner.
SchmutzigMSP is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2006, 9:51 am
  #77  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Des Moines
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Posts: 186
ACA trip notes

Thanks to the tip I received from these boards, my SO and I spent a long weekend in ACA on the $0+ fares. In the spirit of trying to give something back to these boards, following are some tips/hints I either picked up during our trip, or received from other posters that I found to be worth repeating:

Our flight from MSP-ORD-ACA was very uneventful (just as you want a flight to be!). Every flight we were on to/from ACA was completely full. We had NO problems with the $0+ tickets one of the gate attendants tried to upgrade us to Biz class, but when she pulled up our tickets on her computer she saw the fare we paid. Her only comment was I cant imagine how you got such a good fare! Im sorry, but we wont be able to upgrade you Fine with me - $0+ for coach is great!

Prior to arrival to ACA, I emailed Hector who is a local taxi driver. For $40, he was waiting at the airport for us and took all 8 of us to the Camino Real (again, thanks to these boards!) If anyone is looking to set up taxi service (his taxi is a minivan), feel free to email him at [email protected]. He speaks very good English, and will make any stops you wish to make on the way to your hotel.

We stayed at the Camino Real, and are VERY HAPPY with our choice! Beautiful hotel in an exclusive part of ACA in a gated community. We booked a standard room through hotels.com for $131 per night. At check-in, we were upgraded to a deluxe room at no additional charge. Everyone in our group found the restaurants to be very good. We ate all our meals on-site, and never had a complaint. Food is a little on the pricey side, but not really that bad (a bacon cheeseburger with fries is $110 pesos). The rooms are very nice, with tile and marble floors. The in-room safe is large enough for a laptop, and even has an electrical outlet inside the safe. The beach is on the small side, but since it is a private beach, it was never very crowded. We are very impressed with the staff and would love to return. When you first arrive, there are signs saying no outside alcohol or food is allowed. We showed up with 3 cases of corona and they didnt say one word. The bellmen even loaded the cases on his cart and took them to our room. Each evening we sat around the lobby bar area with our own drinks without any problems.

Two of us chartered a boat to go deep-sea fishing for a day. Their van picked us up at 5:30am and took us to the boat approximately 30 minutes away. By 6:00am the boat was headed out to sea! We went 21 miles out, fished for several hours, and got back to the dock at 2:30pm. Total cost including chartering the boat, fishing licenses, drinks on the boat (pop, water and beer available cold onboard for $1 each), and tips for the 3-person crew was $440. Money well spent!! I highly recommend www.fish-r-us.com if you want to go deep-sea fishing! We ended up catching a black tuna and a 83 sailfish.

The flight back was just as uneventful as the flight there. I am very impressed with the DFW airport. We were through immigration, baggage claim and re-check, and customs all within 5 minutes! Amazing.

A Few other thoughts:
When leaving the ACA airport you go upstairs to go through security. Immediately at the top of the stairs is one line to get through security (very long line!). Look to your right, and down the hall at the other end is another security line that is not used as much. We went to that line, and were through security in less than 5 minutes.
The ACA airport was actually very pleasant not as hot as I had expected.
On the way to the Camino Real, you pass a Super Walmart if you want to pick up anything. You will also pass several liquor stores with good prices.
On the way to our fishing trip, we passed the Hyatt, and I noticed that it is within walking distance of a Walmart.

If anyone has any questions about our trip, I will be happy to pass along any info I can!
miller4isu is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2006, 12:11 pm
  #78  
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Miller4isu-
I'm so glad you were pleased with Senor Hector--we were too.

If we had only had one more day, we would have gone deep sea fishing too. A trip like that in Hatteras, NC would cost over $1000 and no guarantees.
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Old Jan 23, 2006, 12:15 pm
  #79  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Des Moines
Programs: AA Platinum, Marriott Gold
Posts: 186
We were happy with the price also - I was expecting it to cost a lot more.
I'm looking at the pic of me standing beside the sailfish, wishing I was still there!!
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 12:51 am
  #80  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 137
Has anyone had any luck changing a name on one of these tickets my husband has to go on a mission trip the same dates I booked. So I have three options: change dates (figured not likely), change name, or go by myself and waste one of the tickets I booked. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 6:52 am
  #81  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Des Moines
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I would be VERY suprised if you are able to change the name on the ticket. Having said that, a free phone call will answer that question very quickly.
Good luck!
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 7:06 am
  #82  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,449
Originally Posted by phoney
Has anyone had any luck changing a name on one of these tickets my husband has to go on a mission trip the same dates I booked. So I have three options: change dates (figured not likely), change name, or go by myself and waste one of the tickets I booked. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I would be beyond astonished if either a name (unthinkable, actually) or a date change were allowed.
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 7:31 am
  #83  
 
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Originally Posted by Telfes
I would be beyond astonished if either a name (unthinkable, actually) or a date change were allowed.
Most likely an act of God would be required for a date change; namely severe weather in either the departing location or ACA.
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 7:44 am
  #84  
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Originally Posted by phoney
Has anyone had any luck changing a name on one of these tickets my husband has to go on a mission trip the same dates I booked. So I have three options: change dates (figured not likely), change name, or go by myself and waste one of the tickets I booked. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Name change: not happening. Almost no airline will allow a name change on any ticket, let alone a mistake.

Date change: possible, but you'll pay the fare difference + $100-200 per ticket, so you're essentially buying a new ticket since the original ticket has very little value.

ACA solo is your best bet if you want to salvage anything from this trip. At least you'll only be out the $100 for your husband's ticket.
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 8:19 am
  #85  
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,236
Originally Posted by phoney
Has anyone had any luck changing a name on one of these tickets my husband has to go on a mission trip the same dates I booked. So I have three options: change dates (figured not likely), change name, or go by myself and waste one of the tickets I booked. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I split a record and changed every passengers dates to different days and flights to accomidate different work schedules with no cost.


How did I do it?

I found the most butt ugly agent and sweet talked the agent into it. I'm still not sure if the agent was a man or woman or some combo but it was really a nice agent.
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 9:19 am
  #86  
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Originally Posted by jerry crump
I found the most butt ugly agent and sweet talked the agent into it. I'm still not sure if the agent was a man or woman or some combo but it was really a nice agent.
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 10:27 am
  #87  
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our comparisons

both our flights ATL-ORD-ACA-DFW-ATL were 1/2 full at best in Y and J. Flights were uneventful which is good yet the FA's were great southbound from ORD and hags (and thats being nice to them) Northbound to DFW. I was able to get my EXP upgrade both ways although both in ATL and ACA, they tried to charge me for VIPs before I said No Way.. these should be free. They were after discussions.

We did the harbor tour which well was a harbour tour, with beers included, a stop to see the cliff diving and a stop to go swimming in some really nice warm very clear water in some cove somewhere.. it was a 3 hour tour.. and unlike Gilligan ours came back perfectly.

I second the comment by this poster about security. One note if you go to the far security entrance.. beware, you must go down steps (no esc or elev.) so if you either are physically challenged or carrying a ton of stuff.. well use the other line.. however it is only maybe a dozen steps or so.

Originally Posted by miller4isu
Thanks to the tip I received from these boards, my SO and I spent a long weekend in ACA on the $0+ fares. In the spirit of trying to give something back to these boards, following are some tips/hints I either picked up during our trip, or received from other posters that I found to be worth repeating:

Our flight from MSP-ORD-ACA was very uneventful (just as you want a flight to be!). Every flight we were on to/from ACA was completely full. We had NO problems with the $0+ tickets one of the gate attendants tried to upgrade us to Biz class, but when she pulled up our tickets on her computer she saw the fare we paid. Her only comment was I cant imagine how you got such a good fare! Im sorry, but we wont be able to upgrade you Fine with me - $0+ for coach is great!

Prior to arrival to ACA, I emailed Hector who is a local taxi driver. For $40, he was waiting at the airport for us and took all 8 of us to the Camino Real (again, thanks to these boards!) If anyone is looking to set up taxi service (his taxi is a minivan), feel free to email him at [email protected]. He speaks very good English, and will make any stops you wish to make on the way to your hotel.

We stayed at the Camino Real, and are VERY HAPPY with our choice! Beautiful hotel in an exclusive part of ACA in a gated community. We booked a standard room through hotels.com for $131 per night. At check-in, we were upgraded to a deluxe room at no additional charge. Everyone in our group found the restaurants to be very good. We ate all our meals on-site, and never had a complaint. Food is a little on the pricey side, but not really that bad (a bacon cheeseburger with fries is $110 pesos). The rooms are very nice, with tile and marble floors. The in-room safe is large enough for a laptop, and even has an electrical outlet inside the safe. The beach is on the small side, but since it is a private beach, it was never very crowded. We are very impressed with the staff and would love to return. When you first arrive, there are signs saying no outside alcohol or food is allowed. We showed up with 3 cases of corona and they didnt say one word. The bellmen even loaded the cases on his cart and took them to our room. Each evening we sat around the lobby bar area with our own drinks without any problems.

Two of us chartered a boat to go deep-sea fishing for a day. Their van picked us up at 5:30am and took us to the boat approximately 30 minutes away. By 6:00am the boat was headed out to sea! We went 21 miles out, fished for several hours, and got back to the dock at 2:30pm. Total cost including chartering the boat, fishing licenses, drinks on the boat (pop, water and beer available cold onboard for $1 each), and tips for the 3-person crew was $440. Money well spent!! I highly recommend www.fish-r-us.com if you want to go deep-sea fishing! We ended up catching a black tuna and a 83 sailfish.

The flight back was just as uneventful as the flight there. I am very impressed with the DFW airport. We were through immigration, baggage claim and re-check, and customs all within 5 minutes! Amazing.

A Few other thoughts:
When leaving the ACA airport you go upstairs to go through security. Immediately at the top of the stairs is one line to get through security (very long line!). Look to your right, and down the hall at the other end is another security line that is not used as much. We went to that line, and were through security in less than 5 minutes.
The ACA airport was actually very pleasant not as hot as I had expected.
On the way to the Camino Real, you pass a Super Walmart if you want to pick up anything. You will also pass several liquor stores with good prices.
On the way to our fishing trip, we passed the Hyatt, and I noticed that it is within walking distance of a Walmart.

If anyone has any questions about our trip, I will be happy to pass along any info I can!
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 2:42 pm
  #88  
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I went with my wife January 20 - 22. I had originally booked an award stay at the Hyatt, but after some bad reviews and the fact it's not on the beach I decided to look elsewhere. We were able to book the Park Royal Hotel with an all inclusive rate of $184/night through Orbitz plus $14 in tax/fees, so it came out to under $200/night all-in. The hotel is on the other side of the bay from the rest of the action, but overall we really enjoyed it. The rooms were nice, though very sparse (no alarm clocks!), but they actually had really nice TV's (Phillips flat tube TV's).

The food was fine I thought, considering it's all inclusive, and the alcoholic beverages did their job. For the total price, and considering we enjoyed just laying on the beach and around the pool, it was great. Most of the complaints I read online concerning this hotel related to the variety of food, but as long as you're not there for a week or more, it shouldn't be too bad.

I decided to just rent a car from Hertz since it was only $65 total for two days. I reserved the cheapest car they had with an automatic, got a Dodge Neon with 70,000+ kilometers, but it was fine, though it bottomed out a few times on the bigger speed bumps and other road anamolies around the city. If you rent a car, make sure to check the gas gauge, they don't rent them with full tanks, and in our case the tank was very empty when we picked it up! Valet parking at our hotel was only 30 pesos a day.

As for getting pesos ... I'm not sure I'd bother ... either you can use your credit card to pay for stuff or just pay with USD at a 10-1 rate, which while not quite as good as you may get elsewhere, is certainly convenient. The gas station, airport bar, hotel gift shop, and flea market merchants we dealt with all gladly accepted US dollars, and they would provide change in pesos. If anything I would just bring lots of fives and ones so as to avoid getting stuck with many pesos at the end of the trip.
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 2:51 pm
  #89  
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Originally Posted by miller4isu
On the way to the Camino Real, you pass a Super Walmart if you want to pick up anything. You will also pass several liquor stores with good prices.
There's also a Costco about a half-mile past the Super Walmart for those with Costco memberships, with lots of beer, wine, and other adult beverages, and of course non-alcoholic beverages. We didn't look at the prices in the Super Walmart, but FYI the prices at Costco are noticably higher for non-alcoholic beverages than in the US (e.g., the case of water that costs under $4.00 in the US was something like 600 pesos), but on the flipside the portions you have to buy are smaller (Pepsi and beer was in 12-packs instead of the 36 packs you find in US Costcos!). There's also a SAM'S Club near downtown, but we didn't check it out (I'm sure it would be more crowded since it's in the middle of the city, and I prefer Costco to Sam's anyway).
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Old Jan 24, 2006, 7:43 pm
  #90  
 
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Originally Posted by Beckles
(e.g., the case of water that costs under $4.00 in the US was something like 600 pesos)
$60 for water? Carsimo, indeed!
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