Upgrading Air Miles flex tickets

[elaine amj]

Taking this involved discussion out of the main Air Miles thread

It all started when we were trying to figure out how much extra to pay if we upgrade flex tickets from Air Miles. (Not the Cdn discounted tickets as those don't get price bridged).

Okay, I'm starting to get confused. The current online price for a 7-day base flex ticket is $627.29 US. However, I'm of the understanding that the current AM Flex tickets are old stock before the price increase and that they are worth ~$521 US. I'm thinking of getting these before they're gone as they are less AM than what we'll be paying when the new stock comes in.

Data point from March 2019:
I just checked the ticket sticky and looks like price bridging is still a go (as long as the CM knows how to do it). They do NOT price bridge when u buy directly from Disney (but do price bridge if you book a Disney room and ticket package). The new rules are so weird and silly.

Anyway looks like I should get US$627 (CAD$842) as my price bridge for my 7 day flex towards my AP upgrade. Not bad for 6400 AM!

Unfortunately I am quite sure this doesn't work this way, there is no price bridging unless you have current tickets, which the airmiles are not. The airmiles ones are before the current price increase and expire 2019 not 2020 as Disney's currently do.

I priced them at Disney springs and magic kingdom, both acknowledged they were 7day flex tickets and worth $469, not the current price. I upgraded them at Magic Kingdom and still consider them a great deal. I now have two AP certificates (previously called vouchers) and they expire 2030.

I had calculated them as $521 usd before I left, I don't know why my numbers were off but home next week and will look at it then.

Ok...so I have been studying and studying how price bridging works. Turns out I didn't understand it completely after all.

Price bridging is still a thing. But NOT to CURRENT gate price. Just to the gate price AT THE TIME THE TICKET WAS PRINTED!!

That is a key difference that was hard for me to wrap my brain around.

So basically, right now Air Miles still offers "older" flex tickets (likely the ones sold between Oct 2018 and March 2019?) And @Days In the Sun had calculated the 7 day base flex to be worth USD$521 gate price at the time.

My own calculations were showing a current gate price of $627.29 - but this was AFTER the March 2019 price increase so not relevant to this ticket (Btw...a $100 price increase sounds like insanity).

For some reason, @Days In the Sun was only offered $469 for the 7 day flex. At two separate locations

My first thought is that the CM quoted what Air Miles paid to Disney. NOT the gate price the ticket shoukd have been price bridged to. Who knows? From all accounts not all CMs know how to price bridge. Or maybe policies have changed yet again.

Hopefully others will chime in with their own data points

 

[isabellea]

I would budget on getting the lowest price and hope you get pixie dust and someone who is willing to make things happen for you!

Price bridging as it was a few years ago is now gone for good since WDW codes how much each ticket media is worth when sold. Yes you get a small price bridge when buying from a reseller but if prices increased since you the ticket got issued, you loose compared to let say 5 yrs ago when they would give you gate pricing no matter when you got your ticket.

 

[elaine amj]

I would budget on getting the lowest price and hope you get pixie dust and someone who is willing to make things happen for you!

Price bridging as it was a few years ago is now gone for good since WDW codes how much each ticket media is worth when sold. Yes you get a small price bridge when buying from a reseller but if prices increased since you the ticket got issued, you loose compared to let say 5 yrs ago when they would give you gate pricing no matter when you got your ticket.

That's a good idea!

I really hope I get a decent price for the Air Miles tickets though. Otherwise, it's a difference between US$469 and US$521. Even crazier is that the current gate price is US$627. That is a hefty difference!

 

[bgula]

There was a site that had older prices of Disney tickets, but I can't remember what it was. Does anyone know? If it exists, we should be able to figure out how much the flex tickets were worth as of Oct. 16. At least we'd have an accurate number to try for. Hopefully is the $521 that I've heard they're worth.

 

[elaine amj]

There was a site that had older prices of Disney tickets, but I can't remember what it was. Does anyone know? If it exists, we should be able to figure out how much the flex tickets were worth as of Oct. 16. At least we'd have an accurate number to try for. Hopefully is the $521 that I've heard they're worth.

Allears has a list and so does mousesavers. Cannot find any list that details flex tickets historucal prices though. I just cannot wrap my mind around it jumping from $521 to $627 in a single price increase though!

 

[bgula]

Maybe I'll contact Disney directly and see what they say.

Sent them an email - see what they respond with. Probably won't even be anything what I asked!

 

[Days In the Sun]

October 2018 flexible date prices (https://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-world/ticket-prices.htm) :



7 day $490+6.5%tax = $521.85

 

[Days In the Sun]

Allears has a list and so does mousesavers. Cannot find any list that details flex tickets historucal prices though. I just cannot wrap my mind around it jumping from $521 to $627 in a single price increase though!

Flex tickets seem to be priced based on the most expensive days. Christmas prices took a huge hit this round so flexible date option did as well.

 

[Days In the Sun]

Just back this morning and continue to not understand the quote I received on the 7day flex. Robo, ticket guru on ticket thread thought maybe airmiles went back to old Feb 2018 stock (did make sense since they switched to Canadian tickets when they came out so maybe have old stock to use up), however quote didn't match up.

My thoughts are either:
1. Gross incompetence in Disney cast members.
2. Airmiles has made a deal with Disney with "special tickets" to continue to offer non-fixed dates (hence the 2019 expiry)
3. I'm really missing something!

I'll likely make some calls (Disney/Airmiles) over the next week and hopefully get some clarity. It would be great to see more people post their experiences, thought we'd see a few this week about ticket values.

Regardless, I think $469/$521 is priced reasonably (9.8 cents an am/ 10.9 cents an am). $627usd value would really be handing out Gold APs for a few dollars, don't see Disney ever doing that!

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Just back this morning and continue to not understand the quote I received on the 7day flex. Robo, ticket guru on ticket thread thought maybe airmiles went back to old Feb 2018 stock (did make sense since they switched to Canadian tickets when they came out so maybe have old stock to use up), however quote didn't match up.

My thoughts are either:
1. Gross incompetence in Disney cast members.
2. Airmiles has made a deal with Disney with "special tickets" to continue to offer non-fixed dates (hence the 2019 expiry)
3. I'm really missing something!

I'll likely make some calls (Disney/Airmiles) over the next week and hopefully get some clarity. It would be great to see more people post their experiences, thought we'd see a few this week about ticket values.

Regardless, I think $469/$521 is priced reasonably (9.8 cents an am/ 10.9 cents an am). $627usd value would really be handing out Gold APs for a few dollars, don't see Disney ever doing that!

Sadly, it seems that there is no consistency to the prices regarding upgrades...I know when we tried to add the park hopper option to the old Canadian resident tickets a few years ago that we got difference quotes from MK, DS and Epcot. Epcot gave us the best value and I am not sure if maybe their staff there is better trained but I did notice that both of the CMs working there had 5 year pins on the name badges.

Please report back with whatever information you may receive. I too agree that $469/$521 is a good value to apply towards an AM, especially when the AM, to me, are technically free $ because we have not bought anything, just to get the AM, well okay, maybe a bottle of wine or 2, but I give them as gifts.

 

[elaine amj]

Just back this morning and continue to not understand the quote I received on the 7day flex. Robo, ticket guru on ticket thread thought maybe airmiles went back to old Feb 2018 stock (did make sense since they switched to Canadian tickets when they came out so maybe have old stock to use up), however quote didn't match up.

My thoughts are either:
1. Gross incompetence in Disney cast members.
2. Airmiles has made a deal with Disney with "special tickets" to continue to offer non-fixed dates (hence the 2019 expiry)
3. I'm really missing something!

I'll likely make some calls (Disney/Airmiles) over the next week and hopefully get some clarity. It would be great to see more people post their experiences, thought we'd see a few this week about ticket values.

Regardless, I think $469/$521 is priced reasonably (9.8 cents an am/ 10.9 cents an am). $627usd value would really be handing out Gold APs for a few dollars, don't see Disney ever doing that!

It would sorta make sense of $469 is the price Air Miles paid Disney and they didn't price bridge it to the gate price at the time the ticket was printed.

I'd be OK with $521 but if I only get offered $469, that's an extra $52 per ticket. *sigh*

Why oh why am I going to Disney over Christmas? Oh yeah....I have kids in school.

 

[bgula]

Thanks for the link to the prices. Great news about the $521. They should still price bridge. I (supposedly) have a note applied to my Disney account to make sure that price bridging is done to my tickets in the future as the last time we were there we had problems. I made the mistake of using GS inside MK instead of outside. Never had a problem outside. I always ask the CM if they are aware of price bridging before I start the transaction. Who knows, if you're lucky, you might get a CM that will bridge to the current flex price. A year ago I had a CM actually comp me the difference between my 7-day and an AP renewal price - so I basically got it for free. If they don't want to do it, even after being insistent, try somewhere else.

 

[elaine amj]

Thanks for the link to the prices. Great news about the $521. They should still price bridge. I (supposedly) have a note applied to my Disney account to make sure that price bridging is done to my tickets in the future as the last time we were there we had problems. I made the mistake of using GS inside MK instead of outside. Never had a problem outside. I always ask the CM if they are aware of price bridging before I start the transaction. Who knows, if you're lucky, you might get a CM that will bridge to the current flex price. A year ago I had a CM actually comp me the difference between my 7-day and an AP renewal price - so I basically got it for free. If they don't want to do it, even after being insistent, try somewhere else.

Makes sense.

The good thing is that I am tent camping at Fort Wilderness in December and don't plan to go to the parks for the first 5-6 days. Lots of chill time. So can keep hammering at Guest Relations in Disney Springs or even outside a park until I hear an answer I like LOL!

 

[Days In the Sun]

Just off the phone with Disney Ticketing Services, 45 minute call.

No definite answer after looking at my tickets but I was told that they sell a lot of tickets to large wholesalers that are not bridgeable so that may now be the case.

Also learnt that the datestamp on the back has nothing to do with the date the ticket was purchased from Disney. They said when wholesalers purchase large quantities Disney ships the cards blank and the wholesaler prints the cards with a datestamp as they use up their Disney ticket contract.

 

[elaine amj]

Just off the phone with Disney Ticketing Services, 45 minute call.

No definite answer after looking at my tickets but I was told that they sell a lot of tickets to large wholesalers that are not bridgeable so that may now be the case.

Also learnt that the datestamp on the back has nothing to do with the date the ticket was purchased from Disney. They said when wholesalers purchase large quantities Disney ships the cards blank and the wholesaler prints the cards with a datestamp as they use up their Disney ticket contract.

That's good to know. Thanks for reporting back!

 

[bgula]

Makes sense.

The good thing is that I am tent camping at Fort Wilderness in December and don't plan to go to the parks for the first 5-6 days. Lots of chill time. So can keep hammering at Guest Relations in Disney Springs or even outside a park until I hear an answer I like LOL!

We are at FW in December as well (over Christmas), but in a 5th-wheel!

 

[elaine amj]

We are at FW in December as well (over Christmas), but in a 5th-wheel!

Small world! We are also there for a couple of weeks over Christmas. It will be our forst time flying to tent camp and first time stayong at the Fort!

 

[bgula]

If you're tent camping, good chance you might be in the 1500's. We always stay in the 1600's which is right beside. We try to get a site close to the comfort station which is shared with the 1500's. Look for a silver truck with a Canada flag sticking up and Ontario licence plates - that's us.

You'll love FW, especially at Christmas. My trailer is loaded with Christmas decorations which we love putting up every year. One of the biggest displays is in the 1600's, usually just down the road from us. Make sure you check all the decorations out at night.

 

[elaine amj]

If you're tent camping, good chance you might be in the 1500's. We always stay in the 1600's which is right beside. We try to get a site close to the comfort station which is shared with the 1500's. Look for a silver truck with a Canada flag sticking up and Ontario licence plates - that's us.

You'll love FW, especially at Christmas. My trailer is loaded with Christmas decorations which we love putting up every year. One of the biggest displays is in the 1600's, usually just down the road from us. Make sure you check all the decorations out at night.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for my fellow AirMiling Canadian

I have been grumbling a lot about just how expensive FW is at Christmas. But I have wanted to camp there for a while now AND wanted to see the Fort at Christmas. Timing worked out this year so we're excited to be going Checking out all the decorations is going to be a highlight.

One year, we spent a week in Austin for Christmas and every single day, we drove out to a different area to check out people's decorations. It was so much fun and man they sure do go all out in Texas!