Adoption Airfare

We worked with a travel agency that specializes in humanitarian and adoption travel. They are Golden Rule Travel and here is their information:

Golden Rule Travel

P.O. Box 178

Walnut Creek, OH 44687

(800) 950-3599; www.goldenruletravel.com

We worked with Sharon Martin and she was thorough in checking all possible flight options to get the most affordable price. She even checked flying out of Chicago (we’re out of Metro Detroit) to give us all of our options. Anyway, I would make contact with any one of their agents and they will direct you on what information you need and when for booking your travel arrangements. Also, booking through their agency allows for a free change to your itinerary. For example, it’s always cheapest to book a round trip ticket. But, when you don’t know your exact return date, it was recommended to have the return date at around 8 weeks from the date of departure (it shouldn’t take 8 weeks) so that you can use your free change to move your return flight at your convenience. Also, once you have your adopted children’s passports, you would call Golden Rule or email them (they are great about emailing in a fast manner) this information so that they could book your children’s return flights along with updating your return flight.

If you choose to use one of the online services, you will need to check and see what the fees are for changing your return flights. There is no way to determine your return date and so this fee would be inevitable. Even with this fee, the online service might be cheaper overall and I would encourage you to compare. Just keep in mind that you will have to book last minute flights for your children that match your itinerary.

Another option to look into is booking directly with an airline. Most all airlines offer adoption fares. The fares are discounted on average to around 30% and all you need to do is provide a few copies of documents proving that you are adopting oversees. The downside to this is that you are stuck using this airline to complete your entire trip. This matters because in most oversees flights, it is much more economical when you are able to make 1 to 2 connection flights. The travel agency and online sites check multiple airlines for the cheapest flights and most always you will be using more than one airline. However, if you limit yourself to just that one airline than you are subject to use only their flights which may not necessarily be the cheapest. In the end, you might still pay more even though you received their discount. I hope this makes sense.

You will not need to book your flights until you receive your SDA appointment date. Once that date is received (not be confused with your dossier submission date) then immediately book your flights. The closer you are to your travel date, unfortunately the more expensive the flights will be.