Overseas Adventure TravelReviews of oattravel.com

This was my first experience with OAT. It was absolutely terrific. My Trip Leader, Remi Saeki, was exceptional! She paid attention to every detail, was upbeat, personable and made a group of 15 strangers a family for 15 days. My only disappointment was Delta Airlines. We paid for an upgrade because of the long flight (13 hours) and the bathrooms were not kept up, they ran out of food choices and for that amount of plane fare, I would have preferred a different airline. The flights were on time and there were not glitches. These days there is a lot to be said about that!

Update: My trip leader indeed managed to connect with the hotel, which eventually provided their internet speed info. She also found some backup shared workspace options (but the hours of operation may prive a challenge). Hopefully my Zoom call will go smoothly. I have revised my rating as of 9/22. ================ We booked a trip for an upcoming trip to northern Spain and Portugal (in Oct '26). I've found that the pre-trip support has been poor. I have need for robust WiFi for a business video call on Day 2 of that trip. Placed 2 requests with OAT to see if they can help me locate an internet cafe or the business center of a hotel near the one we are booked at (which, per GoogleMaps, has unreliable, poor WiFi signals). The first request was droppped. The second was "rejected," with OAT citing that I should just use the WiFi at the hotel! Finally the Trip Leader got in touch and said she could help. A day later, she, too, said chirpily that in her experience, using the WiFi at hotels that OAT has booked generally serves her needs. General web searches or emails do not place the same kind of demand on a WiFi service as a live video meeting does. Poor WiFi signals can cause the calls to simply drop, repeatedly. There are in fact internet cafes and possibly even nearby "hybrid" hotels that serve the nomad workforce (according to AI search), but OAT has no interest in helping to solve this particular problem. But I don't speak Spanish, and my ability to communicate with the local services is unreliable. Hence the requests to OAT. I am disappointed that, my first foray into an OAT booking, and they have already failed me with a simple requets.

Had Great Tour Guide for N. Greece, Albania and N. Macedonia trip Royal Tombs of Vergina-outstanding Monasteries of Meteora-Better than Tigers Nest, Bhutan

The trip to Ireland was varied and interesting. The hotels were very good with great breakfasts. Good balance of free time. Our trip leader had wide ranging knowledge with a calm demeanor and clear communication. I would’ve preferred that some of the optional trips that required additional cost, would have been included. Some of the speakers went on too long, but that is true for mostly all of them. It was a well rounded introduction to Ireland for me and I would recommend the trip. I arranged my own airfare, which generally seems to work out better than having OAT do it.

The itinerary was interesting, the trip leader the best ever and OAT did an amazing job to help us with alternate arrangements when weather prevented us from doing the original plan.

I have traveled with them many times and had a positive experience. This past time I needed to come home early due to sickness. I submitted my claim to tripmate which took five weeks to finally accept my claim. But wait, the check was never in the mail. I have been waiting 4 weeks from the time they said they mailed the check. I called OATS to ask them to call tripmate as they sold me the policy. So far, despite many calls to OATS, no response from them. I next step will be to call the insurance commissioner of Ma and try to have the license pulled for tripmate.

We had a terrible experience with OAT regarding their flight arrangements..it was horrible with 2 seprte bookings on 2 different airlines. No one, not the first flight (Jet Blue), nor the second and third business class flights with Turkish Airlines, nor 6 calls to OAT could help. Finally, the Jet Blue manager was (suddenly, after Turkish, Jet Blue nor OAT could help) was ble to rebook us a day late. Luggage was unable to make the connection with a 1 1/2 hour connection. After filing the insurance with the company we used through OAT, only 1/3 of our claim was able to be reimbursed. We spent $4,000 on insurance through OAT. I WILL NEVER BOOK FLIGHTS GAIN WITH OAT AND WILL NEVER PURCHASE THEIR INSURANCE. IT IS TOTLLY NOT WORTH THE PRICE!!!!

I've been an enthusiastic OAT traveler for 15 years. No more. Just this week I've reached out to OAT 4 times regarding an upcoming trip, including 3 calls and an email. OAT's customer service leaves quite a bit to be desired: long hold times, poor connections with agents, dropped calls, and no call backs. Just today an agent tried to charge me $200 for something my travel companion had for no charge. Air routing is abysmal and support when flights are cancelled is non-existent. Although the groups are small and the guides generally are outstanding, I would not recommend OAT. 15 years ago, absolutely; now, no way. Update - OAT owes me several thousand dollars in refunds. It has been a month since I cancelled my trips and more than two weeks since I spoke with one of their representatives and I have yet to see the credit on my account. I emailed the company and was told that they make refunds within 30 working days. This is ridiculous since they process payments immediately. OAT's business practices are unfair, to say the least.