When I worked for STA Travel, G Adventures were one of the most popular tour operators out there and with good reason.
One question I often got asked when planning travel itineraries was whether G Adventures tours include flights.
So that is what I am going to discuss in this blog today.
Without further ado, let’s jump in.
Do G Adventures Tours Include Flights?
G Adventure Tour prices do not include flights to and from the start and end points. They do sometimes include internal flights to points on the tour, and if this is the case it will be clearly stated in the tour itinerary. G Adventures also has its own dedicated flight booking service, so can arrange flights for you to tie in with your itinerary.
Who Are G Adventures?
Before we answer the main question, let’s just take a quick look at G Adventures and find out a bit more about them.
If you don’t want to do that, you can skip to the next section, I won’t be offended!
G Adventures have been around since 1990, and have one of the most extensive and wide-ranging set of itineraries in the backpacking world.
They’ve grown from a tiny outfit taking six people on its first-ever tour in 1991 (to Ecuador), to a huge global operation with over 700 itineraries in excess of 100 countries.
In 2019 alone over 200,000 travelers went on G Adventures trips.
Like most companies, they have been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic in recent years, but they are still one of the biggest players in the global travel market.
But that isn’t what we are here to find out…
Are Flights Included in G Adventure Tours?
It depends on which way you interpret this question.
Interpretation One: Flights To and From the Start of the Tour
When I was working as a travel expert and people asked me this question, often they were asking if the price they were given for the tour included flights to and from the start and end destination.
The answer to that question is no unless it is clearly stated on the tour itinerary page. And to be quite honest in all the tours I organised, I never once found a tour that included flights to the start or from the end point.
Logistically it wouldn’t make sense, as people on G Adventures tours are from all over the globe.
So the price you see for a tour on the G Adventures website is purely for the tour itself.
Interpretation Two: Flights When You Are On the Tour
The other meaning behind the question was whether the tour includes internal flights between destinations on the tour itself.
The answer is that sometimes G Adventure tours will include internal flights.
If they do it is clearly stated on the tour itinerary page.
Let’s take the Thailand Island Hopping Tour as an example, mainly because South-East Asia is my favorite part of the world, but also because it demonstrates the point quite well!
This eight-day tour starts and ends at Bangkok and takes in some of the beautiful Thailand islands in the South-West of the country.
Any of you who have been to South-East Asia will know that road travel can be unpredictable at best, even in Thailand, and that internal flights are usually pretty cheap.
Rather than driving the almost 900km from Bangkok to Trang, the tour has a flight there.
Then over the course of the next eight days ferries will take you from island to island, before a flight takes you back from Krabi to Bangkok to finish the tour.
As I mentioned, it will be clearly stated on the tour itinerary page what is included, as shown below:
So you can see the flight symbols on the map show the included flights, as does the Whats Included part of the itinerary.
Just to reiterate the first point made in this blog though, you still have to find your own way to Bangkok for the start of the tour and from Bangkok home (or wherever you are going) at the end of the tour.
G Adventures Can Help You Organise Your Flights Though
If do want to arrange everything through one central point then G Adventures does have its own flight booking service.
It unveiled the service in 2012. Initially, it was reserved for North American travelers, but it is now open to anyone.
The system allows you to package international airfares and tours together. Often you can get better prices too if booking both together. It can also help you take care of pre or post-trip hotel stays.
With G Adventures having such a global presence, and organizing tours in such numbers it means they are often able to get flight prices the average traveler wouldn’t be able to get on their own.
At the time John Warner who was G Adventures’ VP Global Sales, explained the benefit of the service by saying:
“The majority of airfares these days are ‘instant purchase’ – meaning in order to secure the best deal, the customer must pay upfront at the time of booking. Many of our tickets allow the ability to book the seat and confirm the package with just a deposit, reducing the initial financial commitment required whilst securing your place on one of our adventures.”
To find out what deals you can get, you can contact their flight booking service by calling 1 888 800 4100 or visiting the flight booking section of the G Adventures website.
Final Thoughts
G Adventures tour prices do not include flights to the start of the tour or from the tour home, however they do often include internal flights on the tour itself.
Where this is the case, it will be clearly stated on the tour itinerary page.
The company also has its own dedicated flight booking service that can package flights together with any tours you book through them.
And of course, there are many other travel agents and online tools you can use to find the best price for your flights.
Sometimes organising flights and tours can seem stressful, but I promise you once it is done it is totally worth it!
Good luck.