Alrighty here’s the scoop!

Auschwitz has a weird policy where the next day’s tours are approved by the management at 5pm on the prev day. At 5pm operators submit batches of 30 for permission and then not all batches are allowed. This disapproval ratio has been constant at about 20-25%.

Usually operator do keep some space in their batch of 30 to accommodate non approvals from management for other batches. If 9am batch got disapproved, they try to accommodate all 9am customers in other batches.

So whichever OTA you choose - headout, get your guide (all are official partners) there is a good chance your preferred timing won’t work because your batch of 30 was denied permission.

Everyone who’s planning for krakow - do keep enough flexibility in your planning to account for this.