Made any travel mistakes lately?

[Flashback]

Okay now to admit to another money travel mistake. The biggest mistake was to forget to bring my Wise card.

That wasn’t such a big thing because I can still use my Wise card by tapping my watch but then I found out my new NAB debit card ( the Citi replacement) whacks me with Overseas fees every time I use it in an ATM.

The first ATM I used here in Namibia in Windhoek, Nedbank had a contactless bit on it and I was very pleased to find out that I could use my Wise card on my watch contactless and withdraw money. So far so good.

So later, I transferred a bunch more Rand onto my Wise card and then attempted to use here in Swakopmund. No dice - contact-less for Namibian cards and account only, even at Nedbank. So I had to use my NAB card again ouch ouch.

Contact them when you're back, if the ATM operator charges a fee - that's fine. It NAB is charging you, that's incorrect, as the same T&C's (essentially) on the Citibank+ account still apply.

 

[RooFlyer]

Contact them when you're back, if the ATM operator charges a fee - that's fine. It NAB is charging you, that's incorrect, as the same T&C's (essentially) on the Citibank+ account still apply.

Thanks, I haven’t considered it deeply as I’m too busy touring but there are two separate charges on the NAB so it looks like a NAB fee.

Edit I just rechecked and those separate charges have disappeared so they may have been reversed. I don’t know.

 

[Cynicor]

There are no fees on the Citi replacement but it may be that the do reverse/delete them if you check too fast, because their cards by default charge a bunch of fees, and the Citi ones are exempt

 

[Mattg]

I withdrew a large quantity of Mongolian tugrik from an airport ATM on arrival in Ulaanbaatar. It's a closed currency, so you cannot (easily) buy, sell or exchange it outside of Mongolia.

I didn't need it all straight away, so I put some of the cash in my bag. I then promptly forgot about it until I arrived in Seoul a few weeks later, having just flown out of Mongolia...

 

[Mattg]

I made a pretty dumb travel mistake yesterday. I was supposed to catch a bus from Prishtina to Skopje at 2pm, and turned up nice and early at the bus station.

There was no information on my ticket or signposted at the bus station about which platform to go to (and the free wifi advertised all over the bus station is stupidly a locked network, which nobody knew the password to - but I digress). I asked at the information counter and the lady told me to go to “14”. So I waited at platform 14, or so I thought. There was no bus there but there was a big crowd of passengers waiting there. At the neighbouring platform there was a minibus but it had different branding to the bus company on my ticket and didn’t have the destination displayed, so I assumed that was something else. (I was expecting to find a big bus like the one I arrived on.)

Nope, that minibus was actually my bus and it left at 2pm while I stood there watching it, thinking that my bus must be late. I soon realised that the crowd was actually waiting for a bus to Germany.

Back into the bus station I went, and €9 later I had a new ticket for the next bus, an hour later. My own fault for making assumptions and at least the damage wasn’t too bad.

 

[Flashback]

I made a pretty dumb travel mistake yesterday. I was supposed to catch a bus from Prishtina to Skopje at 2pm, and turned up nice and early at the bus station.

There was no information on my ticket or signposted at the bus station about which platform to go to (and the free wifi advertised all over the bus station is stupidly a locked network, which nobody knew the password to - but I digress). I asked at the information counter and the lady told me to go to “14”. So I waited at platform 14, or so I thought. There was no bus there but there was a big crowd of passengers waiting there. At the neighbouring platform there was a minibus but it had different branding to the bus company on my ticket and didn’t have the destination displayed, so I assumed that was something else. (I was expecting to find a big bus like the one I arrived on.)

Nope, that minibus was actually my bus and it left at 2pm while I stood there watching it, thinking that my bus must be late. I soon realised that the crowd was actually waiting for a bus to Germany.

Back into the bus station I went, and €9 later I had a new ticket for the next bus, an hour later. My own fault for making assumptions and at least the damage wasn’t too bad.

View attachment 405765

Busses (and minibusses/vans) in that part of Europe can be ...... challenging. I had similar kind of fun in Tirana, Albania - but that was the completely wrong station, regardless of what the reviews I read said!

 

[Ausbt]

Split to Vienna with Croatia Airlines as a *Gold: 2pax @ $400 - no thanks.
With Wizzair as a no-status Pleb: $200 - yes please.
…then forgetting to check-in online 3 hours prior and attempting to do so at check-in: that will be 2 x €45 to print those boarding passes for you sir, sorry.

We were just two of many caught by this

 

[Mattg]

Busses (and minibusses/vans) in that part of Europe can be ...... challenging. I had similar kind of fun in Tirana, Albania - but that was the completely wrong station, regardless of what the reviews I read said!

Oh, I was so careful to make sure I went to the right bus station in Tirana... it seems that wasn't the thing I actually needed to worry about in the end.

 

[Mattg]

Split to Vienna with Croatia Airlines as a *Gold: 2pax @ $400 - no thanks.
With Wizzair as a no-status Pleb: $200 - yes please.
…then forgetting to check-in online 3 hours prior and attempting to do so at check-in: that will be 2 x €45 to print those boarding passes for you sir, sorry.

We were just two of many caught by this

I have no issues with airlines charging for ancillaries, but I dislike it when it's done in a way that feels like a "gotcha" and isn't reasonable. Wizz Air might have just made an extra €90 from you, but I bet you won't fly them again if you have the choice. Not a great long-term model.

FWIW I'm flying with Wizz Air in a few days and my bundle appears to include airport check-in.

 

[tdimdad]

Looked at flights in the US this morning for next week. Told myself I'll book it after work. Now it's doubled in price - switched over to a new day in the US, and it's now less than 1 week till the flight (27th). So there goes another 300 odd AUD for purely delaying the booking. Will now look at booking it using points, even if it requires a stopover.

Got caught by the same two days ago. Was looking at EK fares SYD-CHC and found really affordable ones for next Feb. But we hadn't decided which weekend exactly to spend there. Two days later we had the timing sorted out - and the fares were up by 30%. The cheapest now would be fly VA to ZQN but perhaps I still let EK win, anyway (especially when I can use the QF golden handcuffs at the airports but have lost status with VA by then).

 

[Ausbt]

Wizz Air might have just made an extra €90 from you, but I bet you won't fly them again

My feelings exactly. Plus, the process seemed quite drawn out. Why didn’t the checkin desk handle the payment? Instead, they printed the BPs but held onto them and we were given a form to take to an office 200 metres away. We joined the queue, paid and returned to check-in to get the BPs. Very much felt like revenue raising but reflecting on this, if Euro airlines are getting pinged with EU261 penalties themselves well - they have to recover that somehow!
Got a RyanAir this arvo (Italian GP here we come!) so keep your fingers crossed for me

 

[MARTINE]

My feelings exactly. Plus, the process seemed quite drawn out. Why didn’t the checkin desk handle the payment? Instead, they printed the BPs but held onto them and we were given a form to take to an office 200 metres away. We joined the queue, paid and returned to check-in to get the BPs. Very much felt like revenue raising but reflecting on this, if Euro airlines are getting pinged with EU261 penalties themselves well - they have to recover that somehow!
Got a RyanAir this arvo (Italian GP here we come!) so keep your fingers crossed for me

Have fun at Monza!!

 

[CaptJCool]

I have no issues with airlines charging for ancillaries, but I dislike it when it's done in a way that feels like a "gotcha" and isn't reasonable. Wizz Air might have just made an extra €90 from you, but I bet you won't fly them again if you have the choice. Not a great long-term model.

FWIW I'm flying with Wizz Air in a few days and my bundle appears to include airport check-in.

Lucky you
My travel companion tried to book a WizzFair
The iphone6 was incompatible to their system and so was not able to verify the account

The online checkin also presupposes people have both a compatible phone and access to a Wifi network if not with a European carrier (noting reminders to recharge came in Spanish ugh and they don’t work in the UK… or Morocco for that matter )

 

[VPS]

I made a pretty dumb travel mistake yesterday. I was supposed to catch a bus from Prishtina to Skopje at 2pm, and turned up nice and early at the bus station.

There was no information on my ticket or signposted at the bus station about which platform to go to (and the free wifi advertised all over the bus station is stupidly a locked network, which nobody knew the password to - but I digress). I asked at the information counter and the lady told me to go to “14”. So I waited at platform 14, or so I thought. There was no bus there but there was a big crowd of passengers waiting there. At the neighbouring platform there was a minibus but it had different branding to the bus company on my ticket and didn’t have the destination displayed, so I assumed that was something else. (I was expecting to find a big bus like the one I arrived on.)

Nope, that minibus was actually my bus and it left at 2pm while I stood there watching it, thinking that my bus must be late. I soon realised that the crowd was actually waiting for a bus to Germany.

Back into the bus station I went, and €9 later I had a new ticket for the next bus, an hour later. My own fault for making assumptions and at least the damage wasn’t too bad.

View attachment 405765

When I was in Salzburg earlier this year I was waiting for the train and the platform was empty and the sign was up for my train and I was surprised it was late. Eventually the sign disappeared. I went down to the info and they said yes it had left on time but it goes from way down the other end of the platform. DUH Luckily they go every hour

 

[n7of9]

I think I made a 'mistake' last night. Flying out of Kansai near midnight, I was already at the Marriott on top of Shin Osaka and had my train ticket. I kept an eye on the weather as a typhoon has been around for the last week, and all SQ flights in and out of Osaka the previous day had been cancelled. I was even tracking my incoming plane, and everything seemed like it would work out.

I get to Shin Osaka and there are people EVERYWHERE. The boards are all flashing the universal warning sign and I figured there would be no point in hanging around long enough to see them change from Japanese to English, the chaos around me spelled it out.

Uber couldn't find my location, a taxi I hailed refused the airport ride, and just as PANIK was about to overtake, a young Japanese man asked if I was ok. He spoke to the next taxi for me, and I was on my way (the taxis are hesitant to accept the hour long $200 ride).

I checked the train schedules a little while later and it seems the airport line I needed wasn't delayed at all.

Is it still a mistake if you get to where you need to be and you make your international flight?

 

[CaptJCool]

I dont know how I achieved it but I make a recent hotel booking via booking.com and not Velocity so missed out on about 2000 points.

I still dont know how I did it as I dont use booking.com at all.

My son had the opposite issue using booking.com and ending up with a tic from EDreams AND an annual Prime Plus subscription

He can’t remember how this happened and didn’t pay sufficient attention to the detail to REMOVE the free trial period

Worse is he’s on the road for 4 months more and can’t recall seeing any account number information including on the email that arrived just now that his bank card payment details have been used to do the annual subs (with an card expiry date in 2029 it now looms as an significant financial inconvenience)

How to cancel your eDreams Prime subscription

Cancel eDreams prime subscription with our operators, 24/7 available to help you cancel your membership for free in a call.

www.edreams.com

 

[RealtimeY]

I tried eDreams once out of sheer curiosity about how they could undercut their competitors on a simple domestic fare.

The check out process was a maze of upselling like nothing I’d seen before, and they sent repeated upselling emails that were “important information about your trip” so impossible to unsubscribe from.

 

[p--and--t]

My son had the opposite issue using booking.com and ending up with a tic from EDreams AND an annual Prime Plus subscription

He can’t remember how this happened and didn’t pay sufficient attention to the detail to REMOVE the free trial period

Worse is he’s on the road for 4 months more and can’t recall seeing any account number information including on the email that arrived just now that his bank card payment details have been used to do the annual subs (with an card expiry date in 2029 it now looms as an significant financial inconvenience)
View attachment 406254

How to cancel your eDreams Prime subscription

Cancel eDreams prime subscription with our operators, 24/7 available to help you cancel your membership for free in a call.

www.edreams.com

View attachment 406255

I fell for the same trap.

Luckily the cc number they have is a cancelled card so they can't repeat the rip-off.

 

[bashworth]

As I needed 20 points before the end of August to maintain Gold I did a Status Run Melbourne-Sydney return on the 22nd August.
By the 26th August a problem related to my volunteering happened that meant I had to fly to Bankok on the 31st August so now overshot to hit 640 points for the year!

 

[cove]

Had an auto pay fail on two new credit cards in the US. It took two phone calls to fix them. We have had Amex cards since 1979 and this was a first fail.