Made any travel mistakes lately?

[Deleted member 29185]

I let a $100 JQ coupon expire 'cause I thought it had a 12 month validity (it didn't, 6 monthly only)

 

[Denali]

Ummm.... booked 2 x Atlanta>Nashville>Atlanta flights and realised I booked them for Feb and we are travelling in March.

Thankfully a lovely lady on the help desk took pity on me (she liked my accent) and made the change at no cost.



I would love to send an email to Delta, thanking this CS person but Im afraid of getting her into trouble for not charging a change fee.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Ummm.... booked 2 x Atlanta>Nashville>Atlanta flights and realised I booked them for Feb and we are travelling in March.

Thankfully a lovely lady on the help desk took pity on me (she liked my accent) and made the change at no cost.



I would love to send an email to Delta, thanking this CS person but Im afraid of getting her into trouble for not charging a change fee.

You generally have 24 hours(?) to fix things up in the US if you make a mistake, even on non changable/cancellable fares.

 

[JohnK]

I don't ever want to travel without express departures/arrivals (or premium lane) access ever again.

Took me a couple of minutes to convince SQ staff in BKK to check me in for later flight tonight but they would not budge on premium lane access. I received one in BNE on Sunday evening and also received one arriving into BKK Monday.

Wasted >30 minutes waiting behind people who have no idea where they are or what they need to do. How do they ever decide they need to travel? How do they manage to survive in their travels?

 

[ashleyn]

Budapest to Prague on Czech Air. I had done my research about luggage allowances, taken a spare cabin bag and luggage scales and thought I had it all under control. After a horrendous wait to check in (rivaling any J* Q), we finally got to the check in with only about 20 minutes left. "Sir both your bags are overweight. "What? I said, limit was 15kg and I was 16.6 and 17.5, well under the 20 I was working on. Big bugger, no time to re-arrange so I paid the hefty 40 Euros EACH !!

 

[JohnK]

Earlier tonight I walked onto the travellator in SIN and took 4-5 paces and realised it wasn't moving. Well not the way I was expecting anyway. :shock:

Apparently I walked onto wrong travellator. A few people let me know I had made a mistake. Felt embarassed. Serves you right for walking while looking at AFF on smartphone. :mrgreen:

 

[Denali]

...... A few people let me know I had made a mistake. Felt embarassed.

All you had to do was say, "My wife just had a baby!" and all would have smiled and understood that your mind is elsewhere.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

All you had to do was say, "My wife just had a baby!" and all would have smiled and understood that your mind is elsewhere.

And here I am thinking it was the mother who had their hormones all mucked up! Obviously not. :mrgreen:

Oh and congratulations to Mr and Mrs JohnK!

 

[Pushka]

Earlier tonight I walked onto the travellator in SIN and took 4-5 paces and realised it wasn't moving. Well not the way I was expecting anyway. :shock:

Apparently I walked onto wrong travellator. A few people let me know I had made a mistake. Felt embarassed. Serves you right for walking while looking at AFF on smartphone. :mrgreen:

Oh seriously JohnK. Fess up. You were playing pokemon and posting on FB.

 

[JohnK]

Oh seriously JohnK. Fess up. You were playing pokemon and posting on FB.

What pokemon and FB?

 

[cove]

JohnK Pokemon is a game people like you and me are not playing. Sleep deprivation can go with becoming a parent.
By the way congratulations on becoming a dad.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

It is remotely possible that for our dep on QF93 Sep 20 I may have booked Parkroyal at MEL for 1nt pre dep - only prob was I booked it for 20th and not 19th.

Seems a common prob - for our dep last year I booked taxi to take us out to MEL on 19th when our hotel room was booked for 18th with flt date 19th - D'Oh - dates confuse me!

And 2yrs back when dep QF93 we stayed o/n at Parkroyal again - had alarm set for 05:00 to get to QF F lounge at 06:00 - I rcvd SMS on phone at ~03:30 and mistook that for alarm - jumped up and into shower then dragged the Ette out of bed - once she was in shower I then realized it was like 1.5hrs too soon - the Ette certainly never saw funny side - we just continued to get ready then sat and looked at each other in room for 1.5hrs til time to check out and head over to QFF check in.

I may have also inadvertently booked Ibis Budget in Darmstadt Germany recently when I intended to book Ibis - IB no reception desk you check in via a kiosk with ref no. etc - nah can't do that so back to Ibis front fest where they cancelled IB booking and rebooked me into Ibis - mistake or learning curve?

The joys of travel - keeps you young and mentally nimble!

 

[NZflygirl]

Forgot to set my watch to Oz time so also jumped up super early to get taxi to airport. Didn't realise til I was in taxi rushing that I had a few hrs up my sleeve! I'm now leaning strongly towards hotel wake up calls.

 

[serfty]

Forgot to set my watch to Oz time so also jumped up super early to get taxi to airport. Didn't realise til I was in taxi rushing that I had a few hrs up my sleeve! I'm now leaning strongly towards hotel wake up calls.

With travel around the world I do not set my watch to local time (as it is extremely accurate and I only adjust for SE Oz daylight savings changes).

I use the alarm clock app on my 'phone as it generally automatically adjusts to local time. (Helped me once when it changed overnight while in the USA as I was not aware daylight savings was kicking on).

 

[JohnM]

Forgot to set my watch to Oz time so also jumped up super early to get taxi to airport. Didn't realise til I was in taxi rushing that I had a few hrs up my sleeve! I'm now leaning strongly towards hotel wake up calls.

Time for a smart watch... .

 

[NZflygirl]

With travel around the world I do not set my watch to local time (as it is extremely accurate and I only adjust for SE Oz daylight savings changes).

I use the alarm clock app on my 'phone as it generally automatically adjusts to local time. (Helped me once when it changed overnight while in the USA as I was not aware daylight savings was kicking on).

That would be a good way of dealing with it. My +1 doesn't wear a watch and uses the phone but when we're away together asks me the time so he doesn't have to get his phone out and I dislike being asked the time all the time. Looking at my watch is ingrained in my brain and might drive me insane (I think that all rhymes - ) having it set to the wrong time.

However I do value my sleep so an alternative is required.....

 

[NZflygirl]

Time for a smart watch... .

I've looked at these ...well Apple at least but my main phone is android due to dual SIM. I have an iPhone 4 which I keep as it has some useful things for work which then becomes the travel phone outside of NZ/Oz so I can still receive calls on the other 2 sims. i think I need a bit of a shove in the smart watch direction but it may provide a solution. I might not miss so many calls because I don't find my phone in my handbag in time! The larger the handbag the more junk.....etc

Sorry my tablet doesn't seem to want to multi quote.

 

[OZDUCK]

For our recent car trip from Toronto to Ottawa I had maid my mind up to prepay the tank of fuel and deliver the car empty. I did this, even though I know it is usually more expensive than the alternative, because -

1) we were arriving in Toronto at about 4 pm on a weekday afternoon and I wasn't sure about the traffic problems. (turned out to be none.)
2) i am usually pretty good at dropping a car off running on fumes.
3) We were only hiring a Barina for the trip so not much fuel was involved.

However, AVIS Toronto offered me an upgrade to a very swish new Ford Fusion (Mondeo) for a very cheap $8 a day over the Barina so I jumped at the upgrade. However my mind never computed the bigger car with a much bigger tank and, cruising like I was, a similar fuel usage.

Outcome was that I dropped it off with nearly a 1/2 tank of fuel left.

But, hey, this was the only real mistake on a trip that involved four intercontinental flights, 2 hire cars, 3 river cruises, a number of ferries, 2 inter-city train trips and 14 different B&B's and hotels so I am prepared to wear it.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

SWMBO and I were in Doha on a mandated QR 16 hour stopover and went to explore the city. At the end of the day, weary, we took a taxi from the Souk Waqif back to the Hotel, a trip we Uber'd earlier that day.
The taxi driver said 50QAR, I misheard 15 and gave him 20. He then said 50. I gave him the money, got out and only as the door was closing I realise I'd been swindled. The trip should have cost 10QAR, 15 at most. The taxi driver was a complete a$$hole and clearly made a point of swindling unsuspecting tourists.
Consequently, where Uber is available, I will never take a taxi in an unfamiliar foreign country again.
It's small beer in the scheme of things but my stupidity (I blame jet lag and lack of sleep) made me angry at him but mostly myself!

 

[NZflygirl]

SWMBO and I were in Doha on a mandated QR 16 hour stopover and went to explore the city. At the end of the day, weary, we took a taxi from the Souk Waqif back to the Hotel, a trip we Uber'd earlier that day.
The taxi driver said 50QAR, I misheard 15 and gave him 20. He then said 50. I gave him the money, got out and only as the door was closing I realise I'd been swindled. The trip should have cost 10QAR, 15 at most. The taxi driver was a complete a$$hole and clearly made a point of swindling unsuspecting tourists.
Consequently, where Uber is available, I will never take a taxi in an unfamiliar foreign country again.
It's small beer in the scheme of things but my stupidity (I blame jet lag and lack of sleep) made me angry at him but mostly myself!

I have to admit I don't enjoy taxis for this very reason. I'm never really sure if I'm getting ripped off or not.
I'll aim for public transport ie trains etc first, but if not a great option then I prefer to book Qantas transfers which are a fixed price but door to door (and I may not feel like working out transport at the end of a long trip), then uber and taxi. Walking is fine too as long as luggage not too bad. More inclined to to taxi if work paying for it but not always.....