Made any travel mistakes lately?

[KLN]

Rookie error 101!
had points redemption in J with MsKLN jnr on MH122 yesterday. last F1 race in KL, so was very excited. her boyfriend in Y. get to the airport and lovely lady let him check in with us (points upgrade for hi was $790.00, he declined), she told him not to worry, she would give him a very good seat. then she looked at MsKLNjnr, and said you can't fly. her passport expiry date was short by 20 days of the 6 months left on it. she tried MAS immigration again, and they said no way, she wouldn't be allowed to enter the country. cue tears all round. we gathered our thoughts rang Sydney Passport office, they said could get an appointment on friday, and get new passport by tues, no good to us, flying home on wednesday. cancelled her and boyfriends seats, (there goes a cough load of my points down the gurgler). after they went home, and i continued up to Lounge, phone rang, and they begged the passport office again........they got an appointment for this morning, and there is every chance she MAY get a passport on friday. now just have to wait and see, and hope for a cheap flight on friday some time. now i'm sitting in 2 hotel rooms by myself. wish us luck!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Rookie error 101!

Often wondered how strict that 6 months rule is. I guess we now know!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Often wondered how strict that 6 months rule is. I guess we now know!

Malaysia entry requirements from TIMATIC:

Document Validity:
Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for a minimum of 6 months from the arrival date.
​

The 6 month rule really depends if the country you are going to has such a rule. The smarttraveller site advises yo to make sure your passport has months validity beyond your return to Australia, but doesn't tell you that many countries don't require this.

 

[KLN]

Often wondered how strict that 6 months rule is. I guess we now know!

now turning into a good news story. she had appointment at Sydney passport office at 1040 this morning, and went back in and picked up new passport at 1pm. now on 10pm MAS flight tonite. hallelujah!

 

[LadyC]

It may also be worth making sure you have clean pages in your passport for countries that may require a visa (even if you don't specifically need one). The gentleman got caught out last year in Singapore. He is a UK citizen and we were travelling to Bali but had cleared customs and immigration overnight in Singapore. SQ wouldn't let him check in as he didn't have a clean page in his passport on which the visa (which he didn't actually require) needed to be put. Their systems hadn't been updated and they weren't going to risk having him be denied entry (which was never going to happen). Not quite a travel mistake but I thought it might be worth mentioning!

 

[leadman]

Very strict in Indonesia. Had a French work colleague refused at the border in CGK (had 5 months left for a three days visit!!) went back to SIN to get a temp passport then refused again because it was a temp passport

 

[Ipilgrim]

Had booked 'free' return qantas amex flight syd-bne to coincide with our AA lax-syd arrival. Award flights so all booked about 11 months ago.
After breakfast coming into syd, asked the FA as she handed the immigration/customs card, todays date. Whoops..... saturday not the sunday I had booked.
Looked sheepish as mrs p later rang our eldest daughter at lane cove about arranging a surprise overnight visit.

To be fair the only booking mistake in a month of flights and hotels ... and the spreadsheet was a work of art.,,,almost.
hat tip mrs dr ron.

 

[UP4014]

Very strict in Indonesia. Had a French work colleague refused at the border in CGK (had 5 months left for a three days visit!!) went back to SIN to get a temp passport then refused again because it was a temp passport

You wonder why in places like that. I've been to countries as we all no doubt have where passport control is not much more than a turnstyle. In fact I've been to one where it was an unmanned turnstyle.

 

[leadman]

Agreed, and i find it difficult to understand that his passport was full of proof for travelling so there was no chance of overextending.

 

[KLN]

now turning into a good news story. she had appointment at Sydney passport office at 1040 this morning, and went back in and picked up new passport at 1pm. now on 10pm MAS flight tonite. hallelujah!

and arrived in KL 5am this morning. off to F1 tomorrow

 

[Reds2011]

Very strict in Indonesia. Had a French work colleague refused at the border in CGK (had 5 months left for a three days visit!!) went back to SIN to get a temp passport then refused again because it was a temp passport

Must have been green in the ways of Asia by the sound of that. A brief discussion in the duty officers room and a lazy 50 would have solved the problem on the spot

 

[marki]

Berlin some days one just keeps drinking the very good Grand Dame. Never mind what day it is!!

 

[leadman]

Must have been green in the ways of Asia by the sound of that. A brief discussion in the duty officers room and a lazy 50 would have solved the problem on the spot

Tried, but it was a very grumpy officer as it seemed they had dignitary's going through that day.

 

[JohnK]

On 24 May I booked 2 JQ flights for travel end of October OOL-SYD return as 2 one-ways. Each flight cost $36.50 including $5 for seat so more than likely a price beat guarantee. I do not remember booking these flights but this was around the time I was planning my wife and daughter's trip to Thailand and Qantas had 25% off award bookings.

On 17 August I booked 2 JQ flights for travel end of October OOL-SYD return as 2 one-ways. Same dates as I had booked 3 months prior. Price beat guarantee again. One flight is $34.70 and the other is $54.50 including $5 for seat. I remember making these bookings and used the new JQ price beat guarantee system.

The outbound flight are the same and I am in 7D and 8D. The return flights are 10 minutes apart so not sure how I can be in 2 places at once.

At the same time I had not booked flights for SYD-BNE for 08 October and 15 October. I knew about 08 October and left that late but 15 October came as a shock as I was searching earlier tonight for the flight I should have booked and could not find the flight.

I should be laughing but instead crying as I still cannot understand how I made this mistake. My Notepad document is fairly accurate but I have been using a new computer and have not synced the Notepad document until today. And yes 15 October is listed as flights needing to be booked. I believe this is the first time I have booked the same flights again in the nearly 10 years I have been commuting. Oh well....

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Goes to show JohnK, even experienced players make the odd error! I'm more amazed that I'm reading you booked any JQ at all, let alone a double up!!

 

[JohnK]

Goes to show JohnK, even experienced players make the odd error! I'm more amazed that I'm reading you booked any JQ at all, let alone a double up!!

JQ is fine as long as your expectation is very low.

That and budget issues. Cannot justify spending $250+ to fly to SYD on Friday night and returning Saturday night.

 

[JessicaTam]

JQ is fine as long as your expectation is very low.

That and budget issues. Cannot justify spending $250+ to fly to SYD on Friday night and returning Saturday night.

At least it was not expensive a mistake.

And to think - if you sit in 8D no-one will recline into you. Or sit in 7D and recline to your heart's content.

 

[JohnK]

At least it was not expensive a mistake.

And to think - if you sit in 8D no-one will recline into you. Or sit in 7D and recline to your heart's content.

So true. Could have been a more expensive mistake which is another story. I was going to change one of the seats to a middle seat and check in quite late to try and keep spare seat next to me.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

if you sit in 8D no-one will recline into you.

I simply love the AFF take on stuff-ups! When in doubt, put a positive spin on it and let everyone know how wise the planning was ... thirty something bucks for a guaranteed no-recline seat in front! Isn't that why people pay hundreds more for a row 1 seat???? Pure gold, I'd say! I might just try that myself!!

 

[JohnK]

Sometimes need to think quickly and help people.

Boarded SYD-BNE flight last today and waiting in aerobridge this 17 month old girl was being naughty same as my daughter. Her mother had 2 bags and one looked heavy. The FA helped her with that bag. I asked her where she was seated and disappointingly she sad the last row. I was in 5C with spare middle seat. I had just moved up from 7D about 45 minutes before the flight.

I should have offered her my seat and I should have gone down the back. I know what my wife goes through on each flight. Can't stop thinking how that was an opportunity to help someone. Stupid. I slept most of the flight so row 30 wouldn't have made a difference.

Sorry.