Made any travel mistakes lately?

[JohnK]

What sounds like a good idea or good alternative 6 months ago does not always go as planned.

What possessed me to book a 12:01am flight BKK-BNE to arrive in BNE at midday but needing to be in SYD that weekend?

Couldn't get an award flight to SYD on that day but I wanted to book a return Mileage Plus award so I can add BKK-HKG-BKK to the trip free of charge but then paid ~$170 to get to SYD and also left 4 hours for the unprotected connection.

Not such a good idea.

 

[Quickstatus]

What sounds like a good idea or good alternative 6 months ago does not always go as planned.

What possessed me to book a 12:01am flight BKK-BNE to arrive in BNE at midday but needing to be in SYD that weekend?

Couldn't get an award flight to SYD on that day but I wanted to book a return Mileage Plus award so I can add BKK-HKG-BKK to the trip free of charge but then paid ~$170 to get to SYD and also left 4 hours for the unprotected connection.

Not such a good idea.

Sorry I don’t understand.

 

[JohnK]

Sorry I don’t understand.

Sorry.

I booked a MileagePlus award SYD-BKK-HKG-BKK-BKK-CNX//BKK-BNE as there was no availability BKK-SYD on the day I wanted. I booked the return/open jaw so I can get the BKK-HKG-BKK as a free side trip.

I should have booked a SYD-BKK-CNX one way award without wasting a day flying to HKG and back and found some other way to get back to SYD last week and then used the miles to book another one way at another time.

Hope that is clearer.

 

[Quickstatus]

His is BKK-HKG-BKK a free trip?

 

[JohnK]

His is BKK-HKG-BKK a free trip?

It doesn't cost any extra miles with UA MileagePlus return/open jaw awards. Just pay the additional genuine taxes.

I have another UA award SYD-BKK//SIN-BKK-CNX//BKK-SYD booked for June/August. But that also comes with its own pain as I nested a QF SIN-BNE-SYD-BNE-SIN booking in there for June/August but now need to book a one-way BKK-SIN in the morning to connect to the QF booking.

 

[annielee]

Redeemed 6x Economy AirNZ domestic (United), to confirm the prices and reminded myself will cancel within 24hours without any charges, and totally forgot about that due to work.. and now i will need to pay $300 for cancellation !

Anyone got any tips how to lower the fees ? And got to know it's just a basic economy ticket, no baggage, food and seat selection included..

 

[AisleSeat]

My parents, today.

My mum forgot her passport, so dad had to do a 5 hour round trip drive back home to get it.

First and last time that'll ever happen!

 

[Denali]

^ Ouch and one of my fears when we leave the house for the airport.

 

[RooFlyer]

Failed to redeem a A$300 voucher for LATAM by expiry date . Although, it wasn't really deserved. Denali will remember this - on a SCL-Easter Island I couldn't be assigned my chosen (J) seat at check-in because it was supposedly u/s, so was given the voucher at check-in. On the flight, via a bit of talking, I sat in the seat anyway and it was fine. I could have redeemed on part of a SYD-AKL-SYD trip, but didn't need to take the flight.

 

[Denali]

Oh no!

 

[daft009]

My parents, today.

My mum forgot her passport, so dad had to do a 5 hour round trip drive back home to get it.

First and last time that'll ever happen!

lol reminds me of an incident I put my dad through ~23yrs ago (early-mid 90s).
He'd just got a mobile phone from work and was headed to NZ for work trip & forgot his passport at home.
It was school holidays, he rang home multiple times from the cab, multiple times once at the airport, home phone was always engaged however mum & I were home.

At some stage during the morning after dad had left home someone had rung the home phone, I'd answered it in the kitchen and yelled "mum its for you" and left the phone off the receiver & mum took the call from the bedroom. The kitchen receiver was never put back on the hook and hours went by :O

Think it was 4-5hrs after when I realised, replaced the receiver and it rang straight away, it was dad... boy did I get a yelling that day lol (think I was 13-14yo at the time). we dashed to the airport in a cab with his passport.. the day was a write off for him, he managed to get the last flight out.

I double check my backpack before I leave home now, ever since then

 

[bigjobs]

On a train going out to Western Sydney I am sitting on a seat from hell it is so hard.
I thought about my most recent mistake of booking Novotel Brisbane Airport only to find it was not really at the airport and wondered if others have mistakes they would like to share.
Fortunately the train is an express ride to my destination!

Lol ... the Novotel Brisbane 'Airport'. Taxi driver would have hated you when you landed and said take me there. it's in a dumb location.

as for travel mistakes, I almost walked away from my wallet in Yerevan, Armenia the other day. Came back from the mountains on a company transport mini van, got out, started walking away and got easy a block away and realised. sprinted back to where the drop off was and thankfully the driver decided he wanted a smoke and hadn't left - thank goodness for Armenia having the 3rd highest smoking rates amongst males in the world.

wallet had all my personal and company cards, all my local and US currency and all sorts of other important things. I would have been well and truly screwed.

another one ... I know the distance from my house to the turn off on the Gore Highway in Toowoomba is exactly 186.3 kms. this is because I was driving to a small town west of Toowoomba for a week of work. I stopped at the 7 Eleven for a snack and refuel break at that intersection. went to the boot of the car to get aforementioned wallet out of laptop bag ... and ... no laptop bag. Had to drive back to my house, collect bag, then drive all the way back out that same evening to start work the next day. FML!

 

[UP4014]

Not a recent story, but boxing day 1999. Off to the US for a 3 week road trip. Decided to change wallets the morning I flew out. Well forgot my drivers license.

Fronted the SFO Avis desk and found out there it was forgotten, they were very helpful but couldn't rent me a car but rang around and found me a company off airport (no internet or smart phones) who would rent me a car with a passport. All good, they did make me take all the insurance options though which I couldn't argue about.

Even allowed me to leave the car at LAX in the public carpark just asking me to ring and let them know where it was.

Good road trip was had and I didn't even lose a day.

 

[mrbraun]

Paid for 4 x people's international flights using the wrong credit card. Rather than using the one that earns me points, I used the card that gave me complimentary travel insurance. I got tunnel vision about the insurance and focused on that.

When I did the sums later, adding up the potential (missed) points earn on one credit card compared to the insurance saving on the other card...I'd ripped myself off.

 

[cove]

We are all quite capable of buggering up. I just had to call to get a replacement credit card that seems to have fallen out of my trousers. It just happens to be one I need to use after April 4th and Amex are getting a card to me quickly.

 

[JohnK]

You can only laugh.

SIN-KUL-CNX on AK cost ~AUD250 including golf clubs but could only be booked separately. SIN-DMK-CNX on AK-FD cost ~AUD320 and booked on same ticket so chose cheaper option.

In SIN yesterday they refused to check bags through as separate bookings. No problem had 3 hours in KUL.

- we left SIN 30 minutes late
- KUL inbound immigration took 50 minutes with no queue management
- last time outbound immigration and security we very slow so rushed through yesterday only to find the CNX flight was retimed to 25 minutes later but was delayed further

KLIA2 in L concourse there is nowhere to get a soft drink. Can get a coffee and there is a slow warm water fountain.

 

[JessicaTam]

You can only laugh.

SIN-KUL-CNX on AK cost ~AUD250 including golf clubs but could only be booked separately. SIN-DMK-CNX on AK-FD cost ~AUD320 and booked on same ticket so chose cheaper option.

In SIN yesterday they refused to check bags through as separate bookings. No problem had 3 hours in KUL.

- we left SIN 30 minutes late
- KUL inbound immigration took 50 minutes with no queue management
- last time outbound immigration and security we very slow so rushed through yesterday only to find the CNX flight was retimed to 25 minutes later but was delayed further

KLIA2 in L concourse there is nowhere to get a soft drink. Can get a coffee and there is a slow warm water fountain.

I probably would have done the same as you. Only to then think that the stress of rushing with all the delays wasn't worth the $70 saved!

 

[I love to travel]

And here JT I was expecting you to write that your back to back adventure was your 'travel mistake '

 

[JohnK]

I probably would have done the same as you. Only to then think that the stress of rushing with all the delays wasn't worth the $70 saved!

The rookie mistake was thinking Air Asia in SIN will check luggage through.

 

[JessicaTam]

And here JT I was expecting you to write that your back to back adventure was your 'travel mistake '

There is still time!