Tips For Avoiding Two Common Travel Mistakes

Making mistakes when traveling can cost you both in time and money. While nobody is perfect, a little extra care and planning can help reduce the frequency of these mistakes. Here are two of the most common issues travelers face and how to avoid them.

Missing Baggage

If you’ve never experienced the frustration of arriving at your travel destination only to find that your luggage has gone missing, consider yourself lucky. Few things are more frustrating than standing at the baggage claim carousel and feeling your stomach tie itself in knots as all of the other passengers depart with their bags while you stare at an empty conveyer belt.

You can’t exactly be blamed if your checked baggage goes missing, but you can do a couple of things to minimize the impact. First off, invest in a good piece of carry-on luggage that meets the dimensions required by all major airlines. Once you have a good carry-on bag, don’t check it!  You’d be surprised at how many people have a bag small enough to carry it on the plane but still check it anyway, only to have it go missing.

If you must check a bag, make sure to still take a good carry-on bag with you, and have a change of clothes or two in the bag, as well as necessary items that you can’t do without. This will ensure that you’ve got at least an extra day of clothing and supplies at hand while your missing bag is (hopefully) located.

Missing Connecting Flights

This is another gut-wrenching scenario. You’ve booked a trip with a connecting flight on a different airline and you’ve left yourself about an hour to get from the arrival gate to the new departing gate in your connection city. But then your original flight gets delayed. This can lead to a ton of change fees and even additional overnight lodging costs, not to mention lost day(s) on your vacation.

The key is to give yourself plenty of time between flights to account for unexpected delays. Even that won’t always protect you, though. In those cases, the best thing you can do is start researching options as soon as you hear of a flight delay, no matter how minimal it may initially seem. Look into change fees for later flights, and even lodging options if it looks like you might have to spend the night.