Made any travel mistakes lately?

[CaptainCurtis]

Left my colchicine tablets at home. First night away gout strikes. Here's hoping panadol osteo helps.

When are you flying out? I have leftover from the pericarditis days, I could Uber them to you if you like.

 

[Brissy1]

After years of travelling I made the ultimate mistake... I mistook my flight departure time and missed my Rome to Singapore flight with Singapore Airlines The flight time was listed as 12pm, I thought midnight. I think 1200 might have been clearer, I always get 12am/pm mixed up. Contacted SA who offered me same flight in 2 days time for $1500! Luckily was able to book Gulf Air for $770 next day. Found the SA flight in my searches advertised for <$1000. Bad experience all round with SA. Didn't honour my reserved seats, won't refund reservation fee, arrogant and unhelpful customer service... I'm guessing they're on commission, because they seem keen to extract every last dollar. I can't believe I paid a premium to fly with them. Never again!

Late response but I'm often concerned whether my interpretation of reading 12pm/12am is the same as person (or AI?) who wrote that time.
To clarify (or confuse), the Greenwich Royal Observatory states that it is equally wrong to use 12pm or 12am as 12 is neither "post midday" nor "ante midday".

Is noon 12 am or 12 pm?

Ever wondered whether midday or midnight is 12 am or 12 pm?

www.rmg.co.uk

 

[drron]

When are you flying out? I have leftover from the pericarditis days, I could Uber them to you if you like.

Thanks for the offer. fortunately the pain has gone with the Panadol osteo. Not as red either and I am taking that regularly for my back.
I won't take a NSAID as I am on an anticoagulant so don't want to risk a bleed.
Usually at least 2-3 months between episodes so fingers crossed.

 

[Flyinfish]

Late response but I'm often concerned whether my interpretation of reading 12pm/12am is the same as person (or AI?) who wrote that time.
To clarify (or confuse), the Greenwich Royal Observatory states that it is equally wrong to use 12pm or 12am as 12 is neither "post midday" nor "ante midday".

Well I agree 12pm was confusing for me, and given that it was an expensive flight and a major inconvenience, I think they could have made it clearer. Why not use 24 hour time?

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm joining a cruise at Bridgetown, Barbados on 21 December, coming from Europe via Miami to join.

I'm always very conservative when joining a cruise time-wise, so ah! I thought, a nice couple of days in Barbados to get rid of any jet lag and enjoy some beaches (I don't enjoy beaches, but that was the feeling).

So, also allowing for possible cancellation/rescheduling of the trans-Atlantic flight, and to get there early anyway, I'm arriving in Barbados three nights before joining the cruise.

So, what's the travel mistake? Accommodation virtually anywhere in Barbados starts at about US$400/night and for the night of the 20th - the start of 'Christmas week' - its about US$700/night AND most of them require 100% payment up-front, even when cancellable 2-4 weeks prior.

To change the flight from MIA will probably cost $$ and I can't avoid the most expensive night in Barbados. Best prospect ATM is A$2,700 paid up-front, but its all inclusive (meals, drinks, activities), so that will ease some pain.

 

[Flashback]

I'm joining a cruise at Bridgetown, Barbados on 21 December, coming from Europe via Miami to join.

I'm always very conservative when joining a cruise time-wise, so ah! I thought, a nice couple of days in Barbados to get rid of any jet lag and enjoy some beaches (I don't enjoy beaches, but that was the feeling).

So, also allowing for possible cancellation/rescheduling of the trans-Atlantic flight, and to get there early anyway, I'm arriving in Barbados three nights before joining the cruise.

So, what's the travel mistake? Accommodation virtually anywhere in Barbados starts at about US$400/night and for the night of the 20th - the start of 'Christmas week' - its about US$700/night AND most of them require 100% payment up-front, even when cancellable 2-4 weeks prior.

To change the flight from MIA will probably cost $$ and I can't avoid the most expensive night in Barbados. Best prospect ATM is A$2,700 paid up-front, but its all inclusive (meals, drinks, activities), so that will ease some pain.

Anything on Airbnb? That saved me in the Bahamas where it was similar.

 

[RooFlyer]

Anything on Airbnb? That saved me in the Bahamas where it was similar.

Owe ya another one!! Never done AirB&B - pity you have to basically reveal your life story to them to get 'verified' - but a nice place if they accept me!

 

[Flashback]

Owe ya another one!! Never done AirB&B - pity you have to basically reveal your life story to them to get 'verified' - but a nice place if they accept me!

Happy to help.

 

[SYD]

Owe ya another one!! Never done AirB&B - pity you have to basically reveal your life story to them to get 'verified' - but a nice place if they accept me!

Not really. AirBnB verification (as a renter) is pretty straight forward. But you do want hosts to go through the 3rd degree.

 

[RooFlyer]

With the money I’m saving in Barbados thanks to @Flashback 's suggestion, I can afford the ideally located hotel in Cartagena at the end of the cruise where the pricing is similar. .

 

[Cossie]

Where in Cartagena are you staying, @RooFlyer ?

I met an English guy at Colditz a couple of years ago, he and an American friend were riding motorbikes for a few weeks in Europe.
Anyway, he owns a hotel in the old part of Cartagena.

Sent a pm.

 

[Katie]

Trusted my weather app that rain in Sydney would clear on Sat arvo for our walk from Wynyrd station to the West Curio hotel.

We arrived like somewhat drowned rats. :/

 

[RooFlyer]

Well, Cartegena now sorted as well, thanks to @Cossie . With an into, they let me have 2 nights in spite of their 3 night minimum; in the old town, cheaper than similar places there. Potential travel mistakes can be averted by consulting AFF

 

[JohnK]

I rushed to book some domestic AirAsia flights to coughet.

Now plans have changed and airfare cannot be used. Can change date/time for fee but not destination. Nearly 5000 baht which isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things but a silly mistake just the same.

Also the airfare that I did eventually book more than doubled from 1100 baht to 2300 baht as I was hesitant and busy playing golf and drinking.

 

[AisleSeat]

Bought a new suitcase on the weekend (American Tourister). We fly tomorrow and realised I hadn’t set the combination.

So I go about setting it by pressing in the reset and rolling the dials. The reset button was sticky so I tried a few times, rolling the dials.

I soon realised that I had set a combination but didn’t know what it was, so for the last hour I’ve been through 900 combinations. Exactly 900. Because the combo I set it was 900. Doh!

 

[serfty]

While looking for Melbourne to Tokyo Awards with Qantas I found a business reward SYD-NAN-NRT on FJ with a SYD-TYO search.

I then researched with multi trip MEL-SYD-NAN-NRT and found business availability with QF connecting to the same FJ flights for the same number of points and ~$20 more.

I got distracted by more pressing things but came back with a spare 10 minutes, restarted the booking and completed it.

When ticketed I went to select seating and !? ... no MEL segment. Ugh! Without noticing, I'd reused the one way search with its saved data, not the multi. Of course the FJ business seats were no longer available for a rebook and (24 hour free) cancel.

I really didn't want to involve the call center in risking the entire booking with adding a segment but took the plunge. In the end I was rebuffed twice (no availablily/free change!? what? no such thing) so gave up. Anyway, who knows what and/or where it would end up, so resigned myself to booking a separate flight.

Just today i noticed there was more availability on the FJ flights. Checking the multi, I could do so. So booked and new one and cancelled the old (online).

A 6000 point lesson.

 

[Flashback]

While looking for Melbourne to Tokyo Awards with Qantas I found a business reward SYD-NAN-NRT on FJ with a SYD-TYO search.

I then researched with multi trip MEL-SYD-NAN-NRT and found business availability with QF connecting to the same FJ flights for the same number of points and ~$20 more.

I got distracted by more pressing things but came back with a spare 10 minutes, restarted the booking and completed it.

When ticketed I went to select seating and !? ... no MEL segment. Ugh! Without noticing, I'd reused the one way search with its saved data, not the multi. Of course the FJ business seats were no longer available for a rebook and (24 hour free) cancel.

I really didn't want to involve the call center in risking the entire booking with adding a segment but took the plunge. In the end I was rebuffed twice (no availablily/free change!? what? no such thing) so gave up. Anyway, who knows what and/or where it would end up, so resigned myself to booking a separate flight.

Just today i noticed there was more availability on the FJ flights. Checking the multi, I could do so. So booked and new one and cancelled the old.

A 6000 point lesson.

I've had that happen with hotels before, very easy to do.

 

[ausfox]

We have made the mistake of going on another cruise after a number of disappointing ventures near North America. Currently off Nova Scotia on an upmarket ship. However our pet hates have turned out in numbers. Loud mouthed, entitled and don’t know how to use cutlery other than as a shovel. Probably our last anywhere near the Americas

 

[tdimdad]

Small ones but remind that sometimes details escape.

Booked accommodation for three nights. Some time later booked a different one for the third night - without remembering to modify the earlier booking to match. When I messages the property, we were already outside of the cancellation period. Given how expensive accommodation is in Iceland, I may do future planning more diligently.

About 400 g of rhubarb jam confiscated at the security check. Yes, from the hand luggage. From someone who thought they won't have the willingness to wait for checked luggage to be unloaded at the other end. I trust it probably was really nice jam...

 

[JohnK]

BNE-CNX return on SQ/TR was ~$5500 for 3 of us at Christmas. So I booked PER-CNX for wife/daughter for $2900 and my flights were going to be ~$1600 and use points to PER and back saving a fair amount of cash and using useless points stash.

Checking again now and there is very limited availability PER-CNX for me and what is available is $2300+. Cannot book on SQ as they redirect to Scoot only.

Looks like we will be travelling separately. There's also the possibility I may not find airfares to travel. Did someone say airfares are coming down? This is ridiculous. I have never seen airfares this high ever. Stress.