Made any travel mistakes lately?

[JohnK]

If you see a cheap airfare don't hesitate even if looks looks like a mistake airfare.

Friday night/Saturday morning found $2500 airfare on Cathay website BNE-BKK return for 3 of us for Sep 2026. Did not have money in credit and stupidly chose not to use debit card, instead sending money to credit card. By Saturday lunchtime airfare went to $3100 which is the same as SQ airfare but SQ airfare has been increasing to $3200 the past day.

What's even worse is that the first seats in cabin were able to be selected for free as were travelling with child.

The $600 saving would have covered 9 nights in hotel in Pattaya with breakfast and change left over for beers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If you see a cheap airfare don't hesitate even if looks looks like a mistake airfare.

Friday night/Saturday morning found $2500 airfare on Cathay website BNE-BKK return for 3 of us for Sep 2026. Did not have money in credit and stupidly chose not to use debit card, instead sending money to credit card. By Saturday lunchtime airfare went to $3100 which is the same as SQ airfare but SQ airfare has been increasing to $3200 the past day.

What's even worse is that the first seats in cabin were able to be selected for free as were travelling with child.

The $600 saving would have covered 9 nights in hotel in Pattaya with breakfast and change left over for beers.

I’ve seen that quite a bit with cathay… prices fluctuate wildly. A flight I was looking at from MNL-HKG went from $149 to $256 and then $347, before dropping back to the $149! although only for a very brief period.

Might pay to be checking every couple of hours to see if the fare drops.

 

[Holiday.with.Ken]

If you see a cheap airfare don't hesitate even if looks looks like a mistake airfare.

Friday night/Saturday morning found $2500 airfare on Cathay website BNE-BKK return for 3 of us for Sep 2026. Did not have money in credit and stupidly chose not to use debit card, instead sending money to credit card. By Saturday lunchtime airfare went to $3100 which is the same as SQ airfare but SQ airfare has been increasing to $3200 the past day.

What's even worse is that the first seats in cabin were able to be selected for free as were travelling with child.

The $600 saving would have covered 9 nights in hotel in Pattaya with breakfast and change left over for beers.

Could try clear cookies and browser history? or try a different device, wifi, VPN, incognito etc?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Oh hell yeah - the just keep coming

Booked MEL-BQB July 17 2026 then 6nts MR then 1nt PER then VA PER-BME then 4nts BME then VA BME-PER-MEL - all set and all nestled in - then I realized that overlaps annual XMAS in July party at me best mates house where the Geange glows freely

BUGGER - bring everything forward 6 days - MR booked thru LE so had to cancel and rebook again but got there and once all set and nestled in I realized I had missed 1nt in PER midst the MR-BME transfer

BUGGER - back onto LE to ament MR booking and they now want extra $400 to bring the 6nt booking forward 1day - GFY - so cancelled and rcvd refund and called apt owner in MR and booked directly at cheaper rate than original LE bookings

Another day - another balls up

 

[Beano]

Had a massive senior moment yesterday. Departing Jakarta on an international flight we made it to the departure lounge without having checked in, so obviously without boarding passes, and with our bags containing a knife, a pair of scissors and several containers with over 100mls of liquid

So how did you get through security without a boarding pass?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So how did you get through security without a boarding pass?

Even immigration!

 

[Beano]

This last trip I left behind a hairbrush, toothbrush, glasses case (a nice soft one that I like)

Sigh

You know what they say, if you leave something behind you are bound to return. I left a sponge bag in a hotel in NZ when I was there for a job interview. A year later I was living in NZ and been there 32 years. I retrieved the sponge bag.

 

[AuSammy]

Tried to check-in to hotel in BKK.

No booking Sir

Here’s my confirmation.

Yes Sir that was for last month, you were a no show. No booking for today

 

[JohnK]

Could try clear cookies and browser history? or try a different device, wifi, VPN, incognito etc?

Haven't tried different wifi. Doesn't look to be cookies or browser history.

 

[andye]

Haven't tried different wifi. Doesn't look to be cookies or browser history.

Interested if anyone has success doing this.

My impression is that the illusion of prices going up while you delay booking is due to a cheap fare-bucket filling in the meantime, rather than an algorithm spotting your interest

 

[JohnK]

Interested if anyone has success doing this.

My impression is that the illusion of prices going up while you delay booking is due to a cheap fare-bucket filling in the meantime, rather than an algorithm spotting your interest

You'd be surprised. I've seen prices fluctuate. I should know better.

P.S. On Saturday morning this airfare for 3 of us was $2500, then jumped to $3100. Yesterday I checked airfare again and this time was at around $2950 but then went back up again.

As @MEL_Traveller mentioned you have to keep looking and be ready to book.

 

[andye]

You'd be surprised. I've seen prices fluctuate. I should know better.

P.S. On Saturday morning this airfare for 3 of us was $2500, then jumped to $3100. Yesterday I checked airfare again and this time was at around $2950 but then went back up again.

As @MEL_Traveller mentioned you have to keep looking and be ready to book.

I stuffed up my meaning. Prices do go up while you wait. My feeling is that the illusion is that they go up because you are looking

 

[Katie]

Teen's birthday present this year was a girls' day trip to Radelaide for a comiccon event where Billie Piper (Dr Who and more) would be appearing. The event overlaps my milestone birthday, and as I'd seen some thing on the website about Billie appearing "all weekend", I took that to include Friday, not just be Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday just gone, I check something as we still need to purchase the token to get Billie's autograph.

Billie's only appearing on Sat and Sun. Of course she is. Saturday is my party and Sunday I was hoping to sleep in ... but that means Sunday will be the day to fly to Adelaide and back.

$500 to change one flight, $600 to change the other (separate bookings; or was it $600 and $700? ). Friday tickets for the event will be refundable after purchasing the Sunday tickets.
Mr Katie is staying home because BNE-ADL is $844 for a Red eDeal (could have done Classic Plus Rewards for him, have plenty of points, but if he stays home, then we don't have to worry about the dog).

 

[JohnK]

I stuffed up my meaning. Prices do go up while you wait. My feeling is that the illusion is that they go up because you are looking

That depends.

If Cathay prices going up but Trip, Expedia, Webjet, Skyscannner etc steady then Cathay playing games.

P.S. The flights Im looking at are 12 months away and look to be wide open