Made any travel mistakes lately?

I am back on track after a slight detour this morning. I got to the station in plenty of time for my train trip to Munich via Trier and Mannheim. I checked the board to see platform 11. I ambled my way there for the 0933 departure to Trier. The train was at the platform so I boarded and made myself comfortable upstairs. At precisely 0908 the train I was on set off for its scheduled departure for Wittlich! 😱

Fortunately the (wrong) train I was on also eventually stopped at Trier with a few minutes to spare to make my connection to Mannheim. 😳

I blame COVID-brain for a mistake I have never made before. To paraphrase Yul Bruner: “Don’t get COVID. Just don’t”
 
Last week we were flying to BWT from TSV and had a wonderful day(s) of QF shennanigans but I think some headaches could have been avoided in hindsight.

QF1987 TSV - MEL (Alliance E190) went irrops after pushback due to an avionics fault that rebooting several times wouldn't clear. Fair enough these things happen - so a taxi to a remote bay down past where Rex usually lurk and a walk back to the Qantas Pub. Discussed options with lounge agent as it was clear we wouldn't make our BWT connection if we had to go via BNE. Opted for MEL hotel and BWT morning flight the following day but was over-ruled by Mrs Punter who just wanted to get to our destination. Understandable as we had a 6 month old baby in tow so I went back and had another chat. So here was the big mistake - we asked to be changed to LST (was told no to DPO even though I saw that flight leave half full later that night from MEL :rolleyes:). TSV agent later told me she had personally gone to check that the bags were re-tagged to LST.

So off we trundled to MEL via BNE. Major issues and delays in MEL that evening with ground crew shortages - of course QF wouldn't tell me anything in the lounge so I went and had a chat with a young crew member at the gate. Was told Swissport had big issues with absenteeism, our inbound DH8 had vomit to clean up and they couldn't get a cleaner. The baggage guys were busy with multiple aircraft piling up and our flight had to accommodate a large dog. Eventually they made the decision to offload 10 pax worth of bags without telling us (at that point I would have demanded a hotel!) and off to LST we went. During our many hours of unscheduled Qpub time I had changed my BWT Avis booking to my SIL's name and she kindly got the car and fetched us from LST.

So we land in LST and none of our 4 bags come out. 10 angry pax surrounded the one poor QF worker who was powerless to do anything other than hand out PJ and toiletry packs. Immediate issue for us was taking bub in rental car sans baby seat. Our saviour came in the form of Michael who was lurking out the back in the regional QF pub. A twice redundant QF worker who now contracts as a courier, Michael called up another courier mate who magicked up a car seat from one of his taxis (was a bit manky but got us out of this pickle). He also went on the computer and discovered one of our bags didn't make the transfer in BNE and three were offloaded in MEL for that dog. It was assumed that the oversized car seat bag was the one in BNE (we later discovered it wasn't).

Anyway after a stop in town for baby supplies (we got to Coles 5 mins before closure at midnight) and a visit to the 24 hour K-mart for clothes (who knew Tassie was so progressive) we eventually got to our AirBNB in Penguin at 2am. What an adventure. Three bags were couriered late the next day but the fourth didn't make it until 3 days later; for some reason QF put it on the BNE - LST Jetstar flight two days later. By then we were staying at Corinna on the edge of the Tarkine and our new buddy Michael got to go on a 7 hour scenic drive to deliver the remaining bag.

So if I had to do this again I would definitely not trust QF with a destination change after the trip has commenced, at least not if travelling with an infant and you want a high chance of the luggage actually arriving. You'd think they'd have a process when offloading bags to identify pax with infants but I guess not.

The trip home was also quite terrible. LST - MEL was canx and the rubbish QF automation rebooked us us via a later MEL then on to TSV via SYD. At least the call centre agent (Fiji I think) managed to change us to the direct LST - SYD QFlink flight without stuffing it up. Still got home about 8 hours later than intended due to this and further delays out of SYD. Again, not much fun with a baby in tow. SYD delays a combo of late arriving aircraft and more ground handling issues - we waited on board for >40mins for a pushback tug.

Perhaps we were just very unlucky with this trip but it was quite frustrating when a carefully chosen itinerary to keep an infant happy (and fellow pax's ears) doesn't go to plan. Also was clear the majority of QF staff we met along the way were very nice and helpful but they also felt let down by systemic QF issues; one funny QF lady in MEL even told me to send AJ a nastygram :cool:.
 
Booked a trip for a wedding anniversary surprise trip earlier this year, about 4 months in advance using points. Two days from departure, was checking seats and realised I had the wrong day...ended up paying ~$400 for MEL-OOL instead of free (which reminds me to chase up the points that were not credited back either)
 
I made the mistake of thinking Jetstar would actually fly me to my destination. But no, they cancelled another flight 2/6 cancelled May/June. 1/2 cancelled for September.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Don't book anything with BA or Easyjet then otherwise you will be similarly disappointed.

We were lucky, Qantas had three flights 515, 615, 715. We just missed getting on the 515. What annoyed me more, was last time Jetstar cancelled we got numerous other flights to select instead. This time, the only option given was to cancel. Not ideal when you have just arrived at the airport, to fly home.
 
Sponsored Post

Struggling to use your Frequent Flyer Points?

Frequent Flyer Concierge takes the hard work out of finding award availability and redeeming your frequent flyer or credit card points for flights.

Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, the Frequent Flyer Concierge team at Frequent Flyer Concierge will help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

We were lucky, Qantas had three flights 515, 615, 715. We just missed getting on the 515. What annoyed me more, was last time Jetstar cancelled we got numerous other flights to select instead. This time, the only option given was to cancel. Not ideal when you have just arrived at the airport, to fly home.
Just wait it out in the lounge. Drink some wine and/or beers and/or gin.
 
Don’t have lounge access :(
Stick around and you may earn it soon enough.

Other than that, keep an eye out on the lounge meetup threads.

 
Be careful of booking any same day connections <3 hours on separate bookings. Had to change flights at last minute last month and lucky there was still availability.

Given the current climate I'd even be wary of same day connections on same booking unless you are prepared to travel later which can have a cascading effect.
 
A few weeks ago I'd booked an early morning (6am) flight home from Townsville to Sydney (via BNE). I got up nice and early having checked out the night before. Got into my Uber, checked my phone and saw an email from Virgin (sent at 3am) telling me my flight was cancelled and the next flight was midday! If I'd thought it through I would have told my driver to go back to the hotel so I could get back into my room - I'd left my key inside so I'd have to wake up reception. By the time I'd thought it through completely I was at the airport and thought I'd see if I could get on another flight. No there are no other flights. So six hours hanging around the most boring Lounge free airport later I finally got on a plane. Connection in BNE was also delayed so I ended up getting home around 7pm after originally planning on about 1130. It was a Saturday too.
 
A few weeks ago I'd booked an early morning (6am) flight home from Townsville to Sydney (via BNE). I got up nice and early having checked out the night before. Got into my Uber, checked my phone and saw an email from Virgin (sent at 3am) telling me my flight was cancelled and the next flight was midday! If I'd thought it through I would have told my driver to go back to the hotel so I could get back into my room - I'd left my key inside so I'd have to wake up reception. By the time I'd thought it through completely I was at the airport and thought I'd see if I could get on another flight. No there are no other flights. So six hours hanging around the most boring Lounge free airport later I finally got on a plane. Connection in BNE was also delayed so I ended up getting home around 7pm after originally planning on about 1130. It was a Saturday too.
I had a similar experience in Townsville last year. I was meant to be on an 830 ish flight down to BNE then to ADL. Was the morning after State of Origin and my taxi finally rocked up just as my flight departed. Next flight I could get on was about 3pm. The worst bit - they wouldn't let me check my luggage in until about midday or so. The non airside facilities of that airport makes the airside look grand!
 
Going up tube escalator in London last month and saw poster for Tom, Dick & Harry theatre at Alexandra Palace. Bought tickets that day for the next night, Tuesday. Took tube and train there, and full of teenage girls, thought strange for a WW2 theatre production. Got there, walked up the hill, went to the palace, and found I bought tickets for July, not June when I rocked up. That night two shows on, a heavy metal concert in the theatre, and a Lorde concert in the park. Stupid me. Got a full refund a couple of weeks later so that was awesome. Missed out on a Jack the Ripper free walk in London by this deviation to me plans though.
 
I've made the mistake of not getting any GBP cash and there's no time to get any before we leave. Options? I'm considering just loading the QFF travel money card and then withdrawing cash from that. We have 28 Degrees as our CC.

I've barely used cash in so long I didn't really think about it.

As I'm typing this I've also realised that we haven't got any Singapore cash.

Sigh.......I'm verging on not match fit here.
 
Transferred €1000 to my travel money card, (it is how I like to do things), accidentally put an extra 0 on the end.
Didn’t notice until I was checking the balance the next day.
Guess it will get spent eventually. :)

edited, corrected spullin.
 
Last edited:
Pulled my bag out of the Jetstar crammed overhead bin after top of climb to the pull out some other bag which landed on some cranky old Biatch in the seat ahead of me. Sadly it was a Karen which didn’t help the situation. It was one of those flights in which I then became the enemy of everyone and got death stares galore for 3 hours. Cabin crew being way over the top with her afterwards, on which was really a small tap, didn’t help my situation either lol.
 
Pulled my bag out of the Jetstar crammed overhead bin after top of climb to the pull out some other bag which landed on some cranky old Biatch in the seat ahead of me. Sadly it was a Karen which didn’t help the situation. It was one of those flights in which I then became the enemy of everyone and got death stares galore for 3 hours. Cabin crew being way over the top with her afterwards, on which was really a small tap, didn’t help my situation either lol.
I had similar on my flight a few days ago, bottle of water in the side pocket of my backpack. However ...... the irony is, said person that it fell onto had moved and re-arranged my bags (I didn't realise); so perhaps they got their just desserts? :) Previously my backpack was over my seat, so if it fell as I was pulling it out it would have fallen into my seat and not on her head.
 

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top