Despite the best-laid travel plans, some things still go wrong. If you want to make your trip less stressful, you need to identify common travel hitches and create a contingency plan. This article explores some of the most common travel woes you will have to contend with and how to handle them.
1. Poor Accommodation
It’s common to hear travellers complaining about gross lodgings and this is one thing that could ruin your trip. However, barring your destination, you need to find the best accommodation to enjoy your time. Most people choose the cheapest hotels only to get shocked on arrival. With online booking, it’s easy to fall for false marketing and pay money for a seedy establishment.
To avoid disappointment, do your research and only book into a hotel that has a high customer rating on travel sites. More importantly, read through the hotel’s policy to understand the cancellation requirements, pet rules, kids’ rules, amenities fees among other things. If the room is awful, you should talk to the management and demand an upgrade or refund.
If everything fails, you have the power of social media to share your feelings, and the hotel will most likely do something to avoid such negative reviews.
2. Delayed Flights
There’s nothing that ruins travel plans like a delayed flight. There are myriad reasons why a flight can get delayed and most are beyond the airline’s control. From mountain eruptions, drones at the airport to airline collapse, there’s no end to the reasons for delayed or cancelled flights. You need to be prepared for this possible travel hitch.
The best thing about this is that airlines go to great lengths to inform passengers of the problem in advance and in case the wait goes beyond three hours, you become eligible for flight delay compensation. The compensation plan is not straightforward and you might need to use an expert to get your right.
Travel refund services provide all the information you need to follow up the claim compensation for delayed flights and also help you pursue this on your behalf.
3. Missed Flights
Missing a flight is a nightmare for any traveller and this is one thing no one wants to imagine. However, anything can happen to lead to a missed flight but you don’t have to panic. You should stay calm and talk to the airline service to understand the options available.
Remember, it’s your fault that you missed the flight and with this in mind, you should remain courteous when talking to the airline staff. Your attitude will determine how well the situation gets resolved and in many cases, you can get a seat on the next flight. Your travel agent can also assist in this situation.
To avoid this unpleasant circumstance, make sure you make travel arrangements to the airport early enough and make the connection early enough. It’s better to wait at the airport than risking the tension that comes with missing a flight.
4. Luggage Issues at your Destination
The last thing you expect when travelling is to land without your luggage. It happens all the time and if not well handled, it can ruin your trip. In some cases, luggage gets lost but in many situations, it heads to the wrong destination.
The airline has a responsibility to find the luggage and bring it back to your hotel within the shortest time possible. Just like with a claim compensation for delayed flights, most airlines offer compensation for misplaced luggage and you should follow up on the same.
For this to happen, you should contact the airlines’ customer service to file a missing baggage claim. Stay calm and provide your destination and all the details required. It’s advisable not to check in your entire luggage and instead, have a go-bag with some essentials. You should also have a photo of your packed suitcase to assist the airline to locate it faster.
5. Flight/Hotel Reservation Hitch
If an airline or hotel can’t find your reservation, your trip is in jeopardy. This is every traveller’s worst nightmare, but it’s an issue that you can resolve quickly. Always triple check all the travel reservations and have the receipts with you. In case you have digital confirmation, print out the receipt in case your phone dies when travelling.
From illness due to food poisoning, lost travel documents, lost cash, language barriers to money exchange scams, there are multiple travel woes you might encounter. With this information in mind, it’s easier to plan your trip and create a plan to overcome common travel woes. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
