Almost each and every vacation teaches me something about myself, the world, and what not to do next time. Here are 3 hard-won lessons that can help you stay informed of my mistakes.
COLLABORATIVE FLIGHTS ARE NOT WORTH THE SAVINGS
Whenever I can, I book non-stop flights. Nonstop flights may charge a little more, but they have the drawback of stopovers and the strain of probably not having a connection.
Sometimes, of course, nonstop flights are unavailable or affordable. What you don’t need to do, I learned from a bitter experience, is pay to save money when booking flights with other non-affiliated airlines, especially if it’s luggage or customs.
In 2017, my husband, daughter and I flew to London and then to Barcelona, Spain. This component went well; It’s the return passes that have become a nightmare. The Barcelona-London flight is delayed. When we landed at Heathrow Airport in London, we learned that we had to collect our luggage at baggage claim, go through customs, check in our luggage at another airline’s counter in another terminal, go through security, and run to the gate to make our connection, all in about an hour.
Somehow, incredibly, we took our flight home, but my center didn’t stop it from beating until we were well over the Atlantic Ocean. Now I make sure to book through a single airline and its partners. Our baggage is checked in at our final destination and delays in the airline’s challenge flights to be resolved.
MAKE SURE YOU ARE INSURED
For years, fortunately I traveled the world, not thinking about what might happen if I was in poor health or injured away from home. Then my father suffered a stroke while visiting his sister in Florida. The medical evacuation flight to bring him home in Washington state, with the required escort and other mandatory medical care, would have charged more than $100,000.
Unfortunately, he never recovered enough to make that flight. But I learned how vulnerable I had been, especially when I traveled to places where medical care was poor. evacuation. If we leave the United States, I make sure we also have health insurance coverage.
Today, ers also want to worry about COVID-19. Although the U. S. While the U. S. centers for disease control and prevention has eliminated the requirement for incoming ers to produce a negative COVID-19 test, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is opposed to reporting whether you have symptoms or a positive test. That may mean only a week or two of unforeseen hotel and dining expenses, so I make sure our insurance covers COVID-related expenses and that the “delay” component has a maximum limit, such as $250 per user per day.
Other things can go wrong on a trip: flight delays and cancellations, lost luggage, twists of fate on rental cars. I rate all of our trips with auto credits that offer policies for those minor disasters. I especially like the type of car rental policy. that’s primary, which means your auto insurer never wants to know that you’ve caused a twist of fate or broken the rental car. so it doesn’t pay for your insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
It’s a lesson I didn’t have to learn the hard way: the only time a car rental company tried to qualify me as a coup, I told my credit company. I have no idea whether the claim has been paid or abandoned; I just know that I didn’t have to deal with it after that.
BEWARE OF THIRD-PARTY BOOKING SITES
Many credit cards offer general rewards that you can transfer to the issuer’s airline and hotel partners. However, some credit card companies also offer their own portals. other providers and then ebook using their points.
I don’t use online agencies regularly, as I think I get a better service to the visitor by booking directly. But earlier this year, I made the decision to flip the portal option, and I lived to regret it.
The flight I booked from Los Angeles to Vienna with my credit card issues had a stopover in Istanbul. A few weeks after booking, I received an email informing me that the Istanbul-Vienna address had been cancelled.
I logged into the airline’s website, waiting to be presented with features to rebook the cancelled trip. Instead, I received a message that my itinerary may simply not be changed. When I called the airline, a visitor service agent told me I had to call the creditss card company. When I called the credits card company, I told them I had to contact the airline.
I tried to send an email to solve the problem, with the same result. Eventually, desperate, I reached out to Twitter. I took a few more finger taps, but despite everything I was able to cancel the reservation, recover my problems. , and I swear never to use a portal again.
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This column was provided to The Associated Press through the non-public finance online page NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a columnist for NerdWallet, a qualified monetary planner and “Your Credit Score. “Email: lweston@nerdwallet. com. Twitter: @lizweston .
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