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One of the things I love most about being The Points Guy is getting to hear stories from readers about all the positive ways award travel has affected their lives. That being said, while I love hearing about your successes, I think there’s also a lot we can learn by sharing our mistakes, and I’m calling on readers to send in your most egregious and woeful travel failures.
From time to time I’ll pick one that catches my eye and post it for everybody to enjoy (and commiserate with). If you’re interested, email your story to info@thepointsguy.com, and put “Reader Mistake Story” in the subject line. Include details of exactly how your trip went wrong, and (where applicable) how you made it right. Please offer any wisdom you gained from the experience, and explain what precautions the rest of us can take to avoid the same pitfalls. If we publish your story, I’ll send you a gift to help jump-start your next adventure (or make up for any blunders from the last one).
Recently, I posted a story from Richard, who paid a hefty price for getting distracted at the airport before his departure. Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader Bunni, who ran into trouble when booking a flight across multiple itineraries. Here’s what she had to say:
There are several valuable lessons to learn from Bunni’s experience. First, even the best airline customer service agents make mistakes. They sometimes provide bad information, and they don’t always know what’s best for your itinerary. If you’re making unconventional travel plans, be sure you’re aware of what’s at stake and how those plans could backfire, because airline representatives can’t be trusted to see all the angles. Of course, customer service agents can also help in unexpected ways, so remember to treat them kindly and keep them on your side.
The second lesson is that splitting your itinerary is risky, and the more tickets and connections you have, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. Airlines have some obligation to get you from your ticketed origin to your ticketed destination, but they’re not responsible for what happens before you depart and after you arrive. Even though Bunni’s two itineraries were booked with the same carrier, the first ticket only required Delta to get her to JFK, and not on to Manchester.
That being said, I don’t think splitting your itinerary is universally a bad idea. It makes sense if you want to use both cash and miles, or if you’re booking a connection to set up a lucrative flight deal. The key is to give yourself lots of room for error — it’s better to spend an extra hour or two on a layover than risk losing your whole itinerary because of delays.
I appreciate this story, and I hope it can help other readers avoid making the same mistake. To thank Bunni for sharing her experience (and for allowing me to post it online), I’m sending her a $200 Visa gift card to enjoy on her travels.
I’d like to do the same for you! If you’ve ever arrived at the airport without ID, booked a hotel room in the wrong city or missed out on a credit card sign-up bonus, I want to hear about it. Please indulge me and the whole TPG team by sending us your own stories (see instructions above). I look forward to hearing from you, and until then, I wish you a safe and mistake-free journey!
Source: thepointsguy.com