Check and double check those dates

[reader]

Like to think I'm obsessive when making travel reservations. Yesterday proved me wrong when booking January trip.

Shortly after pushing the "pay now' tab on the airline website, I received the confirming email and learned that I had the correct return day but the wrong month!

Immediately got on the phone and after a long wait got to a rep and confessed my error. He repriced the itinerary, found no fare difference, and rebooked me on correct date. I was lucky.

Lesson learned: read, reread and read again before paying.

[Latbear4blk]

1 hour ago, reader said:

Like to think I'm obsessive when making travel reservations. Yesterday proved me wrong when booking January trip.

Shortly after pushing the "pay now' tab on the airline website, I received the confirming email and learned that I had the correct return day but the wrong month!

Immediately got on the phone and after a long wait got to a rep and confessed my error. He repriced the itinerary, found no fare difference, and rebooked me on correct date. I was lucky.

Lesson learned: read, reread and read again before paying.

Ha! and you think you are clumsy. A couple of times (once when I was in CDMX and once in RJ), I bought the right tickets but then got confused about the return date. I did not lost my flights because of the last minute alerts in my phone, but I had to pack in a rush, cancel my plans and dates, and run to the airport. Now I have all my alerts set for 24 hours before.

[vinapu]

it was something in the air yesterday.

Almost the same happened to me while booking short,  2 day hop. Just before hitting 'pay now' I noticed that return date is  day later so managed to correct is before paying.

those things happen occasionally , once I was asked to drive family of 4 to the airport on their way to Australia. We were almost at the terminal when wife looking at the tickets (remember those ? ) said to husband " John , we are flying tomorrow , not today ". That's only beginning of the story, when they returned home , bit disappointed they found they left back door to the garden wide opened. Sort of happy ending !

[Keithambrose]

2 hours ago, vinapu said:

it was something in the air yesterday.

Almost the same happened to me while booking short,  2 day hop. Just before hitting 'pay now' I noticed that return date is  day later so managed to correct is before paying.

those things happen occasionally , once I was asked to drive family of 4 to the airport on their way to Australia. We were almost at the terminal when wife looking at the tickets (remember those ? ) said to husband " John , we are flying tomorrow , not today ". That's only beginning of the story, when they returned home , bit disappointed they found they left back door to the garden wide opened. Sort of happy ending !

It's very common. I travelled  an awful lot on business. On one trip from NYC to Chicago, I went to check in at La Guardia. The AA staff were puzzled, as the flight was from JFK! The e ticket and confirmation both said JFK, but I had assumed that as it was a domestic  flight, it was from LGA! Hence blindness when looking at the ticket! I now check obsessively. Luckily I also leave a lot of time.e when checking in, so made it to JFK. Felt an absolute  fool. Years before, I was in SF, going to Santa Barbara.  I rang up the hotel to check the reservation, and like the member above, had the wrong month! This was expensive,  as they only had a suite!

 

The other issue, I find, is booking hotels many months ahead, especially if you have a duplicate  booking, as you can do with booking.com. Unless you are very careful, you can forget one of the bookings. That has happened  to me!

[Thomas_88]

23 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

It's very common...

It is & some low cost carriers take a lot advantage of it.

[floridarob]

6 hours ago, reader said:

Lesson learned: read, reread and read again before paying.

I did that with my e-visa last time to Indonesia, submitted without verifying everything, even after I printed it.

When I used autofill on one field, it changed one of the other fields, I didn't notice.... had to pay for another one at arrival because everything has to be 100% right or it's invalid....was only $30usd, but I was pissed at how careless I was.

I have trips booked until the end of the year, and some travel dates are the same but in different months. it gets confusing 🙄

#firstworldproblems

 

[thaiophilus]

Conversation between a friend of mine and their departing guest while in a car well on the way to the airport:

"which terminal, North or South?"

"No, Four".

It's a good thing LHR and LGW label their terminals differently, or the mistake might not have been noticed until much too late.

[vinapu]

44 minutes ago, floridarob said:

#firstworldproblems

 

indeed !

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

Conversation between a friend of mine and their departing guest while in a car well on the way to the airport:

"which terminal, North or South?"

"No, Four".

It's a good thing LHR and LGW label their terminals differently, or the mistake might not have been noticed until much too late.

I remember a taxi driver probably tried to trick us when we were leaving our hotel in Ipanema for the airport. We asked the driver to take us to the airport, and he asked "Dumont?", a small domestic airport which he must have known was not our destination. Fortunately, I knew the name of the international airport, so I said "Não, Aeroporto do Galeão." As for airplane tickets, in the US at least you have 24 hours to correct your mistake for a full refund. That being said, one has to check everything very carefully, especially connection times, and so on. When airlines send updated flight info by e-mail, once again has to be very careful in reviewing these, including connection times. If the connection is too tight, you have the right to ask for rebooking to different flights, with no additional charge. You also have to review your seat selection online as well, as you may be mysteriously moved out of your chosen exit row seats, etc. 

[Keithambrose]

3 minutes ago, unicorn said:

I remember a taxi driver probably tried to trick us when we were leaving our hotel in Ipanema for the airport. We asked the driver to take us to the airport, and he asked "Dumont?", a small domestic airport which he must have known was not our destination. Fortunately, I knew the name of the international airport, so I said "Não, Aeroporto do Galeão." As for airplane tickets, in the US at least you have 24 hours to correct your mistake for a full refund. That being said, one has to check everything very carefully, especially connection times, and so on. When airlines send updated flight info by e-mail, once again has to be very careful in reviewing these, including connection times. If the connection is too tight, you have the right to ask for rebooking to different flights, with no additional charge. You also have to review your seat selection online as well, as you may be mysteriously moved out of your chosen exit row seats, etc. 

Slightly different  point. Has anyone checked in on line, been given seat reservation, and then told at the airport you have been bumped off?

[unicorn]

5 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

Slightly different  point. Has anyone checked in on line, been given seat reservation, and then told at the airport you have been bumped off?

Not with my current preferred carrier, American Airlines. Since I lived in the SF Bay Area, I used to fly primarily with United, and was in the 2nd highest elite tier with them, when I was actually seated in the seat for which I had the boarding pass. Before the flight took off, a flight attendant told me to get up, as I was being moved to another seat (further back in the plane). When I asked why she responded "I don't have to tell you," to which I answered "And I don't have to fly United again." I never flew United again, and am now a Million Miler™ with American Airlines, and have had Executive Platinum status with them for the last several years. I take my hubbie with me, of course. I have occasionally flown with Delta or Alaska since dumping United. For example, when we went to Iceland, Delta and United, but not American, fly to KEF, so we went on Delta, and went we to Alaska last month we flew Alaska Airlines from Burbank to Victoria, and then back from Fairbanks to Burbank. That incident with United wasn't the first time their flight attendants had been rude with me (not due to anything I did), but it was the straw which broke my willingness to keep flying with them. I will add that the ticket I had on United was a regular ticket I purchased on their website (not Priceline, etc.), and I had no interactions with any of the other staff or passengers on the plane, so it was definitely not anything I'd done. 

[macaroni21]

The only date mistake that cost me money, at least as far as I can remember, was a hotel booking I made for the day after my arrival. The mistake stemmed from sheer carelessness on my part. I was flying from HK to the US and I simply assumed, because there would be a period of darkness as the flight crossed the Pacific, that I would arrive on the following day. Wrong! I arrived on the same day which, with a bit of logical thinking, was what one should expect!

So I had to book another hotel for one night. My own hotel was full.

[Keithambrose]

52 minutes ago, unicorn said:

Not with my current preferred carrier, American Airlines. Since I lived in the SF Bay Area, I used to fly primarily with United, and was in the 2nd highest elite tier with them, when I was actually seated in the seat for which I had the boarding pass. Before the flight took off, a flight attendant told me to get up, as I was being moved to another seat (further back in the plane). When I asked why she responded "I don't have to tell you," to which I answered "And I don't have to fly United again." I never flew United again, and am now a Million Miler™ with American Airlines, and have had Executive Platinum status with them for the last several years. I take my hubbie with me, of course. I have occasionally flown with Delta or Alaska since dumping United. For example, when we went to Iceland, Delta and United, but not American, fly to KEF, so we went on Delta, and went we to Alaska last month we flew Alaska Airlines from Burbank to Victoria, and then back from Fairbanks to Burbank. That incident with United wasn't the first time their flight attendants had been rude with me (not due to anything I did), but it was the straw which broke my willingness to keep flying with them. I will add that the ticket I had on United was a regular ticket I purchased on their website (not Priceline, etc.), and I had no interactions with any of the other staff or passengers on the plane, so it was definitely not anything I'd done. 

That's really bad. I've never heard of that. Could you sue them? Once on BA business  class, Cancun to LHR, with my family, we were on the plane, and were asked if we would consider moving for some VIPs. I am a Gold member with BA. We politely refused, and that was the end of that. 

[Keithambrose]

Just now, Keithambrose said:

That's really bad. I've never heard of that. Could you sue them? Once on BA business  class, Cancun to LHR, with my family, we were on the plane, and were asked if we would consider moving for some VIPs. I am a Gold member with BA. We politely refused, and that was the end of that. 

M f you, if we had been in Saudi, or UAE, it might have been different!

[macaroni21]

Twice, I was almost "tricked" by Google Calendar. I would enter my flight details in Google Calendar, including flight number, departure terminal and departure time. Years ago, I didn't fully realize that how Calendar worked and I simply entered the time of departure without noting the time zone. E.g. , for the return leg of Bangkok-paris-bangkok, I would enter 21:00h when the booked flight was scheduled to leave paris at 9pm.

I was almost caught out. After as several weeks in France, I could not remember details of my return flight. No problem. That's why I had put details into Calendar. Except that, the day of my departure, it showed 15:00h. I cancelled my lunch appointment to rush to the airport but once there I realised it was still departing at 21:00. 

Google had converted my departure time from 21:00 Bkk to 15:00 Paris!

[macaroni21]

Then I got smarter. And still Google Calendar tricked me. After the earlier incident I put departure time in the title of the Calendar event, e.g "depart Bkk 17:20". So even if my phone changes time zone, it won't change right?

It didn't, but the newer version of Calendar has AI. Zuts alors. What I recently discovered was that it reads my event title and sees that I had put in a time in the title. It then populates the time field without even asking me. And once I move into another time zone, it adjusts the time field.

But this time I could see a discrepancy between the time of departure I had entered in the title (unchanged) and the time of event Google figured should be the case (adjusted for time zone).

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Then I got smarter. And still Google Calendar tricked me. After the earlier incident I put departure time in the title of the Calendar event, e.g "depart Bkk 17:20". So even if my phone changes time zone, it won't change right?

It didn't, but the newer version of Calendar has AI. Zuts alors. What I recently discovered was that it reads my event title and sees that I had put in a time in the title. It then populates the time field without even asking me. And once I move into another time zone, it adjusts the time field.

But this time I could see a discrepancy between the time of departure I had entered in the title (unchanged) and the time of event Google figured should be the case (adjusted for time zone).

why  make  life so complicated ?

[Keithambrose]

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

why  make  life so complicated ?

Good point about time changes. I also put relevant time in heading. I get annoyed with the time in the calendar  changing with the time zones. If I was better at IT, I'm sure I could fix it, but.....

 

Going back to hotels, another issue I have is that I often book many months in advance, using the hotel website. Then I forget, and book again, through, say, Booking.com. this can prove embarrassing  at check in, when they ask whether I need 2 rooms!

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Going back to hotels, another issue I have is that I often book many months in advance, using the hotel website. Then I forget, and book again, through, say, Booking.com. this can prove embarrassing  at check in, when they ask whether I need 2 rooms!

tell them you don't like having suitcase in the same room where you sleep

[ichigo]

A couple of faux pas on my behalf..

1. I needed to travel from A to B, but for some reason I booked the flight from B to A. It was too late when I realised, so I had to forfeit that one, but luckily it was only a short domestic flight.

2. I was holidaying in multiple destinations, therefore multiple flights, so I put all of the departure/arrival information into a self-made itinerary (word document) so I could see it all clearly. The majority of the information was correct, however I accidentally entered the departure time, in this word document, from city A as the arrival time of city B. I only realised my mistake when I was on my way to the airport. oops. I ended up just extending my holiday.

So yeah, I check everything very very carefully now.

[macaroni21]

3 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

I also put relevant time in heading. I get annoyed with the time in the calendar  changing with the time zones. If I was better at IT, I'm sure I could fix it, but.....

Google Calendar allows you to specify the time zone of the time (value) you put into the time field. It just takes a few more steps; the feature was something I didn't realise until later. Whether that value adjusts properly for daylight-saving... is another matter.

[Thomas_88]

14 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Then I got smarter. And still Google Calendar tricked me. After the earlier incident I put departure time in the title of the Calendar event, e.g "depart Bkk 17:20". So even if my phone changes time zone, it won't change right?

It didn't, but the newer version of Calendar has AI. Zuts alors. What I recently discovered was that it reads my event title and sees that I had put in a time in the title. It then populates the time field without even asking me. And once I move into another time zone, it adjusts the time field.

But this time I could see a discrepancy between the time of departure I had entered in the title (unchanged) and the time of event Google figured should be the case (adjusted for time zone).

 

Maybe you could try for example "Depart BKK seventeen twenty".

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, Thomas_88 said:

 

Maybe you could try for example "Depart BKK seventeen twenty".

brilliant, elegant and yet simple

[unicorn]

8 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Good point about time changes. I also put relevant time in heading. I get annoyed with the time in the calendar  changing with the time zones. If I was better at IT, I'm sure I could fix it, but.....

 

Going back to hotels, another issue I have is that I often book many months in advance, using the hotel website. Then I forget, and book again, through, say, Booking.com. this can prove embarrassing  at check in, when they ask whether I need 2 rooms!

I'm surprised that you don't get charged for two rooms when that happens, since almost no reservation arrangements allow for same-day cancellations. There are two methods I use which prevent me from making that mistake. First, I have a folder at home with all of my travel arrangements, arranged in chronological order. When I need a hotel, I refer to the flights (which I usually book first), then the schedule of where I'm supposed to be. If I cancel a hotel, I keep the cancellation notice there. Also, I enter all of the data into my iPhone's calendar application. In that application, it's quite simple to change the time zone to the local one. (As a third measure, I also have a written "black book" record, which I usually carry with me, but that's overkill). 

This is my third measure, which I agree is simply nerdy overkill:

[thaiophilus]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

brilliant, elegant and yet simple

... and probably no help, since I'd expect a typical LLM (I refuse to call it AI) to recognise "seventeen twenty" as a time and "correct" you anyway.

Worse, it might see it as a date 😵