Like many others, traveling is a passion of mine. One that I feel, especially in recent years, has been an itch I can barely scratch. So many places I want, no need, to go, but only so much time to do it, and money to pay for it. And did travel used to be easier? I don’t think I am alone thinking that. There is something more cumbersome, more uncomfortable, more difficult about traveling nowadays which leads me to the reason for this post: travel tips to save your sanity, and quite possibly your whole trip.
1) Book Direct Flights if Possible
So this is the big one. No brainer right? A few months ago I started planning a family trip to the the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. A respite from the cold for a few days and only a short flight away. I booked our flights on JetBlue and bought tickets for a flight from Boston to San Juan with a brief layover at JFK. Not bad you’d think, a quick stopover and change of planes. Well, easier said than done.
The first flight of our trip ended up departing late due to a delay in loading baggage. No fault of ours. And due to the delay we were late for our connecting flight to San Juan and missed boarding by 4 minutes. 4 minutes!
We tried to get on the next two flights (which were overbooked btw) and after finding out that the next flight available to us was not for 2 more days, we made the decision to cut our losses and just flew back to Boston. Trip ruined. Lesson learned.
2) Know When to Get Travel Insurance
Ever since the pandemic I have regularly bought travel insurance. And it paid off when our flight was cancelled and delayed for a few days due to the epic ice storms across the country a few years ago. Because it was due to the weather, and I had travel insurance, I was able to get a refund for the missed days from my Airbnb booking. Totally worth getting the insurance.
Well on this last travel snafu, my travel delay didn’t count for getting reimbursed for my 4 missed days at the Airbnb, it wasn’t weather related or due to an airline strike, so even though it was out of my control and not my fault, my claim was denied.
The point here is if you think you might have run into issues with weather or something absolutely covered by travel insurance (read the fine print) then get it, otherwise it might not be worth it.
3) Check-in to Your Flight as Early as Possible
Did you know that even if you book a ticket that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re guaranteed a seat?! I found this out on a recent American Airlines flight when I checked in for my flight a little later then I normally do. Meaning not right at 24 hours before my flight. When I did check in, it wouldn’t let me select a seat and then when I got to the gate for my flight it had me listed on Standby!? At that point I started to question, am I even going to get on this flight, that I already paid for? Flying is already stressful enough, you don’t need this extra layer of doubt.
4) Know if the Airline You Book, Partners with Other Airlines
Something else we found out during our last JetBlue flight was that they don’t partner with other airlines to help rebook you if you miss your connection, your flight is cancelled or overbooked. Meaning they can only book you on another JetBlue flight, which might take days to get you on. Maybe I should have been more aware of this went I booked my flight, but you can be sure that I am now and probably won’t be booking on JetBlue again.
Travel is an absolute passion of mine and I hope to be doing much more of it in the near future. I will just be paying a lot closer attention to some of the above tips, to help mitigate any potential hiccups that may occur during my travel.
If any of these travel tips to save your sanity struck any cords, I would love to hear about it in the comments. What did I miss? Till next time, Aloha!
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