Thu, 30 Jun 22 11:01:26 +0000

Liz Weston: Three lessons I wish I could learn more about travel sooner

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Associated Press

Liz Weston Of Nerdwallet

Almost every trip will tell you something about yourself, the world, and what you shouldn't do next time. Here are three hard-earned travel lessons that may help you learn from my mistakes.

Combining flights is not worth the savings

Book direct flights whenever possible. Non-stop may cost a little more, but it avoids the inconvenience of transit and the stress of potential loss of connectivity.

Of course, direct flights may not be available or affordable. What you don't want to do, learned from the bitter experience, is trying to save money by booking flight legs with various airlines that are not affiliated, especially when dealing with luggage and customs.

In 2017, my husband, daughter, and I flew to London and then to Barcelona, Spain. That part went well. The nightmare is back. The flight from Barcelona to London was delayed. When landing at Heathrow Airport in London, pick up your baggage at the baggage claim, go through customs, check your baggage at another airline's ticket counter in another terminal, go through security and sprint to the gate , Connect — all in about an hour.

Somehow, incredibly, we flew home, but my heart was throbbing until I crossed the Atlantic Ocean enough. Now I try to book through a single airline and its partners. Our luggage is checked through to the final destination and flight delays are an issue for airline corrections.

Make sure you have insurance

What happens if you get sick or injured far away from your home for years? I was walking around the world cheerfully without thinking about it. Then my dad suffered a stroke while visiting his sister in Florida. A medical evacuation flight to return him to his home in Washington cost more than $ 100,000, with the necessary attendants and other necessary medical care.

Sadly, he didn't recover enough to make such a flight. But I realized how vulnerable I was, especially traveling to places with poor medical care. Now, whenever I leave home, I make sure I have travel insurance, including medical evacuation. If you're traveling outside the United States, make sure you also have health insurance.

Recently, travelers also need to worry about COVID-19. In the United States, the requirement that incoming travelers be negative on the COVID-19 test has been withdrawn, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises banning travel if there are symptoms or if the test is positive. increase. This is because unexpected hotel and meal costs can take a week or two, so travel insurance covers COVID-related costs, such as $ 250 per person per day for the "travel delay" part. Make sure you have a high limit.

Other things may go wrong on your trip: flight delays and cancellations, lost baggage, car rental accidents. I charge all of our trips with a credit card that covers such minor disasters. I especially like the coverage of the major types of rental cars. This means that the car insurance company does not need to know that you have had an accident or damaged your rental car. According to the Insurance Information Institute, many cards offer secondary coverage. This usually means that you need to notify the insurance company and the card will only pay the amount that the insurance does not pay.

This is a lesson I didn't have to struggle to learn. When the car rental company tried to charge the door sound, I notified the credit card company. I don't know if the claim was paid or withdrawn. I know I didn't have to deal with it after that.

Beware of third-party booking sites

Many credit cards offer general travel benefits that can be transferred to the issuer's airline or hotel partner. However, some credit card companies also offer their own travel portals. These are very similar to online travel agencies such as Expedia and Orbitz, where you can search for different travel agencies and book using your points.

I usually don't use an online travel agency because I think you can get better customer service by booking directly. But earlier this year, I decided to give the travel portal option a whirlwind — and lived to regret it.

When I booked a flight from Los Angeles to Vienna with my credit card points, I had a stopover in Istanbul. A few weeks after booking, I received an email stating that the section from Istanbul to Vienna was cancelled.

I logged on to the airline's site hoping that I would be offered the option to rebook the canceled segment. Instead, I got a message that I couldn't change my itinerary. When I called the airline, a customer service agent told me that I needed to call the credit card company. When I called my credit card company, I was told that I needed to talk to the airline.

I tried to send an email to fix the problem, but with the same result. Finally, I desperately contacted him on Twitter. I had to point for a few more rounds, but in the end I was able to cancel my reservation and regain my points. And I swear to use the travel portal again.

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This column is for personal finance. Associated Press by the website NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a NerdWallet columnist, certified financial planner and author of the "Your Credit Score". Email: lwestonâ † * nardwallet.com. Twitter: â † * lizweston.