Travel Pitfalls Are More Likely To Happen Now Than Ever Before. There Are Ways To Protect Yourself And Ease Mishaps When They Happen. Here’s How.
by Heather Cassell
Travel is reaching pre-pandemic levels this summer, but airlines are not keeping up at pre-pandemic levels. Travelers should prepare for staffing shortages causing delays and lost luggage, weather, disease, natural disasters, terrorism, and simply the fact that the pandemic is still very much ongoing.
Barely on their way to Europe after I dropped them off at San Francisco International Airport, I received a phone call from my partner. Her family, friends, and she were stuck at Toronto Pearson International Airport only hours into their big summer European vacation.
Air Canada couldn’t find pilots to fly them over to Scotland, the first destination of their European adventure.
They were back on track and on their way over the Atlantic Ocean a few hours later to enjoy the land where golf and whisky originated.
The second phone call came in yesterday morning. TAP Air lost my girlfriend’s travel group’s luggage. They spent hours searching through a sea of bags at Amsterdam Airport Achiphol’s baggage claim after they arrived from Lisbon, Portugal. The last plane arrived around 10 p.m. No bags. They had no fresh clothes to change into or toiletries. They lost one of their few days they had in Amsterdam.
“We’ve been here for hours,” she said scanning the baggage claim area showing me the piles of luggage waiting to be claimed on her phone. People were waiting in a long line registering to claim their bags. “We left and came back. I can’t find any of our bags. We have nothing.”
My girlfriend and her group are most likely out hundreds to over $1,000 each for their belongings. They also have to buy a week’s worth of clothes, toiletries, and new bags for the rest of their trip. That means possibly lost time experiencing planned activities due to shopping. Not the Amsterdam memory they wanted to have.
My girlfriend and our friends and family did not take some simple measures that can save heartache, money, and time which can ruin a vacation.
Girls That Roam’s travel credit card covers lost luggage. She will recoup the cost of her lost luggage. Her travel group’s experience is a taste of what travelers’ are in for as summer 2022 travel ramps up.
Bumpy Take Off
Travelers are braving a very turbulent travel season.
Massive flight cancellations marked the start of the summer travel season. Memorial Day Weekend, which unofficially kicks off summer’s travel season saw an estimated 2,700 flights canceled due to pilot and staffing shortages compounded by weather.
The trend continued through Father’s Day and Juneteenth holiday weekend. An estimated 2.4 million travelers passed through TSA checkpoints and faced more than 1,100 flights canceled on June 17 and another 1,700 on June 18, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware.
There were more than 6,300 domestic and international arriving and departing flights were delayed on Saturday, and 859 flights were canceled.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pressured airlines to stress-test their summer schedules to ensure they can operate all planned flights with current staff. He also called for airlines to staff up customer service support. The cancellations and delays prompted Buttigieg’s urgent call for action after the holiday weekend and ahead of the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Experts warn this plan could cause airlines to make additional cuts to their summer schedules, reported Politico.
Travelers packing up and hitting the air for the July 4th holiday weekend will face just as bad if not worse travel woes than Memorial Day Weekend, travel experts predict.
The strain on airlines continued this last weekend with the first en masse Pride Celebrations in two years since the pandemic started in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago and summer travel kicked into high gear.
Sunday saw 2,988 flight cancelations, with 868 cancellations within, into, or out of the US, reported FlightAware. CNN reported another 800 flight cancelations Monday.
Yesterday saw a total of 21,236 flight delays, 6,929 of which were within, into, or out of the US.
Flight cancelations and delays are only half of travelers’ troubles. Lost luggage is adding to the travel headache.
Travelers need to navigate this turbulent travel season. Here’s how to lessen the impact.
Navigating Turbulence While Traveling
Travelers might not be able to avoid mishaps during this summer’s vacation season, but there are ways to minimize hassles and navigate the bumps in the road and in the air.
1. Travel Agents Are Your Best Travel Buddy
Do you want to spend your vacation jumping hurdles and getting frustrated with customer service agents when something goes wrong? No? I didn’t think so.
Book your vacation with a trusted travel agent. Travel agents can handle when things go wrong. They advocate for you. They can smooth out any bumpy spots and rebook flights, hotels, tours, and anything else as well as work to get your money back while you still enjoy your vacation.
Remember, travel agents work on commission. Hotels and tour operators pay the commissions. Sometimes agencies will charge clients fees for booking entertainment, dinner reservations, and other non-commission bookings as well as flights.
Airlines do not pay commission to travel agents, so many agencies charge a fee for booking flights usually starting at $25 for domestic travel and up to $50 for international travel depending on the airline and the agency per ticket. Agencies and airlines both charge this fee. Travelers unknowingly pay the fee twice. Ask your travel agent if the agency can waive the booking fee.
2. Get Trip Protection
Trip protection, also known as travel insurance, provides a sense of security. It protects your wallet, belongings, covers medical needs, and more as well as gives you peace of mind.
There are many unknowns in these troublesome travel times, bypassing trip protection could be a costly mistake.
Some credit cards offer basic travel protection when using the card to book your trip. Not only is choosing one card for your travel expenses helpful it could save you money from free checked luggage to building travel points. Girls That Roam uses United Explorer Card with Chase. The card pays for the first checked bag, basic trip protection, roadside assistance, builds travel points for United and travel partners, and more.
For additional coverage, I use Allianz Global Assistance. I considered Insured Nomads for trips that are longer than two weeks. This insurance platform covers equipment as well as Covid-19 among other benefits. Founded by Dr. Juliana Jernigan, the family-operated insurance company, offers individual trip coverage, multiple short trip coverage for a year, and subscription coverage. It also covers Global Health Insurance for living abroad, natural disasters, and extreme sports and emergency evacuation. The company also supports, Not for Sale, to end human trafficking and modern day slavery.
I still shop around to make sure I’m getting the best trip protection possible using the insurance comparison shopping platform, InsureMyTrip and checking Consumer Reports.
Once you purchase your flight or hotel you need to buy your travel protection within 24 hours.
I am a fan of cancel for any reason insurance. Cancel for any reason insurance allows travelers to do just that, cancel for any reason beyond the insurance company’s terms and policy. You never know what will happen. I prefer to plan for the unexpected. I don’t hedge my bets. Fighting with the insurance companies does not interest me. Cancel for any reason insurance costs more, but its worth every cent, especially when I receive a check for the full cost of my trip.
3. Prepare For The Worst, Hope For The Best
Important Documents
All it takes is a click of your phone’s camera for your important documents (passport, photo ID (front and back), travel insurance policy, medical insurance, vaccinations, etc.) to be safe, backed up in the cloud, and accessible from anywhere in the world. Share your documents with a family member or trusted friend who is not traveling with you just in case you need to contact them and have copies saved in a safe place at home.
Take It With You
Travelers are back to the days before airlines stepped up their game delivering luggage to the right place on time (see my girlfriend’s dilema above). Pack at least one day of essentials (underwear, toothbrush, toothpaste, and at least one outfit) in your carryon luggage or backpack.
If Found, Please Return
Don’t part with your bag without tucking information inside it about how to locate you if someone finds your bag. Slipping a contact card with a return address inside your bag is simple.
Use Technology
Put a tracking device in your luggage, such as Tile Pro (Android and Apple) or AirTag for Apple users.
Tile Pro has double the range than Tile Mate, 400 feet compared to 200 feet, according to the company’s website, and it will get you into the vicinity of where your bag will be. When it is out of range, you can enable lost mode.
AirTag will take you directly to your bag using the Find My app and the Precision Finding feature app built into the iPhone 11 or a newer generation. It also notifies you once your item is out of range.
Tile and AirTag are affordable and come in multipacks.
Book your next Intrepid women-only vacation with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
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