Recent travel experiences have reminded me that things don’t always go as planned. Even the most experienced traveler can face difficulties with delayed or cancelled flights, overbooked hotels, and any number of other travel issues. Below, I’ve compiled a few tips for preventing travel woes and coming out of less-than-ideal situations with your sanity in tact.
- Take flight schedules into consideration – when booking airline tickets, we often focus on the price and when we need to arrive in a particular destination. These are important factors, but one should also consider the season weather when planning flights. For example, much of the United States suffers from severe afternoon thunderstorms during the summer; even if your origin and destination are not directly affected by the weather, your aircraft may be coming in from a destination that is. Book an earlier flight to improve your chances of leaving on time.
- Be loyal to travel providers – almost every type of travel provider offers customer loyalty programs that can earn you status with that provider. When airlines are trying to re-accommodate passengers onto other flights, those passengers with preferred status earn waitlist priority and are more likely to get out sooner. Try to give as much of your business as is reasonably possible to one carrier and their partners. The same goes for hotel chains and getting “walked” from an overbooked hotel; your chances of getting the room you reserved are much better if you have status with the chain.
- When something goes wrong, keep your cool – we all have important things to do and places to be, and we all hate being in unplanned situations where things go wrong. It’s ok to be frustrated; it’s ok to be angry; it’s ok to be stressed, but it’s not ok to take out those emotions on service personnel or your fellow travelers. The people responsible for remedying your travel woes are more likely to go the extra mile if you remain calm, respectful, and understanding. It’s not the gate agent’s fault when an aircraft has a mechanical problem, and treating the agent rudely isn’t going to improve your situation.
- Know when and how to complain – for one reason or another, things are often handled improperly by travel providers, and if you know when it is appropriate to complain, how to complain, and to whom to complain, you not only provide the constructive criticism necessary to improve the travel experience for yourself and others, but you may also get compensation in one form or another from providers for their shortcomings. The key to knowing when to complain is knowing when the travel provider is actually at fault. If you show up at the airport 30 minutes before a flight departs and the check-in agent refuses to check-in your luggage, it’s not their fault; airlines have clearly stated policies about when to show up at the airport and the gate to insure seamless travel. It also isn’t the airline’s fault if weather causes a flight delay, for example. Even in cases where the travel provider is not at fault, sometimes the behavior of the provider’s employees warrants a complaint. In such cases, admit in the complaint that the situation leading to the complaint was not the provider’s fault, but that the situation was handled inappropriately by their employees. When complaining, do it in writing by letter, fax, or email to the appropriate customer service contact and provide as many details as possible (e.g. dates, flight numbers, record locators, names, times, ticket numbers, gate numbers, etc…). If you have status in a customer loyalty program, leverage this status by mentioning it in the complaint and sending the complaint to a status-dedicated customer service address. Also, always provide a method for the provider to get in touch with you, and provide receipts for any relevant expenses incurred.
- Be social media-savvy – in situations requiring immediate attention, don’t be afraid to use social media. Travel providers are quick to respond to postings on their twitter or Facebook pages, but always be respectful, appropriate, and concise. Remember that it’s not just the company receiving your complaint, rather it is being posted for anyone on the internet to see. An inappropriate complaint could affect your reputation as much as the travel provider’s. Photos can help too.
- Know your rights or how to find them – when traveling in the European Union, airline passengers have government mandated rights that may entitle them to set compensation for extra long delays. In the U.S., one should look to the policies of the individual policies of the travel providers to know when one is entitled to compensation.
- Compliment too – we are always quick to make a fuss when things go wrong, but what about those rare occasions when things go extremely well? When you are particularly impressed with the way something was handled, let people know! Don’t shy away from taking down an employee’s name for going above-and-beyond the call of duty; letting the travel provider know could lead to a bonus for a job done right.
- Consider travel insurance and check credit card benefits – certain travel insurance policies may provide compensation for extra long delays and/or delayed or lost luggage. One should also be aware of the trip cancellation coverage provided by different insurance policies. These policies are not prohibitively expensive, and they may come in handy. Many credit cards also offer travel protections, so one should carefully examine the card benefits and the terms and conditions of protection. You may have coverage that you didn’t even realize you had!
- Use a travel agent – an well-informed travel agent is able not only to help you deal with unexpected travel issues but sometimes even to prevent them before they happen. Also, never estimate your agent’s relationship with individual travel providers. Hotels, for example, may have large contracts with Expedia and Travelocity, but they also know which agencies loyally sell their product and that those agencies are more likely to build lasting relationships with their clients that could result in more bookings for the hotel. Through our relationships with Montecito Village Travel, Virtuoso, Your Travel Center, Travel Leaders, and Tzell Group, Three Names Travel benefits from very strong connections with many hotel chains and other travel providers. When a hotel is overbooked, our clients are some of the last to be “walked” to another hotel. Some chains will even contact us directly when one of our clients has a negative experience so that we can help address it before you even get back home from your trip. Being a travel agent isn’t just about doing the same booking you could do alone on the internet; being a travel agent is about making sure you have the best and most seamless travel experience possible.