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The dumbest travel-related mistake you ever made?

The dumbest travel-related mistake you ever made?

Old Aug 8, 2009, 3:39 pm
  #1  
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The dumbest travel-related mistake you ever made?

I just thought of something that happened to me when I was young and dumb but could still happen now that I am not so young anymore. I wonder if other people have done similarly stupid things.

At age 16 I was traveling to NYC to visit my uncle over New Year. I was wearing a big long wool coat with huge pockets. When we arrived at my uncle's house, the orderly boy that I was cleaned out his coat pockets with all the papers, boarding passes napkins and what have you.

Well, I also through away my return ticket!

Fortunately, we noticed two or three days before our departure. We went to the TWA office and explained it. They couldn't do anything. We had to buy a new ticket even though we could prove that we had bought a return ticket. On our return to Germany my mother wrote a letter with her lawyer letterhead and TWA did reimburse the ticket.

What are your wildest travel mistakes?

Till
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 3:49 pm
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I went to the wrong airport and looked like a jackass after I told them to stop joking with me (when they told me they didn't have a flight number xxx leaving at y:yy to LAS...and slapping down my printed itinerary on the counter saying "this says I do!" Yes, my printout clearly showed I was indeed at the wrong airport.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 3:57 pm
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Great! That's a good one. Love it.

That reminds me I once went a day early. Sat in the train to the airport and called my mother to say I'd be there tomorrow. She says, I thought you were coming the day after tomorrow. Of course, she was right. I was a day too early. Very embarrassing.

Till
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 4:04 pm
  #4  
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I once missed a flight beccause I was sitting in the airport bar.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 4:17 pm
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I am so glad I started this thread. Keep'em coming. It's already very entertaining!

So what was your reaction when you saw you missed your flight? I hope it was for an urgent meeting.

Till
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 5:11 pm
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Plenty more here......

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-cost-you.html

Personally? Many years ago on a Sunday evening, just through my front door after a two week vacation and needing to organise getting back to work, I quickly booked my usual London Heathrow-Belfast flight for the next morning. On arrival, as I headed for the car park, it dawned on me..........my car was at Dublin Airport!
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:01 pm
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When my husband accompanies me on a business trip, I have to go through a messy process to book plane tickets. I'm required to use the company TA's site for my flights and forbidden to use it for anyone else's. So, I flip back and forth between 2 browser windows till I find a flight I can take and that has reasonable airfare for my husband. (On domestic travel, the TA usually gets the same cost as the airline's site before the TA adds on their $25 "booking fee. But I digress.)

Then I hit "Purchase" on both, select seats and call the airline to have the records linked. Somehow I messed up once and booked my flight home leaving a day later than his. He was booked to leave on the correct date. So, I called the airline, begged for mercy and was let off with a change fee but no additional airfare.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:22 pm
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Left/lost my wallet at LAS on my way to SIN. Didn't find out until I am at SFO RCC looking for my RCC card. I have to call in to cancel all my credit cards. AmEx was a lifesaver as they have a replacement card ready to pick up when I arrived in SIN ^. Armed with 50 USD stashed in my carryon, I have to spend a night at SIN airport until next morning to pick up my card.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:23 pm
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Three week trip to South America and I'm packing with a massive hangover and I forgot one key thing: Underwear.

I spent about five hours in Panama City trying to find some underwear and the same a few more days in Rio de Janeiro.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:44 pm
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Passport expired!!!
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:47 pm
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The labor day right before 9/11/01 - I didn't pay careful attention to my itinerary, was dining out near the airport with some friends, and relied on them to take me to the airport (I left Sunday night, most folks were leaving Monday). As we pulled into the airport, I realized my flight was leaving in 20 minutes, not say, 50 minutes. This is pre-kiosk days at DL. So the agent at the counter looked at her watch, saw I wasn't checking bags, gave me a slight dirty look, and then gave me a BP. Got to the gate with a few minutes to spare.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:54 pm
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Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Tour: BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Originally Posted by underpressure
I once missed a flight beccause I was sitting in the airport bar.
This happened to my sister-in-law's boyfriend a few years ago. Missed his connection to Australia and spent two days waiting in LAX for another flight. She stopped taking his phone calls on the first day.
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 6:57 pm
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Good tales to be told Great, thread!

I was once an exchange student in US, and for some unknown reason the house that I lived in, burned down to the ground, and gone was all my paper, including my return ticket...

7 months later I went to the airport to pic up a replacement, but i forgot to write down the booking number, so I was screwed at the airport... DO'H They wouldn't even look for my name, only the booking number...

Called KLM back in Denmark, and they shipped a replacement ticket to me few days later... For free... Happy kid - going home...
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 7:18 pm
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Was flying a tiny budget airline (I think it was Western Pacific) from TYS to SFO, (which actually was Knoxville> Atlanta > Denver> SFO). I booked months out then never bothered to go back and confirm the flight times, etc. Arrived in Denver at 11pm only to find out the flight on to SFO had been cancelled weeks ago, and there weren't anymore. My bags had randomly been sent on to somewhere on the east coast.

Does not calling or going online to confirm my flights before leaving count as a dumb mistake? Because it definitely felt like it.

Last edited by isotropic; Aug 8, 2009 at 7:20 pm Reason: typo
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Old Aug 8, 2009, 7:37 pm
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tfar said he/she went to airport one day early. I digress and go off subject...I had a friend who prepped for a colonoscopy. Next day went to hospital and was told he was a day early. Hilarious!
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