janehoya

I have a similar story. I booked award travel for SFO-IST-SFO and travelled in June. It was my first trip in international F and I was going to spend 3 hours in the much-ballyhooed FCL and the great seats that face the runway. I spent a better part of two days purchasing songs from iTunes and organizing my music library so that I could enjoy the scenery with some fine tunes. Imagine my dismay when I snagged one of the comfy chairs and found only TWO songs on my iPod. I had forgotten to download the music to my iPod! Certainly not as costly a mistake as others have made, but I sure was bored.

This is a great thread.

nicolas75

1. Went to the wrong airport (most AF flights to BCN depart at CDG, but this one was operated by Air Europa and departing at ORY)

2. Missed a flight ... in the airport lounge

3. Slam my home door with the keys inside ... just before taking a cab to the airport

4. Let my passport in the hotel room's safe (generally, I just let my passport in my luggage)

5. Crashed a rent a car 500 meters before the airport. When the Hertz front desk lady asked me if everything was all right, I replied: hmmm, you will see (the car was 1 meter broader after the accident and looked like a Batmobile)

6. Followed the driving instruction of the rent a car's GPS, but realised when arrived that I entered the wrong address (fortunately no too far from the one I wanted to go to)

tfar

Very impressive!
Especially No. 5 is evil. No. 3 one could just shrug the shoulder and say, I'll deal with it when I'm back. What did you do?

Till

nicolas75

My booked taxi was waiting for me
and I was going to the airport for my holidays
so I took my cab

As I knew that this kind of thing would happen to me one day, and as I did not get a concierge at that time, nearly half of Paris had some other keys of my appart (my neighbour, the boutique on the first floor, my cousin). I made a call to my neighbour who said she will be there when I will be back, so it was finally not a big issue.

WHBM

A simple little one but I still laugh at it.

I like to think I know the London Underground well. The Central Line out in the eastern suburbs splits into two branches, the trains serve them alternately.

Very early one morning, before 06.00, I was to leave Gants Hill station out there, to go to Heathrow. I overslept, and ran down the road to the station. Waited too long for the next train into London, eventually it came.

The two routes converge at a point called Leytonstone, where they run in on either side of the same platform. Sometimes, if a train which has come from the other route is already there, you can save a couple of minutes by crossing the platform, if the other is going to leave first. A clever little move, of course .....

There was a train on the other side, with its doors open, as we ran in. I looked out of the door. Our signal was red but I couldn't see the other one. I did the ten steps across so I could check if it was green. Just as I did so the doors of this train hissed to close. I did a flying leap to jump between them, not seeing the signal. Wow ! What a clever move.

I held onto the pole to brace myself for the start westward. It started - EASTWARD. Sudden realisation. It was just starting it's run for the day, having come out of the train base. This is why I was the only person on it. Off we went back the way I had come. Next station, jumped out, ran under the tracks, just missed the next train going my way - never was I so crestfallen.

I made that flight, but it was a long time before I admitted to anyone what I had done

Canibus

Ok I'll bite!

Two travel mistakes, happening within a month span.

First one : Trip to LIM with some buddies. Fly to YYZ, go to our gate everything is normal. Board the flight on time, we push back at exactly 2:30 (scheduled push back time). About an hour into the flight captain came onto the PA saying we had a mechanical issue and we were returning to YYZ. Landed around 5 pm, they were gonna swap aircrafts and the new scheduled departure was around 8pm. We figured we had plenty of time so we exited the sterile area, and went outside. Had a couple smokes, walked around the airport, and then headed back inside. Tried to clear security. I did say ''tried''. We only had the boarding passes from the previous flights (flight number was XXX, new flight number was 9XXX). Security agent told us our flight left at 2h30 and we wouldn't be allowed in. We explained the situation but he wouldn't budge. He said we needed to go to the AC counter and check ourselves in and get new BP issued. Finally 40 minutes and 2 supervisors later we were finally let in when they understood that flight XXX was now flight 9XXX leaving in the evening.

So we get to LIM. Its around 4 am, we start leaving the plane and walk to immigration. Just when we get there I realise I left my carton of cigarettes and bottle of Grand Marnier in the overhead bin. Try to go back to the plane, but get blocked by a pretty tired looking security officer. No luck explaining the situation to the gentleman who didn't speak a word of english, so I gave up. I'm sure one of the cleaning crew had a very nice night.

We get to baggage claim, and wait. I hadn't checked any bags, but my two buddies did. My first friend's luggage comes out, and we tell the second friend we're gonna go outside smoke and wait for him there. Go out, have a smoke, go back in and wait. Wait. Wait. Half an hour passes by. In the meanwhile, I go see a taxi driver, show him my hotel reservation and ask him if he knows where the hotel is. He says Yes, and not to worry he'll wait for us. And then poof, he disappears. Didn't think much of it at the time. Finally after 75 minutes my second buddy comes out, no luggage in hand, having filled out the missing luggage form. We find a cab, and get to our hotel (its now 6:15 AM) , only to find out ''I had already checked in''.

Apparently the driver memorized the information from my hotel reservation and gave it to some people who were able to check in under my reservation!!! That week was the week of the APEC's leaders reunion in LIM, and hotels were very hard to come by. They ended up putting us in a suite till noon, until the ''fraudsters'' were nicely escorted out by the police.

I flew back alone (friends stayed for a couple of months in South America) and booked myself in J. Really wanted to sleep on the way back, as the flight leaves at midnight, so took 4 benadryl's (was out of my sleeping pills). Benadryl's knock me out. Like HARD. I was waken up by the FA about 15 min before touchdown, and I was extremely drowsy. Was one of the first to deplane, and started walking for about 5-7 minutes before I went '' **** my wallet is in my seat''. Run back to the plane, unboarding was almost done, but my wallet was still at my seat, thankfully. So I start walking for another 5-7 minutes, until I click again '' **** my blackberry charger is in my seat '' so once again, I ran back to the plane and managed to get my charger (cleaning crew hadn't gotten to my seat first). So all in all, not too bad. Lesson learned : Never taking Benadryl as a sleeping aid again.

Oh and my friend's luggage was never found, he ended up getting a check about a month later.

Story 2, fast forward a month later :

I was going on vacation with the girl I was seeing at the time. We didn't want to take a super early flight to YYZ to connect to the BGI flight, so we flew in YYZ on the saturday, with our BGI flight on sunday. One problem, forgot to make a hotel reservation. So we go on the internet stations at the YYZ airport, and look up the rates. Found a 119$ rate for the Sheraton Airport, or a 79$ corporate rate at the Novotel Mississauga. I ''misjudged'' the distance to and from the airport, and ended up going with the cheaper Mississauga rate. For those that don't know, Mississauga is a 40$ cab ride, one way with tip. So to save 40$ on the hotel, I booked a room that ended up costing us 80$ in cab fares. Boy was I proud of myself

We went out to a restaurant that night, and went to bed relatively early. Woke up at 6:30 for our flight, repacked everything in our luggages, double/triple checked the room to make sure we didn't forget anything and left. Get to the airport, drop off luggage, clear security, go to our gate to wait for boarding. I start going through my carryon, searching for the paper folder that contained out itinerary, hotel reservation, emergency contact numbers, photocopy of my passport and CC, along with my gf's christmas present (which she didn't know I bought yet), a 200$ ++ gift card for a spa, that included one hour full massage with hot rocks, mani & pedi, facial etc etc. It's not in my carryon, anywhere! I then realise I must of left in our room.

So I get on the phone, call hotel and explain situation to the clerk. He offers to go look in the room, and asks me to call him back in 10 mins. I called back and he said he had found it, on the nightable

At that point our flight was ready for boarding, so I asked him if it was possible for him to ship it to my house address, which he willingly did. I received the package by mail about a week after I returned from BGI. I was ecstatic! I sent in a box of chocolates and a nice letter of thanks to that clerk.

Oh and another minor booboo on that trip. I had booked us a King Deluxe room with private balcony at the Hilton Barbados, thanks to an excellent corp rate. I forgot to take in account the (excessive) booze + food cost when I was comparing pros and cons of an all inclusive resort VS the Hilton. Our tab ended up being 2.5x what I had paid for the 5 nights of Hotel, ouch. But I had the time of my life, and so did she, and in the end, thats all that matters

Mhttoanywhere

Leaving for our honeymoon, stayed at an airport hotel ready for an early morning flight the next day.
Got to the aiport in plenty of time. This was in 1991.
At the airport cafe was watching TV and the Gulf War had just started. Too busy watching and missed the flight!
Lucky enough to get on one later that day.

Spouse dropped me off at RSW and left. At security had no license. Thank God for cell phones! Spouse had to drive home 30 minutes to get my license and 30 minutes back. Barely made the flight.

Landed at LHR and had to take shuttle for connection to MAN. Spouse left one bag sitting on the side of the curb. In the bag were all of his fishing stuff. Get up to the Lakes District and he had to buy all new fishing gear. Very expensive mistake. Plus he looked like a ragamuffin next to the tweed jacket/knee length waders crowd because he did not buy new waders/shirts etc.

htb

Wanted to go to Stuttgart Airport ("Flughafen Stuttgart") to pick up my sister. So I looked up "Flughafen" in the rental's navigation system. Finally found "Stuttgart Flugplatz" and drove off.

When I was about 1 km away from my destination I realized this is not STR, but the airfield of the air force. I somehow made it to the right airport about an hour later, ran into the terminal and found out that her plane was delayed by about an hour. Five minutes later she walked out the baggage claim, asking if I had to wait a long time...

HTB.

Orion

I once booked rooms at the San Francisco Crown Plaza Hotel for myself, my Mom and my sister. We arrived at SFO around midnight after a flight from HNL. I told the cab driver the name of the hotel and we were off. Once downtown he asked me for the address of our hotel. He couldn't find it. I couldn't find it. I called the Holiday Inn "800" number and they said there wasn't a Crown Plaza in that part of the city.
We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Civic Center (smoking rooms were all that was available then). We were so disgusted we called the airline and arranged to fly home the next day.
I did some checking and found that the hotel I had booked had been reflagged. It now operated under Marriott's Renaissance banner.
I learned the hard way. Never book a room without knowing the exact street address of the lodging. I would like to think that names like the New York Hilton, the Embarcadero Hyatt and the Sheraton Gateway SFO will always be there. But you had better know where "there" is.
I have since been caught a few times in the reflagging switcheroo and in each case the new operator honored my reservation and price when I showed up at the property and presented a screen print of my booking.

danielonn

I love coffee and many times I make the mistake of going to Starbucks at the airport forgetting that they charge the full price for a refill.

At the Kona Airport I made the mistake of not getting access to the lounge at Kona airport as it was hot. I was flying in First and told the agent that it was s hot can I please go to the lounge. She said no you are on an upgraded fare but I said its hot end of story.

I accidentally sent an email to someone using a strangers email account who was logged in at the airport. I thought that I had logged into my own account.

marbe166

I once left a suit in the hotel room closet at a hotel in Tallinn. Realised my mistake in the middle of the night in the middle of the Baltic Sea on the Ferry back to Stockholm... The hotel sent it back by parcel delivery a few days later.

Flaviom

I got a text from my brother while I was in Rome asking me to get some souvenirs for his girlfriend. For whatever reason, instead of buying one at the airport, I decide to head down to the area near the Vatican to look for one. Well, I get to the airport and see that the ticketing was closed. I find an Alitalia employee and she was able to book me on a flight the next day. I also had to make changes to my JetBlue JFK-LAX flight. When I consider the price of the hotel and change fees, I paid about $500-$600 dollars. A lot of money for a 20 something earning $30,000 a year.

The biggest mistake my girlfriend made was that she was going into Turkey and she is a Russian national. For whatever reason, she didn't read the guidelines. She gets to passport control and they question her, they take her off and they inform her that she should have $50 per day on hand for her stay in Istanbul. Unfortunately, she didn't have any cash on her nor credit cards as she was counting on the fact that we would meet at the airport. In the end, she showed them her hotel reservation with her name and they did let her enter the country.

dchristiva

Same here. I was living in D.C. and tried to depart from IAD when my flight was departing from DCA. I'm sure this happens on a daily or weekly basis to folks.

Mhttoanywhere

A few years ago I was trying to do some mileage runs to retain status.
I arrived at MHT going thru security.
They held my BP and asked where I was going. I couldn't remember...

nrr

Almost a disaster:
In the late 60's I had purchased a ticket for Wagner's Ring Cycle in Bayreuth, Germany. I flew from jfk to Paris (minimal sleep on overnight flight), the next night a train from Paris to Bayreuth (again minimal sleep on overnight train.) After arriving at hotel, I went out to eat and then took a nap at 1 pm. I woke up at 4 o'clock (no digital clocks then), I couldn't figure out if it was 4 pm or 4 am , if it was the latter, I would have missed the first opera (which began at 6 pm). The sun in Northern Europe rises early and sets late in the summer, so looking out the window was of no help. I quickly ran down to the street and saw lots of people out--I now knew it was 4 pm--I didn't sleep through the first opera (at least not in my hotel room).