CMK10

On Friday 9/18 I finished up a week of meetings then headed back to LAX. As I arrived at 5:30 and had a FT dinner at 7:30 followed by a flight at 10:45 I decided to check my bag so I didn't have to carry it with me. A minute after giving it away I realized my laptop power cord was in it. I didn't think this would be a big deal until later I VDBed and they told me my bag had already gone to Phoenix.

This meant I had no access to my laptop (and Flyertalk) during my overnight and trip home and no deodorant/toothbrush/razor or change of clothes. I ended up back home at 1 PM wearing the same clothes that I had been wearing since 7 AM the day before.

This was the first time in over a year I'd checked a bag...now I remember why I don't!

Kalboz

47 or so Dumb Things I've Done Traveling

Even travel writers take wrong turns. LP's US travel ed Robert Reid recounts the 47, yep, 47 biggest mistakes he's made on the road – everything from turning down a Hungarian film crew to hurling vegetables at Russian trams.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelbl...lpemailcontent

Please share with us your d’oh! moments!

Arizona2

Here's one - turning down free luxury box seats to a Vikings/Packers game at Lambeau Field. I felt for some reason I needed to be back at work Monday...

starlanet

When you look back you regret the things you didn't do... So maybe it's better to regret something you did than something you didn't do...

Bonnerbl

Flew SFO-DXB on the first leg of a weeks stay in Cochin, India. After two days in DXB was checking travel documents and no visas for India... I thought you were doing it... no, no you said you would do it...arrgh. Tried to get visa in DXB at the Indian consulate (and that is worth a thread all by itself) but not luck. Wouldn't get the visas until there was only 2 days left of the vacation. Good end of the story was that we relayed our sad story to the Emirates rep and she graciously let us return early from DXB. Thank you Emirates!

kitsura

There was once I brought a scissor on my carry on baggage without realising it. I had checked it in the previous trip but when I got home I forgot to unpack it. So I breezed through the airport only to be stopped at the security gate. I decided to discard it since it wasn't worth waiting for it at the other airport.

And stupider still, there was once I went to the airport toilet with passport in hand. I left my passport and boarding pass on a ledge in the cubicle to do my stuff and once I was done I promptly left without retrieving my passport. Realised that I forgot to take my passport 1 min after I left the toilet and immediately went back but someone was already occupying the cubicle so I knocked on the door and the guy on the other end asked me to say out the name on the passport before he would open up and hand over my passport. Awkward...

kitsura

That's not so bad. I once walked through a metal detector with nothing metallic that I can think of (mobile, laptop, loose change already removed). In the end it was the condoms in my pocket that tripped the detector. Good thing the security personnel didn't further pursue my reason for carrying so many condoms in my pocket or I might be the first suspected condom bomb terrorist on the news the following day.

DrMaturin

Not me but a fellow passenger. Years ago I was flying Braniff (of blessed memory) from EWR-DFW. We had just pulled away from the gate and the FA started her safety briefing, "Welcome to Braniff flight XYZ non-stop service from Newark to Dallas" when a passenger shouted out "Dallas? Not Dulles?" Of course he somehow had gotten on the wrong flight. We taxied back to the gate and let him off. My parents, who had taken me to the airport, freaked out thinking something terrible must have happened. Of course, that was back in the day that non-flyers could accompany passengers to the gate (sigh).

phedre

I've done plenty of stupid things over the years, but the most painful lesson I learned was to never wear couture heels while travelling.

I had a new pair of super high, super skinny heeled Jimmy Choo sandals. I was so proud of them, they were gorgeous with their brown suede and gold leather trim so I just had to wear them for my trip.

I ended up running late, and literally had to run for my plane. You can imagine how well this worked out, with a jacket, suitcase, purse, laptop bag, etc... my super fancy heel got caught in a crack and I ended up faceplanting on the floor.

NEVER AGAIN. I still love my Jimmy Choos, but the heels stay in my suitcase and I wear flats or low, wider heels for the trip

Turquoise

The dumbest travel-related mishap I've heard happened to my boss, not me, and he was the victim of it.

Another passenger on his Doha-Amman flight walked off with his suitcase - an honest mistake. He reported it as lost to Qatar Airways. The other passenger, upon realizing he can't open the lock, figures out that the suitcase isn't his. Does he call the airline, explain what happened, and give them the the tag number so they can sort it out? No, he breaks the lock and digs through the suitcase looking for a phone number.

Here's where it gets funny: The guy with the wrong suitcase lived in Ramallah, in the West Bank. (Most Palestinians travel through Amman, when they're lucky enough to get permits to leave.) He must have figured out his mistake and broken into the suitcase before reaching the border, because there's no way the Israelis would have let him through with a suitcase that he couldn't open. Does he call my boss then, and ask him what he wants to do? No, he takes the suitcase with him through the border crossing, claiming it was his. (Rather stupid, really, since he didn't know what was in it...)

Although he must have broken the lock before reaching the border, he didn't call my boss until 1-2 days later, when the suitcase was already in Ramallah. He wanted my boss to go to Ramallah to pick it up!

He did eventually get it back, but the whole thing left me shaking my head at how clueless some people can be.

Mr H

Mine would be having decanted my pockets for security – in the days before jackets came off completely. I still made the machine bleep, so was taken over to be felt up. Then my bag was subjected to a random check, and as I was carrying private papers I asked to do this in a private area. Fair enough.

Got home, got to my front door, fished for keys and spotted the problem. It was late, Halloween and I couldn’t rouse any of my friends. After an expensive night in a London hotel, I gave the airline a call and they agreed to put the keys on a flight that day to LCY, so I was able to get home a day later than I expected.

Blutak

I used to keep my passport and ticket (this was before e-ticketing) in my camera case. I always leave home very early for a flight in case of problems on the way - a wise precaution as it happened. After a 15 minute bus ride to the station, carrying a suitcase and other bags, I was waiting for a train to the airport when a woman asked me for directions - she was on the wrong platform. After solving her problem, I went to pick up the camera case - it was not there! Had she stolen it? I contacted the station staff who telephoned to the next station asking them to look for the woman and my case. They also called the police. I telephoned the airline to tell them about the missing ticket and passport. After filling in several forms, I went back home, despondent about missing my flight. Of course, as soon as I opened my front door, there was the camera case on the hall floor - I had forgotten to take it with me. Another flurry of telephone calls ensued. Although the airline had re-allocated my seat, there was still room on the plane. I boarded the plane seconds before the door was shut.

WHBM

The Sydney blunder has happened several times, particularly since the arrival of self-booking on the web.

Part of the problem is that, in the list of destination cities, there is usually no mention of country, while US-based websites tend to show the abbreviation for state, province, etc. Sydney Nova Scotia is shown as Sydney NS, and Sydney New South Wales is shown as Sydney NSW. See the scope for error when they are next to each other ?

It's not helped by Air Canada serving both, and by websites selecting nowadays from a vast array of carriers. The couple from the UK who booked from London (another city name where Air Canada serve two, and must get mistakes as well) to Sydney, and actually arrived in Sydney NS before discovering their problem were asked if they didn't think Air Canada was an unusual airline for a trip to Australia ? "Last time we went with Korean Air, as they were cheapest, through Seoul, that was even stranger" was their reply.

CMK10

I wasn't really a fan of this list. It seemed to mainly consist of a middle-aged malcontent whining about things he couldn't have predicted (not visiting Yukoslavia before the war) or missing out on concerts.

Jazzed91

I saw this (sort of) first hand two weeks ago...

An older couple (in their mid 60s) walked up to my counter saying they had a flight departing at 11:50AM (we only have flights at 11:00 + 12:00 to YVR and 11:35 to YYC). I couldn't find them on any of those flights, so I asked to see their paperwork. The first thing I see is that they were supposed to depart Sydney, NS (YQY), on the other side of Canada! The couple were staying in Sidney, BC (a smallish town where Victoria's airport (YYJ) is actually located), but they didn't know that you normally book out of Victoria.

I ended up rebooking them without penalty, but they did have to spend the night in ORD to get to their final destination (in the US).