Travel Fees and How to Avoid Them

Hello Fellow Travelers!
I hope your having a fun week. I’m planning a series of trips and working up a travel budget this month. If your like me, you know its important to budget carefully for your travel, I need to make every dollar count. I would rather spend money staying in Paris, than spending money on hidden hotel fees or disguised rental car charges! So I thought I would write a series of posts on the lessons I have learned about obscure charges and hidden fees.

Avoiding hidden fees:

Your Flight
Booking your flight online can be costly if you make a mistake. As soon as you get the conformation email, check to see that your name is spelled right and your travel dates are correct. If they are not, call the airline immediately. Most of the time when I have had an issue of this sort, they have cheerfully changed the tickets with no extra fees or issues. BUT I also called within 5 minutes. The longer you wait, the more likely you are going to be charged a fee.

And no one wants to pay extra fees!

If you have to change your flight date the airlines will often charge fees so high they are not much different from the airfare itself. I had this happen last month, I bought a ticket for a work trip and then it was pushed back. We bought the insurance, but there was a “change fee” even with the insurance that made the flight almost the same price. To avoid this look for a website or airline that offers a flexible booking period. They do exist, but you may pay more…but if your unsure of the dates of your trip it might be worth it.

As I said I didn't save anything with the trip insurance on that flight. But I have seen people (my mother for one) buy and use insurance for cruises that have refunded their entire trip when they ended up canceling because they were to ill to board. It might seem like another added expense that you would wish to avoid, but it can save a lot of money in the long run.  

Next we will discuss Frequent Flyer Programs.

Catch you later~