| Travel today can be very challenging and every | | | | month. Going by the date can be a problem as well - if |
| passenger or guest always wants the smoothest trip | | | | you say you are flying on the 20th, you then have 12 |
| possible. Since there are many things out of ones | | | | choices of months. Errors are not always caught |
| control that can go wrong, you do not want to | | | | when booking either so my advice is that it is VERY |
| increase your odds of a snafu by making a basic | | | | important that you actually verify the info when the |
| mistake when reserving a room or especially an | | | | airline sends you a confirmation or issues a ticket. |
| airplane ticket. With security regulations as they are, | | | | Lastly, you cannot interchange names, use aliases or |
| you cannot afford to have a problem an hour before | | | | nicknames or maiden names that do not match up |
| your flight. Here are a couple mistakes recently made | | | | with your ID. People have used their married name to |
| by others and their lessons may help you prevent a | | | | reserve a flight but their passports are still under their |
| similar circumstance. | | | | maiden name and they are denied boarding. Others |
| I have found some people are not even aware of | | | | have been known to use a nickname like Jan for |
| what city or airport they are leaving from. Here in the | | | | Janet and believe it or not, they have to buy a new |
| Bay Area, you can enter the words San Francisco as | | | | ticket using the full name. This can not only delay you |
| your departure city on Expedia and their web site will | | | | reaching your gate but it may cost you any discount |
| offer you 4 options, including San Jose and Oakland. | | | | you reserved by buying in advance because now you |
| This is utterly senseless - if you enter Oakland, it gives | | | | have to buy an instant ticket. In fact, the price of a |
| you Oakland but enter SFO or San Francisco and you | | | | walk up ticket may be hundreds higher than your |
| have to go through a separate step to actually GET | | | | confirmed fare. If you are lucky, it may only cost a |
| San Francisco. So make sure if you reserve a flight in | | | | $100 change fee IF the airline will agree to re-issue the |
| San Francisco that you are flying in or out of San | | | | ticket. |
| Francisco and not San Jose or it may be too late to | | | | So make sure all your ducks are lined up in a row |
| cancel when you discover your error. | | | | when you book your ticket or you may be bounced |
| Another common mistake is to look at a wrong | | | | from the head of the security line to the back of the |
| calendar month and make your booking for a wrong | | | | airline ticket counter line in an instant. And then your |
| date. Some people like to book by saying they are | | | | nightmare begins as you attempt to rectify a simple |
| looking at the Friday at the end of the month and they | | | | error and you find that nothing about travel is simple |
| have no idea they are looking at the wrong month | | | | anymore. |
| because they are focused on the day and not the | | | | |