Booking Mistakes Can Be Quite Costly

By Author: Steve Robinson
Total Articles: 467
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Affordable trips planned smartly with the purchase of cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages can end up being much more expensive then budgeted if travelers fail to notice a problem with their reservation within the first 24 hours.

Airlines charge as much as $250 per ticket to make changes as well as charge for any change in the price of a ticket when a ticket is reissued.

Reservation errors, from wrong times to misspelled names are a relatively common occurrence. As of January 24th of this year, fliers who make booking mistakes, or just change their minds about their trips are able to cancel airline tickets without penalty within 24 hours of booking under the new U.S. Department of Transportation rules.

The following are suggestions as to how to avoid having to avoid trouble with a bungled booking:

• Check your itinerary in your confirmation very carefully. Verify that the dates, times and flight numbers are correct and make certain that all travelers’ names are spelled correctly and are identical to what is on their government issued ID. If you find an error, contact the airline ...
... and cancel within 24 hours of making your reservation.

• If somehow 24 hours pass before you realize that you made a mistake in your reservation, an airline may be willing to make a change without charging fees, though it is not obligated to do so. Pleading mea culpa is likely to go farther with an airline representative than blaming the airline.

• If at all possible, do not book separate tickets for people traveling as a group. That way you will minimize the potential for reservation errors and problems while traveling.
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