Vacation travel is coming back long before business travel. Use these travel agent tips to visit friends, family, or a favorite vacation spot.
Absolutely nothing about travel has been standard for almost two years. As we advance into the future, travelers and travel industry professionals alike hope for an easier time. Here are seven travel agent tips. For starters, as a travel agent, I wish all my clients would know of them. These are issues that business and frequent travelers already know. However, leisure travelers, who will be the first in the air as America and Europe open to vacation travel, must also learn. Now.
Check your passport expiration date. And double-check with your travel agent/advisor.
The world may have felt like it stopped, but time did not. I have lost track of the number of travelers who discovered their passports expired or are close to expiring. Many countries still need at least six months validity for visitors to enter.
International airline connections are not what they used to be.
In the past, there have been occasional visa transit issues. Foreign travelers have long been unable to make a connection at a US airport. Travelers usually have been able to choose their airport connection based on timing, fares, or preferred airport. I’ve made connections in the past via London-Heathrow because I love some of the shops. A client feels the same about Munich. But now, if possible, I recommend travelers connect to an airport in their destination country, or at the very least, an airport without tight COVID transit restrictions. Of course, COVID issues can change, but every time another country is added to the equation, the chances for more tests and forms go up.
Similarly, multiple country vacations can be much more complicated.
I’m old enough that I remember some pre-EU border crossings and, more often, the need to change money in Europe before the Euro. But now, additional countries can mean both other regulations and COVID testing. And if, for example, someone travels from the US to a second country on the way to a third, and that second country has a COVID variant outbreak, they could be stuck, or at least need to change plans on the fly. Here, travel advisor tips can certainly help.
The words “my friend said” have never been more potentially fraught.
It’s one thing to end up in a dumpy hotel because someone told you they liked it. It’s another to listen to them on COVID or other restrictions. I had clients in the United Kingdom last fall who heard from someone over there, “Oh, you’re US citizens — no need to test before you go home.” Then, one of them casually emailed to confirm that the night before their return. Uh, no. And with no testing available late at night in Edinburgh, I ended up scrambling to change their return flight to a day later.
Pay serious attention to airline ticket expiration dates and rules.
While many airlines have eliminated change fees on many tickets, international tickets often still have such fees. In addition, some non-refundable fares can be reused, but most, at time of writing, require travel to be completed within a year of ticketing. So tickets issued in February 2022 for Christmas, which is entirely reasonable given how expensive holiday flights are, may have to be flown by February 2023.
In addition, while tickets may be reused for different destinations, booking must be on the original airline. So this is another reason to book travel on an airline that flies to places you may want to travel to. (One way around this can be code-share flights. For example, here’s one of many good travel agent tips: For a trip to Amsterdam, where Delta code-shares with KLM, a ticket booked as Delta can be used wherever Delta flies, but a ticket booked as KLM is limited to KLM destinations.)
Always pack a lot of patience.
Every part of the travel industry is short-staffed these days. Shortages plague the industry of reservation agents, from car rental clerks to hotel housekeepers and restaurant workers. In addition, cleaning protocols mean that hotels can’t rush-clean rooms between guests. So everything is likely to take longer. And everyone is tired.
Perhaps most importantly, COVID rules vary all over the place between countries.
A final travel agent tip — Regulations vary between US states and cities. Employees must enforce rules, whether the government or their employer determines them. It’s not their fault if you disagree. So please, be nice. And remember, imperfect travel is better than no travel.
READ ALSO:
How to prepare for the 2023 FAA funding bill that can change US aviation
COVID travel uncertainty: Italy, here we come, but planning isn’t easy!
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
