Learn from My Mistakes

As I have written many times, sometimes the best lessons are learned from others failures. Last night was a night of failures for me:

http://www.mamamia.com.au

  1) When Booking Mileage Runs, Always Check The Fare Class of Your Ticket

      - This year, I decided to go for Aegean Airlines Gold Status (more about that in another
         post). I have been booking mileage runs lately, but forgot that not all fare classes credit
         to Aegean. As you can see, fare classes O, I,X R, N, P don't credit.

        After checking out my future itineraries, I found an upcoming trip book in N class.

     
        I called United and they would be willing to upgrade my ticket to a K Fare Class
        for $115. A $120 fare turned into a $225 fare due to failing to check the fare class
        prior to booking.

        Hack My Trip has a great article about where to find fare classes before booking
        tickets.


2) A Schedule Change Doesn't Equal Ability to Cancel/Change Ticket

        On another upcoming mileage run, there was a schedule change a few weeks back.
        The change reduced my layover from an hour to 30 minutes. On top of that, my flight
        is the last one out to a major hub.

        I called United to ask for some help changing my flights, which I though I was entitled
        to. The agent put me on hold to verify the schedule change. A few minutes later, she
        came back and told me that my change was no "major enough." I asked her to explain.
        Her response, "Only major schedule changes trigger free changes/cancellations." My
        next question was, "what defines major?" Her response was that it "depends!"

        Great . . .  so I asked @United on Twitter

       A major change is 2 hours or more. Good to know!

3) Forgetting To Check What The Cost of Gas

        I need a rental car this weekend to get to BWI and for work on Sunday. After
        a terrible experience with Dollar (that stories coming), I have switched to
        Advantage.

        One of the reasons why I like Advantage is that they allow you to prepay for
        a 1/2 tank of gas. Typically, you need to prepay for a full tank. I typically
        pass on prepaying for gas. However, I saw that the gas station closest to the
        airport was at $3.29. Advantage was offering $3.19. Well, the gas station
        around the corner from house (less than 6 miles from the airport) is at
        $3.10. Duh@!

        $0.09 isn't that big of deal, but I always check gas prices before renting
        cars. It can save you much money knowing when and when not to prepay
        for gas.
       

Yup, 3 mistakes last night. Let's hope I learn from my mistakes. Otherwise, I am going to feel even stupider committing them again.


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