I think I’ve turned into the money-making version of Michael Palin, because at the moment I’ve been doing a lot of travelling. Yesterday I returned from Belfast. (I flew over to meet a man making serious income from an inventive little system he’s created – and I’ll tell you all about that in a later issue).
Anyway, when I arrived at Belfast airport bright and early, I was told that the flight I was on had been overbooked, and some people would have to wait
for the next flight.
Of course, I was just cursing my luck, when the check-in girl said something that changed everything…
In exchange for waiting for the next flight, the airline offered me a complete refund, vouchers for food and drink at the airport, and two FREE return tickets to any destination in Europe on their airline!
That worked out at around £200 worth of freebies
for a couple of hours wait!
Of course, not all flights are worth missing. If you’ve got an absolutely vital appointment to keep, or missing the flight will ruin all of your subsequent plans, then you’ll probably want to get onboard.
But if you want to get ‘bumped’ from a flight to qualify for some great freebies, here’s the best way to do it:
- Before you book a flight, ask your travel agent which ones tend to get overbooked – then reserve seats on them. Airlines will always do their best to make sure each flight is full. They treat them a bit like a party – you invite 100 people thinking 60 or 70 will show up. But when 100 all turn up, there are problems. So find out which flights tend to ‘invite’ too many guests.
- Get to the airport earlier than most – at least two hours early – so you can be first in line if and when the airline has to bump people. Likewise get to the gate as soon as it opens… sometimes an airline will hold off on its decision until then.
- Take a copy of the airline’s flight schedule with you, so you can negotiate your free flights immediately. If the airline is really desperate you may get more, if you know where you want to go.
- The two hour rule – if you have to wait more than two hours till your next flight, make sure you get your free meal tickets, and ask to allowed use of the club lounges.
Also – see if you can get your flight upgraded to business class. The more you ask for, the more you’re likely to get!
And while we’re on the subject of travel…
5 tips to avoid this dull rip-off
Travel insurance is one of life’s little irritations – should you or shouldn’t you? After all, how many times do you go away and everything’s perfectly all right?
The trouble is, sod’s law will dictate that the one time you don’t have insurance, you’ll need it. So always make sure you’re covered, but follow these tips to get the best deal:
- Check the facilities that come with your credit card. Some of them include travel insurance as a benefit, so there’s no need to double up with independent insurance.
- Look at the details – you might be throwing money away. For example, if a policy offers £25,000 cover on belongings, there’s a good chance you won’t need that much. So figure out how much insurance you really need and select a suitable policy.
- Never immediately accept insurance a travel agent offers you. Oh they might smile sweetly at you and pretend they’re doing you a favour, but chances are they’ll be incentivised to make you take out insurance with their business partners. You might get a much better deal by going directly to an insurance company – so shop around.
- Remember, you might actually need to use this cover, so choose one that offers 24-hour emergency medical cover and the use of a translator or English speaking aid.
- If you are asked for details of your home-contents insurance policy, don’t give them! If you claim for loss or damage to items such as cameras or jewellery, the travel insurance company might try and offset their loss against your contents insurance company – and this could put your premiums up next year.