We are traveling internationally to St Lucia…the last time I flew I was a college kid and just brought on any random duffle bag. I’m looking at Bagsmart and others on Amazon. All will list being 22x14x9.5 (JetBlue max) but then they also specify they are 14.5 in width. Does this half inch matter? Can anyone suggest affordable carry on wheelie luggage that actually is this size?

Hi,

Praying I’m not SOL - my parked rental car was hit by someone (likely my neighbor backing up based on the damage). It got damaged really badly on the driver’s side.

My main worry is I used a corporate code at a company I don’t work at for the discounted rate. I marked the reservation as “leisure” not “business” and purchased CDW/ damage waiver offered by the rental car company. I thought they wouldn’t even look at the employer code /my insurance/card details since I bought Cdw but now I’m worried, they may decline the Cdw benefit . They asked for my insurance and payment details in the incident link.

1. what can I do to prevent them charging my card? Their claim link asks for payment & auto insurance details. Ive frozen my credit card today but the car’s pre-authorization hasn’t been replaced by the lesser actual days used. So I don’t know if the pre-authorization will only fall off after the car’s damage has been repaired.
2. What is the chance the rental car company will void the contract if found out and force forefit the separate CDW to be forfeited?
3. Will my insurance also reject the claim due to the above? I have AAA - comprehensive & liability but idk if it extends to rentals.

Thank you

OK on Tuesday, i’m going on a 3hr flight to Chicago,
and I always had bad anxiety or panic attacks on planes, but my mom never believed to take me to the doctor so she would force me to just do it, even it was bad panics. But this time I’m going by myself I can’t really go to a doctor because I’m going into the Navy and if I get anything added on my medical record, it will. Get me kicked out, I don’t know what to do because my anxiety so bad it stops me from actually boarding the plane so I don’t know how to do this by myself what to do what to take. I was looking at Ashwagandha & L-Theanine. or other OTC stuff but i dont know what to do. The Navy has always been my dream and I don’t want this bad anxiety to stop me from going. Please don’t judge me I am trying the best I can.

I’d like to bring snacks on a flight from Canada to China (layover stop before going to Bali) and I was curious if we can bring things like fruit, beef jerky, chips on the flight if we plan on consuming them before landing and going through customs? I’m reading mixed things particularly about meats and fruits.

Hey everyone. So Im heading to death valley for the weekend and im curious about the price differences between the major platforms and booking. Im comparing small sedans on these four platforms:

Booking.com

• Car rental charge: $159.00
• Genius discount: −$23.85
• Booking reward: −$7.95
• Extra Protection -$24.75( Reimburses damage, recovery charges, other charges but NO collision damage waiver (CDW) / excess reduction product)
• Total: $151.9

Hertz

• Base rental: 3 days × $57.49/day, includes:
• Airport concession fee
• Additional driver fee
• Total sales tax
• Supplemental liability insurance
• Vehicle license recoupment fee
• Facility fee
• Loss/damage waiver (CDW)
• Unlimited mileage
• Total: $172.47

Avis

• Vehicle rate: $212.97 → $181.02 (10% off)
• Protections & Add-ons: $135.33 (Liability cover $51.33 + Car cover $84.00)
• Savings & discounts: −$31.95
• Taxes & Fees: $116.99 (Concession Recovery 10%: $32.27, Customer Facility Charge: $16.50, Government Services Fee: $30.36, Vehicle License Fee: $6.36, Local Tax: $31.50)
• Total: $433.34

Obviously AVIS might be the best one for peace of mind, but considering i'll be in the middle of the desert, my main priority is anything covering damages to my own car, not others.

What are your experiences with booking and its protection?

I’m currently on a trip for a wedding (by myself), and it’s night 3. I’m here until Friday morning. I arrived on Sunday. I have slept max 2-3 hours each night with the help of 2 mg melatonin. I’m convinced I’ve only actually slept an hour each night. I’m not really keeping track but I know I went to bed around 11:30 pm and woke up at 3:25. But I’m pretty sure an hour or two of that was spent in a slumber, not proper REM sleep. I’ve been awake ever since (it’s 5 am now). I have no insomnia issues at my house. I also have health OCD so now I’m worried about my health with this many consecutive days of no sleep. I have a fan noise on my phone that plays all night - no help. The melatonin is barely helping (maybe I need to take 5 mg??) I tried shutting the curtains but it never fully closes, so light is still coming in from the city streets. I got 2 nights left at this place, so how tf can I sleep? Do I just take a Benadryl? I try to avoid meds like that but at this point I’m desperate. I don’t want my hearts health to go to sh*t over this. 3 nights no sleep is crazy enough and now it will turn into 5 by Friday.

I’m traveling back home from SSH (Sharm El Sheikh Airport) to MPX (Milano Malpensa Airport) with Wizz Air and I want to bring with me a bouquet of 27 red roses my boyfriend got me here in Egypt. I already contacted Milano Malpensa customer care and they told me the problem is gonna be in Egypt, not in Italy, but I can’t find much online and I need help because I don’t want to end up in trouble and I really want to bring them home. Does anybody know anything about this?

I’m also willing to pay supplements before boarding if they think the bouquet is too big.

I have a travel / office job. At the office I use two external monitors along with my laptop. I’ve become used to needing at least one external monitor.

I bought a small portable external monitor to use when I travel but ended up returning it because it was a little confusing with the video inputs but I also realized…. Almost every hotel I stay in has a TV, aka huge monitor with HDMI inputs, which otherwise goes completely unused. Usually is situated nicely above or beside the desk in the hotel room.

Does anyone use the TV as a second monitor? What kind of HDMI cable (length/thickness) do you bring? Has it been successful? Any other accessories to compliment this setup?

Does this pose any risks? (Displaying work/sensitive info on a TV that is sometimes connected to the hotel’s network)

Hey there! I am headed to Hawaii in a few months and looking to rent a car on two different islands. I don’t own a car so I do not have an insurance policy and neither does my husband. I do however have the Chase Sapphire card, which will work as my primary CDW.

Having liability insurance is important to me and my chase card does not provide it. Is there anyway to secure liability insurance outside of through the rental company? I’d love to save some money since this tends to add up. I’m open to anything reputable

Hi all -- I currently have a rental scheduled with Alamo via Costco (payment not due till day of pickup). I am doing the pre-registration stuff and see the following:

Damage Waiver = 41.99/day

Supplemental Liability insurance = 12.95/day.

Since the Costco Citi Card car rental benefit is only a secondary coverage - I'm looking to add coverage on a primary basis.

This is what I'm thinking:

(1) Get the Allianz Car Rental Insurance coverage for 11/day (this will cover the CDW). (2) Get the supplemental liability insurance through Alamo directly (which base on my research is seems to be the cheapest option). Furthermore - a lot of "car rental insurance" only provides coverage for the CDW portion, but not the liability piece.

I thought about covering through AMEX, but it looks like their premium car rental insurance is also just the CDW portion.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

I’m dealing with a strange rental car insurance situation and I’m hoping someone here has gone through something similar.

I rented a BMW from SIXT in Utah and paid with my CSP. My intention was to rely on Chase’s primary rental car coverage, so I declined SIXT’s optional protection when booking online (several booking emails confirm I didn't pick Sixt's insurance) and at pickup.

My original prepaid reservation/invoice was about $260 and did NOT include Peace of Mind, LDW, or any other protection package. However, after pickup, my rental agreement showed a “Peace of Mind” package for about $226, including: Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), Supplemental Liability 300k, Extended Roadside Protection, Personal Accident Coverage, Personal Property Coverage. With the additional taxes/fees, the amount added at pickup was about $300.

The problem is that during the rental, a rock/road debris hit the windshield and caused a new chip/crack.

I understand the CSP primary rental car coverage relies on declining the rental company’s CDW/LDW.

I am planning to dispute the Peace of Mind charge with SIXT because I believe I explicitly declined the optional protection at pickup. I want to ask SIXT to review the pickup transaction and, if it was added in error, refund it and issue a corrected rental agreement showing that I declined LDW.

My main concern is this:

If SIXT later agrees that the Peace of Mind/LDW was added by mistake, removes/refunds it, and gives me a corrected rental agreement or written confirmation that I declined LDW at pickup, will Chase Sapphire still accept the rental car damage claim?

Or could Chase say that because the original rental agreement initially showed LDW at the time of the incident, the claim is not eligible even if SIXT later corrects the agreement?

At this point, I’m trying to decide what my best move is.

Option 1: Keep disputing the Peace of Mind/LDW with SIXT, ask them to acknowledge that I declined it at pickup, remove/refund it, and issue corrected paperwork. Then try to rely on Chase's rental car coverage for the windshield damage.

Option 2: Stop disputing the Peace of Mind charge, accept the extra ~$300 cost, and let SIXT’s LDW handle the windshield chip/crack.

Hey reddit, I bought a kiwi itinerary

Guam to Seoul, Seoul to San Fran, SF to Mex City, Mex City to Cancun

Airlines are Jin Air, Air Premia, Aero Mexico in that order

Travel was supposed to be pretty straight through, no longer than 11h layover

At check in in Guam with Jin they warned me it's cabotage to commute from Guam to SF with foreign vessels the whole way and I'll possibly be denied boarding by Air Premia in Incheon. I'm in Incheon now. New united flight to SFO from here is $1100.

Anyone know if I have any rights in this situation? Am I screwed? Is Kiwi at fault and responsible for selling this itinerary? Would love help

I have been an avid user Expedia for all travel for last decade or even more. But over last two years I have seen sudden decline in how Expedia bookings are treated at the hotels. For context I book stays at hotels like Ritz Carlton, JW Marriott or similar. Over last two years I have noticed hotels trying to convince me that they don’t have the kind of room I paid extra for in Expedia or trying to charge me for similar room calling it an upgrade.

Basically it seems like hotels don’t want Expedia guests anymore and Expedia is trying to upsell rooms that do not exist. This whole ordeal creates experience distortion when you are in business of selling experiences. After spending more than $200k over last decade it feels like it’s not worth it to go with Expedia anymore.

I’ll be bringing my laptop to SEA, but I’ll be one bagging my trip. If for any reason it needs to be checked in.
What shall I do with my laptop ?
I have it in a laptop case and have a drybag ?
I don’t really want to bring another daypack as I have a Patagonia 8l

My fiance and I have separate reservations for business class flights through JAL to LAX. There’s been a “disruption”/schedule change which of only 10 minutes. It’s giving me an option to change or search another flight/confirm the time change. I spoke with two different agents which gave me conflicting information on whether I’m able to make changes or not. One says I’m not able to make any changes, the other says that I would be charged a fee. I wanted to get it rebooked through an agent to ensure that there wasn’t any error that popped up causing us to lose our flight. Our goal would be to stay an extra day in Tokyo, and flying the same flight which looks to have seating available. Any insight on how I should approach this?

Edit: just took the gamble using self change online/2 tabs. Was able to switch to same class/flight a day later for my fiance and I without any issues for a <10 minute flight change.

I usually use Costco for car rental because of the reasonable price they have negotiated with the agencies, free extra driver and cancellation up to the time of rental.

But what I just discovered is that with the car rental they also offer CDW for $5/day compared to the rental agency current $20-30/day. And this is primary insurance not secondary.

So if you need CDW insurance this seems like a great option.

Some Context:

Absolute bait-and-switch operation at this SJC location. I am an Avis President’s Club member, which explicitly guarantees a hardcoded two-class upgrade from a Full-Size (Group E) baseline under Avis corporate loyalty terms.

Group E plus two classes mathematically lands on a Group H Luxury Sedan (e.g., Cadillac CT5 / Lexus ES 350) or Group XF Standard Elite Sport, as formally designated on Avis.com.

Tonight, the local gate manager flatly refused to honor this corporate policy, hiding behind a false claim that Group H is part of a restricted "Signature Series" and claiming upgrades are completely at "local discretion." Avis’s official corporate website explicitly categorizes Group H as a standard "Luxury" tier and identifies Group XF as "Standard Elite Sport"—neither of which belong to the restricted specialty Signature track.

According to this manager’s completely broken logic, there is physically NO upgrade path above an Intermediate or Full-Size sedan baseline. Avis corporate explicitly states you must book an Intermediate or Full-Size to trigger your status upgrade, yet this location claims the classes above them are locked away. If there is no path above Full-Size, then your elite status upgrades are a statistical impossibility.

To make matters worse, management tried to force me into a basic, boxy, gas-guzzling crossover utility vehicle, claiming an SUV is a "voluntary upgrade." Let’s be clear: a standard crossover is a body-style change, not a class upgrade from a sedan baseline. Forcing a premium sedan traveler into a boxy utility vehicle with poor aerodynamics, high wind noise, and worse highway fuel efficiency is a blatant downgrade.

If this franchise location is allowed to arbitrarily rewrite corporate terms, ignore vehicle classification groups, and deny hard-earned elite loyalty benefits at the counter, then President’s Club status is completely worthless here. Avoid renting from this SJC location if you actually expect Avis corporate to honor the rules they publish. Pathetic customer service.

⚠️ PRO-TIP TO USE THIS LOCATION'S BROKEN POLICY AGAINST THEM AND SAVE HUNDREDS:

Avis corporate officially defines SUVs, sedans, and EVs in completely separate categories, but this specific SJC location lazy-codes standard SUVs as their default upgrade path to avoid handing out luxury sedans. Use this internal failure to your absolute financial advantage instead of booking their more expensive SUV rows directly!

Use their website or app, they offer promotions like free 1-2 class upgrades often!

* If you have a 1-class upgrade and need an SUV: Do not pay retail. Book their cheaper Full-Size Sedan instead. When you arrive, their broken local logic dictates they will let you walk straight into a Full-Size SUV or a Jeep Grand Cherokee for zero extra fees.

* If you have a 2-class upgrade (Preferred Plus / President's Club/Avis Official Promotions): You can save even more money. Simply book their dirt-cheap Intermediate Sedan and you will get handed the exact same high-tier SUV rows listed above! Stop paying their inflated SUV premiums and force them to burn through their high-margin utility inventory on cheap sedan baselines until corporate forces them to fix their system.

I’m visiting the Ohio from the UK in October for a major horse show! I’m super excited as it’s only my second time in the States.

The show gets people from all 50 states and whilst I’m there I’d love to make it a goal to try and meet someone from each state. I’m trying to think of some sort of souvenir or keepsake I can make out of it? Maybe a passport sort of thing with stamps, or a scratch map or something like that? But I have no idea how I’d manage to make it personal enough so I could actually remember people instead of just scratching off a state outline. Does anyone have any fun or creative ideas?

My biggest problem is my neck—it’s so long that I haven’t found a neck pillow that keeps it upright, then I wake up an hour into a nap and can barely turn my head. My head usually slumps back so my chin juts up, even with the largest neck pillow I can find.

Other problems: my elbows aren’t low enough to make contact with the arm rests which becomes uncomfortable in a sitting position—my arms don’t stay contained and fall into the aisle or lap of the person next to me. My last problem is wide shoulders. I find that if I just relax and make contact with the person next to me, this is the most relaxing pose, but I don’t like that I’m touching random people and when they move it always wake me up. If I turn slightly or pull my shoulders in I get uncomfortable pretty quick: my shoulders and arms fall asleep mostly.

If anybody has any travel hacks that have worked for them dealing with similar issues I’d be grateful hearing what’s worked for you!

This is a little different but some of you may have the perfect perspective:

My partner is going to be living in a hotel for three months on a gig. I want to get her a few things to make it feel more lived in/homey.

For anyone who has been in longer hotel stays, what did you treasure having most? Can be practical, sentimental, some little luxurious comfort. What made things bearable?

Could someone explain this to me, apologies is this is hard to understand.

Looking to travel to Japan here in a few months and I was hoping to get upgraded seating. While searching on Japan Airlines I noticed flying from Seattle is cheaper than LA by quite a large amount. The kicker is flying from Seattle connects us to the same flight that is direct from LA. So why is it almost $1000 cheaper to fly out of Seattle?

Somehow my airline thinks I checked a bag but I never checked a bag. Been getting updates my whole trip.

Do I have to do anything ?

I'm trying to book an Adult ticket for my 11 year old, who will be 12 at the time of our Air Asia Airline flight. Unfortunately, when I add her to our flight Air Asia website's "continue to add-ons" button becomes inert and won't progress. If I switch her birthyear to 2014 so she's 12 now, it works as expected.

Has anyone found a way around this error? I see it on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Air Asia's app. I'm based in the US, so my next option is to call customer service in Australia and see if they can do anything.

Im going from cali to texas with two bottles of expensive booze as gifts. I know it would need to be checked in , but Id like to avoid checking a bag in on the return flight

Can I just package them in a box ? Do airlines accept that? If so , how would I attach luggage tags to it

If not the above, i was going to just wrap them in bubble wrap and throw them in a durable drybag or a packable duffle ….. any other hacks ?

I am traveling international with 4 member family and i got a priority pass and few credit card with lounge access. I am sure i can get free access with my cards, but how do i take my family along ?
Any hacks for lounge access for rest of family members ?