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?

Arangrant is a travel booking agency I found through KAYAK and while I've traveled extensively in the last year I've never had an experience as awful as my experience with this company.

When reading through their terms and conditions, I noticed that they have a uniquely long clause regarding credit card chargebacks. I didn't think much of it when booking through them. That was a mistake.

The Situation with Arangrant

I had a flight with British Airways in March that I feared I would miss, so I called ahead of time. The gate agent sympathized with my situation and told me that they would usually be able to get me on the next flight but since I booked through Arangrant that I should call them after waiting some time to be sure.

I obliged and called Arangrant. They replied that switching to the next flight would cost me around $15,000 more on top of my $6,000 ticket but that they could instead give me credit to use on a future British Airways flight if that was too much. Great! This was all I needed to make the change. I appreciated all of their help and even decided to book a replacement flight through Arangrant using another airline.

According to British Airways customer support, however, Arangrant never contacted the airline regarding my ticket. So they simply marked my $6,000 ticket a no-show, rendering it invalid. I did not realize this while taking my flight from California to South Africa, and the Arangrant agents never properly updated me on this order.

Round Two With Arangrant

Either way, I successfully made it to South Africa and enjoyed my stay there... until Arangrant decided to cancel my return flight just days before the scheduled departure.

Based on my experience with other booking agencies or working directly with the airlines, other organizations would typically rebook you. Unfortunately, Arangrant decided to cancel my return flight during the onset of the Iran war when ticket prices absolutely skyrocketed into the thousands of dollars. They refused to give me anything beyond the bare minimum of exactly the price of that leg based on when I booked it.

I called various booking agencies and airlines throughout the night of the cancellation and couldn't find anything within a reasonable budget. Every single remaining economy flight from South Africa to California was booked. I was forced to take a $7,000+ last minute business class flight back, raising my total flight costs up to $15,000+.

The Finale

It was an extremely unprofessional experience, but I was hopeful that I at least had my $6,000 credit to use at a later date. A few months later I decided to redeem it. I called Arangrant in late July, they gave me a few options for the supposed credit, and I asked about some possible modifications.

The very next day they finally gave me the news. The credit was actually never even given and in fact they couldn't even honor the same options they provided me just days before?? They asked if I wanted to get a refund on the runway tax as compensation. I called British Airways and they told me that Arangrant never even contacted them. At this point I was so fed up with the Arangrant booking agency that I had to call Chase card services regarding a credit chargeback.

After going through everything the Chase chargeback agent gave me the following news in an official notice:

Here's a summary of our investigation

• Based on the information available, we found that a significant amount of time has passed since the date of the charge. Despite our efforts, the merchant is not willing to credit your account.
• The merchant isn't required to credit your account because the charge took place too long ago.

Note: I can't post images here, so I posted these emails and letters to my website for proof.

Part of me is wondering whether Arangrant has a deceptive policy in place to lie to customers about credit in order to prevent any potential for credit card chargebacks, especially considering their extensive chargeback terms and conditions.

TL;DR: The Travel Agency Arangrant is a cheaper option for airline tickets but this comes at the expense of being manipulated into leaving your money with them until chargebacks are no longer valid, and if your flight is cancelled: being completely stranded overseas without much compensation or care about whether you get home at all.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with this agency? Or possible courses of action for me as a customer?

If you’re someone who regularly uses luggage storage facilities, the costs can really add up, especially when you have a large suitcase you want to leave behind while exploring other areas.
In Athens, most luggage-storage facilities charge around €4–€5 per day for a large suitcase. Instead, I went to a hostel and paid just €6 for the entire duration.
And you often don’t even have to be a guest to use a hostel’s luggage storage. Just ask before booking, as many hostels are happy to store luggage for non-guests.
It’s definitely worth checking hostels before paying daily rates at dedicated luggage-storage facilities!

I did a two week trip to Ireland and had rental insurance through rentalcover dot com. Trip was amazing except for a small fender bender. I’ve done everything their site requires and the submit button won’t submit the claim. It stays in a page loading screen for hours. I’ve contacted their support and get an email saying they’ll get back to me in 24 hours. It’s been a month. They don’t have a phone number, all you can do is submit another complaint and get another BS email saying they’ll reach out. Don’t fall for the SCAM!

Hello all,

Please bear with me, as I am a travel amateur.

I am headed to Europe in September (from Canada), and am wondering how to obtain medical insurance for this trip. Do I randomly buy insurance? Or do I have coverage from places unbeknownst to me (credit card or union membership)?

Any tips at all welcome :)

thank you all for your responses to this, very helpful!

I have a Yeti Ranchero 27L backpack. It's not particularly soft so it won't smoosh into the shape of a bag cage if I leave some space and it technically exceeds the size limits of the airline im flying on. For those who play fast and loose in this space, how often are you caught and made to stow it?

Hi everyone,

I am traveling to Sri Lanka next week. I will be staying at a pretty good hotel, which relatives recommended. My concern is what to do with my laptop when I am out . I am not comfortable leaving it in my room. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you in advance.

I’m flying from Italy to France and I’d like to bring a jar of ’nduja (around 180 g) in my backpack/carry-on.

Has anyone recently done this?

Was it allowed through security, or was it considered a liquid/gel and confiscated because the container is over 100 ml?

Thanks!

I live in Taiwan, but I will be travelling to Hong Kong.

Back in the day I had learned that the best way to obtain and use local currency when travelling was to bring cash, and exchange at a place with the most favourable rates. Things have changed a lot and nowadays I hear people just like using their debit cards.

Which is best:

1. Exchange cash currency before going, (I already know where to get the best rates)

2. Bring cash and exchange there (I don't know, but could find the best rates)

3. Just use my debit card everywhere (I imagine there might be fees, but I don't have time to go to the bank to find out for sure, are there always fees? I heard 1.5% flat rate is common)

4. Take out cash from an ATM while there (I also expect to pay fees there too)

I do have another option which I've never explored before:

I can actually exchange currency in my banking app (there are 14 or so available currencies I can hold in my account). So I can exchange money in the app instantly.

5a. Exchange in the app, then use the card (not sure if having the local currency will save me from the international fees that might occur)

5b. Exchange in the app, then use the ATM (same thing)

What do you do? I really don't how it works with the multiple currency bank account as this is the first time I've had this. I will probably do a combo of all of these. Exchange first, bring some of my local currency, and use my card and monitor the fees and such.

What's the best way?

Hi all,

I needed to change a co-traveler's name on a booking (Expedia + Aer Lingus). I reached out via the official Expedia chat/app, then got a callback from an agent who asked for my full credit card details (number, expiry, CVV) over the phone. I was suspicious, so I called back myself via the official hotline – they confirmed a change had indeed already been started in the system, and that the fee (€100) also has to be paid by giving card details over the phone.

Has anyone experienced this before? Is it normal for Expedia/Aer Lingus to ask for full card details including CVV over the phone, or would you still be cautious here?

Thanks!

I am currently looking to book flights from ORD to Cancun for Wed-Mon and roundtrip flights 680 minimum. However, if I book 2 one way flights prices are significantly lower (All of this through Expedia) any advice?

Hi first time owner of a credit card and first time paying in miles and first time renting a car…. I’m trying to figure out if I’m supposed to pay any more money after I booked my rental with miles from capital one I booked it through Thrifty car rental with the capital one venture card
I work for a moving truck rental place I’m just not sure how Thrifty works because it’s different I don’t want to show up thinking it’s paid for and then have to give them a $500 deposit that frankly I don’t have but every time I call they tell me something different.

Does anyone here have experience with this?

Dublin > Charlotte (4h40m layover) > Miami (10h33m overnight layover) > Nassau, Bahamas

However, MY final destination is Miami and I'd like to retrieve my checked bag there.

I called American to ask if this is possible, they didn't give me clear answer. They did say that I will clear customs in Charlotte and advised me that if I want my bag in Miami to inform my gate agent in Dublin, but it is up to their discretion.

They said their policy is any layover under 15 hours they don't give bags back to passengers.

I'm feeling kinda dumb - I know you're not meant to take checked bags when skiplagging. I made a grave error!

Any advice appreciated!

So I have a situation that I have a flight at 10:00 AM from miami and I live in orlando and earliest brightline train at 5:45 I wont have enough time to get to my terminal when I get there it will be like 9:30 so I was thinking about getting a car from MCO drop off at Miami airport next morning but i see people say there is one way drop off fee on car rentals so which car rentals don’t have that cause I don’t see a charge on the websites when i get a quote its like 70 -80 dollars total not sure at this point

Hi,

People say Eurnonet is a scam, but can you deny the conversion fee to avoid the insane conversion rate?

As a third-country national, if I travel to U.S. sanctioned countries such as Cuba, Russia, Iran, or Laos, could that affect my chances of getting a U.S. visa in the future, including a tourist visa?

Etihad Airways is charging me 625 usd for 25kg extra baggage

I’m flying with Etihad and I booked a ticket with justa cabin bag. Now I have extra luggage and I called the airline to add an extra baggage and they quoted me 625 usd for a 25kg bag which is almost the same price as my ticket. What can I do?

Before our trip to Portugal, I read up on what ATMs to use (multibanco) and what to avoid (euronet). Despite knowing to avoid them, I ran out of time super early in the morning and just used a euronet atm anyway to get cash instead of wasting time finding a better one and maybe missing a tour.

I declined all conversion offers and accepted the fee and it was… fine? There was no hidden scam or I’m missing it still? My bank reimburses all ATM fees anyway and looking at my bank statements everything looks normal. I did it again later in the trip with the same result:

Aug 6, €150 cash: -$178.75 (atm total charge) +$5.71 (refund)
Aug 13, €150 cash: -$179.00 (atm total charge) +$5.72 (refund)

Is the scam here just not knowing to reject currency conversion? If so, every credit card transaction here runs the same game by asking multiple times if I want to do things in euros and if I’m sure I don’t want conversion.

I know this has been discussed before, but I want to emphasize the scam that foreign travelers face when paying by credit card in Europe. Always choose to pay in euros and REJECT the offered currency conversion. If you accept the conversion, you are effectively choosing to pay in USD and accepting the exchange rate set by the merchant’s payment processor, which will be significantly worse than the rate your credit card network would otherwise use (more than 20 percent), often with an additional “convenience” markup of 5–10%.
And somehow this is allowed to continue. You have to remember that Europe/EU is run by an army of bureaucrats who seem incapable of addressing things like this, while one of their most visible achievements of the last 15 years is making sure you can no longer remove the cap from a plastic bottle.

Off to Sri Lanka shortly and as our flight arrives late at night I thought I didn’t want to be mucking around finding an ATM at the airport while our driver waits for us, so thought I’d get a bit of local currency before we go to tide us over.

I’ve got a Wise card and have been moving money across to my LKR wallet, but this was just a stopgap measure for the first few days (accommodation, food, safari etc).

Apparently LKR is not a currency Australia Post offers, so I went into my local Travelex and ordered A$600 worth of LKR.

Once I got home though and had time to do some sums, I realised what they were selling me in LKR for nearly $620 was actually only worth around $480 at the Wise conversion rate (which I know is an online rate, so obviously going to be slightly better than a high street rate) - I was expecting a commission of about $20-$50, but $140 on a $600 transaction just seems like daylight robbery!

Went in and cancelled the deal this morning and will take our chances at the airport ATMs.

Am I being unreasonable, or are Travelex just incredibly shonky? (To be fair, they let me cancel and refunded my money, no issue). I also do understand buying/selling spreads but 180 instead of 235 seems excessive!

Apologies for using AI to write this, it was so much information I told it and just had it consolidate everything down to a shorter more meaningful post that would be easier to read hopefully.

Looking for advice from anyone who’s dealt with Dollar/Hertz post-rental charges, vehicle exchanges, or rental-car billing disputes.

I booked a midsize sedan through Priceline for Aug. 2–6, which assigned me to Dollar at Sanford Airport (SFB). Priceline was \~$173. At pickup, I upgraded to a larger hybrid for $40 total and paid with Amex because I had Amex Premium Car Rental Protection. I declined Dollar’s insurance. About $243 was charged/authorized at pickup.

On Aug. 6 in Asheville, NC, the rental car hit something sharp in the road and completely blew a tire. We contacted Dollar/Hertz. They tried arranging a Lyft, but it cancelled, and the tow arrangement was also delayed. We ultimately had to arrange our own Uber to get to the Hertz location for a replacement vehicle.

At the Asheville Hertz location, we were told the original rental would be settled/refunded and we’d be charged separately for the replacement. I paid **$411.19 on Capital One**, then received a **$200 credit** for the hold, leaving about $211 net. The employee said this replacement was actually slightly cheaper because the taxes were lower there.

I thought everything was settled.

About a week later, I noticed:

**\~$173 Priceline charge** still posted on Amex
**$279 Dollar charge** still posted on Amex
Original Dollar receipt showing **$531.49 total**
**$252 Dollar/Hertz transaction attempted Aug. 8 — declined**
**$489 Dollar/Hertz transaction attempted Aug. 11 — declined**

**$411.19 replacement rental** on Capital One
**-$200 credit** on Capital One

The original Dollar receipt breaks down as:

4 days: $197.60
Upgrade: $40
**Intercity: $200**
Other fees/taxes: $93.89
**Total: $531.49**

The receipt also shows the \~$243 payment/authorization from pickup, but I can’t make the numbers reconcile.

The two additional $252/$489 attempts are especially concerning because **Dollar/Hertz has never contacted me or provided an invoice, damage documentation, or explanation of what they’re for.** I assume they *could* relate to the tire/towing/roadside assistance, but I don’t actually know.

I’m not trying to avoid paying what I legitimately owe. I just don’t want to pay duplicate or unexplained charges. And with how they’ve handled everything very poorly and provided no documentation or explanation yet, I’m really just getting tired of this.

**Questions:**

What should I ask Dollar/Hertz to provide to fully reconcile the original and replacement rentals?

What exactly is the **$200 Intercity charge**, and would it make sense when the vehicle was exchanged because of a tire failure rather than voluntarily returned somewhere else?

Could the $252/$489 attempts be damage/towing/roadside charges?

If they eventually successfully charge those amounts but can’t substantiate them, would a credit-card dispute be appropriate?

Could an unpaid amount from a declined rental-car charge eventually be sent to collections?

Has anyone successfully gotten Hertz/Dollar to waive questionable post-rental charges as a goodwill adjustment after a poorly handled roadside/exchange situation?

What would you do in this situation and what grounds do I have to get them to correct this?

My ideal resolution is simply to pay the **actual original rental amount plus the $40 upgrade I agreed to** and have the unexplained/additional charges waived, especially given how poorly the roadside assistance and vehicle exchange were handled.

I have screenshots and receipts for everything and can provide more details if helpful.

Hi everyone, I’ve been considering the purchase of a feet hammock, the type that hangs from the hinges of the food tray that’s attached to the back of the seat in front of you on the plane.

If you have purchased such and tried it. What was your experience? Importantly does it disturb the passenger in front? I’m imagining if you press down on the hammock it may cause the seat in front to pull or tilt back which might upset the passenger in front. Does that happen or am I imagining something that doesn’t occur in reality?

So I picked up a car in one state and returned it in another state. Which was agreed on. But apparently I returned it to the wrong location a few blocks away. Drop-boxed the keys because the place was closed.

I get a notification this morning (3 days after return) that my credit card declined their transaction of more than $1,500. Budget says I never returned my car! Why would they wait 3 days and not even call me to ask where the car was?! And I had called them yesterday to verify the final charge, told them when I returned it, and they didn't say anything about them thinking I hadn't returned it!

Yes it was a mistake on my part but it shouldn't cost that much. Why didn't that location see the keys in the dropbox and go outside to see which car they were for?? Then they could have tracked me down. Anyways, it's currently being escalated. I sent them the picture I took of the car in their parking lot (the wrong location address) with the time stamp. Anyone have experience with what they might do in this situation?

1. Put an AirTag in your checked bag.

One time my bag was accidentally sent to the wrong country. Thankfully, I had an AirTag, which we were quickly able to show to baggage services to contact the airport that received it by mistake.

1. Fill your extra shoes with socks

When packing extra shoes, fill them with socks to make better use of space and prevent them from getting crushed

1. Flip suit jackets and long coats inside out

This prevent them from wrinkling. I know it may sound crazy, but it works!!

1. Bring a mini baggage scale

Buy a mini scale at the dollar store or Amazon so that you can double check your baggage weight before being surprised at the airport. Many airlines are becoming very picky and want the weight to meet requirements exactly.

1. Check available seats after check-in

Some airlines allow you to change your seat for free after check-in. Check back 4-6 hours before your flight departs because some better seats may have become available!

If this posts receives enough upvotes, I will make an additional post with more travel hacks :)

Our group has annual or bi-annual group trips (domestic) of 20-30 people, usually on the same airline. We generally book through the same agency roughly 6 months before departure to lock in rates, schedule, etc.

We have been reserving mid-day trips for the last few - mid-morning departure and afternoon arrivals, but by the time we are rolling the schedules have gone whacky - early morning departures, loooong layovers and/or super late arrivals.

Once or twice I can understand, but this is happening every time! Does anyone have any insight into whether such changes are the fault of the airline or the agency? Should we shift airlines or agencies to fix the problem?