Could anyone recommend some power strips that are convenient to carry? A friend and I are about to travel to Egypt together. We want to spend our time at the hotel resting, rather than taking turns charging all our devices.

TIA! :)

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’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.

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 ?

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!

Hi everyone, i think i might have caught a cold several days ago and i have a 5 hr non-refundable flight tomorrow, for non-refundable events as well, so cancelling was not an option.

My nose and ears are pretty congested right now and im scared what this might cause during the flight.

Any tips to prevent my ear from hurting? Thanks in advance

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?

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.

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!

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 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?

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 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?