Brent and Michael's Secret Travel Hacks, Part 17!

Cook restaurant-quality pasta, send a non-contact a Whatsapp message, get free books, extend your Schengen time, taste the best lentil soup ever, and give your tofu the perfect crunch!

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Another edition of our very special travel hacks.

For other travel hack columns, go to Part Ten and Part Eleven and Part Twelve and Part Thirteen and Part Fourteen and Part Fifteen and Part Sixteen and Part Eighteen and Part Nineteen.

And now, on with the hacks!

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Here’s an older hack that I’m repeating because I like it so much: when you buy a 24, 48, or 72-hour metro pass, you’re not buying a pass for one, two, or three calendar days (as, say, a Disney World pass would work). Instead, you’re buying passes that span twenty-four hour periods. In other words, depending on exactly when you buy the pass, a 24-hour pass can easily become a “two-day” pass, 48 hours can be a “three-day” pass, and so on.

Many cities also offer “museum passes” with the same 24-hour method. Tourist accordingly!

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Have a destination you’re unsure about, or your travel dates are still up in the air, but you’re reluctant to pay the hefty extra charge to get a refundable airline ticket?

Book the flight using your frequent flier miles! These tickets are almost always fully refundable at no charge — you just cancel the ticket, and the miles go back into your account.

(Looking for an affinity “travel” credit card to accrue frequent flier miles? We recommend Chase Sapphire Preferred or United Gateway or Explorer.)

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Booking.com often offers two kinds of reservations for hotel rooms: non-refundable (at a discount) and refundable (at a higher rate). One way to get around this is to book at the refundable rate — to guarantee you’ll have a place to stay — but then once you’re sure you’ll be using the room, cancel the first reservation and book the non-refundable version. We’ve done this right up to a few days before arrival, saving lots of money (and sometimes getting a free breakfast in the process).

But beware: make sure you set a reminder so you know exactly when you can still cancel — on Booking.com, it’s often more than 24 hours in advance. And pay attention to time-zones! Also, this can be risky in the high season, because in between the time you cancel and the time you rebook, your room could disappear. (You can book the non-refundable room before you cancel the refundable one, but this can be problematic at smaller hotels.)

h/t to Mygypsytoes

Photo by visualsofdana on Unsplash

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Speaking of Booking.com, how’s this for a horror story? While searching in a three-month window, a woman accidentally made a reservation at a hotel for the entire three months — to the tune of $9200 USD. Realizing her mistake, she immediately cancelled the reservation. Problem is, she had chosen the non-refundable option. Since this had all been fully disclosed on a screen she quickly clicked past, both Booking.com and the hotel itself refused to refund her money.

The credit card also couldn’t help her, because there was no fraud: she had agreed to certain terms, and everyone was honoring those terms.

The moral of the story? Airlines are required by U.S. law to have a 24-hour “cancel” period on tickets sold at least seven days prior to departure, but most other travel businesses are not subject to this law — especially third-party vendors, which often sell even airline tickets without that 24-hour grace period. As such, when booking online, never be too hasty — especially with third-party vendors. Also, don’t store your credit card info in the app or website; if you have to re-enter it before you purchase, you’re much less likely to make this mistake.

And if you do make this mistake, don’t immediately cancel a non-cancellable reservation. Contact customer service instead.

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