Seven Tiny Travel Mistakes That Can Cost You Big

Many of us try to manage travel stress with careful planning: We pack scientifically, we leverage technology, and we research every leg of our trip. But if you think your stress levels are bad when you’re planning your trip, just wait until a small, seemingly unimportant mistake ruins your trip and costs you a lot of money. These tiny travel mistakes are easy to make and to overlook—until haunt you in the form of missed connections, lost money, or worse.

Damaged passports

You might not think too hard about the condition of your passport when you toss it into your bag and head for the airport, but a “damaged” passport can—and frequently will be—refused at various stops along your itinerary. What counts as “damaged”? According to the U.S. State Department, this includes:

• Stains from any liquid
• A “significant” tear
• Missing pages
• Unofficial markings (like a jokey souvenir stamp)
• A hole punch

You might think a small stain on your passport won’t be a problem, but think again: Recently a couple traveling to Bali was denied boarding because of a coffee stain on one of their passports. While “normal wear and tear” isn’t considered a “damaged” passport, if you notice any defects in your passport it’s best to get it replaced pronto—and before your next trip.

Expiring IDs

Another small mistake you can make with your paperwork is trying to travel with a passport that’s too close to its expiration date—or an expired passport or driver’s license.

Surprisingly, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will accept an expired driver’s license as identification as long as it’s less than a year past its expiration date. But if you get used to using an expired license and let too much time go by, you’ll be out of luck once it’s older than a year. And it might not seem fair, but if your passport is still technically current but is within six months of its expiration date, you may find yourself denied entry into a long list of countries.

Mismatched names

Got married recently? Let autofill complete some forms on an airline site? If the name on your plane tickets doesn’t match the name on your identification, you’re rolling the dice on whether you arrive at your destination or not. Security checkpoints and airlines all require that the name on your ID match the name on your ticket, so if you were in a rush and misspelled your own name, or let autofill put your last name into the middle name field, you might run into problems.

Another easy mistake to make involves dates—some overseas airlines use the “day/month/year” format on their sites, so it’s easy to enter the wrong birthday, which can then cause you delays—or worse—when someone notices that your ticketed info doesn’t match your passport.

How big those problems are likely depends on who you’re dealing with. Minor mistakes can often be ironed out pretty easily—but if you’re traveling internationally, you might have a steeper hill to climb if your documents don’t match. For example, a woman named Jacqueline was denied boarding for a flight to Greece because the ticket had been booked under the name “Jackie.”

Wrong destination

You might think it’s impossible to book a flight to the wrong country. You are, unfortunately, wrong—it’s surprisingly easy to find tales of woe involving people who flew somewhere completely different than their intended destination. For example, a British couple were accidentally booked for a trip to Grenada, which is in the Caribbean, instead of the Spanish town of Granada, which is, you know, in Spain. They didn’t realize what had happened until after the plane took off. Or consider the couple who booked a dream vacation to Las Vegas—but booked the flight departing from Birmingham, Alabama, instead of Birmingham, England, where they actually lived.

It’s easy to rush through a booking online, and if the drop-down menu shifts at the last moment and you don’t notice, you might find yourself flying somewhere very far from where you’ve booked your hotel, or having to make some expensive changes to your plans.

Missing visa

It’s easy to overlook the fact that you need a visa to enter or transit through one of the countries on your itinerary—many countries don’t require a visa for folks traveling from the U.S. But assuming that can get you into a lot of trouble, so it’s best to check whether you need one and get it in hand before you leave. And don’t assume that just because you’re transiting—passing through a country on your way somewhere else—that you don’t need a visa—often you absolutely do, especially if your layover will be longer than 24 hours.

Another visa-related mistake? Assuming you can just get one at the airport. This is often the case, but sometimes you’ll be required to pay in the local currency, which you might not have, and if your credit or debit cards don’t work for any reason, you could find yourself stuck at the airport. Get it sorted ahead of time to spare yourself these problems.

Biosecurity violations

Many countries have strict rules about bringing foreign foods, plants, or animal products in from abroad. You might think, well, I don’t have any illicit fruits in my bags, I’m good. But these biosecurity rules apply to more than just exotic seeds—like a passenger traveling from Bali to Australia who was socked with a nearly $2,000 fine for bringing McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches into the country. The passenger didn’t disclose the fast food, and paid the price. Don’t make the same apparently tiny mistake.

Breaking driving rules

If your travel plans include renting a car, be certain you know how everything works in your destination country. Even if there are no posted signs (that you notice) and you don’t do anything too dangerous, you might find yourself receiving dozens of fines in the mail long after your trip. This happened to writer Ryan Krogh in 2019—he and his wife rented a car and tooled around Italy for a bit. They wound up with hundreds of euros in fines for a laundry list of parking and speeding violations they didn’t even know they were doing. A series of tiny mistakes in a foreign country can cost you big.

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