Common cents: Merry Christmas travels

December is just around the corner and I’ve been warming up to the idea of homemade cookies and puddings. Christmas definitely tops the list of my holiday favourites, but it can be a stressful time for a lot of people, especially if it involves air travel.

It’s no big secret that with airlines bursting to capacity over the festive season, fares shoot up during the Christmas period. I checked out different airlines a couple of nights ago just to see how prices have inflated.

December flights to my home country, especially those that depart a few days before Christmas, were going for Dh15,000 to Dh16,000, about six times more expensive than the off-season rates!

Last week, one of my friends did a last minute attempt to book Christmas flights and thought for a second he just got lucky. Without reading the fine print, he proudly announced he had just scored flights for a little over Dh3,000. When the airline’s email confirmation came, he realized they had charged nearly Dh5,000 to his credit card.

If you’re like many people who decide at the last minute to fly home for the festive season, it pays to be very extra careful when securing tickets.

VirtualTourist.com, a resource for travelers has a list of useful tips to avoid booking mistakes and make traveling during the holidays less of a hassle.

Read the fine print

The most glaring and common mistake is to not read the terms and conditions page thoroughly. Travelers are often upset because they booked their flight thinking it was at a great price, only to learn later that for this “price,” the reservation is non-refundable or only partly so after a certain date.

Another common mistake is a great flight deal that turns out not-so-great once the long list of extra fees are tacked onto the total.

Always do your comparisons

When comparing prices, don’t believe any internet service or site that claims they have the lowest or best priced packages until you have visited their competition, and when possible, the real service provider’s website.

Pay attention to flight details

Before booking a flight with a “budget airline,” it’s a good idea to do a map search to find out where exactly its airport is situated.

Be careful about the flight times. Not all sites use “military time,” so sometimes 12:30 may mean just after midnight. Also, if you are flying to a different time zone, make sure you take into consideration time lost or gained in travel when booking your next leg.

Once you arrive in London, for example, it may be a different day, so make sure the date, reflected on your ticket for your next flight, is correct.

Low priced flights may have very inconvenient arrival times, like when public service trains or buses are not running, or with a lengthy layover before the next flight.

Be prepared

Be ready, at least mentally, for what you will do if the promised services do not materialize. A great example: if you bought traveler’s insurance, know the details of the procedure you will have to follow to make a successful claim if the airlines, your travel agency, or hotel operator do not make good on their promises. This procedure will be found in the smallest print in your insurance document.

Know your booking operator

When booking a package with a travel agency, make sure you understand the difference between an agent that does all the work personally, and an agent that farms out the services to others.

Also, read the “About Us” section. If an agency has a genuine history on the “About Us” page, it gives them credibility. If the “how long have you been in business” portion is vague and filled with “testimonials” instead of a solid history, this is not a good sign.