Stress-Free Travel in 2018

This is a quick note to say hello and Happy New Year! I hope you (as I am!) are excited to start another year.

If you’re like me, you love certain surprises and some not at all. I just experienced a “not at all” and want to share it with you in the hopes of helping you avoid it.

I checked in online for my flight and at the airport checked my large bag to my destination city. The check-in agents printed my boarding passes and receipts and wished me a pleasant journey. I boarded the first leg of my trip with two small carry-on bags, my computer backpack and another briefcase type bag. All is well.

While boarding my second flight my boarding pass sounds an alarm and the gate agent stops me. She looks me over and announces that I cannot board the flight with two carry-on bags, only one. She is insistent that I should have known this and asked me multiple times if I booked the ticket and paid for it. Yes, I did and no, I didn’t know I could only have one carry-on bag.

I must consolidate them she said.

I can’t consolidate them I replied. I will check my briefcase. She said she had to charge me $25 checked bag fee + a $25 penalty.

“Okay” I (bewilderingly) said, “but I have a question for you. How is it that I have already taken one flight today, on this same ticket, with two carry-on bags? The ticket agent said nothing, and the gate agent said nothing.”

She replied that they must have been busy (they weren’t) and not have seen that I had two bags. She decided to make a concession for me and allow me to board with both bags. Between confusion and amusement with what had just happened, I thanked her and wished her a happy new year.

I remember reading an article a couple of weeks ago about how airlines were not going to be introducing lots of new fees for 2018, but would be quietly changing some existing rules and fees. I think I experienced one!

I decided to do a little research….and the bottom line of that research is that I’m passing on to you a travel website that I found to be informative and helpful. From quick perusal, this site will be my go-to source for “what’s happening” in the world of travel (like potentially being charged a fee to book a flight with a credit card?) Looks like one international airline tried it and quickly rolled it back due to consumer response.

Here’s to stress-free, relaxed travel in 2018 for all of us!