Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress

Look, you know, it happens. Things are changing all the time in travel.
The airport probably looks different from the last time you were there. Your credit card might have added benefits.
Or taken them away. You and I both know that travel credit card benefits change more frequently than we'd like, and many people miss this memo.
Yeah, it's easy to make mistakes when you're traveling if you're not thinking about it all the time. But luckily, that's our job, to think about it all the time.
So that's actually the topic of this week's episode, the top five travel mistakes you can avoid. I can't believe we're finally doing this.
Welcome to the first episode of Smart Travel. I'm Megan Coyle.
And I'm Sally French. And if you feel like you don't have anyone to ask about how to make the trip of your dreams happen we got you we are NerdWallet's travel experts we love travel we don't just do it for work we do it because we love it and we're excited to share it with you definitely so I suppose before we dive into the main segment we should talk a little bit about how we got here I've been an editor on NerdWallet's travel team for six years now.
I also freelance doing some audio stuff. I produce podcasts and do some reporting for my local radio station.
So after all those years of producing radio and podcasts, everyone finally agreed it's time we gave Megan the chance to stand behind the microphone. As for me, I'm glad you're here.
As for me, I've spent plenty of time on the mic already. I host NerdWallet's travel YouTube videos.
I also serve as a spokesperson for NerdWallet, which basically just means I get to talk about all the cool travel data that we cover. That's things like our monthly travel price tracker.
I go on live TV. I talk about whatever cool analysis we've done here on the NerdWallet travel team.
I have to say the highlight of my job up until this point here at NerdWallet is getting messages from my high school friends saying not them, but that their parents saw me on TV. I literally just saw you on my Instagram, so I get it.
I'm sorry. For me, the highlight is now having friends that I can talk to about saving money and

travel.

Like Sally, I know you love a good deal.

So I can share when I found a super cheap flight or something, or I spent hours looking

for availability at a hotel that has like 15 rooms.

You get it.

You understand how much time I spent on that.

So I'm hoping we can do the same thing for listeners. We see you, just not literally.
That's why we have each other. And now we have these new listeners.
You are our friends too. So I'm excited we get to talk about these things.
And some of you might recognize our voices if you tune into our sibling podcast, Smart Money. Yes, that's the podcast hosted by our good friend, Sean.
I consider Sean to be our older and definitely wiser sibling. In fact, Sally, you gave quite the lowdown on the Southwest Companion Pass just a few episodes back.
And Sean has graciously let us gush about travel topics on his show for a few years now. You know, I love to gush about the Southwest Companion Pass and we love talking on Sean's show, but it is time we leave the nest.
We fly off, do our own show on our own all about travel and bonus. We don't need to use any points for this flight.
Exactly. So we'll tell you about strategies to save money on travel and what things are actually worth spending on.
Now, some of those things might involve using points and miles or perhaps considering opening a credit card, but that's not always the case. I think something I've learned in the past few years of covering the travel industry is that the majority of people don't travel enough or don't look at prices enough to know what's normal and like what's a good deal.
So I'm excited to make this podcast for everyone to help you go into these decisions a little more informed, especially since travel can be a big expense for so many people. And we're so lucky we get to look at this every day.
And so we're the ones who know there are mistakes and some of them really are costing you money. I hope that you can learn from us.
And the reality is we definitely make these mistakes ourselves too. Before we get started, maybe we should tell them a little bit more about ourselves.
Like Sally, why should people be taking travel advice from you? Should they be taking travel advice from me? I'm almost tempted to say that they shouldn't. Honestly, I'm kind of a bonkers person to travel with.
So first off, you already sort of alluded to this, but I'm super cheap. I'm like, just eat

food in the airport lounge. It's free.
And then I'm also a total maniac with my Fitbit. So I'm always trying to get in as many steps as possible on my travels.
I don't do relaxing vacations. In fact, I remember traveling to Hong Kong.
We landed after what was obviously a super long flight from San Francisco. We just immediately be lined up to the top of Victoria Peak.
And I'm pretty sure we ended up getting like 40,000 steps that day. Oh my gosh, that must have felt so good after a long flight.
You know, I always say jet lag, no thank you. Getting the steps is the best way to avoid it.
So I hope that makes me sufficiently qualified to talk about travel. But what about you? I've been traveling a lot since I was a kid.
I love the outdoors. So visiting national parks was big for my family.
We did a lot of road trips up and down the East Coast. And we would fly to Hawaii once every two years to visit our family.
We've got grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins in Hawaii. So I've done a lot of traveling.
Then when I moved to Los Angeles to go to college, that's when I really got into travel rewards because that was like at least three cross country trips a year home for me. And I had to figure out how to pay for that on college budget.
And it sounds like we are now doing many more than three cross country flights a year. I know you're definitely in the place of your life where we're doing the sort of required travel.
So for you, Megan, I think that's weddings. I have five weddings to go to this year.
Oh my gosh. That sounds so expensive.
No kidding. I have two separate weddings in Italy, one in Mexico and one in Australia.
Two in Italy. This is amazing.
Why do these people, do they live there? Are these all destination weddings? So the ones in Italy and Mexico are, but my friend in Australia actually lives there. Although I guess it's not the city she lives in.
So we'll call that one a destination wedding too. And rumor has it you're also having a sort of destination wedding this year.
Okay, kind of. So I am getting married this year.
I wouldn't really call it a destination wedding. So my fiance proposed to me in Germany last summer as part of a big European trip, included all sorts of fun things like the Olympics.
So we did have the travel component on that end. Today, we both live in San Francisco, but we're actually both from Southern California.
So we're getting married down there. So I guess you could kind of call it a destination for us in the sense that it'll be a semi-long drive down to SoCal, but it's convenient for all of our families.
I do love wedding travel, but I'm sure your family appreciates how close it is. I sure hope so.
And you can guess we'll be talking about my wedding, all your weddings to attend on this show. In fact, we have an amazing honeymoon idea that you're going to have to tune in to a future episode to hear about.
Absolutely. Come back for that.
Okay. In a minute, we'll have the top five travel mistakes people are making.
So stay with us. On to the topic for this week's episode, the top five travel mistakes people are still making in 2025.
Megan, you're limiting me to five. Only five.
Let's try. Okay, okay, okay.
So definitely off the top of my head is the biggest one. This is not having TSA pre-check or global entry.
Prices vary based on how you apply, but it's typically around $80 for TSA PreCheck, around $120 for global entry, and both are valid for five years. So that comes down to like less than $25 a year for global entry.
Yeah. And I would say even if you travel a couple of times a year, it can be so worth it.
TSA PreCheck basically gives you access to a special line at airport security checkpoints where you don't have to take your shoes off or take out your electronics. It goes by so much quicker.
And Global Entry is a program that lets you skip the customs lines when you come back to the U.S. after an international trip.
But that also comes with TSA PreCheck. So Global Entry is like getting two benefits for one.
Two for one. You know I love a good discount.
Now a lot of people say I don't want to apply for TSA PreCheck or especially global entry because it can take so long with global entry. You have to do an in-person appointment.
But what I think is it's really important to value time. I personally think time has different values just depending on when and where you're at.
So me on a random Friday afternoon, my time just isn't that valuable. But me maximizing my vacation hours, not standing in a line, definitely valuable.
And sometimes you don't even need to pay for it exactly. Like many travel credit cards will cover the application fee for you for TSA pre-check or global entry as long as you pay for that application fee using your card.
So what happens is you apply, you put that purchase on the credit card that has that benefit, and you'll get reimbursed automatically with a statement credit. You can go to NerdWallet for a roundup of cards with this benefit, and we'll put a link to it in the show notes too.
And now I do want to address the listeners out there who are like, stop, don't tell people about TSA pre-check because I already have it. And if more people have it, that will make the TSA pre-check lines slower.
Now I'm just going to come off the bat with my hot take. I don't believe this is true.
TSA pre-check lines are so much faster because you're not taking off your shoes. You're not fiddling with your luggage.
You're not trying to stuff your laptop back into your backpack. Now, the same person can get through security way faster in pre-check versus regular security for that reason.
So my humble opinion, if everyone were that efficient, we could then shuffle lanes for the regular line into more TSA pre-lines, which would just make it better for everyone. That sounds amazing.
I've had global entry for a few years now, and I think it saved me probably at least 24 hours of standing in line over the past couple of years. That's like an entire day of waiting in line.
So it's brutal. Definitely consider getting this benefit.
Okay, we're going to number two, right? Yes, go for it. All right.
So one thing that I see all the time is just a lot of people don't use all of the benefits that they have on their travel credit cards. So that's a mistake you could be making.
Credit cards, some of them have monthly benefits or annual benefits, and it's just leaving money on the table if you don't use them. So make sure you enroll in them if that's something you have to do.
If your card comes with a statement credit for travel, make sure you know whether you have to book that travel a certain way. A lot of times it's like in the credit card issuer's travel portal.
So I have one card that has that type of benefit. It gives you a $50 statement credit for hotels booked through the travel portal.
And that basically cuts the annual fee in half, but I just have to

remember to book it that way. And you have to remember to use them before the expiration date.
I actually just have like a running list of all my credit card benefits and when they expire. So I just go down the list and make sure I use them.
That's a good one. So now it's number three, my turn.
This is not using price alerts. This takes two seconds to do.
So you can set airfare price alerts on sites like Google Flights, Hopper, sometimes even directly on booking platforms. This is really the easiest way to make sure you're not overpaying.
Right. And it just gives me a lot more confidence.
Like I've tracked the price and it's gone down to a price I feel comfortable with, so I can just book it. Plus you can leave the price alert on even after you've booked just in case the price goes down again.
Exactly right. A lot of people are like, wait, what? A price alert after you've booked? But this is a strategy I use.
Now, of course, it only works if you've booked a refundable airfare, which generally does cost more up front. But even there are certain airfares that aren't necessarily fully refundable, but they have some degree of flexibility.
So take Southwest, for example. This is an airline I fly with often.
With Southwest, their cheapest fare class is technically non-refundable, but you can actually just change your existing flight to the same exact flight if the price drops. Southwest then gives you the difference in what's called transferable flight credits.
These are basically just dollars. They don't expire, but you can only use them on Southwest.
But it can work for you if you're planning to fly Southwest again and could use the funds. Exactly.
You are sort of on the hook for always flying Southwest in that next future flight or some sort of future flight so you can use those funds. But I always say as long as this is a fare you're comfortable with paying, don't wait for fares to drop to book.
Otherwise, the alternative is you pretend wait for these fares to drop, but instead they might end up increasing or they might end up selling out. And I will note the caveat with Southwest, you need to cancel at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure to be able to get any flight credit back.
But hopefully people aren't waiting that long. 10 minutes is actually, I think, pretty generous.
So while we're on the topic of saving money, let's move on to our next one, and that's overpacking. It is costing you more than you think.
Yes. What do you think people overpack the most? Ooh, I think shoes.
I sometimes see these people bring five pairs of shoes for a three-day trip, but actually it's not even shoes that I think are the most egregious offenders. I actually think the worst things to overpack are those relatively cheap just-in-case items.
I'm talking about something like an umbrella, even if there's no rain in the forecast. I always say if it rains, just buy one when you're there.
Agreed. I think everyone needs to budget for those like just in case items at their destination.
The checked bag and overweight fees are exorbitant these days. It's not worth it to bring it just in case.
And it's not even the literal fees. It's like the burden of carrying those things just weighs you down.
I always think, what are you going to do if you have to climb up to the fifth floor of the Airbnb you booked in Europe that doesn't even have an elevator? Been there before. And last but not least, number five, booking tight connections.
People, stop doing this to yourselves. Airlines sell these itineraries with really short layovers, and you might be like, oh, wow, look, the travel time is really short, and these flights are sometimes less expensive.
But the chance of missing your second flight is just way too high. Especially in these bigger airports, you think a 45 minute layover is doable, but then even let's say your first flight is delayed by 20 minutes, suddenly you are sprinting across the airport.
And don't even get me started on international flights. If you're connecting through a different country, you might have to go through customs, security.
Sometimes they make you pick up your checked bag and then recheck it. And then you have to find your gate.
If you're flying internationally, give yourself at least three hours for a connection. And I'd say if you're connecting somewhere domestically, maybe an hour and a half or two hours is good.
Even domestic, I don't hate three hours. You know, I'm actually all about the long layover and you kind of spilled my secret earlier in this show when you told everyone about my obsession with deals.
But actually one of my top travel deals is airport lounge access. I intentionally book long layovers in airports with nice lounges.
I kind of consider these places to have free food, free couches, sometimes even showers to be a great way to just spend some time on your trip. You can even get in with certain credit cards.
You don't necessarily need to have a first class airline ticket. Okay, but you know, not all lounges are created equal.
Like this could be its own mistake in the list is paying to go to a mediocre lounge. Like it's probably fine if you have some sort of complimentary access, but if you're paying for a day pass and all they have is a sad selection of snacks and some couches, like remember that wingtip lounge you went to? Oh my gosh.
Wingtips lounge. It is so unfortunate because my parents actually live near St.
Louis. So I frequent that lounge often.
It's a lounge inside the St. Louis airport.
But on my past four visits, the soda machine had either been broken or finally on my last trip, it had been removed completely. There was just this gaping hole in the wall where the soda machine used to be.
And I know you're a Coke Zero addict, so you were probably in a really bad place. Very bad place.
It was dark. We'll link to your review in the show notes because it's a great read.
Yeah, but you know, it was not just the lack of Coke Zero. I can get by without my Coke Zero.
But even as far as the food goes, it was like a few cubes of cheese, some stale cookies. So just understand what sort of lounge you're actually going into.
There are so many good ones, though. Yes, I just went to the Delta One Lounge at LAX and it had fresh sushi.
It was so good. I saw your review.

Let's link to that one in the show notes and I really need to go. I think that's actually my excuse to come down and visit you in LA.
Yes, please do. And add it to your list of how many lounges did you go to last year? Okay, don't judge me, but I went to 37 lounges last year.
Oh my gosh.

Some of these, I did not necessarily plan on so much time spent in them, but they always

make that delayed flight a little better. I do have to say there is joy in spending time in a lounge, not just for the food and the shower, but in the reduction in anxiety over a missed flight.
I often intentionally just get there early so I won't miss a flight. And if everything does go to schedule, then I have a free meal.
I sip on an espresso martini. I get some work done.
We talked about long layovers. I recently had a six hour layover in London Heathrow, and I actually thought this would have been way too long, but that airport is massive.
And actually it's pretty inefficient. I had to go through customs.
Then I had to board a bus. Then I had to wait in another huge security line.
By the time I got to the Centurion Lounge in Heathrow, I basically only had time to shower and eat anyway. Well, that's a happy ending, I would say.
So agreed, tight connections are just not worth the stress. And if you miss your connection, it can really mess up your whole trip.
So, you know, with the lounge stuff, I think we ended up with six travel mistakes. You know what the people need to know? Again, we have tons of lounge reviews on Nerd Wallet.
I feel like I've written many of them. And there's also a list there of best credit cards for airport lounge access.
So if you take away anything from this episode, it's to apply for TSA pre-check or global entry. If you fly internationally, use the benefits on your travel cards, set price alerts, pack light, and for the love of travel, leave enough time for your connections.
And bonus tip six, we love lounges. Okay, so listeners, do you have questions? We want you to send them to us.
You can email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or for extra credit, you could even leave us a voice memo. You might even hear your voice on this show.
Also this is our first episode so feel free to leave a review or send us an email with feedback for the show. If you're not already doing it you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app which includes Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart Radio to automatically download new episodes.
This episode was produced by Tess Viglin and Hilary Georgie. Claire Soce helped with fact-checking and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help.
And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors.
This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances. Thanks for listening.

We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller.

See you next time.