From forgetting your passport to canceling your cruise, travelers share their costly mistakes and lessons they hope others avoid.
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Travel rarely goes as planned.
Flights get delayed, luggage goes missing, cell phones go missing, and sometimes just one oversight can derail an entire vacation.
We are not immune to accidents. USA TODAY staffers share their worst travel mistakes and lessons learned. We then asked you to share the worst travel accident you’ve had and, more importantly, what you learned from it.
The 15 stories below range from frustrating to funny to downright unbelievable, but each one contains practical lessons that can help another traveler avoid the same fate. Think of it as a hard-earned lesson by people who have already made mistakes. You don’t have to.
Edited for length and clarity.
1. The 10 minutes that influenced your entire trip
I’m 83 years old and one of my granddaughters planned a European cruise for her 30th birthday. Due to flight delays and no wheelchair support, I was 10 minutes late for my connection. I was rebooked without business class and arrived in London without any sleep. My luggage was also missing until an hour before departure. I missed most of the cruise sites because I was sleep deprived for 38 hours and never fully recovered. Travelocity and British Airways have said I am not obligated to refund the business class portion.
▶ Lessons learned: NEVER BOOK THROUGH (THIRD PARTY SITE) AGAIN. Always use the airline itself. Just in case, pack more in your carry-on.
— Sherry Cook
2. “Cruise from Hell”
My friend and I had a goal of seeing all 63 national parks, leaving only the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. We booked a Royal Caribbean Cruise in St. Thomas on our itinerary so we could visit Virgin Islands National Park. After our flight was cancelled, we flew into Orlando and drove 4 hours to the port. Upon check-in, we learned that the St. Thomas had fallen due to strong winds. On the fourth day of our seven-day cruise, my wife contracted influenza A and was quarantined in a small cabin with no windows. We call it the cruise from hell.
▶ Lessons learned: When things don’t go well, just accept it and roll with the punches.
— Larry Root
3. Secure the bag
My family of four used the Six Flags Magic Mountain Ride Storage Box for two belt bags. When we got out of the car, they were gone. Inside the bag were three new iPhones, keys to a rental car, medication, jewelry, a driver’s license, credit cards and other valuables. We had to unlock and tow our rental car, get a new credit card, deal with fraudulent purchases, and fly home without ID. The theft of the bag and associated travel problems resulted in more than $5,000 in damages. Six Flags then provided us with 4 annual passes with meal plans and we had a great trip.
▶ Lessons learned: Get AppleCare and travel insurance, wear shorts with deep pockets, and never use storage boxes on theme park rides.
—Alicia Wiechert
4. Pack snacks
Grab a coffee and grab a bite to eat before boarding your Austrian Airlines flight. We took an early morning flight from Vienna to Heathrow, so my husband was expecting to have coffee on the flight. No, just bottled water and chocolate. We never stopped to eat at Heathrow Airport until a train breakdown left us stranded on the giant tube line. Verizon had a massive outage in the UK and Europe so our phone didn’t work. Then my diabetic husband tripped over my suitcase and injured himself. We eventually arrived at a coffee shop and bed and breakfast, where a local massage helped his injury.
▶ Lessons learned: Don’t overdo it. Stop to eat or carry snacks. Don’t expect foreign airlines to offer you coffee.
— Susan Livinggood
5. Back up your phone while traveling
I left my cell phone on the plane when I was changing planes in Singapore. As we realized almost immediately, we were past the point of no return. A security guard was scheduled to go to the plane, but by that time the guard was gone. We used a separate phone to contact family in the US and had our accounts locked and disabled, so there were no security issues. I wasted the entire day I had planned in Singapore answering the phone, but it wasn’t worth it. I also lost the photos from my last morning in the Maldives because I didn’t back them up.
▶ Lessons learned: When traveling, take some time to calm yourself down. There’s no need to rush. Protect your device and make sure your photos are backed up.
— Erin F. Chapman
6. Airline pet I get irritated
When I returned from Europe with my cat Tags, I placed her in the pet area under the plane. Lufthansa took care of everything very well. But in Washington, United Airlines directed me across a busy highway to another strangely unmarked building. The taxi driver kept circling around while we were looking. When I got there, I was told that the box I had purchased for my air travel was substandard. For an additional fee, employees drilled the holes and remodeled them. After paying a few hundred dollars, the taxi driver rushed me to the terminal. I barely made it to the plane in time, praying that Tags was on board safely. she was.
▶ Lessons learned: Never assume that partner airlines have the same pet travel policy. You can check both their websites and possibly even call them.
— Susan Palmer
7. Did you bring a spare phone?
During a recent hiking trip in Germany, my iPhone completed a routine operating system update. Since it happened in a foreign country, Apple required me to reactivate the phone using my Apple ID and password. Since I had moved all my passwords to a password manager, it was impossible to remember them. I couldn’t even access my password manager because my phone was locked. During the trip, my phone remained locked and I had no internet or email for about two weeks. Fortunately, my travel companions were able to navigate and communicate on their cell phones.
▶ Lessons learned: When traveling, especially overseas, make sure you have another way to access your key password.
— Larry Kassner
8. Taking more time than necessary
On our way to Athens for our cruise, we missed our connection to Frankfurt due to delays in wheelchair support. Added to this were weather and computer system delays. We took the bus and stairs to catch another flight, but that flight was cancelled. The wheelchair attendant then forgot about us and the employee accused me of trying to steal an unused wheelchair. After spending 15 hours at the airport, we received our hotel voucher and boarded our flight the next morning. The walker we checked never arrived, but the airline sent it to the cruise’s first island stop and a sailor retrieved it for $93.
▶ Lessons learned: A two-hour layover in Frankfurt is impossible for a disabled traveler. Even 24 hours may not be enough before an overseas cruise.
— John Isaacson
9. Bring backup documents
In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, I arrived at Heathrow Airport from Dulles and was told I could not continue to travel to Abu Dhabi because I did not have the correct coronavirus card. American Airlines checked my card at Dulles before departure. The nearby airport hotel was fully booked, so we spent the night in the basement of Heathrow’s Terminal 3 and returned to Dulles the next day. I was planning to go to Socotra Island from the UAE, but there is only one flight a week, so I haven’t been there yet.
▶ Lessons learned: Do not go through Heathrow Airport.
— Harriet Davis
10. Remember your time zone
When I traveled to Australia 30 years ago, I forgot about the International Date Line. Once I arrived, I went to the airline flying to Cairns and presented my travel voucher. The nice lady said she would be happy to help us, but the plane had left yesterday. It was a rookie mistake, but they took pity on us and rebooked us for a nominal fee.
▶ Lessons learned: If you’re planning a trip on your own, read and research enough to make a workable plan.
— Janet Caldwell
11. Stay near the airport
In May 1980, we flew from Cozumel to Cancun on United award tickets to return home. Our early morning flights were consolidated and then delayed due to a storm. When I landed, I saw a United Airlines plane take off. It was Memorial Day weekend, so the plane was full. Three days later, I saw someone hand over cash to an Aeromexico agent and receive a ticket. I withdrew the cash, asked again, and secured a seat to Miami. In Miami, United Airlines took pity on us and booked us an award ticket via Las Vegas and Honolulu.
▶ Lessons learned: Spend the night near your departure airport before your morning flight and be aware that some locations may require a mordida.
— David Cleveland
12. Passport controls can be tough
We recently flew from Newark to Brussels. The line at passport control easily took about 2 hours. I almost passed out from the heat and lack of air conditioning, so I was wheeled to the crew desk in a wheelchair. It was outrageous.
▶ Lessons learned: Do not fly to Brussels from anywhere in the US
— Robert Joyce
13. Be proactive
We were scheduled to fly to Las Vegas on Christmas morning to surprise my mom for her 92nd birthday. That was the day the entire Southwest system crashed. We waited all day as the departure time changed many times, but the plane never departed. She died six weeks later. Then my wife jumped off a plane and thankfully was by my side when she passed away. We will never forget spending Christmas Day on the airport floor waiting for an unprecedented flight. I should have changed airlines, but the gate agent kept telling me my flight would be delayed.
▶ Lessons learned: Never trust just what the gate agent tells you. Be proactive rather than passive.
— Richard Smiley
14. Spend time with a group.
I got separated from a tour group in Venice, Italy. Due to some mistakes on my part, I ended up spending about 7 hours not being able to recover.
▶ Lessons learned: Use cell phone video to record verbal instructions for meeting location and time. Use photos to remember the order of your walks. Make sure you have a special pocket for euros when you enter the toilet. If you are traveling in a group, please have a companion to report any absences before the tour begins. Be sure to save your tour leader’s phone number on your phone, as well as on your card, where you may forget. Don’t get a new, unfamiliar cell phone right before your trip.
— Karen Burrell
15. Place the designated “checker”
Our family was planning a “trip of a lifetime.” 19 of us went on an Alaska cruise. We arrived in Seattle early because my father-in-law needed boarding assistance. I reminded him to have his passport ready, only to find out that he had left it at home. We hurried after the porter looking for our luggage, but it wasn’t there. Luckily, the kind check-in agent told me I would be fine with a photo of my birth certificate and a government-issued ID. A neighbor from back home found the birth certificate and sent us a photo, so my father-in-law was able to complete the special paperwork and board the ship before it set sail.
▶ Lessons learned: Please be sure to read the “Before You Go” packet. Make sure everyone has the necessary passports, identification cards, and documents before leaving home. Keep all your travel documents in one place, and if you’re traveling with an elderly family member, designate someone to double-check documents, medications, and important medical information.
— Lori Ott
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