A lot can happen on a trip, and incidents do not always leave a pleasant impression. But if you know about some situations in advance, you can take action, protect yourself and not waste time and money. In the article we examine unpleasant situations that tourists can find themselves in at the airport and abroad.
You paid for tickets and hotel, but they didn’t give you a visa
If you have a few days left before your trip and your visa is denied, you will most likely have to cancel your trip. Most often, a visa refusal does not happen just like that, there are definitely certain reasons, and you need to find out them in order to try to eliminate them – if not this time, then next time for sure.
In some cases, the reasons can be eliminated immediately: for example, rebooking a hotel or attaching missing certificates. In this case, you can try to re-submit your documents to the same visa center, and if there are several days left before your trip, you can apply for an urgent visa: for an additional fee, the documents will be reviewed within 24 hours.
If you cannot change the reason for refusal or you do not have time to reapply for a visa, the trip will have to be cancelled. In this case, you can try to return at least some amount for tickets and hotel.
To begin the procedure for returning money for tickets, contact the support service of the service where you purchased them. If you do not receive a visa, you can issue a forced refund, but, unfortunately, not all airlines consider this a valid reason and agree to return the money. However, we recommend submitting a return request in any case. You may be able to get back airport taxes or part of the fare. If the fare is refundable, there will be no problems in principle, and you will receive back almost the full cost of the tickets (only the refund penalty will be withheld).
To get your money back for a hotel room, also contact the support service of the service where you booked it. If your reservation was marked “non-refundable,” you probably won’t be able to get your money back, but it’s worth a try.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Please fill out all visa documents carefully. It is better to submit documents not directly to the consulate, but through the visa center, whose employees will check everything and tell you what to correct.
2. Do not submit false certificates (for example, from a non-existent job or a statement from someone else’s bank account). If possible, provide more documents than required (for example, both an account statement and a sponsorship letter).
3. Buy tickets with a refundable fare or with the OneTwoTrip Refund package, which allows you to get 90% of the ticket price back, regardless of the reason or fare of your ticket.
4. Book your hotel and pay after check-in.
5. When purchasing tickets and booking a hotel, take out insurance, the list of insured events which includes visa refusal. Then, if the airline and hotel refuse to return the funds, the insurance company will compensate for the loss.
You arrived at the airport, but they don’t put you on the flight
An unpleasant situation that, unfortunately, can happen to anyone. If you arrive at the airport with a pre-purchased ticket, and the check-in counter says that you will not be able to fly on this flight, it means that you have overbooked. Perhaps the airline sold more tickets than there were seats on the plane, or for technical reasons it was necessary to replace the plane with another, smaller one. For you, this means one thing: there are no seats, and you most likely will not fly on the required flight.
What to do? Most often, airlines themselves admit their mistake and transfer you to the next flight, sometimes with an upgrade, and also compensate for the delay. If the next flight is not soon, you will be put up in a hotel and transported to it at the expense of the airline, but even if it’s a couple of hours, you will most likely be given vouchers to buy food in airport cafes.
If this does not happen, look for other victims – if you are not alone, it will be easier to achieve compensation together – and collect evidence. Make sure that an airline employee marks your ticket as being denied check-in due to lack of space. Record your conversation with the staff on video. Record the time when you were denied access to the plane. Keep receipts for all expenses you incurred while waiting for your flight. And after that, apply for compensation. The amount depends on the country and airline.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Check in for your flight online, preferably in advance. All other things being equal, the one who was the first to receive a boarding pass boards the plane.
2. If you plan to check in for your flight at an airline counter, arrive early. In situations where the airline has sold more tickets than there are seats on the plane, problems arise for those passengers who arrive at the end of check-in.
3. Be sure to keep your boarding pass if your flight is delayed or cancelled. It will need to be attached to the application for compensation if trouble does happen.
You missed your flight
If you realize that you are late while still on the way to the airport, immediately contact the airline or the support service of the service where you purchased the ticket. In some cases, for example, if you only have hand luggage with you and you only miss check-in for your flight, there is a chance to make it on time to board.
If you definitely miss your flight, it is important to immediately understand whether you can return or exchange your ticket.
In the event that you did not have time to check in for your flight online or were able to cancel your check-in, Realizing that you are late, contact the support service of the service where you bought the ticket. It will check if the ticket can be exchanged or returned and will start this procedure.
If you managed to check in for your flight online, you must promptly contact the airline to cancel your check-in. It’s also the fastest way to find out what to do next.
Airline staff will check your fare and will be able to offer an exchange option with or without additional payment (depending on the fare rules). If the option suits you, you can exchange and pay for the ticket, for example, at the airport at the airline ticket office.
If you arrived at the airport, but were delayed at passport control or somewhere along the way to the gate, and the plane took off without you, also contact the airline or the support service of the service where you bought your tickets. Perhaps an airline or service employee will be able to transfer you to the next flight with a minimal fine and surcharge.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Always allow extra time for travel and all security checks at the airport. Expect to arrive at the airport two and a half to three hours before departure.
2. Please note that the time on the ticket is when the plane departs. Check-in and baggage collection usually ends 40-60 minutes before departure, and in some cases boarding ends 30 minutes before this time.
3. If difficulties or delays arise and you are afraid that you will not make it on time, immediately contact the airline or the support service of the service where you purchased the ticket.
You did not find your luggage upon arrival
The situation is unpleasant, but not critical and usually easily resolved. Typically, most passengers receive their lost luggage within 1-2 days.
If all the suitcases have already been sorted, and you are standing at an empty delivery belt, most likely your luggage will not arrive. Go to the counter that says “Lost & Found” and fill out a report of lost luggage. If the “Lost & Found” you cannot find, contact any airport employee or airline representatives for help.
In the application you need to indicate your passport details, the name of the airline that lost your luggage, data from the luggage tag (it is attached to your ticket),
and also describe the suitcase in detail. Based on the application, a luggage search will be organized.
They will search for your suitcase for 21 days. Once found, it will be sent to your nearest airport, and some carriers deliver the luggage to your address. To do this, however, you need to write a letter with this request.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Check your luggage correctly. There should be no extra stickers on the suitcase, only those that were pasted at the check-in counter. Suitcases with bright multi-colored stickers from different countries look beautiful in photographs, but in reality you should not fly with them.
2. If you are flying with transfers, check at the check-in counter where your luggage will arrive: to the connecting city or to the final destination.
3. Buy a bright suitcase or suitcase in an unusual color. Attach a recognizable detail and a card with your personal information to it. In this case, if lost, it will be easier to find it.
4. Keep the ticket stub with the checked baggage tags.
5. Buy insurance against such cases. In OneTwoTrip this can be done at the stage of purchasing an air ticket. Of course, it won’t protect you from losing your suitcase, but there won’t be any problems with compensation.
You arrive at the hotel, and they tell you that there are no rooms
This is a fairly rare, but still not impossible, situation. Most often, the booking services are not to blame for this: either the hotel owners did not notice the reservation and checked in someone from the street, or there was an emergency at the hotel, but the owners forgot to cancel the rooms from the reservation.
In any case, if you arrive at the hotel and your reservation is not there and the reception refuses to help you, immediately call the support service where you booked the room. A staff member will contact the hotel and try to resolve the issue. As a last resort, they will find you a hotel room next door. If that room costs more, the difference will be reimbursed by the hotel that made the mistake or by the service – you won’t have to pay anything extra in any case.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. After booking a room, write to the hotel and check if they have received a reservation in your name. You can find the hotel address on the Internet or contact them through the reservation service.
2. Most often, incidents occur in small private hotels. If you are afraid of difficulties, just choose larger hotels.
3. The problem can also arise when booking late, for example when you book a room late in the evening for the next day. So try to calculate in advance.
You lost your passport abroad
First of all, go to the local police, where you will be given documents about the loss of your passport, which you will later take to the embassy. To do this, you will have to write an application according to the sample and put a stamp on it. Ask to make two copies: present one at the embassy, and the second will be useful at home, at the Federal Migration Service when renewing your passport.
Next, find out the address of the Russian Embassy and go there. There, most likely, you will need to present at least some form of identification: a Russian passport or its certified copy, a driver’s license, or at least a library card or hunting license. In general, any document that contains your name, photograph and some kind of seal. You will also need two photographs for your new temporary ID.
If you have nothing to show other than photographs and a statement from the police (that is, you don’t have any identification documents with you),
take two witnesses – compatriots with Russian passports, who will confirm that you are you. Ideally, these should be your relatives, friends or acquaintances, but as a last resort, you can ask any compatriots. The main thing is that they don’t say that they met you half an hour ago.
Another option to get an identity card is to call your friends in Russia and ask them to send a copy of your passport by email, and then have it certified by a Russian notary. You can often get a copy of your passport certified directly at the embassy.
If everything is in order with the documents, on the same day you will be given a certificate of the right to return to your homeland, which you will present at the airport at passport control on the way home. Please note that it is valid for 14 days, so if you come for a long vacation, you should start restoring your documents no earlier than two weeks before departure.
At home, you will need to go to the Federal Migration Service, which issued your international passport, and present there all the certificates that you have in your hands. Keep in mind that if your passport is stolen, by law the police are required to search for the thief for 3 months in order to return the original to you, so during this time you will have to live without documents. It is more reasonable to say that you have lost your passport, then it will be restored within 10-14 days.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Do not carry original documents with you: make a copy before your trip, and store the passport itself in a safe in your hotel room or in a suitcase locked with a combination lock.
2. Take a photo of your passport and save the photo in your phone and file sharing service, or send it to yourself by email. It is important that if necessary, you can easily print out a copy, which you can later certify at the embassy.
3. Take another piece of identification with you, such as a driver’s license or Russian passport. No need to carry them with you! Just put it in the safe in your room.
Your wallet with all your money was stolen
If documents were stolen along with money, use the tips from the previous paragraph.
In addition to cash, there were credit cards in the wallet? Hurry up, call your bank’s support service and block them. According to statistics, robbers immediately try to withdraw money from accounts, so it is important for you to call before that.
To get cash for the first time, seek help from friends, relatives and compatriots. For example, ask someone who remains in Russia to send you money. The easiest way to do this is to use money transfer services like Western Union. They have offices in many major cities, and you can receive a transfer the very next day.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Save your bank’s support service number in your phone book, so you won’t waste time searching for Wi-Fi and a phone number on the website, but will be able to immediately call and block all cards.
2. Don’t carry all your money with you: calculate an approximate amount for the day, and keep the rest in the safe in your hotel room.
3. Don’t keep all your money in one place: put the card in the inside pocket of your jacket, part of the cash in your wallet, and the other part in the secret pocket of your bag.
4. Get a credit card just in case and keep it in the hotel safe.
5. In tourist areas, take off your backpack and carry it in your hands, and hold the bag tightly.
You have had an accident and/or need a doctor
In such a case, every traveler must have insurance for traveling abroad, valid for the dates of the trip. Immediately call the insurance company whose phone number is listed on the policy and report the incident to the operator. He will contact local insurance services and tell you which clinic you should go to.
If you do not have insurance, go to the clinic yourself. But keep in mind that in this case you will also have to pay the bills yourself, and often the amount turns out to be very impressive.
If you need a specific medicine that is not available at the pharmacy without a prescription, and you do not have insurance, try asking the reception for help. They will tell you where you can find a doctor who will write a prescription. Another option is to search the Internet for analogues that can be bought without a prescription.
How to avoid and protect yourself
1. Before any trip abroad, even for one day, be sure to buy insurance that corresponds to the planned vacation. So, if you are only going to lie on the beach or go on excursions, you need one type of insurance, and if you want to rent a scooter or try to surf, you need another. The list of insurance services depends on the insurance. If you buy the simplest insurance that does not cover active sports, and you go skiing and break your leg, the insurance company may refuse to refund the money for treatment.
2. Take with you the basic medications you are used to relieving pain or attacks. But before your trip, check out the list of medicinal substances allowed for import into the country so as not to get into trouble at the border.
3. If you feel unwell before traveling, it’s better not to delay and go to the doctor. Don’t hope that it will go away on its own: if it gets worse on the plane or immediately upon arrival, your vacation will be ruined. Sometimes it is better to reschedule your vacation: in case of illness, almost all airlines allow you to exchange tickets. Contact support to clarify this point and make an appointment with a doctor.
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