Four Travel Hacks That Will Save You Money

Over the last few years I’ve found a few different travel hacks to save you a little money or get a couple perks you otherwise may not have. Below are a few that I’ve used semi-regularly. Enjoy!

The view over Kazakhstan
1. Get up to €600 back if your flight through Europe is delayed. The EU’s consumer protection laws are strict when it comes to delayed or cancelled flights. If your flight is delayed by 3 hours or more and you are flying out of the EU on any airline or flying into the EU on an EU airline, you are eligible for cash compensation of €200 to €600 per passenger. There are some limitations to this – for example, if the flight delay was due to weather or a strike, you wouldn’t be eligible for compensation. But, if the flight was delayed due to mechanical issues on the airplane, you would. All you need to do is email the airline with passenger information, and the airline has 30 days to respond. A few other useful things to keep in mind are that even if you’re just on a layover through the EU, you are still eligible for compensation. And if this blog post just triggered a painful memory of a delayed or cancelled flight from a few years back, you still might be in luck – you have up to 3 years to file any claims.

If €600 sounds too good to be true, it’s not. Just last year my mom and sister got €1200 back for their delayed flight. This nearly covered their original ticket price! At this point I’m wishing my EU flights were delayed more often:)

2. Get a $50 expedia.com credit if you find a better hotel or flight deal on another site. When looking for hotel or airline tickets, I always check multiple travel sites to find the best deal. Luckily, Expedia offers a lowest price guarantee and will give you a $50 hotel credit if you find a cheaper deal for the same hotel or flight on another site within 24 hours of booking. I’ve filed claims with Expedia when I’ve found lower prices at least four or five times, and I’ve never been denied a claim – even once when the price difference was literally 7 cents.

In the 24 hours after you complete your booking, I suggest using Skyscanner to check if prices have fluctuated. If they have, file your claim with Expedia immediately, as you only have a small window of time to do this. And if you find a cheaper price before you complete your booking, just screenshot it, go ahead and book on Expedia, and then immediately file your claim. But keep in mind that the other site must offer the ticket or hotel in the same currency, for the same dates, room type, etc.  Of course, there are some limitations to this $50 credit – you can only use it on a hotel purchase of $200 or more (it used to be $100), and the credit will expire one year after it’s issued. But hey, $50 is $50 if you’re going to be booking hotels anyway.

3. Get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees for the best exchange rates. Most credit and debit cards charge 3% on any transactions you make in a foreign currency. You can avoid these fees by opening a card that doesn’t charge these fees. It’s worth checking if any of your current cards offer this benefit first. Because these cards offer the inter-bank exchange rate, you’ll be getting more bang for your buck than you would if you exchange your dollars for another currency at even the fairest exchange rate at a local bank. So, if you’re traveling to a card-friendly country, take advantage of that inter-bank exchange rate and use your card wherever you can, paying in cash in the local currency only when you need to. Not only will you be saving on fees and getting a better exchange rate, but carrying a card is safer than carrying a lot of cash.

4. Get free Wi-Fi on any Delta flight – even if you’re flying internationally. Delta has partnered with T-Mobile to provide T-Mobile customers an hour of free in-flight Wi-Fi and unlimited free messaging (think WhatsApp and FB Messenger) for the duration of the flight. But the great thing is that you don’t need to be a T-Mobile customer to take advantage of this perk! All you need is any T-Mobile phone number. And I’m willing to bet most of you have at least someone in your address book who is a T-Mobile customer. Once you have a number, you need to log into the in-flight Wi-Fi and paste that number into the correct box on the login page when prompted. Voila, and now you can post all the beautiful views directly from the plane on your Snapchat and Instagram Stories!  

Happy (cheaper) travelling:)

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