Booking for the wrong flight date or time is the most common booking mistake travellers make, at least in Australia. This is followed by entering the wrong passenger details, booking without check-in baggage allowance and booking a flight to the wrong airport or destination.
Travel app Skyscanner recently revealed that while Aussies are comfortable with booking their travel online owing to ease and convenience, the majority still have concerns about making an error in their online booking. So much so, that more than a third – 34 percent – will spend more than 15 minutes checking and verifying their details before pressing the "confirm" button.
The Australian respondents also expressed similar concerns about booking hotels and accommodation, with more than half – 54 percent – worrying that they are booking for the wrong dates or an incorrect number of nights.
Such slip-ups are not unique to Australians, though, and are common to travellers across the globe.
Here are top mistakes to avoid:
1. Not paying enough attention to detail
Check, check and check again that you've entered the correct details before clicking confirm. All of the common booking mistakes by Skyscanner are based on details.
Note that, for example, in some countries, dates are written in month-day-year format, for example, 06/23/18, while in some areas it's the day-month-year format, as in 23/06/18. Confuse that, and you could reserve a room or flight on the wrong day.
2. Accommodation date that doesn't match your flight date
If you're worried about booking for the wrong dates or number of nights at your chosen establishment, ensure that the check-in date is the same as your arrival date and, similarly, that your check-out date is the same as your flight departure date, advised Skyscanner.
3. Not properly taking into account extra fees
These can be anything from checked luggage, extra legroom, airport transfers or car hire. They could easily eat away at your pocket if you don't factor them into your overall travel cost, cautions flight prediction app Hopper.
4. Creating a duplicate booking
This normally happens when you find a cheap flight deal, but when you go to confirm, you're locked out or the site crashes. You then, unsure of what happened, make a similar booking, but you're already booked for the other flight. Getting a refund is not always a guarantee, so check first or call for confirmation before clicking again.