How do you buy your trip safely online ?
Our recommendations about how to buy your flight ticket and what precautions you should take. Our tips for the unexperienced traveller are here to reassure you. We will show you the rules to follow and help you get started in the era of online travel.
Buy your trip or your flight on internet – for the unexperienced traveller
Obviously, you can always go to a travel agency to book your trip. I do not think they are very interested just to book a flight, but who knows, maybe…
On the contrary, you can search yourself through Internet. Many airline websites or flight comparators (www.kayak.com, www.expedia.com, www.tripadvisor.com etc.) are just waiting for you to enter your flight dates and to offer you a rate – which, of course, will be the best!
Be flexible with your dates, this helps you to get the best price. Once you find a flight that suits your needs, be sure to check if all taxes are included. Just yesterday I thought I had a great price with www.despegar.com for a trip to Northern Peru, just to realize during in the booking process that taxes were not included. And suddenly my super price of 540 USD increased to more than 1000 USD. Needless to say, I dropped the reservation process immediately.
Another thing to consider: the number of authorized suitcases, luggage or hand luggage and the allowed weight. This might affect the number of souvenirs you can bring back home (or not).
Important: Sometimes you can pay for additional checked baggage. It is much more interesting to do this directly online because it is cheaper than at the airport upon check–in. Having an additional baggage can be much more advantageous than to pay overweight kilos for a suitcase.
How to pay on Internet – for the unexperienced traveller
On Internet, you pay with a credit card, Visa, MasterCard, Diners etc. So you need to have a bank account with a credit card to buy your flight tickets. You will be asked the name of the cardholder, the number on your credit card (Visa, Master…), expiry date and security code with 3 digits on the back of the card.
You give this information only in a safe place, that means a page with a small lock on the left inside the resarch tool bar name. Direcly after your purchase, you will receive a written confirmation on your e-mail address.
What kind of baggage should you take ?
Here you are, you bought your ticket and paid it online, great! Now we have to prepare your luggage. Personally I think a medium-sized suitcase is okay, large suitcases are not that great , as you cannot fill them without exceeding the allowed weight…
I remind you that for most companies, a baggage must have a weight of 23kg maximum and a hand baggage about 12kg. But first check well on your ticket before preparing your luggage.
By the way, attention please ! If you are two people travelling, you cannot assume that a bag of 35kg will be accepted. This might just not be the case and you will have to pay 12kg of overweight on a very expensive rate! The weight is per bag and per person so you need a suitcase for each one and for example 20kg for one and 15 kg for the other.
Prepare your luggage – for the unexperienced traveller
Last recommendation: Prepare your suitcase according to your destination – therefor you need to be well informed about your travel destination! There are plenty of guides for all kind of travellers and the advantage of internet is that you can directly access the climate of the country, the region or wherever you go. Like this you will have all the necessary information to know about what to put in your luggage.
So, don’t overload your suitcase with clothes, all over the world you can wash or send your clothes to wash. Take only the necessary and always leave some space to bring back some gifts and souvenirs.
Well, I think I did a full tour of recommendations for the unexperienced traveller. I thought a lot about my parents when I wrote these lines. Now I only have to translate this text in German because my parents do not read English !