Biggest Wastes of Money When You’re Traveling

Splurging on vacation doesn’t have to make you feel guilty. It’s nice to treat yourself. Just be mindful of where all your vacation dollars are going. The less you spend on unnecessary things, the more money you’ll have for all the things that are actually worth it.

Some of the ways that waste money while traveling are sneaky. They will slowly poke holes into your wallet before you realize it. Others simply require changing your perspective on things like destinations, hotels and tap water (yes, really).

These are the top money wasters when you travel and ways you can avoid them. The best part about avoiding money suckers is you won’t have to sacrifice anything, so your trip will still be amazing.

Few things pain our hearts as much as seeing people not optimize travel rewards. Having a credit card that gives you points is literally getting free money to spend on travel. Many cards have a $0 annual fee and offer protection that debit cards don’t, so it’s really a win-win situation. 

If you’re one to think that the travel point game doesn’t work, let’s just say we’ve booked about half a dozen reward flights thanks to this trick.

What to do instead: Find a card that works for you and apply to it ASAP. Our favorite travel cards are from Chase. If travel isn’t your utmost priority, you can even get Chase Freedom Unlimited, which has a $0 annual fee and offers cashback that can also be used for travel when you need to.

We also like the Capital One Venture cards. If you tend to use a specific airline or stay at a specific hotel chain most of the time, we suggest getting their brand-specific credit card to maximize rewards.

Listen to us very carefully. The credit card rewards game only works if you are paying your credit card in full every month. Getting a 1 percent reward for every dollar you spent does not make sense if you’re going to be paying 15 percent interest on that dollar. 

We’ve seen way too many people play the game and lose, then turn around and complain about how travel reward credit cards are useless.

Don’t be these people. Be a smart player. 

What to do instead: The only thing you have to do is spend the money you already have in the bank. Think of credit cards as a debit card that gives you cookie points.

The other thing that pains our heart is hearing people say that frequent flyer programs are a scam and never work. We’re sorry to say it’s not them. It’s you. 

We concede that these programs can be confusing and people who don’t know enough about them may end up losing their points. But let us assure you that many frequent flyer programs don’t even have expiration dates for their points and the ones that do have ways you can keep points from expiring, even if you don’t travel. 

There’s also the misconception that joining a program only makes sense if you fly exclusively with a specific airline. Thankfully, this is not true thanks to the three major airline alliances: OneWorld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam. 

What to do instead: Pick a single airline in each alliance and join their free frequent flyer program.

Then, whenever you travel, see if the airline is part of an alliance and transfer the points for the flight into the program you chose. This means that you can earn points with Delta by flying Korean Air or American Airlines points with British Airways.

These are the U.S. frequent flyer programs that are worth it, and the ones that aren’t. 

There was once a time where airlines actually cared about their customers, but those times are history. Today, American Airlines will try to charge you $100 for being 1 pound over the weight limit (true story).

Many travelers get caught off guard at the airport when they realize their bags are too heavy. They either end up paying a hefty price or, if they’re stingy enough, having to throw away some stuff (also true story).

What to do instead: Buy a portable suitcase scale. This $11 one fits in even a purse or a small backpack so you can bring it with you wherever. It has saved us many times from some awkward — and expensive — moments at the airport.