Plan ahead for your holiday season travel
The holiday season is quickly approaching and that means more people than usual will be traveling. Whether it’s flying to see loved ones, or making a road trip with the family, the chances of a travel-related incident increase due to the fact that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve are three of the 10 busiest travel days of the year.
In order to help combat the stress associated with travel, we’ve compiled some tips to help you manage your travel related customer service issues. GetHuman has helped thousands of people with their customer service issues, and these are our best tips and app recommendations to help handle the most common travel related issues:
If you are flying: There’s a common misconception that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year (it’s actually Fridays during the summer months), but there are still plenty of people traveling. This means there’s an increased likelihood of weather-related and traffic-related delays while you travel. Delayed and canceled flights lead to high stress, long waits, and overall confusion how to reschedule your flight. While airlines add staff to their call centers to help with the increased call volume coming over the phone, weather can cause wait times for reps to often times exceed several hours.
Download the GetHuman app — Use one of our company airline contact methods to know where to call to reschedule your flight, request a call-back so you don’t waste time waiting on hold for customer service, or speak to a representative faster than the other travelers waiting in line with you. Phone wait times go up during the holiday season, make sure you have the app that cuts down on the long wait and hold times. Mashing zero or screaming “Operator” into the phone doesn’t always work anymore. Use the app to get the best tips and tricks to get through to customer service, faster.
Get comfortable — Calling airlines, hotels and car rental companies during this time of year can lead to longer than normal wait times. Grab a coffee or a drink and settle in. Better yet, stretch your muscles out to help you relax.
Download your airline or hotel app — One of the drawbacks of the increased number of people in the airport is long wait lines to get to the customer service desk to check your bags or get your boarding pass. So skip it. Download your airline’s phone app and you will have your boarding pass with you ahead of time, allowing you to skip the line.
Be nice to the representatives — Long wait times lead to increased anger and frustration while you travel. Don’t take it out on the phone rep. The reps on the phone are people too. Chances are they are traveling to see some family members during the holidays as well. Be nice to them. When you are nice to someone, they are more likely going to help you. Chances are you will need help with your travel. Don’t yell at the rep. No one wants to be yelled at and the person on the phone isn’t responsible for your plane malfunction or cancelled flight, so if you are nice to them, they will be more likely to help you with your issue.
If you are driving: AAA estimates that over 43 million people plan on driving for Thanksgiving alone. If avoiding the road isn’t an option, then plan ahead to try to minimize time and frustration while driving.
Apply for an EZ-Pass transponder — If you haven’t already, apply for EZ-Pass from your state highway department. You can save a lot of time at the tolls during the holidays, bypassing the lanes used for paying with cash. You can order your transponder over the phone or pick one up at the state highway department. Even if you are renting a car for your road trip, you can take it with you and skip the cash lane.
Download Waze — Waze lets you navigate the roads by creating your route based off of the amount of traffic in the area, being reported by other users, all in real-time. Google Maps is great, but Waze is better.
If you are staying in a hotel: Just like increased flights and busy highways, the number of hotel stays increases dramatically over the holiday season. GetHuman has helped thousands of customers lodge complaints, recoup compensation and escalate issues to managers. Here are the best ways to get your complaint heard.
Know who to talk to — Hotels can be expensive and you want to make sure you are getting the most out of your stay. If something isn’t right, let the front desk know. Many people think they need to report the problem to the national office when they realize that something isn’t exactly right with their stay. Save time and frustration by first letting the front desk know about your issue. The representatives on the national line most likely wont know anything about your case and will defer to the front desk at the hotel. Lodge a complaint to the front desk first, then make sure to follow up with the national phone number to ensure the complaint is lodged correctly and hopefully there will be some compensation for your problems.
Third party reservations — If you booked your hotel through a third party travel service like Booking.com or TripAdvisor, then you will need to contact them for help with your customer service issue. Even if you are staying at the Hilton, if it was booked through a third party travel search engine, then you will need to take up your request with the travel company, not the hotel. Refunds and cancellations all need to be requested to the booking website, not the actual hotel. This applies to airlines as well.
Smaller hotel issues — Despite the fact they seem to be everywhere, some people prefer to avoid large national hotel chains and prefer bed and breakfasts or smaller motels for their holiday stays. If you have an issue with one of these smaller chains and you are seeking compensation but they refuse, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. GetHuman has dealt with thousands of customer service issues over the years, and this has proven to be the most effective way to handle small businesses when it comes to filing complaints and lodging refund requests.
Have a backup plan — Costco is the second largest retailer in the US, yet a lot of people don’t know they can use their membership to book hotels and rental cars (often times at lower rates than the current market) through Costco Travel. Wait times for Expedia and Orbitz during heavy travel delays can be excruciating. Try one of the more lesser known travel companies so you can actually speak to someone faster and get you moving towards your final destination more quickly. An added benefit of booking through Costco is that unlike other third-party travel sites, you can actually enter your rewards membership numbers and get points towards your stay/flight/booking. For example, if you are a Starwood/Marriott member, Expedia will not allow you to enter your membership rewards number but Costco will.
Be patient! — Remember, the holidays are supposed to be fun. Don’t lose site of valuable family time and reflection just because of a hiccup in your flight, or a long time on the road. Try to enjoy yourself and let us know your travel tips in the comments section below!
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