[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To close out several of our shows this week, we're talking travel tips with a travel expert. It's Brian Kelly, who founded the travel website The Points Guy in 2010. His work focuses on finding the best travel deals and specifically how to leverage credit card points for travel, but also not overspend. In his new book, How to Win at Travel, he provides a broad range of advice, everything from budgeting for travel to handling flight anxiety and what to do if your flight is delayed or canceled.

We're taking advantage of his knowledge on a few different things this week. Yesterday we talked about how to budget and save money on booking flights, and we continue now with how to win at travel when travel goes wrong. Thanks again for doing this with us, Brian. Welcome back to WNYC.

Brian Kelly: Thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer: This chapter of your book gets into your rights as a traveler, and those are governed, I see, by two different forces, the first being the contract of carriage, as it's called, the agreement you signed with the airline, and they vary, I see, from airline to airline. Are there any general protections or not really?

Brian Kelly: Not really, unfortunately. That's the bad news. In the US, we don't have a passenger bill of rights like they do in Europe that specifies compensation when things go wrong. Our Department of Transportation under President Biden did push through in the last year, at least consumers, if the flight's delayed three plus hours, they're owed a refund if they don't want to travel. Same thing for canceled flights. The airline cannot give you a voucher. You are owed a cash refund when you request it if what they offer to you is not what you want to take.

It's always good to know you can at least get a refund, but that doesn't fill the gap of getting you to where you need to go or compensating you for hotels, Ubers, etc. Consumers need to either get travel insurance, which will cover the gap, or use credit cards. So many travel credit cards come with trip delay and cancellation coverage, meaning if your airline strands you overnight, don't wait in that hour-long line begging for a Motel 6 free night. Your credit card will pay up to 500 or $1,000 per person traveling for hotels, meals, and everything in between.

Brian Lehrer: You say travel credit cards. What about if we have credit cards that are not explicitly labeled that way, like a card from an airline?

Brian Kelly: Yes, so a lot of the airline credit cards will have it. Everyone listening right now, an important part of getting the most out of your credit cards is knowing the coverage and perks. You should search your credit card name, just Google and say travel delay and protection coverage. Most of the airline cards will have it, hotel cards, and your Amex and Chase Sapphires of the world. If you've got a cash back card, you might not.

This is where it might make sense, if you are a traveler, to get a travel credit card that has built-in protections. You don't need to pay for the coverage. It automatically applies when you use that card to pay for a ticket, even if it's just the taxes and fees when you use your miles. Having that extra layer of coverage helps. Now, I will say, when you're traveling within Europe, there's what's called EU261 coverage. Even if you're flying an American carrier home from Europe, this coverage protects you if your flight's delayed or canceled.

The same thing going to Canada. Within Canada, there are protections where you can get hundreds of dollars in compensation for when things go wrong. A funny thing to note, I like telling people, when you have a choice of an airline to go to Europe, the European carriers actually will cover you leaving the US. Delta does not offer delay coverage if they're delayed or canceled, vut if you flew Air France to Paris from New York, if there's a delay or cancellation, you're covered under the EU rules. Sometimes when the prices are the same, I recommend fly EU carriers to Europe.

Brian Lehrer: Your second category of protections are where the US Department of Transportation steps in, if they haven't canceled the transportation department yet, and actually, you tell us there have been some recent improvements. What are those?

Brian Kelly: Yes, so the improvements there are basically them saying, well, you're owed a full refund, which once again gets you to basically square zero. It doesn't actually compensate you if you miss your cruise. Now, if the airlines do bump you from a flight, which is much rarer these days, you are owed a certain amount of compensation, up to three times the price of your ticket to certain amounts. If airlines lose your bag, there's what's called the Montreal Convention, which is what most major airlines in the world agree to. It varies by year, but basically $1,500 total compensation.

This is why credit cards and insurance policies have much higher limits for coverage. $1,500 in a fully packed suitcase isn't going to go very far when sometimes the suitcases themselves are that much money. I really recommend people understand that you really don't have protections built in when you purchase a ticket. If anything, they'll get you a refund. If you want to have more than that when things go wrong, you need to use the right credit cards and or get a good travel insurance policy.

Brian Lehrer: You mentioned flight bumps. What about the voluntary kind where they've overbooked a flight and they ask people to give up their seats? Is there a way to get the most out of them if you volunteer to be bumped?

Brian Kelly: Absolutely. I always recommend, if you're flexible, always volunteer, but don't underbid yourself. Check and see if anyone else is volunteering first. Don't immediately raise your hand. They will increase the compensation when there aren't people volunteering. Let them keep raising it before you volunteer, and when you finally feel comfortable with the amount of compensation, always, I repeat, always ask when they rebook you on the next flight to get in first class. A lot of times the gate agents have full authority to do that, but they'll only do it if you ask.

Brian Lehrer: Good one to know. You mentioned the suitcases and you write that US airlines lose up to 2 million suitcases a year. What? What are some things you can do, if anything, when you check a bag to minimize the risk?

Brian Kelly: Number one thing you need to do is put in an airtag. Apple now sells them for less than $20 a piece. The airtags will actually track almost in real time where your bag is if it made the plane. This is a game changer. I've had bags lost. Most of the time, the airlines have no idea where your bag is. Some are better than others. Now all the three major US Airlines actually integrate with Apple, so you can share the status with the airline.

I know this is ridiculous, and the airlines, for how much they charge us for bags, should do this, but unfortunately, we live in a setup where you have to protect your own luggage with an airtag because it will dramatically help you getting that bag back when you can tell the airline exactly where it is, and when the agent's saying, "No, we don't know where it is," you can say, "Actually, it's right here, so you're going to need to put it on the next flight."

Even when your bag arrives back home, a lot of times they're so backlogged, you may not get notified for a day or two. If you have an airtag, you can immediately know when it finally arrives at your home airport. You can go to the airport yourself. Get notified for a day or two if you have an airtag. You can immediately know when it finally arrives at your home airport. You can go to the airport yourself and say, "Hey, my bag is here. I need it now."

Brian Lehrer: All right. When technological surveillance is a good thing. Brian Kelly is creator of the travel website The Points Guy. His new book is How to Win at Travel. He's going to be back for one more segment this week on tomorrow's show. Talk to you then.

[music]

Copyright © 2025 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.