Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Avoid These 5 Costly Travel Mistakes to Save Time, Money, and Stress
12 Feb 2025
From booking flights to getting through airport security, NerdWallet’s travel pros share five costly mistakes — and how to avoid them. Is TSA PreCheck or Global Entry worth the cost? How can you use travel credit card perks to save money on trips? Hosts Meghan Coyle and Sally French discuss five common travel mistakes and how to avoid them to help you travel smarter. They begin with tips for getting the most value out of TSA PreCheck and Global Entry. Then, they explain how you can make the most of travel credit card perks, use price alerts effectively, pack strategically, and plan layovers wisely. Along the way, they share insights on avoiding common travel pitfalls and maximizing both time and money while on the go. Card benefits, terms and fees can change. For the most up-to-date information about cards mentioned in this episode, read our reviews: Best credit cards for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry: https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/tsa-precheck-global-entry Best credit cards for airport lounge access: https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/airport-lounge-access Read Sally’s review of the STL Wingtips Lounge at St. Louis Lambert International Airport: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/wingtips-lounge In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: TSA PreCheck vs Global Entry, travel credit card perks, best ways to use travel rewards, airport security tips, how to skip the TSA line, travel mistakes to avoid, how to pack light, best price tracking tools for flights, travel savings tips, travel hacks, travel rewards programs, Google Flights, Hopper, maximizing credit card benefits, avoiding baggage fees, frequent flyer tips, what not to pack for flights, how to get lounge access, how to use airport lounges, and Southwest Transferable Flight Credits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Look, you know, it happens. Things are changing all the time in travel. The airport probably looks different from the last time you were there. Your credit card might have added benefits.
Or taken them away. You and I both know that travel credit card benefits change more frequently than we'd like, and many people miss this memo.
Yeah, it's easy to make mistakes when you're traveling if you're not thinking about it all the time.
But luckily that's our job, to think about it all the time. So that's actually the topic of this week's episode, the top five travel mistakes you can avoid.
I can't believe we're finally doing this. Welcome to the first episode of Smart Travel. I'm Megan Coyle.
And I'm Sally French. And if you feel like you don't have anyone to ask about how to make the trip of your dreams happen, we got you. We are NerdWallet's travel experts. We love travel. We don't just do it for work. We do it because we love it and we're excited to share it with you.
Definitely. So I suppose before we dive into the main segment, we should talk a little bit about how we got here. I've been an editor on NerdWallet's travel team for six years now. I also freelance doing some audio stuff. I produce podcasts and do some reporting for my local radio station.
So after all those years of producing radio and podcasts, everyone finally agreed it's time we gave Megan the chance to stand behind the microphone. As for me, I'm glad you're here. As for me, I've spent plenty of time on the mic already. I host NerdWallet's travel YouTube videos.
I also serve as a spokesperson for NerdWallet, which basically just means I get to talk about all the cool travel data that we cover. That's things like our monthly travel price tracker. I go on live TV. I talk about whatever cool analysis we've done here on the NerdWallet travel team.
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