Probably the easiest way to sidestep your “great flight boondoggle” is to reconfirm your flights a few days ahead of your travel date. It allows you to be completely certain your flight is leaving when you expect it to be. Even in the era of automated emails and iPhone apps, it’s highly recommended you reconfirm your flights with a phone call. Through our 20+ years in the industry, we’ve seen countless emergencies that could have been avoided with a simple call to the airline or website visit before the flight.

What it means “to reconfirm” has changed a lot since the old days. The airlines no longer need you to tell them you’re coming – they assume you are – but you should make sure your flight is departing according to the printed itinerary you have in your hand. These days airlines have a bad habit of changing or rearranging their schedules or, at worst, completely removing a flight from their schedule.

Of course, a schedule change isn’t a big deal if the difference is a few minutes more or less, but if the new schedule winds up dramatically different (up to a day or more), it leaves you in the lurch if you didn’t know about it ahead of time. On a complicated itinerary schedule alterations can integrally complicate your life – there may be thru flights wholly unwilling to wait or displace your seat if your altered schedule is on another airline, which can happen a lot.

Prior knowledge is half the battle!

While overseas, there are several ways to reconfirm your flight:

• Visit the airlines’ website and check the flight schedules/status there.
• Contact the airline directly by phoning them locally. Here is our handy list of all the airlines’ toll-free numbers and websites. We recommend you print this page and take it with you.
• Ask the hotel/hostel concierge to call the airline on your behalf.
• Go into a local travel agency and have them contact the airline for you (foreign agencies almost always have English-speaking employees).
• Visit the airline’s in-city ticket office. Often a national carrier will populate their major cities with offices were you can speak with an agent on site.
• Email or call AirTreks to have us reconfirm any flight we booked for you.
• Finally, if you’re only staying in a city a few days, you can always stop at the check-in counter before you leave the airport and reconfirm your departing flight right then.

Don’t forget to verify your flight number and each flight’s departure date and time. (Simply asking, “Am I confirmed?” may not tell you that the flight is leaving at a different time than you’re expecting).

Angel Falls, Venezuela

Another handy way to make sure your flights are operating as expected it to give the airline a local contact number (such as a hotel or hostel) or else your email so they can attempt to notify you of any last-minute changes.

Remember, always have your ducks in a row to avoid surprises at the airport. Staying one step ahead of the airlines will save you headaches later on. Guaranteed. The airlines don’t have your best interests in mind, but with a few minutes spent two or three days before your flight, you can laugh all the way to your seat.