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Travel is one of life’s most enriching experiences, offering new places, different cultures, exotic food, stimulating encounters and adventures that live for decades in the memory.
But there’s another, less joyful, side to travel, namely when things go wrong. You discover that the airline overbooked your flight, and you got bumped; the adaptor plug you bought doesn’t fit into the socket in your hotel room and the shower wets itself all over the bathroom floor, which then becomes a skating rink.
Somewhere between the airport and the hotel room, the travel industry has quietly built a sprawling ecosystem of petty annoyances, baffling inefficiencies and gotcha moments designed to shrink your wallet and test your patience.
Consider the evidence. When your flight arrives four hours late, the airline doesn’t want to know you. The car-hire company is banking on you returning with half a tank. The hotel has engineered its checkout time around its own convenience, not yours.
Your seat neighbour is blasting TikTok at a volume that could curdle milk. As for that glass-walled bathroom in your hotel room, you didn’t sign up for a live performance.
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While it’s meant to be a service industry, some airlines, hotels and tour operators that make up the industry are bugged by corporate greed dressed up as policy, indifference and lazy thinking.
Some of the problems stem from a global industry that has never quite got around to sorting itself out and others – the baffling proliferation of electrical sockets, the carousel hoggers, the gate-rushers – are simply the result of humans being human.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Most of these problems have obvious solutions. So here are some of the problems that today’s travellers face, and what to do about it until someone with actual power decides to fix them.
A 10am checkout? I’m still in bed
The problem Still common in Australia, the “10am chuck-out” injects haste and bustle into your day from the get-go, the antithesis of the relaxation that the word “holiday” suggests. Hotels are meant to be a service industry but this early chuck-out serves the hotel’s needs at the expense of guests’ needs. In Europe and Asia, check-out is commonly 11am or midday.
The fix Request an extra hour or two the night before. It may be surprising, but hotels don’t often refuse point-blank.
Seeing you, seeing me
The problem No matter how well you know your room buddy, who wants to see them performing their ablutions, and more. And they certainly don’t want you seeing them. Fish-tank bathrooms at hotels and resorts look great in the marketing images, and they can make a room look larger, but privacy still counts.
The fix Carefully check the images of your room on the hotel’s website before you book, or if you can’t see them and are really bashful, call ahead and ask.
It’s mine, all mine…
The problem In the pre-dawn light at your resort, as soon as the staff arrange the lounges around the pool some of your fellow resort guests throw towels in the prime possies and saunter back to bed and a leisurely breakfast. With the sun high in the sky, they will return and claim “their” lounges. Reserved seating for up to an hour is reasonable – a longer absence is not.
The fix You can toss their towels but be prepared for retribution. Better to tell management and let them deal with it.
No room to swing a mouse
The problem You’ve stepped into your hotel room and there’s just enough space for one suitcase on the luggage rack or bench. If there are two of you, one case usually ends up on the floor.
The fix Check the dimensions of the room on the hotel website, and the images of it. But, really, what every hotel room needs is a long, wide bench where you can spread out your luggage.
Honey, we have a smalls problem
The problem All you want is to wash out your smalls in the hand basin, but where’s the plug? Even in many upper-crust hotels the handbasin doesn’t have one. If there is a plug operated via a stalk, there’s a good chance it leaks. What’s wrong with a rubber plug on a chain? Not elegant but it works.
The fix Shove a wadded face washer or a sock into the drain hole. It isn’t perfect but it helps. Sometimes the cap from an item in your toiletry bag will do the trick.
Nordic and not so nice
The problem You’re too hot, then you wake up freezing. If it’s just right when you fall asleep, you might spend the rest of the night thrashing about trying to adjust your body temperature. Doonas might make sense in Nordic climes but anywhere else a doona is overkill. Worse, some hotels make do without a top sheet. It’s just you and the doona on top, and how naff is that?
The fix Requests to reception for a top sheet are not always understood, and the outcome can be hilarious. Shuck the doona from its casing and use that as a top sheet.
Finders are sleepers
The problem Stay in enough hotels, and you’ll eventually get a room with a lighting system devised by someone with a pathological fear of the dark.
The fix A master switch, on either side of the bed, please. Turn it off and every light in the room dies. While you’re at it, I’d like a smallish, dimmable light on a bendy stalk for reading in bed.
In the laptops of the gods
The problem “I told you laptops only!” I’ve just been yelled at by airport security at Singapore for daring to take my iPad out of my carry-ons. Who’s to know? The security protocols are different everywhere. Should I take off my belt, my shoes, my watch? Do I need to dump out my water, or can I take a litre of fluids?
The fix Instead of shouting at passengers, why not post proper multilingual signage indicating what needs to be taken out of carry-on bags, pockets and the like before passing through the security scanner?
When baggage gets emotional
The problem Also known as “carousel grinding”, these are the passengers who cluster around the baggage carousel, blocking others from access or even watching to see when their luggage arrives. Galling when it’s several small children from the same family, and the little blighters are too small to lift the luggage off.
The fix Some airports have a red line painted a metre back from the carousel, although it’s not always observed, or enforced.
Ticked off by TikTok
The problem The sound is up, the headphones are off. Why does anyone think this is acceptable? Have you not heard of earbuds? Doesn’t matter whether it’s TikTok, Instagram, thrash-metal music or a movie, it’s offensive to listen to your phone or tablet at high volume, and in an aircraft cabin there’s no escape. Parents sometimes do this to pacify their kids but Peppa Pig at full volume, no, thanks.
The fix A polite request, with a follow-up appeal to the cabin crew. Some airlines are cracking down on offenders.
VAT chance, sucker
The problem You’re at the airport leaving a European city, you’ve gone big at the sales, and you’re eligible for a refund of the 21 per cent VAT, but where’s the VAT refunds office? It might be air side, or it might be in the check-in area, and if your paperwork isn’t in order, your refund is cactus.
The fix Go online and check the location of the VAT refunds kiosk before you get to the airport, check the wait time, queues can be long and slow, and ensure all your paperwork from the vendor is in order.
Zoning in not zoning out
The problem See that zone number on your boarding card? That tells you when to board the aircraft, ensuring that those seated at the rear board first which stops those at the front from blocking the aisles and delaying departure. But staff don’t often enforce the rules. How many times do you find an aisle blocked because some miscreant seated in 12A has boarded early, keen to secure bin space for their backpack, duty-frees and full-size carry-on?
The fix Airline staff check boarding passes at the gate. Those who attempt to board before their zone is called should be castigated in loud tones and made to stand aside.
Not worth the white paper
The problem If your flight is delayed or cancelled in Australia, there is no statutory right to compensation. In August 2024, the federal government produced an Aviation White Paper – Towards 2050. The paper proposed an independent body to handle complaints with the power to direct airlines/airports to pay compensation. Everyone wants it – except the airlines – and that explains why nothing has happened.
The fix Write to the minister responsible, The Hon Catherine King MP [email protected]
Tanks for nothing
The problem You’re paying for a full tank of petrol at a discount rate at the car-hire desk for the right to return the car empty, but that’s a tough ask when you’re returning it in a strange city and not sure where the next petrol station might be. You’re likely to return your hire with a decent amount in the tank, and that’s a win for the operator.
The fix Hire from an operator that lets you drive away on a full tank and return it the same way.
Straight to the top
The problem Been dudded by your airline, car-hire operator, hotel or tour operator? A call to their complaints line might be the obvious recourse, but there’s a good chance that won’t deliver a satisfactory outcome.
The fix If your call to customer relations is going nowhere, understand their role. It’s their job to stop your grievance from going further up the chain of command, either by reciting their terms and conditions or else telling you they’ll get back to you with a resolution – and nine out of 10 times you won’t hear from them again. If you have a complaint go straight to the top, send an email or write to the CEO.
What the world needs now
The problem Why can’t the world agree on a common electrical socket? There are currently 15 different electrical plugs used around the world. Switzerland and Liechtenstein use a three-pin plug known as a Type J. Denmark and Greenland, Type K. South Africa goes its own way with a Type M while the Type O socket is found exclusively in Thailand.
The fix Take a multi-adaptor, don’t lose it. Sigh, it’s the only solution.
Passing out at passport costs
The problem Since January 1, 2026, a standard 10-year Australian adult passport costs $422, the world’s most expensive passport. That’s about twice the cost of a US, British or New Zealand, and the only one that increases every New Year’s Day, linked to the inflation rate, which will likely see it increase by about $16 in 2027. It’s a total rort.
The fix If your passport is coming up for renewal do it before the end of the year, but only if it expires in the first quarter.
The great conversion perversion
The problem “Would you like to pay that bill in Australian dollars?” Frequently heard when you’re checking out of your hotel, paying a restaurant bill or souvenir shopping overseas. Might sound like a great idea, but this is a form of robbery known as Dynamic Currency Conversion. DCC adds another layer of fees to your purchase, between 3 and 7 per cent, split between the retailer and the DCC facilitator.
The fix Decline and elect to pay in local currency.
Let me count the aways
The problem “How many countries have you been to?” Don’t know, never counted. Does the fact that you’ve been to 50 or 100 make you an accomplished traveller? Did those two nights in Burkina Faso brighten your life? Same with the bucket list. If all you saw when you went to Paris was the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa, you’ve missed the point.
The fix Travel slowly. Galloping through the world is like bolting your food.
Five more perennial annoyances the travel industry refuses to fix
Hotel pre-authorisations
A classic bugbear. You’re checking in, and the receptionist asks for your credit card, saying: “We’re placing a hold against your card of $50 per day”, though it can be a lot more. It’s meant to cover any incidentals, and it’s not converted to a charge until you actually check out, but it freezes your funds.
The overbooking game
Airlines and hotels still overbook to maximise revenue, betting on no-shows. When that gamble fails, customers get bumped, downgraded or relocated, often with minimal support.
The sustainability gap
There’s a lot of marketing chatter around eco-friendly travel, but meaningful changes such as reducing emissions, managing overtourism and protecting local communities too often get sidelined when there’s a buck to be made. Many so-called initiatives including airline carbon credits are hard for consumers to verify.
Dynamic pricing
When demand exceeds supply, airlines and hotels take advantage by upping the price. That’s how capitalism works, but when you’ve paid $800 for an airline seat, and the flyer sitting alongside you paid $350, that’s not a comforting thought.
Poor communication
Your flight is delayed due to “technical difficulties”. Does that mean a wing fell off, or the in-flight entertainment system is down, and is the fix likely to take two hours or half a day? The airline won’t tell you, either the source of the problem or the likely delay.
No problem: Five things the travel industry gets right
Safety in the air
Air travel has never been safer. Rigorous regulation, continuous technological improvements and obsessive attention to maintenance and pilot training means flying remains a safe form of long-distance travel.
The ease of booking
You can book every facet of your trip from your own workstation, or a smartphone. The internet is a rich resource that enables anyone to research, design and book their own journey. A trip that once required a travel agent and patience can now be bolted together in an afternoon.
Unforgettable moments
It provides extraordinary experiences. If you want to drive a Ferrari through the mountains of northern Italy, or take a dawn helicopter flight over Everest Base Camp, that’s easily done.
Holidays with a conscience
There is a slow but growing momentum in favour of responsible travel that works to help local communities and lessen its environmental impact.
Jobs, jobs, jobs
After agriculture, travel employs more people around the globe than any other industry. The dollars you spend on travel filter down to benefit even remote communities.
What are your own travel bugbears and your solution for them? Comment below or write to us at [email protected]. We’ll publish the most interesting comments and answers.
