Missing a flight thanks to a broken printer — reader mistake story

A seemingly infinite number of things can go wrong during travel. Thankfully, travelers can easily avoid some of these unfortunate situations with a bit of preparation, and others appear bewilderingly predestined.

No matter which end of the spectrum your ordeal falls on, it's informative, instructive and often entertaining to swap stories within the travel community.

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This week's reader mistake story comes from reader Ryan Patterson, who missed a flight to a soon to reopen Vietnam because of a mishap with his visa:

“I was traveling from the Maldives through the Pacific Rim and into Europe on a 14-stop round-the-world adventure. I strategically chose my routes to fly as many 747 aircraft as possible.

I got a visa for Vietnam — but apparently, I needed a passport photo that was printed out. Bangkok airport (BKK) supposedly had printers available but had ran out of paper. I had to get from BKK to Seoul (ICN) to avoid missing my next award flight to Frankfurt.

I had to pay $400 for a last-minute seat to ICN. Luckily, I got a window and actually secured a seat on the Star Alliance 747-400 aircraft with Thai Airways.

I lost 25,000 points and $400. Not too bad — but not ideal.”

TPG disaster classification: Really bad luck (but avoidable)

The fact that Ryan tried to prepare by researching and obtaining the proper visas only to be turned away at departures is heartbreaking — especially when the only thing separating him from his airplane seat was a printer that "ran out of paper."

Frequent travelers may know that bringing multiple copies of things like visa photos, scanned passports and driver's licenses, medication forms, etc., can come in handy when on the road. Just a few small papers take up almost zero room in your travel bag, and you won't even notice they're there until you need them.

Discount retail stores and warehouses usually offer to take visa photos for a nominal fee. In some cases, you can even take them yourself and print them from home if you're confident in your ability to produce a compliant photo. Some countries (many, nowadays) accept electronic visas for certain travel. Check the rules and requirements before and during your trip.

Related: The best credit cards with travel insurance in 2022

It's extra important to be ready for pitfalls when booking an exciting round-the-world award ticket like Ryan. That's because airlines will void your remaining itinerary if you are a no-show to one of your flights. Ryan told us that his entire itinerary spanned five continents; missing a flight anywhere along this bucket-list trip could have ruined the remainder of the journey — causing hundreds of thousands of points or thousands of dollars to be forfeited.

If you're thinking of a similar trip, it's best to build your itinerary with lots of time for blunders. Ensure that you'll be at the city of your next flight at least a day before takeoff.

Some of us (myself included) even prefer to book one-way tickets on simple round-trip domestic flights, just in case disaster strikes, and we don't make our outbound flight. That way, only half of our itinerary is lost if we miss the first flight.

Related: Why I (almost) always book one-way flights

Thanks for sharing this story with TPG readers, Ryan!

Please email us if you'd like to be featured in our weekly TPG reader mistake story. You'll receive a $25 gift card if we publish your story!

Feature photo by Tetra Images/Getty Images.