Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will. While I’m not so much of a pessimist as to apply this to travel writ large, it is true that the more you travel, the more chances there are for travel mishaps. Fortunately, there are things you can do to mitigate your losses when travel doesn’t go as planned. For canceled flights and lost luggage, there are now laws in both the US and Europe that dictate what compensation travelers are eligible for. Janelle on a Jet and Erika Kullberg are great resources for learning about these laws and how they might apply to your situation. 

In this post I’m going to focus on the smaller disappointments, and how you can leverage these negative experiences to build your point balances. (Shout out to Janelle on a Jet, who spoke about this at TravelMoreCon.) Specifically, when a hotel or airline doesn’t live up to their service standards, you can request compensation in the form of points. I’ll share two examples of how this technique worked for me, and one bonus tactic I haven’t tried yet.

Breakfast Gone Bad

I’ve written about how I booked a Hyatt Place for myself and my family when I attended TravelMoreCon in fall of 2024. Hyatt Places are popular with families because they (usually) include free breakfast. As I was traveling with my mom and my toddler, this was definitely part of the appeal for us. On the second morning of our trip, the breakfast buffet ran out of bowls. Instead of putting out extra plates or cups, the hotel staff removed the oatmeal and cold cereal from the breakfast bar entirely. This significantly reduced the breakfast options for my vegetarian/vegan family. 

We didn’t let this ruin our day, but it was clearly a miss by the hotel staff. I pulled up the Hyatt feedback form and wrote a brief note describing our experience and asking if there was any compensation available in the form of points. To my surprise, I received an email notifying me that World of Hyatt would refund my entire night’s stay. I received 8,000 points back, just for sending an email.

Wifi Woes

While on a United flight for a work trip, I paid $8 for in-flight wifi. The wifi was so slow as to be effectively unusable. Apparently this is a common problem for United, because they have “Wifi Refund” as an option in the dropdown menu on their refund request form. But this is not the route I went.

I went to the United Customer Care form and filed a complaint, explaining that I was traveling for work and had been relying on the wifi to work on a presentation I needed to give during my trip. Again, I requested compensation in the form of miles. A few days later, I received an email notifying me that 5,000 United miles would be deposited into my account! Essentially, I paid $8 to buy 5,000 miles at a cost of $.0016 per mile. This is actually ten times more  than the 500 miles I earned for actually purchasing the flight!

Late Luggage

Delta guarantees that checked luggage will be available to passengers within 20 minutes of their plane’s arrival at the gate. Since I’m usually team carry-on, I haven’t had the opportunity to try this one myself, but if you’re flying Delta and you’ve checked a bag, set a timer from the time your plane arrives at the gate. If it’s longer than 20 minutes before you get your bag, you’re entitled to 2,500 SkyMiles, which you can request using this form. 

The Takeaway

When you receive poor service on a flight or during a hotel stay, you should let the airline or hotel know–it’s the only way they can fix the issue for future passengers and guests. You can do this in a way that is both factual and polite. The key is to not just complain, but share how the company can make it right for you. Ask for what you want! In my experience, hotels and airlines are much more willing to offer miles and points than cash refunds. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and you could get a lot more points than you think!