Travellers are still being turned away from flights, denied boarding or hit with unexpected costs in 2026 for reasons that have nothing to do with weather or geopolitical events.
The culprit is usually something smaller, duller and far easier to overlook. Paperwork. Power limits. Or that pesky fine print we say we read when we obviously didn’t.
The passport paradox
A passport can be valid and still not be valid enough.
Many countries require passports to be valid for at least six months beyond the return date. Not all do, but it has become the safest default for international travel, particularly on multi-country trips. Some destinations are less strict, requiring validity only for the length of stay or a minimum of three months.
Like Kid Rock, a passport can sit quietly out of sight for years, only to resurface suddenly and discover its moment has very much passed.
Plus, a missing blank visa page (not the endorsement ones at the back), a bit of mould circa the great Sydney Wet of 2022, or a spine that’s started to loosen can quickly turn into a problem at check-in.
READ: Australian passport price rises as passport power ranking drops
Visa-free does not mean form-free
You could be forgiven for thinking that a visa waiver means you’re good to go sans filling in a form. But that’s not the case.
Digital entry authorisations, online arrival cards and tourist registrations now sit alongside traditional visas. Miss one and the consequence can sometimes mean denied boarding rather than a polite conversation followed by a rush to download on arrival.
These systems change quietly and often look optional until they are very much not. Previous trips offer little protection here. The rules may have shifted since last year, or even last month.
Power banks are still the carry-on wildcard
The idea of travelling without a device (or seven) is almost implausible these days, but they all need to be charged. Enter, the portable charger. Over the years, they’ve gotten more powerful and more portable, making them the perfect addition to your bag. But nowadays, portable chargers with their lithium batteries remain one of the most misunderstood items in luggage.
Most airlines prohibit power banks in checked bags and impose strict limits on lithium battery capacity in carry-on. Some now restrict the number of devices, require visible watt-hour labelling or prohibit in-seat charging altogether.
Enforcement tightened again through 2025 and into 2026 following onboard incidents. The challenge for travellers is that rules can vary by airline rather than destination, which is why a charger that sailed through one airport can be confiscated at the next.
Because you really do need to read the fine print
Travel insurance is often bought in minutes, usually with the optimism that it will never be needed.
The trouble comes later, when something goes wrong and the fine print finally gets a proper read. Policies now draw firmer lines around what they will and won’t cover, particularly when it comes to government advisories, undeclared medical conditions, missed digital entry requirements and airline schedule changes that sit within published tolerances.
Cruise cover has narrowed too, with clearer carve-outs around missed ports, weather disruption and onboard illness. None of this is hidden, but much of it is easy to skim past when you’re ticking boxes at checkout.
For many travellers, the gap between what they thought was covered and what actually is only becomes clear after a claim is lodged, when there’s no way to rewind the decision.
When you aren’t ‘you’
If the name on the booking doesn’t clearly match the name on the passport, risk creeps in.
Middle names, hyphens, spacing quirks and auto-abbreviations are often fine in isolation, until they are not. Airlines rely on automated matching and apply passport rules strictly, particularly across multi-airline itineraries.
Problems tend to surface when small differences stack up or tickets move between systems, leaving little room for discretion at the airport.
And that’s why booking with a travel advisor pays off
What trips people up in 2026 is rarely a lack of information. It is confidence based on how travel used to work.
This is where booking with an accredited travel advisor still matters. Advisors routinely flag expiring passports, entry forms, insurance gaps and baggage rules long before a traveller reaches the airport. It is the unglamorous work that rarely makes the itinerary, but often saves the trip.
KARRYON UNPACKS: Travel is easier to book but harder to get right. Automation has stripped out flexibility, so small oversights carry bigger consequences, making a second set of experienced eyes more valuable than ever.
