Brits urged never to buy 1 thing at the airport or risk 'spending £30 more'

Many of us have a few tricks up our sleeve when it comes to saving money on holiday. Whether it’s booking flights on the cheapest day of the week, packing extra items in a duty free bag or simply travelling off-peak, saving money where you can often means you’ve got more to spend while you’re away.

However there’s one trick that many Brits are missing when it comes to travelling that’s costing them millions, and that’s leaving things to the last minute. While you might be able to snag a last minute cheap flight, there’s a few things that are guaranteed to cost you more if you don’t grab them ahead of time, and a new study from Travel Republic has found Brits spend a whopping £683million a year on one avoidable last minute purchase.

The online travel agents crunched the numbers and found that forgotten sun cream is costing Brits millions. According to their research, over one in three Brits admit to forgetting to purchase sun cream before going on holiday, but the small mistake costs more than you might expect.

A standard bottle of SPF 30 at the airport can cost as much as £30 more than it would if you grabbed it from the high street, with Travel Republic warning travellers that they could be spending up to £35 on a last minute bottle of sun cream.

With many of us travelling using hand luggage, buying sun cream after security is often an unavoidable cost, as a standard bottle is over the 100ml allowance that’s yet to be scrapped at all UK airports. However, decanting it beforehand, especially for shorter holidays, could help you save some serious money.

But there's another more avoidable cost draining our wallets, and that's passports, with Travel Republic finding that over 500,000 UK adults paid for express passports for their summer holiday, adding another £111 million to the national last-minute holiday bill.

While sun cream is easy to forget, forking out on an emergency passport is perhaps easier to avoid, and can be as simple as checking your passport before booking a last minute holiday.

Even if you manage to find cheap flights, the prospect of an affordable getaway can quickly be ruined by you not realising your passport is about to expire, and it’s something that can easily slip our minds.

According to data from the HM Passport Office, over 500,000 people selected fast-track services for a new passport in 2023, which costs an average of £194.25 for 1-week or same-day services.

To avoid spending so much, Travel Republic recommends checking passports annually and at least a month before you fly to make sure you have time to renew it if needed.

The online travel agents also advised making a week-before-you-fly list, especially if you’re checking bags in, to make sure you don’t forget items like sun cream and adapters which can be pricey if bought at the last minute in the airport.