I see many mistake travelers make when booking an airline ticket. Please do not make these same mistakes!
1.) AM/PM.......verify your flight times.
I see this one almost daily. And guess what, there is nothing we can do if you have purchase a Basic Economy, and a lot of travelers do, it is the cheapest fare.
Sometimes you can stand-by for and earlier flight, but there is a charge for that.
2.) Wrong month, do not see to often but enough to warn you about it. Verify everything before you pay for it!
3.) Misspelled name, Using a nick-name or someone else books and does not know how to spell your name. Sometimes we can change the first name if no flights have been flown yet. There is a charge to change the ticket or you may be purchasing a new ticket. Airlines see this at the ticket counter a lot. Remember, your ID must match going through TSA (security).
4.) Wrong city booked. There are more than 1 San Jose, Springfield, Houston, Washington DC, Dallas Love or Dallas/Fort Worth and a few more. I have seen someone booked to Manhattan Kansas thinking they were going to New York City, (I kid you not!). Just be careful and verify the city. That would be a costly mistake.
5.) Last mistake I see that can be very costly is missing your flight in the 1st city and driving to the hub to pick up your connecting flight. BIG PROBLEM, if you do that, your reservation will be cancelled and you will lose the entire ticket. Seen this many times.
I had a traveler miss his flight in Los Angeles and booked another airline to get to the connecting city, lost the entire flight to Africa. Had to buy a whole new ticket, over 10K.
Talk to the airline and have the ticket reissued before you change things on your own.