Like most other business travelers who publish blogs, Steve Broback discovered their power by accident.
September 2006
Roy Goodman’s Alaska Airlines flight is delayed by more than 10 minutes, according to the airline’s Web site. His wife drops him off at the Tucson airport about half an hour before his scheduled departure. But a gate agent refuses to check in his luggage, and the plane leaves without him. Does Alaska Airlines owe him anything?
Here we go again. An Ohio woman has gone missing from a Carnival ship on a four-day cruise to Key West and Mexico. She is presumed to have fallen overboard. During the last six years, 62 passengers have gone overboard and died on cruises, according to a tally by the Safecruise blog.
When you log a quarter of a million air miles a year, you have to think small in order to survive. Most leisure travelers can’t last a day without their carry-on luggage. But I’ve learned to pack light. For example, I just spent three weeks crisscrossing Europe with a single carry-on bag. I used the [...]
When my phone rang at about 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, I thought for a moment that it was a prank call. “A plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center,” said the voice on the other end. It was an editor with an assignment.
At a ski resort, it’s called a powder day. In diving, it’s a flat-calm day with 100-plus foot viz. It’s the perfect time to be at a destination, and for Orlando, that time is now. For the last two weekends, we’ve been giving our annual passes at Disney World, Universal Studios and Seaworld a heavy workout.
I’ve often called frequent flier programs the crack cocaine of the travel industry. Apologists for these so-called “rewards” have begged to differ, likening them more to recreational drugs such as a fine Pinot Noir or a bong of high-grade Cheeba Cheeba that do nothing more than build loyalty.
If you have any doubts that customer service is a joke in corporate America, just tune in to Jeff Hoyt’s latest podcast, Voice Jail. It will make you laugh … and cry.
Her reservation says she’s prepaid for three nights at the Georgian Terrace Hotel. But when Anita Nieves arrives, she’s in for a shock: There is no reservation and no room for her. Who’s at fault? The hotel? Her online agent? Or is she to blame?
The five-year anniversary of 9/11 is only a few days away, and while everyone else seems fixated on how the last five years have changed us, I think retrospectives are real yawnfests. A far more interesting question: What will it be like to travel on Sept. 11, 2011 — the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks?
Do hotels use state laws as an excuse to recklessly overbook themselves? That’s the intriguing question asked by a hotel analyst in response to my column about property that blamed Texas state law for refusing to honor a guest’s reservation. The answer: You betcha.
People love their gadgets. But business travelers love them even more. Perhaps too much. So when the gadgets don’t love us back, things can get ugly.
Question: What does the TSA call a turkey and cheese sandwich? Answer: Contraband. Lorraine Ruff discovered that for herself on a recent flight from Seattle to Washington. “I got a delicious sandwich at the Seattle airport, in a shop that specializes in lovely blends of herbed cream cheeses and spiced chutneys,” she said.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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