This isn’t the same US Airways you might remember from a few years ago. You know, the one that was in and out of bankruptcy, with chronic customer service complaints. At least it’s not supposed to be.
May 2007
Even though Continental Airlines is credited with coining the onerous “no waivers, no favors” rule, it is, oddly, among the better carriers when it comes to customer service.
OK, so Southwest doesn’t accept customer feedback by email. So what? There’s not much to write about, because Southwest is consistently among the least-complained about carriers in the United States.
Travelocity has come a long way in a short amount of time. Not so long ago, I was inundated by service complaints (some the result of communication issues between outsourced agents for whom English wasn’t a first language, but others the result of apparent negligence). After adopting a service guarantee recently, however, the agency has made a remarkable turnaround.
Expedia is not just one online agency. Its parent company, Expedia Inc., owns several other brands, including Hotels.com, Hotwire.com and TripAdvisor. It is difficult to generalize about the service that customers do (or do not) receive from Expedia.
Of the three major online agencies, Orbitz has a well-established reputation for making the most of the latest technologies. But until recently, it hardly applied those innovations where they were most needed: in the customer service department.
There is no such thing as a free vacation. But at least one company — and who am I kidding, there’s probably a lot more of ‘em — would have you believe otherwise. Reader Marianne Ventruella recently came across one offer that’s so unbelievably suspect, I just had to write something about it.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all in the travel biz, you realize you haven’t seen it all. This week brings two fresh reports of evil surcharges in both the airline and hotel industry. As one of my readers said, caveat aviator.
Carnival Corporation is the parent company of several cruise lines, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, P&O Cruises, Ocean Village, Swan Hellenic and P&O Cruises Australia. Some have excellent reputations for customer service. Others, not-so-excellent.
Royal Caribbean Cruises operates the Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. Although they are distinct brands, many of the customer service functions of these two companies are integrated. Basically, that means that whether you cruised on a Royal Caribbean ship or a Celebrity ship, the buck stops at the same place: in the corporate office of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in Miami.
ELLIOTT’S E-MAIL Travel tips, news and information May 16, 2007 What are you doing this Saturday? Join me on May 19 at noon ET when my new show, What You Get For The Money: Vacations debuts on the Fine Living TV Network. You can find Fine Living on DirecTV channel 232, DISH Network channel 113, [...]
Beverly Darnell gets a mysterious message with her cruise tickets: Either prove that you’re a senior citizen, she’s told, or you’ll have to pay an extra $250. Not only is Darnell too young to qualify for a senior fare, but she never even asked for one. Now her online agent is giving her two options: pay up or cancel the cruise. What should she do?
When you write to an airline’s customer service department, is someone actually reading your note? Or are the agents simply scanning the first few lines of your message and selecting one of several canned responses? That’s the question raised by a recent exchange between reader David Deehl and Delta Air Lines.
For those of you who said things couldn’t get any worse in the travel industry, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Actually, the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index has some bad news.
Look out, laptop users. Your computer could be a target for hackers at cruising altitude, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of Symantec.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
I'm on Facebook: Please "like" 
WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? If you're having trouble with a travel business - any business - and you've reached a dead end, maybe I can help. Send me an