Iden takes a break from chasing the cats (this time he’s winning) to go down the slide. It turned kinda cool, finally, which allowed the kids to stay outside without having a heat stroke.
September 2007
Unless you’re an airline insider, you probably didn’t bother to notice yesterday’s second quarter airline financial data released by the government. But if you did — and if you’ve spent any amount of time on a plane this year — you’ll probably find yourself asking this question: How can the nation’s most profitable network airline also be the one customers complain about the most?
Everywhere I turned last week, it seemed as if there was one story or another about women trying to board a flight while wearing practically nothing. This is news? It isn’t that the corps of travel writers is comprised largely of frustrated middle-aged men. I think that would be too simple an explanation for why this story had … er, legs. Rather, I’m convinced that the fourth estate is tired of telling the same sad, hopeless story about the decline of air travel. Bring on the Hooters girls.
He buys his airline ticket on the United Airlines Web site, but his flights are actually on US Airways and Air Canada. Or are they? When Michael Watanabe checks his reservation, he finds that half of his itinerary is missing without a trace. And United is telling him not to worry about it. But he is worried. What should he do?
So much for a happy ending. Janice Japa thought she had one when Expedia agreed to refund the $789 she had spent on a nonexistent hotel room, plus threw in $400 in credit. I did, too. It turns out we were both wrong. What follows is a cautionary tale about vouchers. The airline, hotel or travel agency you’re dealing with may act as if they’re as good as money. But don’t be fooled.
Iden played “catch” with the cats today. They won. It wasn’t really fair –they ganged up on him.
Aren takes a break from visiting Disneyworld. Temperatures were dangerously hot today, leaving him and his siblings in a heat-induced daze. And his parents, too.
Iden wants to be cast in a sci-fi movie. Or perhaps the sequel to “A Clockwork Orange.” Then again, maybe these glasses just make him look cool. Either way, we couldn’t get him to take them off today.
Spirit Airlines is in trouble again. This time, instead of a CEO who can’t seem to find the right key on his PC, it’s a computer glitch that’s apparently causing the problem. And, as is increasingly becoming the case, Spirit’s response is completely inadequate.
It doesn’t take much to capture the imagination of a TV producer on a slow news day. I’m talking about the brouhaha over Southwest Airlines passenger Kyla Ebbert’s attire — or lack thereof. Ebbert parlayed her fashion faux-pas into an appearance on the Today Show, and the blogosphere followed in lockstep.
Looks like the men’s restroom isn’t the only place where things are a little out of control at the Minneapolis airport. The U.S. Immigration agents at MSP are also taking a walk on the wild side, in a manner of speaking. That’s the contention of one frequent flier who contacted me yesterday in the hopes of solving a mystery.
Just when you thought the airline industry couldn’t possibly come up with any more absurd rules, it has. Anyone who wonders why air carriers are on the verge of being re-regulated, or is at least curious about their abysmally low customer-service scores — here’s your answer.
Uh-oh, it’s another can’t-miss edition of Elliott’s E-Mail, featuring stories about the travel industry’s most egregious double standards, naughty airline ticket agents and a 9/11 retrospective. Plus, there are lots of pictures from the photoblog. Read it now. I dare you!
Nana Fosu books a room in Miami and gets a confirmation from her hotel. But just four days before her arrival, a manager from the hotel e-mails her with bad news: Her credit card has been declined and her reservation was canceled. Fosu offers a new credit card number but it’s too late. Rebooking will cost her an extra $1,130. Shouldn’t the hotel honor the first price?
A few years ago, airlines started phasing in software designed to catch passengers who didn’t use their entire ticket. Their “crime” was violating absurd airline tariff rules that say you have to use every segment of your flight. Violators were fined or had their miles confiscated. But what happens when the airline schedule doesn’t make sense?
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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