Merge? Government should break up the airlines, instead
Even if you aren’t a know-it-all frequent business traveler or a smug aviation industry insider, you’ve probably come across the term “fortress hub.” It’s an airport dominated by a single airline that controls more than 70 percent of flights. Dallas/Fort Worth is an American Airlines fortress hub, for example. In Atlanta, it’s Delta Air Lines and in Charlotte, it’s US Airways.
There’s a lower rate on my hotel bill — so where’s my refund?
Unpleasant surprises are part of almost every check-out process. There are extras like resort fees, taxes and previously undisclosed surcharges that are invariably tacked on to your hotel bill. So when Bithi Chatterjee discovered her invoice was lower than she’d expected, she thought it was a fluke. She was right.
4 reasons to call off the airline mergers now
Looks like the Delta-Northwest engagement is officially in trouble, which means folks like Kate Hanni and The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers the can keep their powder dry for the next merger. Or maybe not.
Sailing the sick seas with Holland America
My thanks to the passengers and crew of the Holland America’s Ryndam, who returned to San Diego, Calif., yesterday on a norovirus-infected vessel. The highly contagious gastrointestinal virus reportedly afflicted 100 vacationers on the 10-day cruise, and provided a nice news peg for my latest column.
Elliott’s E-Mail/February 26, 2008
Area 51. Havana. The forward lavatories. All are forbidden places people want to visit. And some of them are revealed to you in this issue of Elliott’s E-Mail. There’s also a new videocast, lots of blog posts, articles and archived stories about other places that are off-limits to you.
Myth or magic bullet? 4 secrets about Rule 240
Rule 240 is the paragraph in an airline’s contract of carriage — the legal agreement between you and the airline — that describes its responsibility when a flight is delayed or canceled. But it’s so much more than that for your favorite travel experts.
No refunds for the dead
Robert Maddocks and his wife plan a 50th-anniversary trip to Europe. But they have to postpone the vacation and then, shortly after Maddocks rebooks the tickets, his wife dies unexpectedly. Now United has sent him two certificates for the trip — vouchers he’ll never be able to use. Don’t the circumstances warrant a refund?
Are travel agents worth the extra money?
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t recommend the services of a competent travel agent in one of my columns. And the conventional wisdom — which is that a real travel agent can make your trip better — has gone unchallenged for years, if not by me then by my readers. Until last week.
Ask the Armchair Traveler: wrong name on my airline ticket — now what?
The Armchair Traveler shows you how to fix a ticket when you’ve got the wrong name on it. Yes, there is hope.
At Everest
Aren waits for his mother to finish riding Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It took a loooooong time.
Banned for life for being too pretty
Is there such a thing as too gorgeous to fly? That’s the strange but true claim of two 18-year-olds from Oldsmar, Fla., who were escorted off a Southwest Airlines flight in Los Angeles recently. I’m not making this up. You can read the full story here and watch it here.
Are car rental companies overbilling customers for toll violations?
This should come as absolutely no surprise. The fee-happy car rental industry has apparently figured out a way of profiting from customers who blow through an electronic tool booth without paying.
Is the Delta-Northwest merger doomed?
It’s Thursday, and there’s still no announcement that Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines will merge. Frustrating for shareholders and airline beat reporters? Yes. But a Godsend for air travelers, who would almost certainly benefit from a more competitive airline industry.
Starwood devalues award points in a “pretty sneaky” way
Why cut your frequent flier program and face public humiliation, as US Airways did last week, when you can quietly chip away the value of your awards in relative private? That’s what Starwood Hotels, which owns the Four Points, Sheraton and W brands, must have been thinking when they announced changes to their rewards program yesterday.
Discrimination takes an unexpected turn
The toxin of discrimination appears to have spread to parts of the travel industry that have nothing to do with protecting the nation’s transportation infrastructure. For some passengers and hotel guests, it’s as if the clock has been turned back to pre-1994 South Africa or America before the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.