You can’t talk about the worst holiday travel experiences without mentioning the movie “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” The 1987 comedy, starring Steve Martin and John Candy, is about one frazzled business traveler’s struggle to get home in time for Thanksgiving. It’s a textbook holiday travel nightmare.
From the monthly archives:
November 2008
Susan Milette’s online travel agent accidentally charges two of her credit cards for a single flight. A refund is promised, but it’s taking forever. Is there anything she can do to move things along? And how could she have prevented this from happening in the first place?
OK, maybe I’m overstating it by just a little. But pictures don’t lie.
This holiday weekend, you might want to consider checking in extra early at the airport. There’s evidence some airlines, in an effort to boost their on-time ratings, are instructing their flight crews to push back a minute or two early — and leaving some passengers stranded at the gate.
Are the car rental companies taking a page from the airlines’ playbook, when it comes to fees and surcharges? Charles Locher thinks so. First, Hertz billed him an extra $26 for gas and fuel service, even though he had prepaid for both. Then another car rental company socked his friend with a $120 “interior cleaning” charge, even though the vehicle was returned in good shape.
There are signs that the auto industry’s troubles are spilling over into the car rental business. At this hour, several Advantage Rent A Car locations have reportedly run out of vehicles, leaving travelers without wheels. And this may be just the beginning.
When Larry Chan returns his Hertz rental car late, he doesn’t expect the $66 charge that he finds two weeks later on his credit card bill. But there it is: an extra day’s rental charge. What now? Should he appeal the decision? And what about the reason he was late in the first place — is that relevant at all?
Next time you catch a cold on a long flight, think about Standard 161-2007. It’s a proposed minimum rule for air quality aboard commercial airlines. A rule the airline industry, which reflexively opposes any kind of regulation, is no doubt fighting with every lobbyist it can afford.
Lessons learned from past holiday meltdowns, unsung heroes, bait-and-switch hotels, and more.
This might be one reason why Austrian Airlines is in so much trouble. Then again, it might be why the beleaguered carrier hasn’t folded any sooner. A passenger who bit into a brownie and broke a cap on her tooth on a flight from Washington to Vienna, has been reimbursed by the airline to the tune of $1,462.
Here’s an inspiring story about a ticket agent going far above and beyond the call of duty to help American soldiers in need. It came to me by way of Sgt. Ron Hutchins, who was traveling to Germany with nine other servicemembers from the 912th Adjutant General Postal Company in Tallahassee, Fla.
Here’s another story from the bait-and-switch files. Stacey Blakemore booked a $29 room at the Days Inn and Suites in Auburn, Ala., through Travelocity. But she ended up being charged $180 a night. Find out what happened next.
The long weekend he spent at the Lady Luck Hotel and Casino was a distant memory to David Burford, who checked into the Las Vegas resort with his family back in 2004. But not to a Boca Raton, Fla., company called First Class Travel Wise, which contacted him out of the blue recently and ordered him to pay an extra $433 for his vacation.
Andy Daniel thought he had found a terrific airfare from San Francisco to Miami for Christmas. Instead, he found a terrific disappointment. When Daniel tried to book a $400 ticket advertised on Expedia, the price suddenly more than doubled.
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