Aren and his siblings drove on New Smyrna Beach, Fla., today and saw lots and lots of art at the Images art festival. For lunch, Aren tried alligator.
From the monthly archives:
January 2009
Kim Bouck is wary of the fine print on the “free” ticket offer by American Express. So she gets a few of the company’s promises in writing. When the promises are broken, however, American Express backtracks — and she’s left ticketless. What now?
Here’s a strange case involving the presidential inauguration, a Courtyard by Marriott property in Washington, and Marriott’s customer care department.
Membership has its privileges. Unless you’re Donna Jordan. Every year since 2001, she’s paid Delta a $134 annual fee for a co-branded American Express Platinum card. The card allowed her to collect Delta miles for each dollar spent and entitled her to a free “companion certificate” on Delta.
A room at the InterContinental Tampa on Feb. 10 costs $278 a night. But Dave Willis got his free, thanks to LastMinuteTravel.com’s The World for a Dollar offer. Sound too good to be true? It may be.
Wrongful “death” certificates, under-25 fees and Carnival’s un-miraculous cruise.
Jerry Stannard booked a room at the St. Gregory Luxury Hotel & Suites in Washington through Expedia recently. But when he tried to confirm the reservation by phone, no one had heard of him. He had to pay for another room, even though Expedia already had his money.
This is Ken Darling with his mother, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s. He won’t be able to use the United Airlines tickets he bought last year because he had to move her from a resident care facility into a hospital. Darling wanted to apply his non-refundable credit of $1,121 to book another flight, but given his current situation, that’s also impossible.
Iden Elliott discovered his favorite beach when he visited Canaveral National Seashore, just a stone’s throw away from the Kennedy Space Center. His brother, Aren, and sister, Erysse, helped him explore the shore.
Green travel is dead. I arrived at this unlikely conclusion while talking with Mike Ragsdale, the “town evangelist” for a seaside community in Northwest Florida called Alys Beach. “People think being green means making sacrifices or paying more,” he told me. “That’s not necessarily true.”
Oh no! Our annual passes to Disney World have expired, and Aren, Iden and Erysse Elliott are SO sad! Today they said good-bye to the park.
There’s a $24 charge for two movies on Keeley Hozjan’s hotel bill. Movies that were never ordered or watched. Although the hotel promises an investigation, the charge shows up on Hozjan’s credit card only a day after checkout. What gives?
If you’re under 25, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise when you check into the Oasis Cancun, a pyramid-like, all-inclusive resort on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula: a mandatory “under 25″ fee of $54. And they don’t take “no” for an answer. When Ryan Plaxsun, 24, recently checked into the hotel, he was told to pony up the cash — or leave.
Anne and Jack King couldn’t wait for their December cruise to Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize on the Carnival Miracle. But the tour of Panama City and the Panama Canal would have to wait for them. At the last minute, and with no warning to the Kings, Carnival abbreviated its itinerary to include ports of call in Costa Maya, Cozumel and Roatan. How could it do that?
Bereavement fares may be a dying breed, but some airlines still offer them — with strings attached. Sandra Ball was told she didn’t qualify for a Northwest Airlines special fare because she wasn’t a member of WorldPerks, the airline’s frequent flier program. Can it do that?
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