When Stefanie Rasimowicz finds out the pool at her resort hotel will be closed during her vacation, she faces the prospect of a ruined honeymoon. The hotel is apologetic, but offers her no alternative except to use another nearby pool. Can it do better? Should it?
From the monthly archives:
February 2009
For those of you who think a well-worded complaint is the fastest way to a free ticket, I have some bad news: The airlines are on to you. Consider what happened to George Yen. He found himself locked out of his United Airlines Mileage Plus account after he says the airline took issue with his frequent complaints.
When the nation’s third-largest airline stops taking complaints by phone, what does that mean? Yesterday’s news that United Airlines would shutter an Indian call center that took compliments or complaints after a flight, telling customers to send a letter or e-mail instead, has a lot of air travelers scratching their heads. I count myself among them.
Finnair is seriously green. How serious? It has its own vice president for sustainable development, Kati Ihamäki. I spoke with Ihamäki about some of the myths and realities of being a “green” airline.
Bogus travel insurance, a PIN-headed robbery in Rome and a cat with diarrhea.
Airline rules are relatively uniform when it comes to canceled flights. You’re owed either a full refund or a flight of the carrier’s choice — but no fare adjustment. But what if the replacement flight costs less than the original one?
Virginia Hamlin is upset. A year ago she booked a Panama Canal through Legendary Journeys, a travel agency based in Sarasota, Fla. At the time she was offered a $177 “travel insurance” policy through Travel Protection Services.
“There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people.” Those words, hastily typed on Janis Krums’ iPhone just after US Airways flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River last month, marked yet another milestone in the microblogging revolution.
Aren and his siblings dodged large reptiles on their visit to Dinosaur World near Plant City, Fla. Find out if they survived …
Steven Olson wants his $200 deposit back from Princess Cruises, but the company isn’t budging. The problem: he canceled the credit card through which he made the purchase. Princess will only refund it to the canceled card. After hours on the phone and promises of a check, Olson is no closer to getting his money. What now?
Never give your PIN number to anyone. Ever. Derek Wilairat learned this rule the hard way on a recent trip to Rome.
Can a hotel refuse to honor your reservation because you won’t show your identification? That’s not a hypothetical question. Nick Cataldo contacted me earlier this week because he’d been denied a room at a Sleep Inn property in Birmingham, Ala. Here’s his story.
When it comes to fees, are travel companies taking a page from the Transportation Security Administration’s playbook? You might be forgiven for thinking so after hearing Eric Hendrix’ story of being added to the equivalent of the “no-fly” list when he tried to rent a car from Alamo.
Cats with diarrhea, bad airlines/good service and a strange Inauguration Day tale
Kelly Dehn just endured a nightmare flight on Northwest Airlines. It wasn’t that her four-hour trip from Minneapolis to Orange County, Calif., lasted an extra hour because the aircraft had to be de-iced. It wasn’t even that she was three months pregnant. It was her mysterious seatmate.
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