Can’t. Stop. Laughing.
From the monthly archives:
June 2009
Travel companies are leaning on collection agencies to squeeze every last penny out of you. Here’s what you need to know in order to fight back.
Our friends at J.D. Power and Associates are at it again. Last week they leaked their 2009 North America Airline Satisfaction Study to a largely uncritical mainstream media. This morning, they let the rest of us have the results, in which they claim “overall customer satisfaction with airlines in 2009 has declined for a third consecutive year to a four-year low.” But has it? And does that mean anything?
When it comes to fees, never underestimate the car rental industry’s creativity. If you do, you might miss the six percent surcharge that Avis slipped on Monica Huchro’s bill last week.
Laura Brown is the acting assistant administrator for communications at the Federal Aviation Administration. After the death of Billy Mays yesterday, she was quoted as saying the TV pitchman wasn’t wearing a seatbelt on a plane that made an emergency landing. I asked her about the interview and the importance of seatbelts.
Believe it or not, the latest celebrity death has a travel angle. TV pitchman Billy Mays, who was found dead in his Tampa home this morning, was a passenger on a US Airways flight yesterday. His son first reported the news on Twitter.
And here’s where things get a little weird.
The highly respected TV Newser blog [...]
Air Canada’s customer service reputation is somewhere between “OK” and “fine,” according to passengers. There are few horror stories to report, and the ones that I hear are usually addressed quickly and to the customer’s satisfaction. Nevertheless, these contacts may be useful, in the event that your horror story gets overlooked.
In their struggle to turn a profit, airlines have piled on a lot of fees in the last year, from surcharges for checked luggage to extras for confirmed reservations. And just when it seemed they had found every last fee, it looks as if they’ve turned up one more: They’re looking to Fido and Fluffy for a little extra cash. Specifically, to their owners.
Diane Stephany loses her Amtrak tickets. But instead of replacing them, the company wants to charge her for new ones. Can it do that? And what are her options for a refund?
If this isn’t a bait-and-switch, I don’t know what is. Jonathan Yarmis thought he was getting a $375 a night room rate at the Hotel Bauer in Venice, marked down from $537.
The Stanley Hotel is an historic resort in Estes Park, Colo., perhaps best known for inspiring Stephen King to write his horror masterpiece The Shining. And also, bedbugs — if Julie Kobayashi has her way. Get those images of Jack Nicholson typing “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” out of your head. This spat reminded me of the recent exchange between Elizabeth Becton and McBee Strategic.
Timing is everything when you pull a bait-and-switch. Most of them happen just before or after the purchase – an “oops-the-price-isn’t-available” or a “sorry-did-we-forget-to-mention-a-fee” stunt. But for Mary Hoefs’ Royal Caribbean cruise, she didn’t find out until she tried to board.
The airlines industry spent $31 million lobbying Congress last year. The hotel industry plunked down $8 million and the cruise industry dropped more than $6 million on lobbying. How much did travelers spend to get their voices heard in Washington? Nothing. That’s about to change.
Sign up for my 
