Once in a blue moon, you come across a hard-luck story with a happy ending that involves an airline doing something nice for a passenger, even though it doesn’t have to. Nancy Pearson’s story of trying to get to Toronto for a surprise birthday party is one of them.
From the monthly archives:
September 2009
Now there’s a headline I thought I’d never write. But it’s true: Carnival has refunded a passenger’s cruise fare after a last-minute cancellation.
Last week, several airlines added a $10 “miscellaneous” charge for flights on on Nov. 29, Jan. 2 and 3. — those are the peak travel days after Thanksgiving and New Years. The news sent the travel blogosphere into something of a frenzy. My colleague Janice Hough this morning predicted the “holiday surcharge” was only the beginning of a new fee orgy.
The ones that smell bad, according to a new poll by Travelocity. Fellow travelers with poor hygiene were called the “most disliked” in the survey, with a total of 45 percent of respondents calling out the unwashed masses.
How do you get your way when you travel? Plus, can an airline charge a $15 receipt fee? And what happens when you’ve lost your HHonors life membership?
“We are all too familiar with the sometimes draconian policies and less-than-stellar customer service,” Clay Hawley’s e-mail began. “This story is the opposite of that.”
When it comes to airline fees, nothing is off-limits. Just ask Jason Fogelson.
He needed a receipt for his latest American Airlines flight, but when he asked for one, the airline said it would cost him. “I was flabbergasted,” he says.
So was I.
If I were a bettin’ man, I’d put some money on a big airline filing for bankruptcy protection in the not-too-distant future.
Ethel Schweitzer’s husband falls ill before a trip to Las Vegas, and the couple cancels their vacation. Now US Airways wants to keep their money. Why can’t it offer them a refund?
In 1991, Robert Annenberg paid $150 for life membership in Senior HHonors Gold VIP program. Last year, Hilton terminated his membership without warning. Is Annenberg’s elite status gone?
A few weeks ago, I asked Michelle Hansen, JetBlue’s director of customer support operations, if I could interview her about customer service issues. She later asked Morgan Johnston, JetBlue’s manager of corporate communications, to field my questions. Here are their answers.
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Gordon Robertson paid $2,706 for a ticket from Vancouver to Brisbane on Singapore Airlines. Little did he know that the ticket didn’t come with something he — and indeed, most passengers — expect when they book a flight: frequent flier miles.
Is the Jones Act a legitimate reason for a travel insurance company to deny a claim, or a convenient excuse? Depends on your perspective.
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