For Carol Margolis, it was an almost-ruptured eardrum.

She’d flown with a bad cold and sinus congestion, which made it difficult to equalize the pressure in her ears. After her doctor told her she’d nearly torn the lining between the inner and outer ear, and suggested she stay away from planes for a few weeks, she grounded herself.

“My hearing is too precious to risk,” says Margolis, who runs a travel Web site in Lake Mary, Fla. “I paid the change fees and stayed put.”

Not everyone makes the same choice. A recent poll by TripAdvisor suggests 51 percent of air travelers say they’d rather fly while infected with the flu than pay a $150 airline change fee. A similar survey by msnbc.com found nearly 60 percent of travelers would fly infected instead of taking the hit to their pocketbook.

That’s something worth considering as we approach the peak of the flu season. For every one Margolis, there’s at least one other passenger who refuses to cancel. Like Amanda, who asked me not to reveal her last name. She flew with the flu, even though she didn’t want to.

“I called Southwest to bump my flight by a day, and while the rep was kind, she couldn’t do anything but offer me the opportunity to pay the $300 change in fare,” she says. “Since this was not a possibility for me, I reluctantly dosed myself with cold medicine and endured the unending stares of everyone on the shuttle, in the security line and boarding around me on my flight and endured the most miserable six hours of my life flying.”

In case you’re wondering why Amanda wouldn’t let me publish her last name, have a look at the comments other travelers left for her when she confessed to being an infected passenger.

When should you add yourself to the “no-fly” list?

When your doctor tells you to stay home
“Some symptoms are just too high-risk to consider flying at all,” says Steven Schueler, an emergency room physician and chief executive of DSHI Systems, a health information systems company. If you suspect you may be too sick to fly, he recommends a medical risk assessment that considers both the seriousness of the symptoms as well the potential diagnosis. And if your doctor says don’t fly — don’t fly.

If the Centers for Disease Control says so
The CDC won’t necessarily come out and say, “Don’t fly if you have such-and-such,” but it does publish a helpful page on infectious diseases it’s trying to shield travelers from. Certainly, it’s safe to assume that if you have something like Tuberculosis, you might want to check yourself into a hospital instead of board a plane. The CDC site has suggestions to help avoid the spread of Swine Flu that should also be heeded.

If you’re on the sick list
The list comes to us courtesy of Michael Zimring, the director of the Center For Wilderness & Travel Medicine in Baltimore: Don’t fly if you’ve had a significant sinus congestion, surgery on a lower extremity, a recent heart attack or cardiac surgery, uncontrollable heart failure, or recent abdominal or neurosurgery. “A patient of mine just had an emergency appendectomy and he wants to leave for Vegas in a few days,” he says. “That is a no-no.” Why? The patient will have residual air in his abdomen from the surgery and when he gets to altitude, the air will expand within the closed confines of his abdomen and cause major problems. Ouch!

If you can’t get around much anymore
“Generally speaking, someone should not fly if they are unable to walk about 150 feet or climb one flight of stairs without becoming short of breath,” says Mark Gendreau, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. “Keep in mind that commercial flight subjects us to both physiologic and environmental challenges.” Such as? Cabin pressure is set to 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, he notes, which results in a lower oxygen saturation in your bloodstream, in addition to the expansion of gases in body cavities.

If you’re really nervous
The worsening of an underlying anxiety condition can be a cause for cancellation, too, according to Margaret Lewin, the medical director of Cinergy Health, a Miami health insurance company. Fear of flying is no laughing matter to the estimated 1 in 5 people who suffer from it, and should be taken into account when you plan a flight. Aerophobia can be treated, and you should always have a Plan B. “You’re best protected if you consider possible problems ahead of time,” she says, adding that flight or trip cancellation insurance should be considered. Note that many policies have exceptions for pre-existing conditions, so only a “cancel for any reason” policy is likely to cover an anxiety disorder.

Another thing to consider is the return trip. If you’re feeling unwell now, and decide to fly anyway, could your condition worsen by the time you’re ready to return? Myles Druckman, the vice president of medical services for International SOS, a medical healthcare company, says it happens more than you’d think.

“It is good practice to only travel when you are well,” he says. “If you have a symptoms of illness, you should address these concerns prior to travel, particularly if you plan to travel internationally. It is important to consider that your symptoms may worsen while on a trip, and this may require you to seek medical attention locally.”

That’s all well and good, but it would help if the travel industry — particularly airlines — loosened their onerous change rules when a customer fell ill. On legacy carriers, change fees and fare differentials often exceed the value of the original ticket, forcing passengers to choose between flying sick or throwing a ticket away.

No one should have to make that choice.

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One minute I was rolling my carry-on bag along the concourse floor at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The next, I was arguing with a useless box on wheels — and dreading what would happen to my back if I had to carry it.

The extendable handle on the bag was stuck, and no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t retract. I had to haul the bag on the plane without the help of wheels. With my bad back, I knew I would feel that the next morning.

And I did.

So here I am, shifting uncomfortably in my ergonomic office chair and heavily medicated, wondering: Am I the only one this has happened to? How often does luggage break?

What happens when it does?

Turns out it happens a lot. There are no statistics on luggage failures of the type I encountered — broken handles, busted wheels, screwed-up zippers — but plenty of stories.

“My bag broke in the middle of the trip,” remembers New York-based comedian Dan Nainan. “The handle broke off. It was awful.” It wasn’t funny, either. But lucky for him, the bag came with a 15-year guarantee, so he sent it back to the manufacturer and had it fixed.

My carry-on bag came with a warranty, too. Not a bad one, but there’s some fine print that may make it difficult to file a claim (it doesn’t cover wear or damage caused by abuse, mishandling, accidental damage, inappropriate selection, or carelessness caused by an airline). But since it’s a sample, I felt a little awkward about saying anything to the manufacturer.

As to the question of what happens — well, that’s why you’re still reading this story. Here are four luggage horror stories, and some tips on how to cope with them.

1. The stuck handle
I’m not the only person with a stuck-handle problem. It happened to Charlotte Tomic and her Hartmann luggage on a recent flight. “I guess these things happen with time, or if you put something too heavy on the handle, like a laptop, maybe,” she told me. “I’m not sure why these retractable handles malfunction, but it could be very unnerving.”

Tell me about it. If a handle acts up mid-trip, you have a few options. If you’re at the airport, your airline might insist that you gate-check the bag. (Be sure to remove any valuables.) An extreme option is buying a replacement and abandoning the bag at the airport. Fortunately, I managed to retract the handle so it would fit in the overhead bin, but carrying the bag around was no fun.

2. The busted zipper
Face it: zippers aren’t meant to last forever. And if you push the limits of your luggage, it will eventually push back.

Author Nancy Redd, a frequent flier, likes to stuff copies of her book in her carry-one bag. Her luggage can take only so much, and has given way a time or two. “The last time that it happened and I wasn’t able to obtain a new piece immediately for less than highway robbery at the airport, I just asked airport employees for some of their ‘fragile’ tape and wrapped it around my luggage as a quick fix to keep everything stored until I could obtain a replacement at my destination city,” she says. “It totally worked.”

3. The broken handle
Sharon Flank remembers a “major malfunction” with her luggage on an international trip. “The handle broke off my suitcase as I tried to haul it up the Metro stairs in the rain in Paris,” she says. “I was pretty miserable.”

Handles are not easily replaced on the spot, but eventually, she found someone to repair it. “Now I always keep a long strip of Velcro in my carry-on — you can use it as a makeshift handle,” she says. That’s excellent advice.

4. The flat tire
Most carry-on luggage comes with wheels, but no matter how industrial-strength they appear, they are disappointingly mortal.

The wheels on my last bag died slowly, over several trips. First the rubber became frayed, and then it peeled off until the bag made an annoying rat-tat-tat when it rolled on the concourse floor.

Fortunately, I’ve never had a wheel come off. I retired the bag before that happened. Luggage wheels are not as easily replaced as roller-skate wheels. If they were, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

There’s only one certain way to avoid the broken luggage problem, according to Jeff Boyd: Don’t carry any. “Send your luggage ahead,” says Boyd, who is the president of Luggage Free, a baggage shipping service. (A service like his will fix any luggage that’s broken while in its care at no extra cost, whereas airlines don’t generally fix broken zippers, handles or wheels, he adds.)

That’s one solution, but another less extreme on might just be this: Check your bag for wear and tear before your next trip, and for goodness sake, don’t overpack.

Your bag will thank you. Your back will thank you.

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Accidents happen when you travel.

The bad accidents — the fender-benders, the missed airline connections the unfortunate food-borne illnesses — are the ones that come to mind first, of course.

Here’s one from Cindy Barthi, a hotel reservationist from San Clemente, Calif. When she returned to the Esmeralda Renaissance hotel, after a fun weekend in Palm Springs, Calif., she suspected something was wrong.

“The valet attendants had some very sad faces as we approached them with our claim check,” she says. “The general manager met us and this is what he showed us: A palm tree had come down on our car during the winds.”

Oops. Good thing Barthi wasn’t in the car.

You don’t necessarily think about the happy accidents, though. Like the terrific restaurant you discovered while wandering through a medieval European town, or that cutie you met on the train and is now your pen pal. We think of these, instead, as one of the unexpected benefits of travel.

But they’re really the other side of the same coin. Accidents — good and bad — happen when we’re away. More so, maybe, because there’s a certain randomness about travel — a sense that the unexpected can happen.

For better or worse.

No one has tried to quantify the happy coincidences, like meeting the love of your life while you’re on vacation or finding a the best hot dog stand ever, at least not that I’m aware of. But a recent poll by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives suggests companies are aware that accidents (the bad kind) are inevitable. More than 8 in 10 companies have a policy restricting the number of executives that can travel together on a plane, in order to prevent a business from losing all of its managers in an aviation disaster.

Sometimes, bad accidents can lead to good things. Barthi’s hotel did everything in its power to make things right, including finding her a replacement rental car and ensuring that her damaged vehicle was repaired quickly. “They even offered us a certificate for two free nights,” she says. (Next time, she may ask the valet to park her car away from any palm trees.)

So how do you maximize the happy coincidences — and avoid the bad ones? I asked the real experts — travelers like you — for your advice. Here’s what you told me:

Be open to new experiences
Happy accidents happen when you are open to trying new things. Michelle Bell, the alumni director for a university in Fayetteville, Ark., recalls a stop on the Greek island of Mykonos while on a recent cruise with some former students. “We stumbled upon Restaurant Katrine and ventured in,” she remembers. “After bringing the typical olives and bread, we looked at the menu and were shocked to see the redfish was €90. When the owner came over with some wine, he said, ‘Oh yes, it feeds probably six of you.’” It was one of the longest, but best, meals I have ever had. I recommend it to everyone.” Had Bell not been open to trying a new restaurant and assumed that the €90 redfish only fed one person — and left the establishment in a huff — she would have never had the best Greek food ever.

Adjust your perspective
Sometimes a different perspective can make for happier accidents. Tour guide Jodi Nelson was leading a group through Tanzania when her jeep blew a tire. She left the vehicle to find help, and when she returned, found her tour group surrounded by “hundreds of little African children who’d come out to see the random white people in their neighborhood.” What could have been the worst day of the tour became the highlight. “They were all singing and playing chase,” she recalls. “It was a beautiful sight and one of the most memorable days of the trip. Thank goodness for accidents, sometimes. Those are the stories you tell because the unpredictable mishaps are what create the adventure.”

Timing is everything
Happy coincidences are often a matter of fortuitous timing. Lisa Scalia, who is also a tour guide, remembers a recent vacation to New England with her husband. They were looking for fall foliage, but they found more than that. “One day he noted we were near Lime Rock racetrack, so we drove over to see it and found out it was media day for an upcoming race,” she told me. “We ended up being invited to participate in all the activities set up for the press — which we were not — like driving on a slick track, driving a road course with a professional driving instructor, and enjoying lunch — all for free, just because we were in the right place at the right time. Very cool.” Had Scalia stuck to her schedule that day, she might have missed the best part of her foliage tour.

One more thing: The line between a happy accident and an unhappy one isn’t always clear. Take the case of professional triathlete Brendan Brazier, who was hit by a car while cycling in, Canada, and had to take the season off. That’s when he stumbled upon the idea of writing and self-publishing a book about his vegan diet and fitness regime. The manuscript featured recipes for plant-based shakes, drinks and energy bars that Brazier created.

Eventually, the book caught the interest of a publisher, and turned into a line of food products. All because of one traffic accident.

So was that accident desirable or not? In the short-term, no. But the long-term consequences were arguably positive for Brazier’s career.

In other words, even a bad accident can sometimes turn out for the best.

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Got a travel problem?

Just tweet about your troubles, and the airline, car rental company or hotel will fix it. At least that’s the conventional wisdom. And while it’s true that travel companies are spending a lot of time online listening to their customers, they’re not necessarily paying attention to all of us.

“Travel companies pick and choose who to respond to in social media,” says social media expert Ryan Goff of the advertising firm MGH, Inc. “You better believe that a Web celebrity with 100,000 Twitter followers is going to catch a company’s attention over the casual Tweeter with only 10 friends.”

Even online, some travelers are more equal than others. Question is, how to become a somebody?

You should care, because even today, as social networking applications like Twitter and Facebook have come of age, being online can be the most effective shortcut to getting great customer service.

I see it every day on Twitter, as customers with questions are sent to the front of the line (sometimes literally) because they had a respectable social-media profile. Online travel agencies such as Orbitz have an entire team of employees dedicated to monitoring online chatter and helping customers.

I asked several social media experts about how to boost your online profile. Here’s what they told me:

1. Be interesting
Boring people don’t get a lot of followers. “Be engaging,” says Lyn Mettler, the founder of Step Ahead, Inc., which manages social media campaigns. “Don’t just talk, talk, talk about yourself all day long. Read what other people are posting and respond to them. Ask questions, answer questions. Truly interacting with people will help build your followers.”

2. Get a blog
One of the fastest ways to raise your online profile is to start blogging. “If you blog, that helps tremendously,” says Tim Massie, an adjunct professor of communication at Marist College. It helps if the subject matter is travel-related, but anyone with access to a credible blog is likely to come to the attention of a travel company faster than someone who doesn’t have one. Massie says being an active participant in online forums can help, too. “If you go the extra mile, posting photos, helping others understand the amenities of hotels, and providing insider information that a typical tourist would overlook, you will earn your reputation and be an influencer in the travel industry,” he says.

3. Join the conversation
“Post and tweet frequently about your experiences,” says Rick Gardinier, the chief digital officer for the advertising agency Brunner. “This will increase your relevancy and authoritativeness which in turn will boost your following.” How often? I try to tweet and post a few times a day, but you should be able to keep a respectable profile by publishing something a few times a week.

4. Offer good information
Building trust — and followers — takes time and work, according to experts. “Travelers can increase their social media influence by creating good content, consistently, for an extended amount of time,” says Chris Harrington, the technology director for the communications firm Luquire George Andrews. He says he’s likely to follow users who have positive things to say about the subject matter. “Negative comments can hurt the traveler’s social capital as much or more than the company in question,” he adds. That way, when you go negative — when something happens to you while you’re traveling that you need resolved — your followers will pay attention.

5. Check your motives
It matters where you’re coming from, say the pros. “Motivation behind using social media extensively will drive the behavior of travelers,” says Philippe Duverger, an assistant professor of marketing at Towson University. For example, if people think you’re trying to sell something, they may be less likely to include you in the network. Also, if you’re branded a “complainer” then that can be a turn-off. Being in it for all the right reasons is one way of attracting lots of followers and building your online credibility.

6. Speak up
The best way to get noticed by any company is to openly discuss your experiences. “If the company has an interest in social media as a marketing outlet, then they will be monitoring all conversation about them, both positive and negative,” says social media guru Dan Healy of Mason, Inc., in New Haven, Conn. Acknowledging an experience that you had on an airline, for example, on a public forum is important to the airline because it gives them insight about their customers, and the public’s opinion. Be sure to use proper shout-out etiquette by linking to the travel company’s blog (which is monitored by the company) or using their Twitter handle — @Jetblue or @Marriottintl — when you tweet about them.

7. Make a personal connection
Travelers tend to follow people they can relate to. “People trust contents from somebody they can identify with personally,” says Iis Tussyadiah, an assistant professor at Temple University’s school of tourism and hospitality management. Often, it’s as simple as posting a picture and a brief biography on your blog or Facebook profile. People are likely to read your tweets and posts when they feel they know you than when you’re a faceless, anonymous voice on the Internet.

Even if you only have a small number of followers, you can still make a difference. “The squeaky Twitterer still gets the grease,” says Dallas Lawrence, the chair of the digital and social media practice group at Levick Strategic Communications. “Like most travel related stories in the online space, companies have focused their efforts towards addressing critical commentary posted by dissatisfied customers who have posted damaging comment to the online space about a particular airline, hotel or travel provider.”

You’re probably wondering if these strategies can really work for you. They can. I’ve used them myself. (You can follow me on Twitter at @elliottdotorg, Facebook, Google Buzz, or on my blog.

Along the way, I’ve made some terrific friends – people I’ve never actually met, but that’s beside the point — and had lots of interesting conversations.

Next time you have a travel problem, you’ll be glad you did.

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It’s no secret the airline industry wants you to pay extra for everything.

And I really mean everything.

A fee to pay? Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines already charge a “convenience” fee to use your credit card.

A water fee? It’s hard to find a discount carrier that doesn’t make you pay for soft drinks, including bottled water.

A fee to pee? Yeah, Ryanair’s working on pay toilets, if reports are to be believed.

But this isn’t another story about airlines and their misguided fees. It’s about the surcharges that are worth paying — and why you should consider saying “yes” to them. That’s right, I said “worth it.” While many fees are outrageous, some aren’t entirely out of line.

If nothing else, fees are unbelievably profitable. The domestic airlines collected roughly $1 billion in ticket change fees and more than $1.2 billion in baggage fees during the first half of 2009, according to the government. American Airlines took in the most baggage fees — it raked in $226 million — while Delta Air Lines won in the change-fee category, collecting a cool $392 million.

Most passengers I know don’t mind paying fees, as long as they do all of the following:

They’re optional. And it must be a real choice. Everyone uses a credit card, so a “convenience” fee to pay with plastic isn’t a true choice. Neither is a fee for the first bag, because at a time when the TSA has banned toothpaste and hair gel in reasonable sizes from all carry-ons, almost everyone checks a bag.

They don’t charge for something that used to be free. The best fees add something instead of taking away. For example, after 9/11 many airlines upgraded their in-flight menus and then began charging for food. Almost no one complained, because airlines had already done away with in-flight meals on most domestic flights. Taking a bag of pretzels that used to be free and charging for it would have been the wrong move.

They add value. JetBlue does this well. Whether it’s pillows or movies, the airline seems to know that adding to the product is the best way to do fees — not by removing amenities and services. I have a full interview with the airline in which its fee philosophy is explained. Giving passengers more for their money has made the airline profitable.

They’re reasonable. Charging a $150 change fee on a $49 ticket is completely unreasonable. A change fee should be a percentage of the ticket. Or better yet, there shouldn’t be one at all. I mean, how much does it really cost to change the date on a ticket?

So why have so many bad fees prevailed? Probably because we’ve let them, says airline analyst Michael Miller. “For example, the bag fees were done because fares were depressed and airlines were looking for other revenue sources to stay afloat,” he says. “They had no idea passengers would pay so much, so it’s permanent.”

Or so it seems.

The trend toward bad fees is reversible if passengers would only pay the surcharges they believed in. I asked travelers to help me identify those “good” fees. Here’s what they said:

In-flight wireless: This is yet another example of adding value. As long as the costs stay reasonable and the service is reliable, in-flight Wi-Fi is a winner, according to passengers like Peter DeForest, a San Rafael, Calif.-based risk management consultant. “I had Gogo on both Virgin America and AirTran, and both services were good, and worth it,” he says. With a coupon, he paid just $4.95 for six hours of connection time. “I was even able to use video instant-messaging services in flight, and it was stable and reasonably fast.”

I completely agree. I tested Gogo on a flight from Orlando to Chicago earlier this year, and it was problem-free. Definitely worth the $6 it costs to get connected.

Sections with more legroom: Janice Dottin likes the extra-legroom seats on JetBlue, because it’s affordable and you get a lot. “It’s $20 and there is a significant difference in the amount of leg space,” says Dottin, who works for an insurance company in Boston. “My husband is 6’5” tall and it’s well worth the investment for his comfort.” She’s paid for “extra legroom” seats on American Airlines, too, but was unhappy because she was just offered a seat in the exit row.

Other travelers I spoke with said they liked United Airlines’ premium economy class, because they felt less wedged into their seats. We have to be careful with this one. A customer-focused airline won’t reduce legroom in the back at the expense of those in the front — that’s a fee no-no.

Elite treatment: A fee that allows you to get preferential treatment without having to spend half of your life on a plane is a pretty good deal.

That’s what readers like Jennifer Rigdon have told me. She recently tried Southwest Airlines’ new EarlyBird program, which lets you cut to the front of the boarding line for an extra $10 per flight. (Other airlines let you use their lounges or elite check-in and screening lines for a fee, too.) “I’ll definitely do it again,” she told me. “It’s more reasonable than the upgrade to Business Select, and for $20 I think it’s worth it.” You can read the whole account here.

How about the bad ones?

Seat and reservation fees: I’ve already touched on these ugly surcharges. Permit me to beat the horse until it’s dead: Schemes that defraud passengers of $15 to sit in a more desirable economy class seat, or that force them to pay for a confirmed reservation, are utterly wrong.

Laura Wilcox, an event planner in Orlando, paid $15 for a window seat on a recent Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to Orlando. “But when I got on the plane my seat was filled because another passenger was displaced — people go crazy to sit together as families on the Orlando flights,” she says. The airline never returned her $15.

These seat fees aren’t right because you’re paying for something twice: once for the ticket, once for the seat reservation. Aren’t they one and the same?

Convenience fees: Paying to pay is, as I’ve mentioned earlier, outright immoral. And it’s not just Allegiant and Spirit playing this fool’s game. Most of the big airlines charge extra to book by phone, another form of “convenience” fee.

Henry Harteveldt, Forrester Research’s travel analyst, believes convenience fees for credit card payments are about to spread to other airlines. That would be bad news for air travelers.

Luggage fees and other nonsense surcharges: You know a silly fee when you see one. Unfortunately, most airlines don’t.

Sharon Strelzer, a marketing manager from Fairfield, Conn., says the recent moves to start charging for the first checked bag are just impractical, given the TSA’s liquid and gel limits. She also considers seat reservation fees to be out of line, and I’ve spoken with others who would include charges for soft drinks, and especially for potable water. “The airlines should raise the rates $50 or so and be done with the nonsense fees,” she says.

Actually, not a bad idea. But carriers know that nothing sells seats like a low fare, so they’re not going for it. Until they do, these absurd surcharges will probably keep popping up everywhere.

In a perfect world, if enough airline passengers paid for the right fees and avoided the wrong ones, then market forces would compel airlines to do the right thing. But it’s not a perfect world. Some carriers have a near-monopoly in certain cities, making it difficult for markets to operate the way they’re supposed to.

Jim Goyjer, a Los Angeles-base marketing consultant and experienced air traveler, believes more drastic actions are needed. “Since deregulation of the airlines, service and quality have suffered,” he told me. On his preferred carrier, American Airlines, “almost all” of the seasoned cabin crew don’t like the company anymore. They blame top executives for mismanagement and greed, he told me. “They hate nickel and diming the passengers,” he added. “They feel more like vendors and waiters and waitresses than professionals.”

“We need to re-regulate the airlines,” he says.

Now there’s an idea.

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Resort fees. Mandatory tips. Concierge surcharges.

If you’ve stayed at a hotel in the last few years, you’ve become accustomed — if not anesthetized — to these annoying extras. You expect them. You’re indifferent to them when they appear on your bill.

You shouldn’t be.

Consider these two facts: 2010 is shaping up to be another “down” year for the hotel industry. PKF Consulting forecasts that hotel occupancy will remain flat compared with 2009 and room rates will slide 1.5 percent. That means it’s a buyer’s market — actually, make that a beggar’s market — with hotels practically giving away their rooms.

At a time like this, no hotel manager in his right mind would add a new surcharge. If anything, they’d remove them to make us happy. “Upsetting guests is not worth it,” says Robert Mandelbaum, a PKF analyst.

All of which raises the following questions: Which hotel fees are still out there that shouldn’t be? Which ones should be euthanized? And how do you go about finishing them off?

Here are five hotel fees that must die.

Resort fees
These add-ons to your room bill started innocently enough. Resort guests complained that they were being nickel-and-dimed by extras for beach towels, umbrellas and the use of exercise facilities, among other things. So the properties rolled them all into a “resort fee” and made those amenities “free.” But along the way, the fee got horribly twisted by greed. First it became mandatory, so you no longer had a choice about using the amenities, or, more specifically, being charged for them. And then larger, urban hotels that didn’t have resort-like amenities, decided to copy it. Before long, resort fees had become an embarrassment to the hotel industry. Guests were being hit with the fees everywhere, causing their room charges to mushroom by $15, $20 or even $30 a night. Unacceptable. It’s time to give resort fees the heave-ho!

How to kill them: No hotel should charge a mandatory resort fee. Ever. If you book a room at a hotel that has one, and it’s clearly disclosed, you have few options. Trying to negotiate your way out of one when you check in is your best bet. However, few resort fees are adequately disclosed. If the hotel refuses to strike the surcharge from your bill, talk to your credit card company. I’ve dealt with several cases in which the fee was refunded directly by a credit card company.

Fees for furniture
The most common flavor of this fee is a surcharge for your safe. (Ironically, the hotel often doesn’t vouch for the safety of the items you store in one.) But that’s not the only item hotels ask you to pay extra for. Corinne McDermott, who runs a Web site about family travel, asked to be put in a room with a refrigerator on a recent visit to Quebec City. The hotel asked for an additional $10-a-day-fee. She said “no.” “We made room in the minibar and managed to fit our daughter’s milk and other snacks inside,” she says. “And we paid extra attention to the check-out receipt, to make sure there were no additional charges.” Billing a guest for furniture that’s already in the room is unconscionable. What’s next, a fee for your bed?

How to kill them: Always ask if there’s an additional fee when you make a special request, like a room with a refrigerator or any other amenity, such as a coffeemaker. (Don’t laugh — I’ve come across hotel guests who were charged extra for their coffeemakers.) If the answer is yes, you can always decline. If you find yourself staring down one of these surcharges at check-out, you should protest — first to the front-desk employee, then to a manager, and finally to your credit-card company.

Concierge, bellhop and housecleaning fees
Believe it or not, some hotels tack on a fee for their bellhops and concierges — two optional services that guests usually pay for with tips. At one hotel, motivational speaker Barry Maher was hit with a mandatory fee for bellhop service. “Never mind the fact that I rolled my own rollerbag to the room and never even saw a bellman,” he says. He also found a fee for housecleaning on his final bill. “Mentioning that I write and speak on customer service got the first fee removed,” he recalls. “But I think I just shrugged and shook my head over the housekeeping fee.” A lot of other hotel guests, do too. What if you don’t pay a fee for cleaning the room? Will they refuse to service your room? Come on.

How to kill them: Common sense is your most effective weapon against these unreasonable fees. Not only are they often improperly disclosed, but they also fly in the face of reason. The cost of your room should include housekeeping. Use of a concierge or bellhop should be optional, not mandatory. Explain to a manager that if they ever want your business again, the fees must be removed. Immediately.

Way-out-there fees
Never underestimate a hotel revenue manager’s creativity. Seriously, these employees sit around all day wondering how to make more money from us. George Webb, a blogger who has been traveling the world, recently encountered an “air conditioning fee” at an airport hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “You paid for it by the hour,” he remembers. “Plus, there was even a service charge and taxes on that fee, in addition to another service charge and tax on the price of the room.” Fees like this shouldn’t exist, and the only reason they do is that guests put up with them. Look, do you really think visitors will tolerate an un-air conditioned room at an airport hotel in Kuala Lumpur? Neither do I. These fees must die.

How to kill them: Logic. Some of these fees are so laughable that you just have to ask about them in order to have them removed.

Fees that ought to be illegal
Leslie Dykeman stayed at a Comfort Inn in Scottsdale, Ariz., and an Econo Lodge in Tempe, Ariz., recently. Both charged a $3 per day “energy fee.” “Mind you, I am from the northeast,” Dykeman added, “and in Scottsdale, I didn’t turn on the air conditioner once.” Some chain hotels were sued several years ago for adding energy fees to their bills, and backed down. But smaller, franchise properties still do it and get away with it. Surcharges like this ought to be illegal, and in some states they practically are. Adding $3 for electricity is outrageous. If these fees are allowed to stand, it can’t be long before we’re charged for pillows, blankets and toilet paper. Enough already.

How to kill them: Like many other nuisance fees, these kinds of surcharges are poorly disclosed. (And for good reason. They work better when they’re sprung on guests.) Given the surprise nature of these bizarre charges, negotiating them off your bill shouldn’t be too difficult.

Point is, at a time like this, you shouldn’t have to put up with any of these fees. A property charging mandatory resort fees, valet fees, safe fees or energy fees doesn’t just hate its customers — it probably also has a death wish.

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David Harm is worried about his wife’s ticket to Omsk, Russia.

When he made her reservation through Aeroflot’s Web site, his finger slipped — “I hit the ‘L’ key instead of the ‘K’ key” — and misspelled his wife’s last name (“Slirtenko” instead of “Skirtenko”).

“I did not realize my error until I received the e-mail and checked the information,” says Harm, who lives in The Hague, Netherlands. “When I called Aeroflot immediately to address the problem, I was told the name can not be changed, and that a note regarding the misspelling was placed in the record and that my wife should have no problem.”

Should Harm be concerned?

His question is hands-down the most common one I get from travelers — not just air travelers, but all travelers — after the Transportation Security Administration’s strict new Secure Flight requirement began going into effect (more on that next week). Although he doesn’t have the TSA to tangle with in Europe, he shares a problem with a lot of Americans.

At a time like this, with governments imposing new security rules, airlines teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and many hotels facing foreclosure, travelers often have more questions than answers. Which is why I thought I’d devote a column answering the most common travel questions, starting with the ticket-name one.

Airlines can change the name on a ticket easily. They choose not to. A reservations agent for a major airline recently e-mailed me, just to let me know. Yes, she confided, a name change is as easy as a keystroke — and yes, our employers don’t let us do it because we can charge good money for the fix.

How generous.

It’s not all bad news, though. An airline can still make a notation on your ticket for free (this only works with typographical errors or easily-recognized mistakes, like flip-flopping the first and last name). Only one domestic airline, Allegiant, actually allows you to change the name on a ticket for free. And if you work through a travel agency, and spot the mistake soon after the reservation is made, your agent may be able to fix the ticket at no extra charge.

Here are some other common questions:

Can I get a refund on a nonrefundable airline ticket?
The short answer is: no. It’s a nonrefundable ticket. But if you inform your airline you won’t be able to fly, you have a year from the time you booked your ticket — not the date of your flight — to use a ticket credit, minus a change fee. This is becoming an increasingly hollow promise, since change fees can be more than the fare, but that’s a topic for another time. One more thing: Airlines sometimes make exceptions to their nonrefundability rules when there’s an emergency, disaster or a death in the family.

Do I need a passport to visit Canada or Mexico?
Yes. Either a passport or a Passport Card, according to the State Department. Get a passport.

Do I have to pay a resort fee at my hotel?
Only the most dishonest hotels charge mandatory resort fees, which supposedly cover everything from an in-room coffeemaker to beach towels. The legit ones don’t, and any surcharges they have are optional. Mandatory resort fees are nothing more than hidden room rate increases, and you shouldn’t put up with that. But pay it? If the fee was clearly disclosed when you booked the room, and again when you checked in, then yes. If it wasn’t disclosed, than I know of a credit card company or two that will be happy to refund your money in a dispute. Resort fees are as troublesome as airline fees, and my advice is the same for both — give the companies that don’t charge them your business.

I missed my cruise. Can I catch the next one?
No. Cruise lines used to be lenient about letting you hop on another cruise if you missed the boat. Not anymore. Check out the cruise contract — the legal agreement between you and your cruise line – and you’ll find that it’s just not gonna happen. Buy travel insurance, or get to port extra early.

How do I get a bereavement fare?
Don’t even try. Bereavement fares used to be offered for airline passengers who had to buy an expensive walk-up fare when a relative died. But business travelers, for whom those walk-up fares were invented, got smart and began claiming they had a death in the family in order to qualify for the reduced prices. So airlines pulled the plug on the special fares. You’re better off trying to bid for a fare on Priceline or Hotwire, or asking your travel agent for an inexpensive consolidator fare.

My travel insurance claim was turned down because of a pre-existing medical condition. What now?
Ah, the old pre-existing condition loophole! Most travel insurance companies have a clause in their contracts that says if you had a condition before your trip, and it caused a cancellation, they won’t pay your claim. It’s sneaky and unfair, because a claims adjuster doesn’t have to be particularly insightful to find something in your past medical history to give the insurance company an excuse to turn down your claim. But don’t lose hope. On appeal, more than 90 percent of travel insurance denials are overturned in your favor. So it pays to ask an insurance company again.

I’ve spent hours on the phone with my travel company, and I’m not getting anywhere. What do I do?
Send an e-mail. Airlines, hotels and car rental companies outsource their call centers to countries where no one speaks English, or where the English they speak can’t be understood by anyone here. E-mails can be escalated to someone in the States — and those get real results. (Here are some customer service contacts.)

Can a car rental company charge me for damage I’m not responsible for?
Yes. But it needs to prove the damage occurred while you were renting the car and that they paid for the repairs afterward. And that can be difficult. Most bills from car rental companies don’t show anything, and neither do their follow-up letters. If you copy the state insurance commissioner on your replies that politely inquire about your responsibility, chances are your car rental company will give up and find someone else to bother.

Is it safe to visit Mexico?
Sorta. You’ll want to avoid parts of Michoacán and Chihuahua, according to the State Department. But that destination wedding you had planned for Cancun? The biggest threat to your safety will probably be alcohol poisoning.

Can I call 911 if my flight is stuck on the tarmac and I want to get off?
I wouldn’t. Tarmac delays are a small but serious problem. While Congress hasn’t come to the aid of travelers, the Department of Transportation has. Last month, DOT ordered airlines to let people off planes delayed on the tarmac after three hours. In other words, calling 911 or faking a heart attack is plain unnecessary now that the Obama administration has finally acted. Additionally, pilots and flight attendants want to get off the plane just as badly as you do — after all, they’re still at work. A 911 call will only confuse the issue. You’re better off letting flight crews and government oversight do its jobs. And if you’re stuck for more than three hours, phone the airline, airport, DOT — or your favorite reporter. Similar Posts:

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It used to be so simple: The price you were quoted for an airline ticket, rental car or cruise used to be the price you actually paid.

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Today, the rate you’re given is almost never the final price. It’s considerably more.

Travel companies stripped away many of the items that used to come with their products and began charging extra for them. They insist these fare games are legal, which, by and large, they are.

But does that make them right? It depends on your perspective.

As a business, the answer is often “yes” — they’re following a mathematical model that assures they’re making more money while only upsetting the customers who are expendable. But as a traveler, these practices — euphemistically referred to as “unbundling” and “a la carte pricing” — are unconscionable.

But don’t take my word for it. Talk with Arizona State University’s Marianne Jennings, a renowned business ethicist. She says there are two reason companies go a la carte. “It makes them more profitable,” she says, “and it’s not as transparently comparable with competitors’ flat fares.”

In other words, unbundling confuses customers and makes travel companies more money. Maybe it makes companies more money because it’s confusing.

There is a way to avoid this a la carte anarchy. But let’s define our terms first. What do customers expect from prices?

Airline ticket. When travelers pull up a price quote, they expect their ticket to cover the basics. They want to be able to pay for it with a credit card, and it should include the cost of a carry-on bag and a checked bag. Soft drinks and snacks on a longer flight. Ideally, it would also include taxes and all fees, including any fuel surcharges.

Car rental. Rates should include all taxes and government surcharges, plus those annoying stadium fees. Also, travelers don’t care about the cost to the car rental company of renting facilities or providing transportation to and from the airport terminal. Ditto for license plates and tire disposal. It should all be included.

Cruise. If it’s billed as an “all-inclusive” cruise, it should include everything. If not, passengers expect basic room and meals. Soft drinks shouldn’t cost more. The best food on the ship should be designated as “premium,” forcing those on a budget to eat gruel. No surprises. And no mandatory tips, please.

Hotel. When travelers go price shopping, they expect no gotchas, such as mandatory parking fees or so-called “resort” fees. It’s not that they want these fees to be disclosed before, during or after the transaction — it’s that they don’t want them. Period. They expect their room will have a bed and a daily change of linen, and that having the room serviced won’t cost extra. Ideally, it would also include taxes, particularly any state- or county-imposed bed taxes.

Just as important, there are items that shouldn’t be a part of the price. For example, insurance for rental cars, or restaurant meals at a hotel or spa treatments on a cruise ship. Travelers expect these items to be priced separately, and you’ll get no argument from me on that.

But that isn’t the direction the travel industry is moving in. In fact, according to Mike Simonetto, the principal and global leader of Deloitte Consulting’s pricing and profitability practice, travel companies are inching closer to a “zero” fare, in which the base price is free and everything is added on to it. “Free is not necessarily bad,” he told me. “If you think of the comp model in Vegas, you’re getting the room for free, but [the resort is] making money from gambling.” You can read my entire interview with Simonetto here.

Given that travel companies want to unbundle more, not less, and given the fact that they don’t care what we think, what are we to do?

Buy travel that’s bundled
I’m not just talking about booking a ticket on Southwest Airlines or JetBlue Airways, two of the a la carte holdouts. Online travel agencies like Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia offer packages that wrap airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars into one convenient and inexpensive package. That can save you money, because agencies are buying the items in bulk and then marking them up, but still undercutting the normal price. What’s more, they can include amenities or activities that would otherwise be sold a la carte.

Complain when something is unbundled without disclosure
You don’t have to look too hard to find a hotel that charges a mandatory resort fee or a car rental company that insists you buy its overpriced insurance before you can leave with one of its vehicles. And finding one that doesn’t tell you before you show up is not too difficult, either. Any fees that are required must be quoted as part of the price before you make a booking decision. When confronted with a customer who has that information, a company will almost always cave in and remove the charges. They know these a la carte fees are wrong, after all.

Avoid the worst unbundlers
I could name names — Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Air and AirTran Airways come to mind — but why bother? The worst offenders are perfectly obvious to anyone from the moment they log on to the company’s Web site or call their reservation number. They’re the ones that charge “convenience” fees for using your credit card to pay for the ticket. Or that make you pay another fee for a confirmed seat reservation. Come on! If that’s not nickel and diming, then what is? Still wondering which companies I’m talking about? Here’s a recent list that might be helpful.

Just say ‘no’
What do you say when an airline demands an extra $15 for a “confirmed” seat reservation? What do you tell it when it asks you to shell out more money to check in luggage? You say “no.” You pack a bigger carry-on or you ship it. You accept the middle seat when you get to the airport. But you’ve done a commendable thing. You’ve denied the airline its so-called “ancillary” revenue opportunity, and if enough people say “no” then the airline won’t see a point in charging for these items a la carte. Don’t believe me? Talk to US Airways, which reversed its unpopular decision to charge $2 for soft drinks.

Go elite
If you’re a frequent flier, renter or hotel guest, you’re better off concentrating your business on one company to qualify for an elite designation. Why? Because companies let their elites off easy when it comes to fees, waiving everything from checked baggage charges to fees for making reservations. But don’t drink too much of the Kool-Aid, otherwise you’ll start doing foolish things like taking mileage runs and making unnecessary credit card purchases to rack up more miles — miles you’ll either never be able to redeem or that will expire before you can.

Is there a better way to quote a price than to offer a ridiculously low or “zero” fare and then pile on the extras? Sure. If travel companies quoted a reasonable price and allowed us to uncheck any of the options at the time of purchase, I can’t imagine anyone opposing that kind of a la carting. The technology exists to let us do it, but travel companies don’t want to because they believe it could put them at a competitive disadvantage and they believe there’s more money to be made from confusing us.

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Carolyn Fletcher’s honeymoon started heading south the moment she and her husband landed in Cancun. No one was there to pick up the newlyweds.

It took an hour for her to convince a van service to deliver them to their hotel. But when they checked into their four-star resort in Akumal, they discovered it was a “a two-star, at best,” she remembers.

“The grounds were unkempt and there was trash everywhere,” she said. “Our room smelled of mildew. I sat down on the bed to cry, only to find the sheets and mattress wet from the moisture and mildew. There was mold growing on the curtains, the walls and the furniture.”

Why am I telling you about Fletcher’s post-nuptial nightmare? Because she booked it online.

Some vacations should never be booked through anyone but a travel agent, and a honeymoon is arguably one of them. But there are others, too, as travelers like Fletcher are discovering.

A recent Forrester Research study suggests there’s something of a backlash when it comes to booking travel online. It concludes 15 percent fewer travelers will use the Web in 2009, compared with two years ago — a finding that comforts many travel agents who previously saw themselves on the endangered list.

(People have gotten a little carried away with the Forrester study, though. One headline writer suggested online booking might be the “worst part” of the trip. Right. That would be the flight, actually.)

It’s little consolation to Fletcher and her husband. “While most people will remember their honeymoon with happy memories, ours are filled with disparagement, frustration and regret,” she adds.

In trying to figure out when you shouldn’t book online, I thought I’d ask someone who works for an online travel agency. I put the question to Ginny Mahl, Travelocity’s vice president of sales and customer service. “There is still a place for traditional travel agents, particularly those that have carved out a niche, like adventure travel,” she said. “Depending upon the traveler and their needs, a face-to-face meeting with such a consultant could be wise.”

Of course, she adds, “higher fees will apply.”

Of course.

So when should you not book on the Internet? Here are seven kinds of trips.

1. Cruising
Travel agents remain your best bet for a floating vacation. Why? Two main reasons: First, cruise lines give travel agencies access to special deals that you probably won’t find anywhere else. And second, because a cruise can get complicated. There are airline tickets that have to be bought, hotel rooms to be booked, shore excursions and lots of options on the ship. “Often, cruise agents will book group space on popular sailings, which often entitle them to offer their clients bonus items — onboard money to spend, champagne toasts, discounted deposits and more,” says cruise expert Carmen Shirkey. “Plus, because they’ve booked space on the best cruises, other sites may tell you that there’s no availability, when a cruise agent can get you onboard, no problem.”

2. Traveling around the world
An around-the-the-world itinerary is usually far more complex than a straight-up roundtrip airline ticket. Never mind the hotel arrangements and activities you’ll want to plan. Travel agents are best suited to these kinds of vacations. Blogger and frequent traveler Steven Frischling has taken several around-the-world trips for business. “Last year, in a 3 1/2- day span, I photographed jobs in Philadelphia, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Incheon — departing from and returning to Providence,” he says. “There was no online booking engine that would allow this itinerary.”

3. When you don’t have the time
If you work with a travel agent who knows your preferences, you might consider outsourcing the research for your next vacation. “If you’re a busy professional with no interest in doing the research and would rather be dreaming about sipping a Caipirinha on Copacabana beach than doing all the legwork to get there, why not work with an agent?” says Patricia Pinkney, who works for an artisan jewelry retailer. “In this case, they save time rather than money, but ultimately that may be more valuable to them.”

4. If you’re uncomfortable with the Inter-Web
If you’re reading this article online, this probably doesn’t apply to you. Karina Goldrajch, the co-founder of GenMobi Technologies, a security company, says people should stay away from booking online if they’ve never done it before, and particularly if their next trip is a special event, like an anniversary or honeymoon (see Fletcher’s story for more on that). But even if you’ve booked on the Web before, you should think twice before doing it again. “If you think that the Web site looks fishy, or something looks too good, it probably is,” she says.

5. Traveling internationally
A weekend in London is one thing. However, if you’re headed off to a country whose name you can’t pronounce, you probably need to stay off the computer — at least when you book. Find a travel professional that specializes in the place you’re going. Tonya Fitzpatrick, who hosts a travel radio show, learned that when she tried to help a family member and her companion after they booked a trip to Costa Rica online. “An international trip is a different animal,” she said. “At the end of the day they incurred more expenses because they booked online.”

6. Doing something exotic
This is for the trips that aren’t for everyone, such as sailing up the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, as the people who book Maureen Gordon’s Maple Leaf Adventures packages do. (Imagine climbing over the rail of a schooner into a zodiac to go bear-watching.) “When we speak to someone on the phone, we can make sure a trip is right for them,” she says. “And when you’re sharing 92-feet in the wilderness with eight others, plus guides, you want to know everyone around you is happy.”

7. Special events
A honeymoon, anniversary or class reunion falls into this category. But mostly, a honeymoon. “Engaged couples have enough to worry about,” said John Peters, the president of Tripology, a New York referral service for travel agents. “A honeymoon is a time where you need to be looked after, not when you should be worrying about yet another item on a to-do list that’s much too long to begin with.” An agent can make sure your vacation is as close to perfect as it can be, from start to finish. A travel professional can also make sure you’ve booked the right vacation.

Wondering if you should consult with a travel agent before your next vacation? There are some who think it’s always a good idea to phone a travel pro first. Sheryl Kayne, author of the book “Volunteer Vacations Across America,” said you should “never book online” before checking first with an agent — and that’s especially true of anyone considering a volunteer vacation, which, like a cruise, can get more complex than other trips. “You also don’t want to book a trip before knowing all of the requirements and conditions of the trip.”

Me? I’m not so convinced. I’d turn to a travel agent if I were going somewhere special for a family reunion and didn’t have the time to plan the whole thing. But travel agents aren’t charities, and they make almost nothing on a simple point-to-point airline ticket.

Yes, there are a few trips I can’t imagine planning through anyone except a travel pro. For the rest, I fire up my laptop computer.

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Waiting. That’s the worst mistake a traveler can make these days.

It’s what Femi Adenuga did after buying tickets for his parents to fly from Lagos to Pittsburgh through Travelocity. “A week after the purchase, while e-mailing the itinerary to my dad, my eye caught a single letter error in my mother’s first name,” said Adenuga, a college student. He contacted Travelocity, which got in touch with Delta Air Lines, which urged him to cancel the ticket and buy a new one.

Delta’s official ticket name policy, outlined on its site, is abundantly unclear: “In general, Delta and Northwest do not allow a name to be changed on an existing PNR.” (A PNR is shorthand for Passenger Name Record, which is a fancy way to describe your itinerary.)

In general?

I can think of lots of exceptions, including this memorable case involving a canceled destination wedding and a ticket that needed to be changed for obvious reasons. But I digress.

Adenuga shouldn’t have waited to review the names on his tickets. As I’ve mentioned a time or two, many travel agencies can change a ticket name if the error is caught quickly. A week later, you’re pretty much at the mercy of your airline.

I’m dedicating this column to travel mistakes, a topic will be familiar to anyone who reads this feature or follows my misadventures as National Geographic Traveler magazine’s ombudsman. I haven’t collected all of my favorite travel errors in a single column in a while, and the industry has changed. Not necessarily for the better, I might add.

Travelocity tried to help Adenuga, to no avail. Delta refused to change one letter, instead telling the online agency it would “make a notation” in the record, but adding that it couldn’t guarantee authorities would allow his mother into the country. Based on that advice, Adenuga bought a new ticket, and Delta issued a voucher for the amount of the first ticket.

Can you say “absurd”?

So here it is: Review every reservation you make online or offline immediately. If there’s a problem, speak up. Airlines that refuse to make reasonable name change to correct an obvious typographical error — well, that’s a topic for another time. Let’s just say these are not nice people and leave it at that, for now.

What other kinds of mistake should you avoid when you travel?

Not inspecting your rental car when you pick it up
When Alan Chim rented a car from Thrifty in Montreal, he didn’t notice any damage to his vehicle in the dark garage. But no employee was there to sign off on the car. “On return, the agent inspected the vehicle and noticed a tiny scratch on the front driver-side door,” he told me. “The attendant made me fill out an incident report and said I’d be hearing back within three to six weeks.” (Its damage claim against him is still pending as I write this.) This mistake is relatively easy to avoid. Find someone who works for the car rental company and ask for a sign-off. Note any damage, even the smallest dent or scratch. Here’s some good news: Hertz just began a program to start taking pre-rental pictures of its cars. You might consider getting a snapshot of your vehicle, too.

Not buying insurance for your cruise
Lisa Olson missed her Carnival cruise because of an airline delay. “We did call before the cruise departed to see if there was any other cruise leaving around the same time that we could change to, and there was not, so we had to cancel,” she told me. At that point, Olson could have made a claim on her travel insurance — if she had it. She didn’t.

Every day, I get e-mails from readers like her, wondering if the cruise line will cut them any slack or at least credit them for a future cruise. They almost never do. They could, but the most common cruise line argument I hear against it is that it “undermines” the highly-profitable travel insurance that cruise lines sell with their product. Which brings me to another point: Shop around before buying cancellation insurance. Get a few quotes before settling on a policy. The insurance your cruise line recommends may not be the best product for you.

Staying at a hotel with a resort fee
Tabby Stone found himself at one recently: Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, where he was attending a conference. The mandatory $4.99-a-night fee supposedly covered phone calls, in-room bottled water and “additional inclusions” (whatever that is). “When I asked why the fee wasn’t just part of the base rate, since it was mandatory, the clerk replied that the management makes it a separate fee because if it’s part of the base rate they have to pay a commission on it,” he says. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t give your business to a hotel that charges a mandatory resort fee. It’s like feeding the pigeons. They’ll keep coming back for more.

Using a credit card that charges foreign transaction fees
Take a good look at your credit card. Check the fine print in your cardmember agreement. Does it charge a “foreign transaction fee”? Many do. No, I’m not talking about a foreign exchange fee, a dubious surcharge that covers the cost of exchanging dollars into other currencies. Those have been replaced by foreign transaction fees.

One reader booked airline tickets from Mumbai to New York through Qatar Airways on Expedia. But when his Citibank credit card bill arrived, it contained a surprise $44 transaction fee. Why? Because Qatar Airways was not based in the United States, even though the transaction took place entirely in dollars. The best way to avoid a foreign transaction surprise is to use a card like Capital One, which not only doesn’t impose any transaction fees, but also absorbs the 1 percent fee that Visa or MasterCard charges it for a cross-border transaction. There’s no telling what other fees credit card companies will come up with in the future, but for now, this one is certainly among the most creative.

So that’s my top five list. What’s yours? What mistakes have you made while you’re traveling? (Send me an e-mail and I’ll include your responses in a future column).

But before I sign off this week, a word to the readers I mentioned in this story: You are in good company. Every week, I get dozens of calls and e-mails with identical problems. I’ve made all of these mistakes — every one of them — too. So don’t feel singled out.

There’s no better way to learn than to make a mistake. Or two.

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