It’s no secret the airline industry wants you to pay extra for everything. And I really mean everything.
The Travel Critic
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.
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”).
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.
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 [...]
Waiting. That’s the worst mistake a traveler can make these days.
Steph Ulyett’s airline ticket should have said “Stephanie” of course, but she’s always gone by Steph, so that’s the name her partner typed into Expedia when he reserved their flights to Chicago.
This was supposed to be a feel-good column for the holidays, where I asked readers what kind of presents they wanted from the travel industry, and all of the resulting good tidings left us warm and fuzzy. And then I talked with you.
I’m not sure how a fully inflated beach ball got in my hotel room. The ornamental blue vase next to the flat-screen TV? Not entirely certain about that, either. But shortly after we checked in for the weekend, the two met. My four-year-old son couldn’t wait to get to the beach so he could play [...]
Ask Suzy Bennett how she’s approaching the 2009 holiday travel season, and she’ll tell you she isn’t.
These are hard times for clothing-optional travelers.
Like a tie for dad, a kitchen appliance for mom, or socks for the kids, there’s no shortage of holiday gift clichés for travelers. Wheeled luggage, ticket holders and inflatable pillows come to mind.
Don’t drink and fly. Words to live by, not just if you’re a pilot, but if you’re a passenger. Sandra Langer explains why: On a recent trip from Amsterdam to New York, she watched a good number of her fellow passengers get hammered. “Red-faced men blocked the aisles, puked in the bathroom and groped the [...]
Ask Bonnie Friedman about her worst customer service experience, and she won’t hesitate to tell you about the time she checked in for her flight from Venice to Frankfurt.
Thinking of throwing a tantrum the next time things don’t go your way when you travel? Consider what happened to Gary Zeune before you do.
The thought of spending 11 hours in a locked and upright position didn’t put Elyse Weiner in a good mood. But you wouldn’t have known it.
From the outside, the Puerto Rican inn that Pablo Solomon checked into looked like it belonged on the cover of a slick vacation brochure. The landscaping seemed immaculate, the lawn was freshly trimmed, and the pool an inviting shade of blue.
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.
The travel industry wants you back. But before you say “yes,” listen to Laura Salisbury, a teacher from San Jose, Calif. She mistakenly typed the wrong return date when she booked a vacation for her and her mother through Expedia. “All I wanted to do was give my mom a trip of a lifetime to [...]
