It’s no secret the airline industry wants you to pay extra for everything. And I really mean everything.
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Royce Smith planned to visit Sydney during spring break to attend an arts festival and work on a book, when he found an unbelievably good fare on American Airlines’ Web site: A round-trip ticket from Wichita to Sydney for just $1,198. In first class.
Julianna Lipschutz cancels her British Airways flight when her father falls ill. He eventually dies, and Lipschutz is left with the hope that the airline will refund her nonrefundable ticket. But a year later, there’s still no refund. Is the airline going to keep her money?
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.
Here’s a deeply troubling trend: Hotels, eager to lift their historically low earnings, are introducing more “nonrefundable” rates. Guests often have no choice but to pay them.
This weekend’s snowstorm in the eastern United States shut down several major airports and stranded tens of thousands of airline passengers. Most flights are operating normally this morning, but there’s always the trip home. I asked Howard Altschule, a meteorologist with Forensic Weather Consultants, what to do when weather threatens to ground your next flight.
Alexi Huntley Khajavi is the chief marketing officer for NatureAir, a small airline that serves destinations in Costa Rica and Panama. Your NatureAir flight comes with an unusual guarantee: It won’t leave a carbon footprint. I asked Khajavi to explain.
Good news, fellow travelers: The worst of the travel downturn may be over.
Go on, ask your airline for a favor — maybe an upgrade to business class or a waiver on a ticket change fee. While you’re at it, see whether your hotel will offer you a suite for the price of a standard room.
Robert Herbst runs the Web site AirlineFinancials.com, which has provided some of the more memorable and controversial airline analysis for this site and many other media outlets. Herbst is a pilot for a major airline — I agreed not to mention it in this interview, but his employer has been disclosed elsewhere — and has been crunching airline numbers for many years. He flies Boeing 767 and 757 aircraft in the United States, where you’re likely to find him on southern routes during the winter months.
Ever wished there was a law that forces airlines to disclose all extras on their tickets? Right up front. While you’re shopping for flights.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) apparent does, so he’s proposed bill that would do just that. The Clear Airfares Act of 2009 would ensure that before passengers are required to submit personal or [...]
And they were not tears of joy at having found a bargain. Elizabeth Hutton’s mother, Mary Ellyn, bought a round trip ticket from Cincinnati to Tallinn, Estonia, with stopovers in Newark and Stockholm. But something was wrong with the reservation, and she had to pay for another flight.
Beware of the airline seatback cops. They recently nabbed Cheryl Smith, and they could be coming for you.
Llouellynde Orahood’s flight from Los Angeles to Dallas has all the makings of a trip from hell, including weather delays, cancellations and almost-missed flights. What could be worse? Having to pay again for the same tickets. Now, neither the airlines nor her online travel agency is willing to help her recover the money she should have never had to spend. Is there any hope for a refund?
On second thought, maybe you should leave home without it.
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