Here’s a story that might have a familiar ring: Sue Clark was planning a theme park vacation for her family in Orlando when she found an affordable rate at Disney’s upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
AIRLINE
Air travel isn’t what it used to be. Many of the items that were once included in the price of your ticket have been “unbundled” — including the ability to make a seat reservation, airline meals, and the first checked bag (unless you’re flying on Southwest or JetBlue). This weekend, I’d like to know which [...]
Mariana Damon thought she had booked a ticket for her son to fly home for Christmas when she called Travelocity.
Sommer Gentry had plans to fly from Baltimore to Charlotte next month. But after she heard about the TSA’s invasive new scanning and pat-down procedures, she decided to cancel.
Someone apparently forgot to tell Virgin America about that whole deregulation thing.
Here’s something you don’t see every day: A $30,000 government fine against a company called City Skies for operating an airline without economic authority from the Transportation Department.
The results of our weekend survey are in, and they’re a little bit of a bombshell. I asked you to name your least favorite major domestic airline, and the fact that US Airways won is no surprise.
Why do surveys always want your to name the best companies to do business with? What we really want to know is: Who’s the worst?
So they’re getting rid of first class, are they? At least that’s what our friends in the traditional media are reporting.
Yes, but hardly.
You probably don’t want to know. But companies are now routinely charging customers a fee (most of it is pure profit to them) to pay their bills. The latest, reports the Los Angeles Times, is a fee to pay a Verizon phone bill.
Will the company with the worst customer service please stand up?
Whose slots are they, anyway?
Free drinks. Room upgrades. Better restaurants. That’s what the travel industry thinks you want from your next travel experience.
on a recent flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix on US Airways, Sarah Andrus left her jacket underneath the seat in front of her. “It was a gift from a friend and unique,” recalled Andrus, a director for an Olean, N.Y.-based manufacturing company. “I called the airline with low expectations of recovering my jacket, but I thought I’d give it a try.”
Apart from a few soundbites, the airline position on fees hasn’t been fully articulated. So I asked an airline to do just that.
What does “You get what you pay for” mean?
Here’s a fascinating graphic from our friend Bob Herbst, who shares a few numbers about airline ticket prices that might make you wish for the good ol’ pre-deregulation days, when airlines competed on service, not price.
The following exercise is highly unscientific, journalistically questionable, yet somewhat entertaining. In trying to determine which industry is socking to travelers with fees in the worst possible way, it’s down to two contenders: airlines and hotels.
