All this recent talk of cookies and computer algorithms would have you believe an airline website can read your mind. That’s apparently what Christine Fernandez thought when she clicked on the Swiss site a few weeks ago.
CANCEL
Like millions of other Americans, Yvonne Chan is planning a road trip this summer. She and a friend decided it might be a good idea to get a AAA membership — they’re both students — so they signed up through the organization’s site.
Gennaro Ottomanelli and his wife were left left high and dry when his riverboat cruise was canceled at the last minute. His AAA travel agent offered two choices: Either cancel his vacation or go on the substitute bus tour. He decided to stay home, hoping to get a refund.
Flight schedules change. It’s a simple fact of life in the air.
For Carol Margolis, it was an almost-ruptured eardrum.
Debbie Gitlan’s Thanksgiving flights, which she booked last March on Spirit Airlines, kept getting rescheduled to the point where she couldn’t take the trip anymore.
When Sue Koopman cancels her vacation, her friend is presented with a bill for a $375 single supplement. If she doesn’t pay it immediately, the tour operator threatens to cancel her vacation. Can it do that? And is there any hope for getting a refund of the $375 fee after it’s paid?
Charles McGovern clicked on the wrong Days Inn property when he booked a room to attend his grandson’s high school graduation in Richmond, Va. He assumed the hotel chain would transfer his reservation to the right hotel. He assumed wrong.
If airlines can redefine the meaning of a day, then why can’t hotels? At least one of them is, according to reader Catena Fugazotto. She recently booked two rooms at a Super 8 in Norwich, NY, for her daughter’s graduation. She was told she could cancel either one if she called within 24 hours of her stay. Trouble is, they couldn’t agree on when her stay actually begins.
Diane Stephany loses her Amtrak tickets. But instead of replacing them, the company wants to charge her for new ones. Can it do that? And what are her options for a refund?
When a blizzard bears in on St. Cloud, Minn., Bonnie Polk asks a manager at the Ramada if she can cancel her reservation. Yes, she’s told. But a few days later, her credit card is billed and the hotel refuses to give her a refund. Is she out of luck?
Mariah Nunn has been a loyal American Express cardmember for the last quarter century. When she heard the line, “Don’t leave home without it,” she took it to mean Amex would never leave her either, especially when she was out of the country. But she was wrong.
If you’re nervous about the recent swine flu outbreak and want to cancel an upcoming vacation to Mexico, you might want to read this before calling your travel agent.
Airline rules are relatively uniform when it comes to canceled flights. You’re owed either a full refund or a flight of the carrier’s choice — but no fare adjustment. But what if the replacement flight costs less than the original one?
It’s no secret that hotels are tightening their rules to lift faltering earnings. But how far will the lodging industry go to bring in more money? If you said “too far” then you must have read Matt Holly’s mind.
Airlines are not the only ones getting creative with fees. One hotel now offers optional “deposit protection” that turns your nonrefundable room deposit into a fully refundable one.
