If you ever want to feel confused, outraged and powerless all at the same time, just read your cruise line’s ticket contract.
CONTRACT
On second thought, maybe Haroldy Woods should have paid full fare for her train ticket from Frankfurt to Passau, Germany.
As a lawyer, Sam Wyrick is no stranger to fine print. So when Spirit Airlines canceled his flight during its recent strike, he did what any respectable attorney would do: He read Spirit’s contract of carriage, the legal agreement between the airline and its passengers.
When Pina Belfiore-Benvenuto’s bags were lost on a recent flight from New York to Paris, the missing contents included a digital camera and a watch — two items that her airline’s contract of carriage exclude from liability. And to absolutely no one’s surprise, her carrier told her she was out of luck. Maybe it shouldn’t have.
Let’s say your cruise is cut short by the outbreak of a gastrointestinal virus. You spend most of your vacation quarantined in your cabin. Should you pay for it?
The travel industry loves to “forget” important facts about its products, whether it’s a critical airfare rule or an important paragraph in a cruise contract. And yes, these clauses are getting crazier. No surprise, then, that travel companies are being less upfront about them.
When Karen Kernohan discovers part of her flight from Calgary to Rome is missing, British Airways claims “extraordinary circumstances” are to blame and refuses to compensate her. Is she really out of luck?
When Jerry Leonard and his wife transfer from their cruise ship to a train, they give Princess their luggage, which includes a bottle of Cognac. The luggage is lost and later found, but the cruise line confiscates the Cognac. Should it replace the bottle – or is he out of luck?

Elliott is consumer advocate
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