Commentary

Elliott Advocacy is a nonprofit organization that mediates cases between consumers and businesses. These are commentary articles that detail our efforts and provide educational information for consumers.

Basic economy airfares are getting complicated. And that's leaving many travelers wondering if they should completely just avoid basic economy airfares.

Should you avoid basic economy airfares?

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Basic economy class airfares are getting complicated. And that’s leaving many travelers wondering if they should completely avoid basic economy airfares.

Sue Elwell is one of those travelers. She’s planning to visit her mother in Albany, N.Y., and is unhappy with the restrictions on the lowest-priced basic economy class tickets. On American Airlines, passengers with these tickets are allowed no upgrades or schedule changes, they’re the last to board and they’re not assigned seats until they check in.

Edd Vinci has an expensive Ritz-Carlton problem. He canceled his reservation within the allowable time. So where is that refund?

Help! I want this $261 Ritz-Carlton problem to disappear.

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A day isn’t 24 hours. More like 41 hours, as Edd Vinci discovered when he had a Ritz-Carlton problem involving a cancellation and Expedia.

Some hotels allow you to cancel a reservation up to 24 hours before your arrival without penalty. So Vinci, who had booked a night at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Tucson, believed he had plenty of time when he canceled his stay a full 41 hours before his arrival.

He was wrong.

At first, Beverly Parker's Greyhound bus problem looked like a slam dunk case. Valuables had gone missing from her checked bags. But then I kept reading.

This Greyhound bus problem is an expensive travel lesson

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At first, Beverly Parker’s Greyhound bus problem looked like a slam dunk case. Valuables had gone missing from her checked luggage during a recent trip from Birmingham, Ala., to Albion, Mich. And Greyhound wasn’t exactly breaking a land speed record to help her. But then I read the details of her request, and a simple case suddenly became complicated. It wasn’t the $150,000 claim amount that fazed me. My computer adds a few extra characters if I don’t release the zero key fast enough. I was certain that was a typo.It was everything else.