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.
It happened to Andy Lundberg when he was flying recently from Kansas City to Baltimore on Southwest Airlines. A Transportation Security Administration screener pointed him to the PreCheck line, where he waited behind a dozen other frequent travelers with the agency’s trusted traveler designation.
Even though Jon Look is a frequent traveler, he always leaves home without one thing.
“I have never purchased a travel insurance policy,” admits Look, a retired photographer. “It adds expense and complications and rarely pays off.”
Traveling without insurance? Yep, most Americans still do it, and some of them with good reason. Because not everyone needs insurance and some people wouldn’t be able to use it even if they bought it.
As it turns out, there are times when you’ll want to skip that insurance policy. It may not be as often as you think, but it happens.
You probably know what Melanie Frazier felt like when she recently tried to book a flight from Portland, Maine, to Atlanta.
It was a random thought at the end of a recent column about unfriendly TSA agents. “I wonder if the rude agent is a reflection of an even ruder traveler,” mused David Kazarian, a pharmacist from Tampa.
It started a debate with a real purpose.
When it comes to fees and surcharges, hotel guests are wondering: What’s next?
Mandatory “resort fees” mushroomed last year, even as hotels added new charges for all kinds of things, including cancellations and late checkouts. With pressure to squeeze even more profit from customers, you don’t have to be an industry insider to see where this is going.
Yes, your travel insurance policy can be canceled.
Maybe no one bothered to tell you. Maybe your travel insurance company and your travel agent want you to think your money’s gone. But maybe, just maybe, it isn’t.
After Talor Min’s husband dies during a trip to Malaysia, she files a claim with her travel insurance companies for the repatriation of his remains. One year later, she’s still trying to get her money back.
If you’re looking for a new car, here’s a little advice from your fellow travelers: Take your time. I mean, really take your time. Test drive the vehicle a few extra miles, or hundreds of miles, to make sure the designers didn’t take the day off when they signed off.
I’m not being cute. Some of today’s cars are so thoughtlessly designed that they leave travelers cramped and annoyed. If you’re planning to take a lengthy road trip this spring or summer, you don’t want to be stuck in one of these uncomfortable cars.
Think you need travel insurance? Think again.
You might require something else — either a specialized insurance product that protects only one aspect of your trip, or something that isn’t insurance at all.
Call it “alt” insurance.
No, we’re not about to get political. Alt insurance is real and it can protect you regardless of ideological leanings. Sometimes, it isn’t insurance at all, but a different form of protection.
It’s not our fault.
You’ve probably heard that line a time or two, especially from your airline, hotel or cruise line. It’s the old “Act of God” excuse — or to put it in less theological terms, an event “beyond our control.”
