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Beth Warner has a complaint I hear too often: “Delta downgraded me on my flight.” To make matters worse, she’s in a wheelchair. And to make matters even worse, they seated her next to a bathroom. Does she deserve some kind of refund?
Barbara Lawrence and her husband fly to Paris on Air France from Boston. They pay extra for premium economy seats because they want to get a good night’s sleep on the overnight flight. Alas, their seats don’t recline, but an Air France ticket agent in Boston tells them the airline will knock 20 percent off the ticket price to make amends for the broken seats. So where’s the discount they were promised?
Catherine Schevon buys a ticket to Europe that involves multiple airlines and a code-share. But when her return to the U.S. is tripped up by a system glitch, she gets “we’ll fix it” promises that prove hollow. Can our advocates cut through the fog of finger-pointing?
Should you tip your flight attendant? For such a commonly asked question, the answer is anything but simple.
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. Michael and Karen Ireland made plans for a trip to Europe, where they would travel for nearly a month in Italy, England, Ireland and France. Instead, it became the kind of trip they’ll spend the rest of their life trying to forget. Their story is a cautionary tale about self-booking and insurance. Ignore it at your own peril.
What would you do to save money on airfare? Or to avoid paying a passport application fee? If you said, “smuggle my baby onto a plane” then maybe you heard about a passenger who allegedly did just that a flight from Istanbul to Paris last week.
Being an airline executive ain’t what it used to be. Air France executives literally lost their shirts after the company laid its cards on the table, revealing layoffs that will leave thousands jobless.
Evelyn Tachau-Brown probably deserves something after her recent Delta Air Lines flight. But what?
Air France is holding $2,400 of Daniel Jean-Jacques money for a fully refundable ticket. Why won’t it surrender the money?
Lisa and Wayne Roccaforte felt lucky to have premium economy class seats on their recent Air France flight from Paris
When kids misbehave on a plane, adults like to play the blame game. Who’s responsible for the little brats: the
To fly from San Francisco to Paris last month, Kenneth Cook forked over 100,00 miles and paid a $194 fee 10 months before his scheduled flight. The routing wasn’t ideal — it sent him via Denver and Frankfurt, but for that, he was getting choice seats in the front of the plane.
Brian Lee and Alisha Singh were looking forward to their Air France flight the same way all of us used to anticipate flying, and a few of us still do.
David Ludt’s flight to Strasbourg is delayed because of a mechanical problem and then canceled because of weather. Now Air France is refusing his ticket refund request. Is he out of luck?
Here’s a question that came to me by way of the Monday afternoon Washington Post chat on travel (and by the way, if you haven’t dropped in to ask a question, please do). Karen Luong booked her honeymoon flights from Baltimore to Naples, Italy through Orbitz in mid-June. She received reservation number from the online agency, but hasn’t been charged yet.
At what point in the ticket refund game do you say “enough”? After a year? Two years? Or is it the amount of hassle that makes you throw your hands in the air in exasperation?
Next time you fly, keep your boarding pass. Especially if you collect frequent flier miles. And especially if your airline is playing the codeshare game.
Airlines are really getting carried away with these luggage fees. Last week, I noted that carriers are effectively demanding a ransom in exchange for transporting our personal property. I suggested they might try being more upfront about their fares.
Here’s an important footnote to the airline industry’s year from hell. A closer look at the Transportation Department’s 2007 report card shows some carriers were likelier to lose your luggage, deny you boarding, get you to your destination late and provoke a written complaint. And some airlines were above it all.