The Travel Troubleshooter

The Travel Troubleshooter is a weekly consumer column that solves travel problems. Missing cruise refunds, lousy airline service, car rental surcharges — it’s all fair game for this feature. Each story presents a problem and fixes it in a quick Q&A format.

Illustration of a worried couple beside a yellow rental car with its hood up on a snowy Alpine road, the man on his phone for roadside help as a man in lederhosen inspects the dead engine.

Help! Alamo charged me $1,000 after my car battery died in the Swiss Alps

by

Kjell-Erik Berggren rented a car from Alamo at Geneva Airport for a six-day trip through Switzerland, and it worked perfectly until the last morning. Staying in a mountain village at 1,500 meters, he and his group woke to a cold, frosty morning and a car that was completely dead: no lights, no starter, nothing. Roadside assistance told them to leave the vehicle and find another way to the airport, which they did at considerable expense. Then, two months later, Alamo charged more than $1,000 to his credit card with no prior agreement or warning, on two invoices showing different totals that did not even match what was charged. The company pointed to a roadside protection product he had declined and an insurance deductible he had chosen. But there is a principle worth knowing before you accept a charge like this: rental companies are typically responsible for mechanical and electrical breakdowns that are not caused by customer negligence or misuse, and a battery that dies on a cold morning after five days of normal use points to a defect in the vehicle, not a mistake by the driver.

Illustration of an Aer Lingus representative offering a voucher to a frustrated customer checking his watch, with the caption “One year later…”

Aer Lingus issued her voucher but ghosted her husband for over a year

by

After a death in the family, Beatrijs Albarran and her husband Jorge had to cancel their Aer Lingus flights. The airline issued their refunds as vouchers, $938 for her and $925 for him, and emailed that both had been processed. But when Beatrijs called the next month to book a new trip, an agent told her Jorge’s voucher was never actually issued. The couple, who live in Buffalo, New York, wanted to fly from Toronto to Scotland because the fares are better, and asked whether the vouchers could be reissued in Canadian dollars. Beatrijs received hers in U.S. dollars within a reasonable time. Jorge’s never arrived. For more than a year she called repeatedly, hearing the same response that a supervisor was working on it, while automated emails said the case was under review. More than 15 months after Aer Lingus said it processed the voucher, it still had not appeared. Under Aer Lingus policy, vouchers are issued in the same currency as the original booking, so no conversion was needed to book from a Canadian airport, and the Department of Transportation requires airlines to process refund and credit requests promptly.

Minimalist editorial cartoon of a frustrated couple sitting back-to-back on a single gray suitcase in an airport terminal with their heads bowed, both staring at their smartphones with downcast expressions, surrounded by blurred information board signs in the background, illustrating a Cleveland couple's stressful return trip from Greece after Delta and Sky Express cascading booking errors forced them to pay for a new $435 ticket and recheck their luggage in Athens

An agent error turns a simple return trip into a costly odyssey. Will Delta fix it?

by

Robert Kempke and his wife flew from Cleveland to Athens with a return through Thessaloniki on Sky Express, a regional carrier booked through Delta. Their online check-in for the Sky Express flight was blocked because of a 185 euro balance linked to a duplicate third passenger using Kempke’s name. Sky Express refused to fix the error and told them Delta had to correct it. The Delta agent canceled and rebooked the Sky Express segment, which collapsed the entire return itinerary including the Athens to Cleveland flight. The Kempkes paid $435 for a new Aegean Air ticket to Athens, retrieved and rechecked their luggage, and rebooked their U.S. return. Delta initially promised a refund plus 12 euros for seat assignments, then denied the claim. Under U.S. Department of Transportation rules, passengers are entitled to automatic and prompt refunds for flights canceled by the airline. EU Regulation 261/2004 applies to flights within or departing the European Union.

Editorial cartoon showing a worried elderly gray-haired man in a beige cardigan and gray trousers sitting in a dark red armchair with his hand on his sore right knee while holding a cell phone to his ear, with a black wheeled suitcase standing nearby on the hardwood floor, illustrating a senior traveler trying to secure a medical refund after a hip condition forced him to cancel a transatlantic flight

Why is ITA Airways making it impossible to get a medical refund?

by

Daniel Lichtblau booked two ITA Airways tickets from Chicago to Turin four months in advance. Shortly after booking, he learned he could not travel due to primary osteoarthritis in his right hip. He submitted a medical certificate from his orthopedic surgeon covering the travel dates and requested a refund for his ticket and a date change for his wife’s ticket. ITA Airways initially confirmed receipt of the documentation, then denied the refund claiming the certificate lacked a prognosis specifying the exact dates of inability to travel. The airline refused to specify what additional language was required. Under U.S. and state consumer protection laws, airlines must provide accurate guidance about their refund requirements.

When Bill Chellis's wife was hospitalized with pneumonia on their hotel check-in day, he immediately called Hampton Inn in Great Falls to cancel. The hotel charged him the full $173 anyway, citing late cancellation policy. He called Hilton customer service, wrote to corporate offices, and sent certified letters, but received no response for months. Hotels can legally enforce cancellation policies even for medical emergencies, but state consumer protection laws may require companies to act in good faith when customers provide documentation.

Hampton Inn charged me for a canceled room after my wife was hospitalized. Can I get my money back?

by

When Bill Chellis’s wife was hospitalized with pneumonia on their hotel check-in day, he immediately called Hampton Inn in Great Falls to cancel. The hotel charged him the full $173 anyway, citing late cancellation policy. He called Hilton customer service, wrote to corporate offices, and sent certified letters, but received no response for months. Hotels can legally enforce cancellation policies even for medical emergencies, but state consumer protection laws may require companies to act in good faith when customers provide documentation.