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.
Emily Day’s family vacation nearly collapses when FlightHub’s system assigns random passport numbers to their tickets, forcing them to buy new flights. Why won’t the airline refund the tickets they couldn’t use?
When Amy Sparks’ father-in-law passes away, she cancels a planned tour of Utah and files a claim with Tin Leg, her travel insurance company. But the company denies her claim. Is she going to lose the $4,098 she paid?
When a strike threatens Martha Rhine’s trip to Dublin, Aer Lingus offers her a full refund for her business class ticket. But she gets only a portion of her ticket back. What’s going on, and how can she get the rest back?
Iberia downgrades Christopher Long and his husband to economy class on a flight from Chicago to Madrid. Under European regulations, he’s entitled to a refund of 75 percent of his fare. So why is he only getting a fraction of that?
When Chris Skaggs checks into his vacation rental, he finds it uninhabitable. But can he get a refund of his Marriott Bonvoy points, which he used to make the reservation?
After Frances Dooley’s hotel booking is canceled, Booking.com says it will refund her new room’s higher cost. But then it goes silent. What can you do if a company breaks its promise?
Victoria Muenchow hits a deer while driving a Hertz rental van, files a claim through her credit card insurance, and waits 10 months for Hertz to send a $5,873 bill. After her insurance settles the bill, Hertz demands an additional $842 for “diminished value” but can’t provide documentation. Can she fight this fee — and win?
Allison Sanders prepays for her checked luggage on a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Orlando. But the airline charges her for her bags twice. Now it won’t refund her for the second charge. Can she get her second charge back?
When Michelle Marshall’s Turo rental gets repossessed, the car-sharing company offers her a partial refund. But what about her son’s expensive epilepsy medication? Is Turo responsible for that?
Latisha Thompson rents a car through Turo and is charged $500 for a paint job that she says was defective to begin with. Can she get a refund?
