Apparently, while still boarding their Allegiant Air flight, the woman's 2-year-old started to cry. While she was trying to calm the toddler down, her 4 year old got "restless" and wouldn't stay in his seat.

The airline removed the family from the plane and told them they could take another flight but neglected to mention at the time that this flight would cost $900 more. The airline says they will FedEx her luggage back from Montana (it was apparently behaving itself in the cargo hold,) and offered her a credit towards a future flight. She wants a refund.

Here's the news report from 3TV in Phoenix:

Airline boots family for crying baby, no refund given [AZFamily.com] (Thanks, Kym!)

Over a week ago Bank of America canceled my debit card, saying it had been compromised. I am a woman traveling in India by myself and have absolutely no access to cash. This exact thing happened to me while traveling abroad 8 months ago so I made sure to notify the bank of my travel plans and was told it would not be a problem. I have been told that there is a computer system that is alerted to strange behavior (apparently withdrawing cash from a foreign country is strange) and the computer closes the card. I have also been told that there is no human, not even the president of the Bank of America himself, who can re-activate the card.

I have spent the last week on the phone with the Bank of America fraud department, customer service, Bank of America emergency dept and Visa 911. I have spent about $100 being hung up on and given incorrect information and hours of my vacation time trying to either get a new card rushed or cash sent via Western Union. I was told this morning that the bank will not send me the cash and when going through the security questionnaire for the 20th time I was hung up on. I was told by the fraud dept that the card would take 5-7 business days to reach me and now was told this morning (before being hung up on) that it will not arrive for 12 business days.

I am insanely frustrated by Bank of America's labrynthine bureaucracy and incompetence. I would love to re-enact a scene from fight club but instead I am here hoping that together we can rise up and demand accountability from our banks.

Bristol's terrible misadventures serve as a reminder to all travelers to never leave home without a backup source of funding, be it a credit card, other bank account, or traveler's checks.

RELATED:
BoA Strands Customer In Siberia With No Money
Update: BoA ATM Card Dispatched To Stranded Traveler After Return To U.S.
HSBC Cancels Traveler's Credit Card, Pays For Their Mistake
American Express Leaves Customer Stranded In Mumbai With No Money
WaMu Doesn't Care You Could Be Stranded In Himalayas With No Money

(Photo: mrkathika)

Jeremy says:

My organization has a wonderful, articulate but disabled lady who has agreed to speak to a certain state's legislature about patient's rights, a very timely and powerful message in the times where scrutinizing healthcare is front and center in our national debate.

I made the reservations for her to fly down and back on my American Express — something we do all the time — through American Airlines because we are a corporate rewards BusinessExtrAA member. All things being equal, we usually pick American because of the rewards my organization get through flying with them. I clicked through the reservation online, trying to be considerate of her every option — wheelchairs and aisle seats all around, because of her disability. Because of her being generous with her time, we wanted to take care of everything for her. I thought it odd that there wasn't a way to prepay for luggage, but made the reservation anyway and figured I had missed it and could add it later.

As an avid Consumerist reader and a chart nerd, I regularly click through to read what the baggage fees are on certain airlines and get incensed, feeling glad I mostly fly Southwest. I often saw discounts for other airlines for pre-paying for luggage on a reservation, I wondered why I hadn't been given the option to do so with my American Airlines reservation. I logged back into the reservation online and looked for the option to prepay for luggage. Where is it? I searched their website for clues, and, figuring that it was one of the options they don't allow you to change with your reservation online, called the reservations line.

The first woman, Lisa, couldn't answer my question and didn't know how to pre-pay for luggage, and having been a former call center representative myself, I very politely suggested that I hold for a few minutes while she ask the information from a supervisor. She came back a few minutes later and told me — it would be $20, and a $100 pre-payment fee. $120 total. Each way. I blanched, not expecting that answer at all. I very politely suggested that she may have gotten the information wrong and asked where I could find that information online to verify this, but she couldn't answer my question. I then asked to speak to her supervisor directly, because I needed this information documented for possible tax reasons or because of corporate reimbursement policy. I think she was glad to get rid of me.

Pat answered and as a savvy supervisor as a call center can, she listened to my story and answered my questions with politeness and clarity. She repeated the information she had given me about the pre-paid baggage fee - $120 - and I said I could wait on hold for a few minutes while she checked with the people who work at the website helpdesk to see where this fee was published online. A few more minutes on hold and she came back to me, telling me that there is no information published on the aa.com website that mentions this fee. There isn't anywhere this information is published.

I asked why, and by this point Pat and I had developed a polite rapport. She admitted that they must not publish it because of its exorbitance — although I suspect she regretted saying that, because you're trained as a call center supervisor to never directly express your contrary opinion to corporate policy. She didn't have the power to waive the fee, and there were no other options for me. To her credit, she actually said this out loud instead of transferring me to someone else. I decided not to fight it any more.

$120 pre-paid baggage fee! This is not an option for my organization going forward when we have to curry favor for someone to speak for us. I think that my organization's policy on "all things being equal" for choosing American Airlines just got a little more unequal, BusinessExtrAA member or not. As for our disabled passenger - she will get to the event, thanks to pre-paid AmEx cards (wait, can you even use those to pay for luggage??) — but thank god there's no "wheelchair fee" - YET!

Has this happened to anyone else?

(Photo:Oliver 62)

Elliott spoke with an Expedia spokesman to find out why the company dropped the fee so soon, and whether this hints at a brewing price war among Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz.

This is not a competitive response to Travelocity's recent announcement. It's a move to strengthen our leadership in the entire industry. We don't feel that we are engaged in a continuing fee battle with other OTAs. On the contrary, we feel like we are setting the market rates – or lack thereof – and it's up to our competitors to react.

[...]

we'd like to point out that Expedia was already charging a smaller fee than our competitors, so the impact to us isn't nearly as significant as it would be to other OTAs. We believe that if we remove this fee, travelers will reward us with their loyalty.

Will Travelocity and Orbitz respond in kind? There's no word yet, maybe because only last week they were busy out-doing each other on sunny sounding "price guarantees" that seem designed more to generate good PR than to protect customers.

"Fee Wars II? Expedia plans to remove book-by-phone charges" [Elliott.org]

Here's his story:

I roll it out of the long passage way and into the terminal to catch the connecting flight. I have 15 minutes. I open the outside zipper area to place my laptop bag in and see that the bag is FREAKING SOAKED. DRENCHED. Nervously and in slow motion I open the zipper to the main compartment of my camera bag and there water all throughout my bag. EVERYUWHERE. Dead serious. A good 3 cups worth. My stomach is in knots. For a second I about ot puked. My head spins, I get light headed and then my wooziness is replaced with anger. I'm pissed. I immediately go to the lady at the gate from where I just exited. I tell her my story and she looks into my bag in shock. She is extremely apologetic but can do nothing. She leads me to where I need to go, U.S. Airways customer service.

The story continues as he explains the situation to an employee who he describes as a "women/behemoth/monster/creature/prawn/leviathan thing-person." This thing-person is convinced that the photographer had a water bottle in his bag.

Here's the complete story. Anyone have any advice for him? He's insured, but wants US Airways to pay the deductible.

U.S. Airways sucks so freaking bad. I HATE them. I HATE THEM! [FredMiranda] (Thanks, Steve!)
Tips on Avoiding Baggage Problems [DOT]

Some airlines are adding on credit card transaction fees at the time of ticket purchase that far exceed their actual cost, and are only disclosed at the very last stage of the purchase process. Spirit charges $4.90 for the favor of running your plastic, and Allegiant charges $14. With American Airline's laser eye on the bottom line and US Airways trying to do everything Spirit does, might this become the latest fee fad for the struggling airline industry? Christopher Elliot thinks so.

(Thanks to Rebecca!) (Photo: Cranky Media Guy)

You probably won't get housekeeping services, but you'll probably get larger rooms, a kitchen, and the opportunity to prowl through someone else's stuff relax in a non-hotel environment.

If you'd rather combine a long-term vacation with some sort of employment, try the Caretaker Gazette instead.

"Vacation Rentals By Owner" [Cool Tools]
Vacation Rentals By Owner

RELATED
"Want Free Housing? Become A Traveling Caretaker"
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"With Video, a Traveler Fights Back" [New York Times] (Thanks to Alan and Ray!)
(Photo: Doug Letterman)

The airline isn't cutting all flights to other cities. For example, the hourly NYC-Boston-DC shuttle service will remain unaffected. From the Wall Street Journal:

US Airways, the result of a 2005 merger of American West Airlines and the former US Airways, said it would reduce the number of flights to Las Vegas to 36 from 64 daily departures as a result of increasing fuel prices and weak demand. It also said it would end flights at Colorado Springs, Colo., and Wichita, Kan.

Other changes announced Wednesday include the suspension of five European routes: to London Gatwick; Birmingham, England; Milan, Italy; Shannon, Ireland; and Stockholm, Sweden, from US Airways' international gateway in Philadelphia. It will also give up its right to fly between Philadelphia and Beijing.

The layoffs should happen "during the first half of 2010."

"US Airways to Cut 1,000 Jobs, Focus On Hub Cities" [Wall Street Journal]
(Photo: claudiogennari)

The Wall Street Journal says the pilots of Northwest Flight 188 "told investigators that they were poring over their personal laptops in the cockpit while frantic air-traffic controllers were trying to establish contact."

The in-flight distractions also included bathroom breaks (understandable) and some chit chatting with a flight attendant.

The WSJ says:

The missteps began when a female flight attendant brought meals into the cockpit and the captain ducked out for a bathroom break, according to people familiar with the details

The flight attendant stayed inside the cockpit for a brief chat, just as controllers were instructing the crew to switch to another radio frequency. The co-pilot, engaged in conversation with her, missed the instruction, and the captain didn't return until later, according to consultant Greg Feith, a former safety board investigator.

As the plane crossed state lines, neither pilot realized the jet no longer was on the correct radio frequency and that controllers were growing worried about their failure to stay in contact.

As they flew past Minnesota, the crew started a heated discussion about a new scheduling system.

Both pilots retrieved their laptops, and the first officer demonstrated to the captain how the new scheduling system worked.

During what the safety board described as a "concentrated period of discussion," neither pilot monitored the progress of the airplane nor air-traffic control communications. The pilots failed to notice when Northwest dispatchers sent repeated messages that popped up on the cockpit display screens.

Eventually a flight attendant asked them if they should prepare for landing and they realized they'd blown past Minnesota. That must have been one hell of an interesting scheduling system.

Laptops Cited For Pilot Inattention [WSJ]
(Photo:So Cal Metro)

When will we see an airline passenger bill of rights?

ANSWER: When there's a fatality. When someone dies because they were stuck on the tarmac for hours and couldn't get their insulin, we will get an airline passenger bill of rights.

Why aren't there 5-star airlines and 2-star airlines? Might some customers pay more for slightly better service, instead of universally bad service?

ANSWER: Unknown.

Consumers increasingly rely on online user reviews to make their decisions before booking hotels. Businesses, especially small ones, have figured this out and started stuffing review sites with fake testimonials. Is the solution to use better tools to start ranking user and provide more transparency to their account activity, so that, for instance, you can see whether this person made any other reviews or always leaves hyperbolic praise?

ANSWER: Those tools are great, but better than building a better mousetrap, more consumers need to learn it's not enough to just not rely on any one review, but that you can't just rely on any one review site.

What about people who don't have time to do the extra research?

ANSWER: It needn't be that time-consuming. Just by adding the word "complaints" to your Google search can reveal all you need to know to make an informed decision.

(Photo: "Oliver 62")

Northwest Airlines pilots overlooked this technicality Wednesday, when they flew 147 passengers past Minneapolis and failed to realize they'd taken a wrong turn at I-94 and had entered the cheese-infested land Brett Favre abandoned.

ABC's Scott Mayerowitz writes:

The pilots of the Airbus A320 told the FBI and airport police that they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost awareness of the situation, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The pilots did turn the plane around and land in Minneapolis eventually.

The argument was probably pretty important, and you can't blame them for missing Minnesota. Blink and it's gone.

Northwest Airlines Pilots Miss Airport by 150 Miles [ABC News]
(Photo: zonaphoto)

FAA inspectors are pursuing allegations by pilots that one of those MD-80s was believed to be in such poor condition that it was ferried without passengers from Dallas to the carrier's Tulsa, Oklahoma maintenance base at unusually low altitudes to avoid the stress of pressurizing the fuselage during the trip, the newspaper said.

Preliminary FAA findings have identified as many as 16 American Airlines twin-engine MD-80s that were operated for months despite allegedly substandard bulkhead repairs. Agency investigators are looking into whether other MD-80s also may have been flown for repairs at low altitudes without passengers, The Wall Street Journal said.

[...]

But people familiar with the investigation said American potentially faces millions of dollars in civil penalties stemming from the widening investigation, and the FAA is also considering the unusual tactic of eventually taking punitive action against individual mechanics or supervisors who may have signed off on substandard work.

"FAA probe of American Airlines may widen: report" [Reuters]
(Photo: randomduck)

Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com, wrote in his online Holiday Travel Guide, "Holiday travel procrastinators do so at their own peril this year, and practical travelers should be shopping now and buying before the end ofOctober."

The problem (for consumers) is that since airlines have cut back on the number of flights this year, they have fewer unsold seats to fill—and that means no more last minute fare drops to top off the plane.

"Essentially, that's creating a sellers' market," said Jeff Pecor, a spokesman for Yapta.com, which alerts fliers to price drops even after the ticket has been bought so travelers can call the airline to claim a travel credit.

"While we're tracking roughly the same number of flights for this holiday season as last year, we have issued fewer price drop alerts on flights," he added.

"In Shift From '08, Holiday Airfare Is Soaring Daily" [New York Times]
(Photo: kynbit)

Companies participating in this exciting new program include Delta, US Airways, American, Northwest, Continental, United, and AirTran. According to WalletPop, here's the expanded list, including exciting new holidays such as Easter, Memorial Day, and apparently Spring Break.

• Nov. 29
• Nov. 30
• Dec. 19
• Dec. 26
• Dec. 27
• Jan. 2, 2010
• Jan. 3
• March 14
• March 20
• March 21
• April 11
• May 28

If you've already booked your tickets, the fee won't be added after the fact. But watch out when making holiday travel plans.

Happy holidays: Airlines expand $10 fee, and it's your fault [WalletPop]
Airlines' Holiday Surcharge Extends to Memorial Day [Bnet]

PREVIOUSLY: Airlines Add $10 Surcharge On Busy Holidays

(Photo: elderleaf) (Thanks, William!)

Rikki's account got canceled because she didn't use her points for 12 months, per the Hilton Honors policy. However, she says she didn't get any emails and the customer service reps she called just shrugged their shoulders. The need to read policy and so forth is understandable, as is the concept of "use 'em or lose 'em," but what's the big deal about restoring the points if someone calls up?

In any event, after her story went up on Consumerist, the guy who runs the Hilton Twitter account IM'd Consumerist and we passed his email along to Rikki. She writes, "Hilton came through and I got all my points reinstated! Yay!I wanted to express my deepest gratitude for your kind assistance in this regard. I cannot thank you enough for your gesture....much appreciated."

@hiltonhhonors is the Hilton Honors program Twitter account. It's worth reaching out to them through that vector if normal customer service routes prove fruitless.

PREVIOUSLY: 162,000 Hilton Points Vaporized

(Photo: jonrawlinson)

The bad economy abruptly ended a boom period earlier this decade when visitations, gambling, and room rates were all climbing. Now casinos are loaded with debt and searching for more cost effective ways to bring in business.

The new approach represents a challenge for an industry that has relied on glitzy casino and hotel openings as one of its primary draws. "It's the theme-park dilemma," says Robert LaFleur, an analyst for Susquehanna Financial Group. "You've got to build a new roller coaster. Everyone likes to go but you need a reason to keep them going back."

"Vegas Casinos Fold on Expansion Plans " [Wall Street Journal]
(Photo: http2007)

"Premier Baggage" [United via Best Fares]

Poof! Rikki's 162,000 Hilton points are gone. No notice, no warning, just "your account was canceled for inactivity."

It didn't matter that Rikki was a Hilton Member since 1999 and was a Diamond VP member for a while in the roaring 2000's.

Rikki says, "Calls to the Hilton Honors customer service provided a scripted answer with no empathy or recourse....very frustrating and disappointing. What has become of Hilton? Does it not care for its customers or bad brand reputation as a result of such tactics? Can you help me bringing some closure to this process as I'm a bit peeved at the callous attitude of their customer service?"

Jeez. What's the point of a loyalty program if you're not even going to be loyal to your customers?

(Photo: nebarnix)

Smartchip technology is sort of a banking equivalent of the metric system—it's superior to magnetic stripe cards, every other country is using it, and the American banking system simply isn't interested.

Twenty-two countries, including much of Europe, Mexico, Brazil and Japan, have adopted the technology, according to the Smart Card Alliance, a nonprofit association that promotes chip cards. About 50 other countries are in various stages of migrating to the technology in the next two years, including China, India and most of Latin America, according to the association.

In the last year, Canada began rolling out chip-and-PIN cards and plans to stop accepting magnetic stripe debit cards at A.T.M.'s after 2012 and at point-of-sale terminals after 2015.

These governments like the cards because they reduce fraud. With an embedded microcontroller, large amounts of data can be stored on the card itself rather than in a central database, and counterfeiting such a card is difficult.

Canada, nooooo!

We understand that American banks have enough problems right now, and tourists' ability to buy train tickets or rent bicycles at a kiosk is not high on their list. So consider this a travelers' advisory instead of a consumer complaint.

For Americans, Plastic Buys Less Abroad [NY Times]

(Photo: Ciaran McGuiggan)

The story offers up a couple quick fixes:

To be more selective, go to "Settings," then "General" and then "Network." Here you can shut off "Data Roaming" so you won't feast on high-priced data but can still make phone calls.

Also, in your e-mail settings, turn off the "Fetch" option so you won't automatically download e-mail. Do so under "Settings," then "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" and "Fetch New Data."

You should also sign up for a short-term international calling plan, which according to the story can tack on a $5 starting fee and lower your per-minute rate from 99 to 59 cents. The story uses Mexico as an example for such rates.

If you want to go crazy with data, foreign plans start at $25 for 20 megabytes. It's costly, sure, but the up-front expenditures are minimal compared to a fright-night phone bill when you get back from vacation.

Avoid hefty fees: Prepare your iPhone for international travel [AP via Knoxville NewsSentinel]
(Photo: Ninja M.)
(Thanks, Snarkysnake!)

The AP says that "nothing was found on the plane or in the baggage of the man and his companion," according to LA police.

The flight was about to take off when the man jumped up and ran to the bathroom. The crew found this behavior suspicious and returned the plane to the gate where the man and another passenger were removed, questioned and searched. No charges are expected to be filed.

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

No threat found on delayed United flight at LAX [AP]
(Photo:afagen)

The incident happened at Manchester Airport in England this weekend, when the CEO of budget airline Jet2.com showed up unannounced and saw a 60-minute wait to check in, and a line of about 200 passengers. He gave his employees a good cussin' for "sitting there doing nothing." In response, the employees called the police for breaking the airport's "no threatening the employees" rule.

Apparently the employees' counterattack didn't work:

A police spokesperson said Mr Meeson admitted he had been "unprofessional and irate" but had calmed down so no action had been taken against him.

Meeson also noted that he plans to address whatever training issue prevented the employees at Manchester from doing their jobs properly. We have a feeling there's going to be some turnover there.

"Police called as airline boss berates own staff" [Telegraph] (Thanks to Robert!)

"Gallery: Seat etiquette" [News.com.au]
(Photo: Eric Auld)

From the NYT:

I was in first class, and we were on the tarmac waiting to take off. A woman, in about row 35 starting talking on her cellphone. No problem. Except she was speaking so loudly you could hear her all the way up front. Everyone started looking at each other and we were all thinking the same thing: Please keep your voice down.

She told the person she was speaking with to call her back. And then, in a really loud voice, she gave her cellphone number to the person she was on the phone with. I committed that number to memory. And then I waited about 10 seconds and called her cell.

When she answered, I told her she was being too loud and everyone on board the plane could hear every word of her conversation. And it wasn't that interesting.

She started screaming at me, demanding to know who I was. So I told her to look toward the front of the plane. I stood up and waved at her with a big smile on my face. She hung up, sat down and no one heard from her the rest of the flight.

Why don't more people speak up when someone is being inconsiderate? Is confronting rudeness a heroic act of self-sacrifice? Or should we all just say nothing and seethe while the rude among us carry-on unimpeded?

When Good Manners Get Left at the Gate [NYT]
(Photo:JohnKit)

There are a total of five categories of behaviour which include at the lower level blatant disregard for applicable terms and conditions such as smoking in non-smoking areas, using facilities such as swimming pools tennis courts out of hours etc, all the way to non payment of tariff, assault, stealing etc. Persons in breach of the minor conditions referred to would not be reported unless they failed to heed several warnings regarding their activities.

The company has integrated the database into an Australian hotel booking website, Ubid4rooms.com, so that hotels can check for problem guests at the time of booking.

Guests Behaving Badly via TransracialNYC

The legislation has already been approved by the House. In the wake of another long delay of an airplane in Rochester, Minnesota in August, there appears to be increasing momentum in Congress and among consumer and business groups for the legislation. The Business Travel Coalition, a group that represents 300 corporate travel departments, recently switched positions after a survey indicated the vast majority of business travelers support a tarmac time limit.

After long considering the problem one of airline service, Kevin Mitchell, Chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said, "Now we clearly see it as a health and safety issue."

"It has nothing to do with inconvenience," said Kate Hanni, founder of flyersrights.org and the event's organizer. "As long as it's a health and safety issue it's got a lot of legs." She said long waits greatly increase the chances of a blood clot and exacerbate other health problems.

An executive with American Airlines said he sort-of supports the bill but that if it's enforced immediately, then about 6,000 passengers will be left flightless due to schedule changes. We think that's an acceptable risk—and we say risk because we suspect he's exaggerating—if that means and end to ridiculously long delays where passengers are left stranded for hours on end.

"Long tarmac delays to be banned" [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo: kalleboo)

The first wave of the practice of "medical tourism"—going elsewhere for cheaper procedures—was focused on foreign travel. We've previously talked about getting your boobs done in Buenos Aires and getting a new crown in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and earlier this summer we noted that Mexico City has gone so far as to offer free health insurance to foreign visitors.

Last year, notes Business Insurance, the supermarket chain Hannaford Bros. Co. got in on the trend in a big way when it announced "that it would begin sending its employees to Singapore for knee and hip replacements to save the company money." Hannaford is located in Maine, and the announcement prompted several hospitals in Boston to say they would match the price of the Singapore hospitals. Ta-dah! Domestic medical tourism.

Unlike foreign medical tourism, patients don't leave the country. Instead, they travel to another city within the United States to have procedures for up to 75% less than they would pay if they were treated closer to home.

One of the primary reasons some U.S. medical facilities are willing to be paid less is that they are generally compensated upfront, before the procedures are conducted, which enables them to avoid the arduous task of seeking reimbursement afterward from insurers and third-party administrators. The facilities also receive a single package price that is negotiated beforehand.

"In many cases, if you're self-funded or a cash patient, a hospital is more willing to deal directly with you rather than work through (preferred provider organizations) or insurance companies," explained Alex Sanchez, managing director of Healthcare Concierge Services, a subsidiary of Miami-based Olympus Managed Health Care Inc.

"Employers consider short-haul medical tourism" [Business Insurance via retailwire]
(Photo: √oхέƒx™)

From CBS 2 Chicago:

[The customer] says what's most bothersome to him is that Southwest never tested whether he could actually fit in a seat with the arms down.

"That is absolutely my problem. They didn't test me in any way," he said.

This is, of course, the second time that we've heard of this happening to a Southwest customer at the Vegas airport. Reader Chip, a frequent flier with Southwest who was suddenly too fat to fly, received an apology. In that apology, Southwest cautiously admitted that Chip should have been allowed to demonstrate that he could fit in the seat before being denied boarding.

From Chip's apology:

However, once your situation escalated to a Supervisor and you explained again that you've traveled many, many times without being approached, our Employees should have reevaluated the situation.

I assure you that the appropriate Leaders have been made aware of your concerns. Although we will be unable to share any specifics with you, we are confident our Leaders will address the situation appropriately.

Southwest said the Chicago flyer was ultimately denied boarding because he was angry about being denied boarding and that other passengers were uncomfortable flying with him.

They also said that allowing him to fly from Chicago to Las Vegas in the first place was "a mistake." Surely Southwest can find a more consistent and less newsworthy way to enforce this policy?

Man Says Airline Grounded Him For His Girth [CBS2] (Thanks, Andrew!)
(Photo:Bob Reck)

PREVIOUSLY: Southwest Apologizes To The Frequent Flyer Who Was Suddenly Too Big To Fly

1. Look for superlatives. - If it sounds like it was written by an over-caffeinated marketer, it probably was.
2. Look for the standouts. - Exceptionally good or bad reviews that don't mesh with others from the same time period are a sign of fake reviews.
3. Look for references to other properties. - Comparisons to competing hotels in the same city could be placed there by - gasp! - people working for those competing hotels.
4. Look for reviewers with no track record. - They might be accounts set up specifically to review that particular hotel...not world travelers.
5. Look out for a lack of experience. - Similarly, if someone brags about being a "world traveler" right off, they may not be.
6. Look out for the warning. Tripadvisor puts a warning on reviews they find suspect.
7. Look for lingo. The AOL article warns you to be wary of reviews obviously not written by native English speakers, but we'd extend this to mean that you should also look out for hotel industry jargon that you or another regular traveler wouldn't use.
8. Look for generalizations. - If someone really stayed there, wouldn't they have specific anecdotes?
9. Look for photos. - Candid photos with people in them are a good sign of a real review.
10. Look for quick reviews. - Similar to #8, people who haven't actually stayed in the hotel may write hasty reviews with sketchy details or none at all.

Do you depend on reviews when choosing a hotel? If so, where do you find them?

Don't Get Stuck in a Dump! How to Determine if Reviews by "Real Travelers" Are Fake [AOL Travel]

(Photo: Great Beyond)

Customer service was powerless to help him, and so he turned to Consumerist's site. He found the e-mail address of Chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault, and sent off this message, CCing Consumerist:

Dear Mr. Chenault,

I am writing this letter from my hotel room in Mumbai this morning. I am here for business on a last minute trip, my company policy requires that we cover our costs for room and board and that is then reimbursed upon my arrival back home in Florida. I know there has been a growing trend of decreasing credit limits to the current balances on accounts, I don't have a problem with that per se, in fact if I could do without I would. Before leaving on my trip I made sure that I would have sufficient funds on my card to pay for my trip, I recently made a payment of cutting my balance nearly in half in hopes of getting on better footing.

My problem is this, day one in India, I awake to find an email saying my credit limit has been cut to my current balance. I requested a temporary increase, so that I would have money available for a hotel and food during my stay. Unfortunately, despite the woman who was very helpful and apologetic, she said that the department that makes such decisions would not be able to complete such a request as the decrease was based on a reason. That reason like so many is that my available credit limit in relation to my balances is too low. A lovely catch-22 when you are trying to get things under control, paying cards off only to have the limits again lowered and the ratio again decreased.

For the time being, until I can beg and borrow from family and get money deposited...I thank you personally and your company for leaving me stranded in India, with the added jab or a thank you and have a nice day at the end of my
customer service call.

A little sarcastic? Maybe, but who wouldn't be? We checked in with Kris to see how things turned out. His letter had the intended effect, though: a temporary restoration of his previous limit.

I did hear back from Executive customer service today (I think as my internal clock is all messed up). They have temporarily re-instated my limit for 30 days to cover the time I am on my trip...thanks I'm sure to having copied you all on the email. Luckily I had family I could beg from to cover me so I could check into the hotel, etc this trip—and their interest rate won't be nearly that of AMEX!

Thanks! and thanks to the consumerist that posted the email address! I managed to work around it but it could have been a godsend.

Very nice! At least the company let Kris know via e-mail before his card was declined somewhere and he was horribly embarrassed, but at least this e-mail got his balance restored.

Much like Shannon's Siberian odyssey, this story underlines the importance of traveling with a backup funding source of some kind—a different credit card, traveler's checks, or anything else usable in case your primary funding source goes awry.

RELATED:
13 American Express Executives' Email Addresses
BoA Strands Customer In Siberia With No Money
American Express Doesn't Care About Your Sick Dog

(Photo: gruntzooki)

The fee doesn't apply to "Business Select" passengers or elite frequent flyers, who get to board before the coach class masses do. Southwest famously doesn't have assigned seating, so this gives passengers a chance to jump the line and snuggle up to a nice window seat if they so desire. Harmless enough. But as the Wall Street Journal's travel blog notes,

Southwest needs to find ways to increase revenue even though the airline isn't growing as fast as it used to. Fees may be a big factor. And EarlyBird check-in fees could well be an early-bird sign that bag fees aren't far off.

Indeed. Other signs that Southwest is having trouble: the airline is being investigated by the FAA for using unauthorized parts on its fleet, and is also cutting back on flights.

FAA Investigates Southwest Over Parts [Wall Street Journal]
Nickel and Diming at Southwest Airlines? [WSJ Travel Blog]

(Photo: zonaphoto)

Samsonite Company Stores LLC said its Chapter 11 filing is aimed at focusing the business on its outlet stores, which have fared better during a steep drop in consumer spending on travel and leisure.

Under the company's prepackaged reorganization, creditors will be paid in full and Samsonite Corp will remain the owner of the retail business. It expects to emerge in as little as 45 days.

"The recession has caused a severe decline in consumers purchasing travel-related goods and the company has responded to this critical situation with a substantial restructuring program," said Kyle Gendreau, the treasurer of Samsonite Company Stores and chief financial officer of Samsonite Corp.

It turns out the expansion that private equity firm CVC Capital Partners (Samsonite's owners) pushed through in 2007 was a bad idea, and the bankruptcy will allow them to break leases and close "as many as 83 stores." The company says it will focus its business on outlet stores.

*Fun fact! The old "Samsonite gorilla" TV ad was actually for American Tourister, which Samsonite only acquired after the spot aired. Most people now equate Samsonite with the ad, however. Weird.

"Samsonite retail unit files for bankruptcy" [Reuters]
(Photo: madaise)

"Baby Soda Bottles" [CoolTools]

According to the article, "in tests and now in regular service, usage drops off considerably when travelers must pay for the service." Even Alaska Airlines, which only charges $1, saw a steep drop off in usage.

People think Wi-Fi should be free and some won't use it if it's not:

"It's good for them to offer it, but would I pay for it? Probably not,'' said Alex Smith, a business traveler from Cincinnati.

Mike Duguay from Boston used a free trial of Gogo on an AirTran flight earlier this week and decided he would pay for it on his flight home from Dallas.

"It should be free, but if you have to pay, I'll definitely still use it," he said. "Access in the air kills the boredom.''

In the Air, Wi-Fi Gets a Ho-Hum Reception [WSJ]
(Photo:kevindean)

The first bag will remain free but the second bag will now cost $50. Last month, AA raised the fees for checked bags on domestic flights by $5 per bag.

(Photo: balmes)

Elite frequent fliers, first-class passengers, and active-duty military personnel are exempt from the fees.

Here's a lovely chart they have provided for your edification.

Baggage policy [US Airways]
(Photo:balmes)

[via Oyster Blog]

Unless you want to spend a minimum of $75 per person, plus another $29 per "official" photo (no cameras are allowed), and risk missing out entirely with no refund a partial refund if the attraction is closed due to weather (which happens suddenly and frequently), you should avoid the Grand Canyon Skywalk. According to Travel On The Dollar, which just got back from visiting the Skywalk in person, you can't even walk on the glass floor, and instead have to stand on a carpeted section and look through the other half.

Follow Up:

We contacted the Grand Canyon Skywalk and asked them if it was true that there was carpet on the glass floor, and whether they provided refunds in the event the attraction was closed. Their director of customer service, Gloria, responded,

For safety reasons, we do lay down the carpet, but still allow you to see through the glass bridge.

If you are not able to see the Skywalk due to weather conditions, your ticket is completely refunded. We only close down the Skywalk due to inclement weather, such as electrical rain storms, and lightning.

Note that this refund covers the cost of entrance to the Skywalk, not the separate entrance fee to Grand Canyon West where it's located—in other words, you'll get back $30 of the $75 total required to visit. The other attractions still available to you, according to Gloria, are "Guano Point [where you can] enjoy a bird's eye view of the Canyon, and the Hualapai Ranch, a taste of Western Adventure."

"Grand Canyon Skywalk is a sham!" [Travel On The Dollar] (Thanks to Parind!)
(Photo: slideshow bob)

"Hotel Survival - with George Egg" [YouTube via whill]