When you receive a parking or traffic ticket, don’t forget about it. In this time of widespread budget crisis at all levels of government, they’re apparently not messing around. Brent received a ticket from a California Highway Patrol officer for not changing the address on his driver’s license. He made the change, but forgot to send the ticket back. In just a few months, his $25 fine somehow turned into a $911 fine. Wait, what? [More]
tickets
5 Ways To Avoid Getting Ripped Off On Super Bowl Tickets
By 2.3.11
The Better Business Bureau sent out an alert to warn fans about Super Bowl ticket cons. The advice is geared specifically toward Sunday’s big game, but rings true for most sporting events: [More]
Tuesday And Wednesday Are Best Days To Buy Airfare, Smart Guys Say
By 2.1.11
The best day to buy airfare is often Tuesday, but Wednesday also offers good deals, which are sometimes even better. How come? [More]
Yankees Cut Me Great Deal: 5 Tickets For The Price Of 6
By 1.14.11
A Yankees fan who is so hardcore that he buys actual tickets to physically go to games, Scott not only has to deal with the failure to land Cliff Lee but also a missing ticket from his six-pack order. The screw-up is thanks to a mailing snafu he can’t seem to get the club to address. [More]
BlueAnt Cares When Bluetooth Fails And Police Caught You
By 1.12.11
The BlueAnt Bluetooth headset that Bixby’s wife normally uses to talk on the phone in the car failed to connect one day…which just happened to be the day that a police officer saw her holding her phone, which was on speaker phone at the time. She received a ticket. Bixby wrote to BlueAnt about the situation, and received a surprise. [More]
American Airlines Yanks Fares From Orbitz
By 12.23.10
In a contract tussle, American Airlines has removed all of its fares from Orbitz. [More]
Know What The Letter Codes On Your Airline Ticket Mean
By 9.29.10
Embedded in the gobbledygook of letters and numbers on your airline ticket is a secret letter code that lets airline personnel know what kind of passenger you are and what you paid for your ticket. They can use these to quickly determine whether you should be the first or the last to get bumped, and whether you can get a seat upgrade. Here’s a quick guide to deciphering what the letter abbreviations on your airline ticket mean. Find out why “Y” gets the perks and “Q” gets the shaft. [More]
Advice For Holiday Travelers This Year: Buy Your Tickets Now
By 9.20.10
CNN’s Travel Companion suggests you start looking for Thanksgiving and Christmas tickets now, because airlines have cut capacity over last year, and the peak travel times for those two holidays are shorter this year than usual. The article also provide some tips for getting a good price: shop for single seats; aim for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday flights; and if you can, try to fly on an actual holiday. [More]
Continental Refuses To Believe Woman's Service Dog Is Real
By 8.18.10
Continental sure has a lot of skeptical employees when it comes to customers with disabilities. Jessica tried to buy a ticket yesterday and was told no, because the ticket agent didn’t believe that Jessica’s self-trained service dog was legit. [More]
Don't Give Greyhound Tickets As Gifts
By 7.27.10
If you buy a Greyhound bus ticket for someone else, Greyhound will charge you a flat $18 “gift ticket fee,” which must be the worst named fee in the history of transportation. On short rides, like a one-way trip from Cambridge, MA to Hartford, CT, it bumps the price up from $22 to $40. [More]
Spirit Airlines Flights Resume Friday, Offers Everyone $50 Off
By 6.16.10
Spirit Airline flights, grounded since the beginning of a 5-day pilot strike, could will resume Friday, after the pilots union and the airline reached a tentative agreement following 26 straight hours of negotiation. In its typically tongue-in-cheek fashion, coinciding with the announcement was a “Strikingly Low Fares” promotion offering everyone $50 off new tickets plus 5,000 bonus miles. [More]
Angry Driver Buys Police Department's Website, Launches Anti-Speed Camera Site
By 6.9.10
Brian McCrary in Bluff City, TN received a $90 speeding ticket in the mail earlier this year, thanks to an American Traffic Solutions speed camera the police department turned on in January. McCrary says when he looked up information to call the police department with questions about the ticket, he discovered something else: that their website’s domain registration was about to expire. So he bought it. [More]
Nationals: If You Want To See Prospect's Debut, Buy Tix To 3 Other Games
By 6.1.10
Daniel is a beaten-down Washington Nationals fan looking to be in the crowd when top draft pick Stephen Strasburg takes the mound a week from today. He said the game was suddenly sold out after the Nationals indicated when Strasburg might make his first start, and then Daniel got this email from the team, declaring intentions to shake down fans to buy tickets to other games if they want to see Strasburg’s debut: [More]
Watch Out For These Travel Scams
By 5.17.10
Kiplinger has posted six travel scams you should be aware of, including “Be your own travel agent!” and “Join our travel club!” The key thing to remember is to stay away from unfamiliar travel agencies or websites, or at least do some research and try to find evidence that they’re legit before handing over your money. You should also make sure that any travel insurance you buy comes from a licensed insurer. [More]
Teacher Defeats Traffic Ticket With The Power Of Math
By 4.8.10
Have you ever suspected that your city or town is trying too hard to catch traffic scofflaws in the pursuit of ticket revenue? A Florida woman received a ticket based on evidence from a red light camera, but believed the ticket was unfair because the yellow light was too short. The power of math proved that she was correct.. [More]
Ticketmaster Agrees To Only Sell Tickets It Has
By 2.19.10
Ticketmaster has settled with the FTC over charges that it used “deceptive bait-and-switch” tactics when selling concert tickets, reports the Los Angeles Times. As usual for this kind of settlement, Ticketmaster admits no wrongdoing. For instance, the FTC noted that in one case “the same set of 38 tickets for the Springsteen concert in Washington were sold and resold 1,600 times,” and Ticketmaster waited as long as three months to let affected customers know, which is a clear example of not doing anything wrong. [More]
Speak Out Against Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger At TicketDisaster.org
By 12.17.09
Yesterday a bunch of consumer advocates and anti-trust people held a press conference on Capitol Hill and asked the Department of Justice to block the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. If you, too, feel that this spells nothing but trouble for consumers–that a Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly would ruin competition and increase ticket prices–then check out the website TicketDisaster.org. From there, you can contact the DOJ to voice your opinion about the proposed merger, read up on reasons why the merger sucks for consumers and for the concert industry, and sign up for updates. (Thanks to JammingEcono!)
Macy's Cheerfully Helps Customers Get Parking Tickets
By 11.27.09
The employees at the Macy’s in Washington, DC, sure were helpful earlier today! They showed customers where they could park for up to two hours while they shopped. Unfortunately, it turns out Macy’s employees are not well-versed on parking rules in DC, and the manager there doesn’t really think it’s Macy’s problem. [More]
