There’s one thing that’s worse than having your vacation abruptly canceled out from under you because the tour company folded, and that’s having it happen during your vacation, so you end up stranded far away from home. A New Jersey-based company did that to their customers back in October. Now the state has filed suit against the company under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, aiming to get customers their money back. [More]
travel
So What Actually Happens If I Fall For ‘Free Airline Voucher’ Scam?
By 8.2.13
We’ve told you before about scammy letters falsely claiming to be from Travelocity and something called “United Airways,” alerting recipients that they have won free travel vouchers worth hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. Our readers were too savvy to fall for these scams, but not everyone is. [More]
With Bacon And M&Ms, Resort Makes Couple Feel At Home
By 7.17.13
When making a hotel reservation online, there’s a box where you can type in any special requests you have for your stay. Do you need down-free pillows? A cot, if the hotel doesn’t charge extra for them? You could ask there. One vacationing Redditor, though, took the opportunity to see whether anyone reads that box at all. [More]
Here’s Why You Should Always Read The Rules Before Cashing In A Guarantee
By 7.11.13
Guarantees can be tricky things. If you want to take advantage of a company’s low price guarantee, no matter how widely advertised it is, it’s a good idea to take a minute to read the terms and conditions of that guarantee before taking advantage of it. Even if it’s advertised on TV. Even if you think you know how the guarantee works. Just ask Marc. [More]
TripAdvisor Decides That June 30 Doesn’t Exist
By 7.1.13
Christopher is supposed to be traveling right now. If he did manage to schedule his trip, he didn’t do it through TripAdvisor. That’s because as far as TripAdvisor is concerned, yesterday never happened. If he were trying to schedule on February 29, 2013, they would have a point, but there is a June 30 pretty much every year. [More]
Capital One Sends Me Across London To Get My Debit Card To Work
By 6.28.13
Lucky reader Twila is enjoying a European vacation right now. Only she has one sort of inconvenient problem: her Capital One debit card won’t work in many of the places she’s visiting. Like her hostel. And entire parts of London. [More]
Writer Claims World’s Largest HR Firm Cloned His Blog For A Contest
By 6.21.13
Imagine you come up with a pretty good idea for a travel blog — one in which you document your movements around the world while trying out different, interesting jobs — and wake up one day to find that a multi-billion-dollar international staffing firm appears to have copied numerous aspects of your creation, including the name, without even so much as a nod in your direction. [More]
Survey: Carnival Poop Cruise Has Scuttled Public Perception Of Entire Cruise Industry
By 6.7.13
The bad times continue for Carnival Cruise lines, following a number of ugly high-profile profile incidents on their ships — most notably the “Poop Cruise” aboard the stranded Carnival Triumph, consumer sentiment about Carnival and the entire cruise industry is sinking. [More]
Want To Go To Disney World For The Day? That’ll Be $95. Yes, Just For You. No, That’s Not A Joke.
By 6.3.13
Over the weekend, the anthropomorphic mice-that-be at Disney greedily rubbed their four-fingered hands together and raised prices on tickets to both Disneyland and Disney World, where it will now cost an adult $95 just to step through the gates at the Magic Kingdom. [More]
Airbnb Cancels Reservation Because You Don’t Want To Post A Video Of Yourself
By 5.30.13
One month ago, home-sharing service Airbnb began rolling out a program called Verified ID, which requires some U.S. users (and eventually people in other parts of the world) to go through a verification process that uses social media logins — either Facebook or LinkedIn — and offline proof of ID, like a scanned license or passport. But what if you don’t use Facebook or LinkedIn? [More]
Woman Booted From Flight Because No One Asked For Her Best Whitney Houston Impression
By 5.13.13
Just because the song “I Will Always Love” you (as written by Dolly Parton and sung by the late Whitney Houston) implies an unflagging dedication, belting it out on an airplane didn’t bring one passenger any love from an American Airlines flight crew. She was ejected from the plane for disrupting the flight, in part because she was warbling her karaoke-night best. [More]
Buckle Up: Researchers Say Trans-Atlantic Flights Could Get A Lot More Turbulent
By 4.16.13
I’ll be the first admit that when a flight gets bumpy, my insides do a flip-flop and my brain scrambles to focus on anything it possibly can (cheese/bearded men/song lyrics/chicken vs. egg question) to stop thinking “Whatifwhatifwhatif?” on a crazy loop. And if you’re like me, well, a new study that says turbulence over the Atlantic could get stronger and more frequent is probably not going to help ease your mind.* [More]
Poop Cruise 2: Passengers Not Pleased After 410 Toilets Stop Working On Carnival Ship
By 4.15.13
It’s only April and it’s been a banner year for Carnival. And while this latest cock-up doesn’t even approach the stinky scale of the stranded Poop Cruise, it nonetheless has some passengers ticked off. [More]
Flying The Friendly Skies Friday: Traveling With Heroes; Mile-High Celebrations
By 4.12.13
Around these parts, we hear our share of the frustrating, the woeful and the all-out angry. But when we catch hold of an idea that brings out the happy and rewarding stories of customers, we like to celebrate it. This week in Flying The Friendly Skies Friday: Honoring the best among us, celebrating in mile-high style. [More]
Flying The Friendly Skies Friday: The Happiest of Birthdays; Upgrades For Everybody
By 3.29.13 — Updated: 4.5.13
Around these parts, we hear our share of the frustrating, the woeful and the all-out angry. But when we catch hold of an idea that brings out the happy and rewarding stories of customers, we like to celebrate it. This week in Flying The Friendly Skies Friday: The best birthday in the air and upgrades for everybody. [More]
And Now: “Flying The Friendly Skies Fridays” Because Traveling Can Actually Be Fun
By 3.22.13
Around these parts, we hear our share of the frustrating, the woeful and the all-out angry. But when we catch hold of an idea that brings out the happy and rewarding stories of customers, we like to celebrate it. Herewith, then, the first of a few “Flying The Friendly Skies Fridays.” Or FTFSF, if you will. [More]
Fung Wah Pulls Almost Entire Fleet From Service Because Old, Cracked Buses Are Not So Safe
By 2.26.13
When you climb aboard one of those Chinatown buses to head from one city’s neighborhood of that same name to the another and feel like maybe your life is in the balance? You aren’t alone. Massachusetts officials found a whole slew of safety problems with the Fung Wah bus line during recent inspections, prompting the company to pull almost every single one of its buses from the road. [More]
Would You Pay $30 An Hour To Nap In A 7-By-8-Foot Room At The Airport?
By 2.14.13
You’ve been up since the crack of dawn and have arrived bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived at the airport, only to find your connecting flight is delayed. Like, way delayed. Your options are limited and probably include camping out near a wall so you can at least lean your head against it and catch a few z’s while you wait. Or would you be willing to pay $30 an hour to take a nap in a tiny room of your own? [More]
