Enjoy the government’s new airfare rule. It might not last. On Jan. 26, the Transportation Department began requiring airlines and ticket agents to quote fares that include all mandatory taxes and fees. Since 1988, they’d been allowed to advertise fares that didn’t include government-imposed taxes and fees.
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Shauna Kattler thought she’d found the ideal rental home in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for her Christmas vacation: a two-bedroom penthouse condominium with a hot tub and an impossibly perfect view of the Caribbean. And she was getting it for the impossibly low peak-season rate of $450 a night through HomeAway.com, a popular vacation rental Web site. “Impossibly” being the operative word.
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“I’m 82, and I couldn’t have made it off the ship without help,” she says. Reading about the Concordia crew’s alleged unpreparedness for disaster has made her nervous about her February cruise to the Bahamas on the Carnival Magic. Can she cancel her trip now that she is fearful?
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Are you confused by the growing number of the car rental industry’s latest additions to their fleets, which include everything from electric vehicles to microcars?
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It isn’t difficult to imagine Google controlling most online travel purchases in the not-too-distant future. And until recently, I didn’t have an issue with that; after all, if Google can offer cheaper tickets or better flight options by cutting out the middleman, who cares?
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As any new parent knows, air travel with young kids isn’t always easy. But few experiences come close to the Suelings’ Thanksgiving flight from Westchester County to Atlanta on Delta Air Lines.
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In order to sit next to her children, ages 7 and 10, Molly Todd was told she would have to pay extra for her economy class seat.
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That’s the funny thing about the travel industry. For a business that, with a few notable exceptions, thinks nothing of offending its customers most of the year, the short-lived transformation during the holidays is incredible. It’s as if someone turned back the clock and made common courtesy and customer service important again.
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It’s not your imagination. Congress seems to be paying closer attention to travelers’ welfare. But do we need their attention? Or, will common sense do?
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“A morbidly obese seatmate encroached into my personal space,” she says. “He required a seat-belt extender and that the armrest divider be raised to accommodate his girth during the entire flight, including takeoff and landing. He also had to walk down the aisle oriented sideways and moved quite slowly.”
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