Recent Posts
Don’t Get Screwed
Your travel agent just bolted with your money. Your cruise line sold your cabin to someone else. Your tour operator went belly up, and there’s no chance for a refund. Over the past six months there have been dozens of news stories highlighting the “shady” travel industry. No one can dispute the fact that some travel agents did abscond with some money, Carnival did oversell several sailings, and several tour operators simply ceased operations with little more than a padlocked front door. But how can you protect yourself? To steal…
The Travel Agent From Hell
You’re stuck in Orlando as yet another hurricane takes aim at Florida. The airport is closed and the best advice you can get is to sit tight and hang with the locals because you can’t extend your hotel reservation. Not that it matters. Your “garden view” room actually looks out on a concrete pad that holds the dumpsters. Congratulations. You may have the travel agent from hell. Let me be perfectly clear about this: If you handle your own travel arrangements then you have only yourself to blame when something…
Who’s Next? A Chapter 7 Oddsmaker
Which airline is going out of business first? No network carrier is immune to a bankruptcy filing – or a liquidation – but some are less immune than others. (And if they don’t go out of business, then they’ll at least get an extreme makeover.) Conventional wisdom says US Airways will be toast soon. Some of the travel trade bulletin boards look like Vegas odds sheets predicting the day it stops flying. But I don’t think that calendar is in print yet. US Airways is in a really bad situation…
What If My Airline Folds?
These aren’t the best of times to be an air traveler. US Airways’ chairman has said that in the event of a second bankruptcy filing there’s only a one to two percent chance the airline would survive. And his airline just filed for Chapter 11 protection. Delta is grasping at straws to stay afloat. United is still mired in bankruptcy with emergence nowhere in sight. American has been disturbingly quiet. ATA is looking to default on a government loan. Northwest is busy making – and then unmaking – ludicrous pricing…
Smoothe Move Northwest!
Last time you walked into a bank to deposit your paycheck, were you charged extra because you dealt with a person instead of an ATM? When you bought a magazine at the bookstore, were you slapped with a “service fee” because you purchased from an employee instead of its Web site? No, of course not. But that’s not true if you’re booking a ticket on Northwest Airlines. Starting next month, it’s going to cost you an extra $5 if you call Northwest. If you book through an agency, you’ll pay…
Newton’s Law of Travel
During the past few weeks I’ve read many articles with the tips and tricks on how to get the best deal on airfare, hotel rooms, car rentals, and leisure vacation packages. But be careful what you ask for – and who you ask. As a travel agent, I can’t help but think of Newton’s Third law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” While Newton was right on, he was not in the travel industry and those opposite reactions (mostly unseen by the consumer) can…
Travel Agent? Or Double Agent?
A travel agent used to cost nothing to use. Not anymore. When airlines eliminated commissions paid to travel counselors, agents began charging service fees. And by and large, customers went along with it, in part because the fees implied that the agents were now working for them. Exclusively. But that’s not true. Service fees never really replaced the revenue from the airlines. They just supplemented it. The question is – and it’s a question most agents may not want you to ask – does this create a conflict of interest?…
Are You The Client From Hell?
Has your travel agent seemed a little on edge with you lately? Have you noticed a change in tone when he talks to you? Are you becoming more and more intimate with his voicemail? Quite possibly you could be turning into the client from hell. Relax. There is still time to reclaim your status as a nice person. Read on. Be conscientious of my time. I am a professional and my time is every bit as important as your time. Please be aware of this when you call to ask…
Don’t Leave Home Without One!
In previous columns, I’ve told you when you don’t need a travel agent. I’ve also told you when you can’t trust a travel agent. But when do you absolutely have to call a professional? Well, here are two scenarios when you must – repeat, must – call an agent. 1. The honeymoon. You bought the ring, mustered up the nerve to actually ask someone and now you might be shelling out upwards of $30,000 for the whole shebang. Please remember that somewhere in the ceremony the words “till death do…
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