TSA Administrator John Pistole was busy making the rounds during Thanksgiving week, trying to assure holiday air travelers that their screening experience would be better than last year.
Which it was, thankfully.
That’s probably because the agency backed off some of its more absurd practices, like forcing children to take off their shoes. (Ever heard of a two-year-old shoe bomber? Neither have I. Richard Reid was 29 when he tried to take down an American Airlines flight to Miami.)
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It’s the little things that matter.
After being on the road nonstop since finishing my book Scammed: How to Save Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals, back in June, I can tell you that good customer service isn’t a big deal — it’s a lot of small ones.
Who’s worth following on Twitter?
I’m compiling the definitive list for 2012. But I can’t do it alone.
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Wayne is so embarrassed by his decision to pay $2,300 for a travel club that he asked me not to use his full name. I understand his reluctance. He’s a well-educated professional who was just looking for a way to save money when he traveled, and he feels scammed.
The company that took his money is called Imagine That Vacation and I will not link to its site for reasons you’ll understand in a moment.
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Question: We recently purchased 350 points in Disney Vacation Club, Disney’s timeshare program. New members of Disney Vacation Club are given help with their first reservation, and salespeople can go into Disney’s cash inventory, if necessary, to get a better selection.
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Rochelle Peachey is no stranger to high taxes and fees on airline tickets. A frequent flier between Miami and London, she routinely sees government charges that double the price of her ticket.
Not when she flies domestically, though. Here, taxes add about 20 percent to the cost of a fare.
But all that might be about to change. The Obama administration’s deficit-reduction plan includes a new mandatory $100 surcharge per flight for air traffic control services, which airlines would pay directly to the Federal Aviation Administration. The fee, however, would almost certainly be passed along to customers. The plan also raises the passenger security tax from $2.50 to $5 per non-stop flight, and eventually to $7.50.
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Marcel Meth’s wife and daughter had plans to visit his recently widowed sister-in-law in Minnesota. As a precaution, they bought a travel insurance policy through Access America.
But they bought the wrong policy.
“Four days before my wife and daughter were to leave for Minnesota, my sister-in-law called us and told us that her son was hospitalized and that he would be remaining in the hospital for a week or more,” he says. “In response to this, my wife needed to cancel the vacation. We obtained all the necessary documentation and filed it with the Access America. They immediately denied the claim, saying that the reason for hospitalization was not covered by the policy.”
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