Welcome to Consumer Rescue
Fiascos and Fixes
Consumer Rescue publishes a variety of guides to help our readers navigate common situations. These guides are based on some of the most frequently asked questions our team receives and cover travel and non-travel-related topics.
Since January 8, 2025, United States citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to visit Great Britain. The ETA costs about $13, and the online application process is fairly simple. But like lightning, scammers have hit the internet, with official-looking websites aimed at victimizing unaware ETA-seekers.
What happens if an airline goes bankrupt in the middle of your vacation and leaves you stranded abroad? Is there anything you can do to get a refund?
United Airlines travel credit, like all airline credit, has a limited shelf life. Despite that fact, many passengers remain unaware of the expiration date of their future travel credit – and end up losing it all. Here’s one traveler’s unfortunate tale and what you need to know so this doesn’t happen to you.
What if you had to make a healthcare decision that could affect the rest of your life?
That’s not a hypothetical question if you’re 65 and about to go on Medicare. Every day another 10,000 Americans turn 65 and need to make critical decisions regarding how they structure their healthcare going forward.
But Medicare comes with complicated rules that can be confusing and can lead to problems if ignored or misunderstood. It’s important that you make informed choices.
Read on as I take you through a simplified Medicare 101.
Over the years, I’ve mediated hundreds of requests for help from distressed cruise line passengers. Many of these cruise fiascos were the result of passenger mistakes and could have been avoided by following some simple guidelines. With wave season just beginning, now is the perfect time to review Consumer Rescue’s ultimate guide to planning a cruise.
Here’s all the information you need to know about planning and taking a cruise.
What happens when your middle name is on your passport and airline ticket, but your last name is missing? Eleanor Rasmussen can tell you because it happened to her.
If your middle name is on your passport, you probably always try to add it to your airline ticket. But many airlines and booking agencies don’t give you that option.
The reason for this omission? Travelers aren’t required to include a middle name on their airline ticket – even if one is displayed on their passport.
In Rasmussen’s case, the online booking agent her friend used to book their airline tickets didn’t have a specific field to add a middle name. That led to a travel fiasco that left her with an unusable ticket to Tokyo with only her first and middle name.
Now, with her middle name on her ticket where her last name should be, Rasmussen is asking for our help. She’s hoping Consumer Rescue can convince Singapore Airlines to correctly rewrite her ticket.
But will the third-party booking agent cooperate
Although a Real ID and an Enhanced ID look nearly identical, there are critical differences between the two identifications. Diane Dipalma recently received a rapid and painful education on the topic while attempting to board Carnival Cruise Line’s Legend.
She and her new husband believed they could use their Real ID driver’s licenses to take the cruise. But the Carnival Cruise Line staff quickly clarified that they couldn’t, and the shocked newlyweds missed their honeymoon.
Here’s their story and what you need to know about the differences between a Real ID and an Enhanced ID.
For years, legions of Vantage Deluxe World Travel customers eagerly purchased their trip insurance directly from the luxury tour operator. They loved the ease and convenience of having a one-stop shop for their travel planning. Unfortunately, many, if not most of these unsuspecting consumers neither read nor understood the trip protection they were buying.
That was a mistake.
Now with Vantage Travel seemingly unable to pay its bills or operate its tours, a giant light is shining on its pricey waiver product. Thousands of desperate customers are finally reading the details of the trip protection Vantage sold them. Far too late, they’re discovering the policy provides virtually no protection at all if the company runs out of money.
Searching for the best hotel for your vacation can be challenging, with so many different properties and booking options. Choosing the wrong hotel or booking site can take your trip from one of excitement to a real disappointment. And if it’s a nonrefundable room, you’ll have to pay for that disappointment.
Let’s keep that from happening.
Imagine your entire family is excitedly packing for your first international adventure since the beginning of the pandemic. You’ll soon be on your way to the Caribbean to relax and enjoy some sun and tropical drinks.
Or will you?
The traveler in this tale neglected to look at his passport’s expiration date until a few nights before his family’s trip. That’s when he was shocked to discover the document had expired – two years ago!
But no worries, he thought. Consumer Rescue could surely help him.
Why was this guy so confident about that, you might ask.
Well, that’s the embarrassing part of this story.
Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Info
© 2025 Consumer Rescue / Michelle Couch-Friedman
