Ultimate Guides for Consumers

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.

Lost luggage guide from Consumer Rescue

Lost luggage: What to do before and after an airline loses your bags

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According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), mishandled baggage rates increased by 0.21% from January 2019 to January 2022. The percentage of luggage lost or delayed in the first six months of 2022 was .6%. That equates to 1,443,306 bags on domestic flights.

The good news: Lost or delayed luggage comprises a small percentage of the sheer volume of luggage transported from one airport to another.

But if an airline has lost your luggage, it becomes personal. Here’s what you need to know to make the ordeal a little less painful.

Car rentals: Here is everything you need to know about renting a car.

Car rentals: Here’s everything you need to know to protect yourself

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Regular readers of Consumer Rescue know that our advocacy team tackles many fiascos involving car rentals. From surprise damage charges to accusations of grand theft auto, we’ve seen it all. A significant proportion of these problems could have been avoided had the traveler taken a few precautionary steps – before driving away with the vehicle.

In an effort to make sure you don’t end up in our case files, here’s everything you need to know about renting a car. 

These NCL passengers pushed their luck when they decided to fly to Alaska on the same day as their cruise began.

Here’s why you should never fly on the same day as your cruise

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Maybe you’ve chosen to fly on the same day as your cruise, and things went off without a hitch. But for Marcelino and Julieta Bautista, that’s a gamble they lost.

They redeemed a free Norwegian Cruise Lines “Casinos at Sea” cruise through the Alaskan glaciers. But they pressed their bets too far when they flew into Anchorage on the same day as embarkation. Although their flight arrived as scheduled, something went terribly wrong and the ship left without them.

As a result, that freebie cruise turned out to be no bargain at all. The couple was forced to pay thousands of dollars to catch up with NCL’s Jewel. Bautista says that the cruise line made the mistake that caused the ship to leave without them. He wants reimbursement for all their extra expenses, and he wants our team to help get it.

You can cruise without a passport, but you shouldn't. This is what can happen if you miss your cruise and don't have a passport with you.

This is what happens when you miss your cruise without a passport

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Maybe you’ve taken an international cruise without a passport and it was smooth sailing all the way. But you might want to consider Earl Wentzel’s troubling tale before booking your next maritime adventure.

Earl’s case should serve as an eye-opener to anyone considering taking a cruise without a passport. When you cruise with no passport, you’re putting yourself in a precarious position that could cause you to miss your vacation completely — no refund included. Or worse. You could even find yourself stranded in a foreign country.

This is everything you need to know about getting a refund from a bankrupt cruise line.

How to get a refund from a bankrupt cruise line

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If a cruise line goes bankrupt while holding a customer’s cash, does the money just go down with the ship? That’s what many customers of Crystal Cruises have been asking since the cruise line went belly up earlier this year.

But the fear of bankruptcy and sudden shutdowns is not limited to this particular cruise line. Throughout the pandemic, our team has received a steady stream of concerned messages from cruise ship passengers. These travelers all have large sums of money tied up in various cruise lines via deposits and future credits.

Nicole Walsh is one of those would-be passengers who has been in a battle to retrieve nearly $4,000 from Crystal Cruises since last winter. The cruise line made repeated promises that her refund was on the way – right up until it announced its bankruptcy.

Now that Crystal Cruises has ceased to operate and its parent company is bankrupt, her cash is in no-man’s land.

With her travel agent unable to extract the refund from the bankrupt cruise line, Nicole hopes Consumer Rescue can help. 

This is what American Airlines owes you if it cancels your flight.

What does American Airlines really owe you if it cancels your flight?

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If American Airlines delays or cancels your flight home from vacation, what does it really owe you?

That’s what Mikayla Shade wants to know after finding herself in this unfortunate situation. She says an American Airlines agent told her that when the airline cancels a flight, the passenger will receive a full refund. Mikayla used that guidance to determine her budget for a new flight home. It wasn’t until American Airlines processed her “full refund” that she discovered she’d relied on incorrect guidance from the agent.

Now Mikayla wants our team to ask American Airlines to provide what its representative promised her.