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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.
SSSS — behold the four letters that you don’t ever want to see on your boarding pass. If you find the Secondary Security Screening Selection — SSSS stamp on your ticket, you should know that the TSA agents will be treating you to an extra-special and in-depth security screening.
Lucky you! But what does it mean and what can you do to avoid it?
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.
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.
Have you heard of the EU261? Unfortunately, many airline passengers haven’t. As a result, these unaware travelers miss out on hundreds of dollars in compensation owed to them during a flight delay or cancellation.
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.
If a cruise line goes bankrupt while holding a customer’s cash, does the money just go down with the ship?
Many frustrated consumers file credit card disputes hoping to fast-track refunds from resistant companies. That’s often a mistake they end up regretting as it only digs them into a deeper problem.
Can you get banned from Facebook forever? The answer is most certainly “yes.”
Jason Birch just found this out the hard way. The social media giant won’t tell him why he’s permanently banished, but Birch thinks he knows where he went wrong. He says he’s learned from his “little” mistake and would like Facebook to lift the ban and accept his apology. And he’s not prepared to take no for an answer.
But is there any way back into the Facebook community after you’ve been banned?
Despite the popular belief to the contrary, in the U.S., you are not owed a free hotel if your flight is delayed and you get stranded overnight on your journey. And that is true no matter what the reason for the delay.
But if a friendly gate agent offers a hotel reimbursement to a passenger in distress, shouldn’t the airline pay the bill?
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.
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