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Your Fiasco Fixer
These travelers encountered extreme airline problems and asked the Consumer Rescue team for help. Each article contains an air travel fiasco and a fix from our consumer advocacy team.
When Ebola broke out last May in Uganda, Isador Lieberman immediately canceled his upcoming KLM flight to Entebbe. He says a KLM agent assured him that, under the circumstances, the airline would refund his nonrefundable $9,188 ticket.
But two months later, KLM gave Lieberman a new assurance — it only owed him $146 for the flight he canceled.
As a consumer advocate who has reviewed, investigated and resolved thousands of problems during the past decade, I know there is a right way — and a wrong way — to write an effective complaint letter. The most effective way to get the outcome you’re hoping for is to keep your message cordial, concise and clear.
To help you do that on your next problem-solving mission, I’ve created a free letter-writing template for you — and some sample letters so you can see this methodology in action.
You’re welcome. 😉
There’s no doubt that getting denied boarding a cruise you’ve been eagerly anticipating for months — maybe even years — is traumatic.
My case files are filled with the distraught pleas for help from cruisers who’ve experienced it firsthand. In nearly all cases, the situation could have been avoided had the traveler done some basic research.
Here are the top ways cruise passengers get denied boarding and what you can do to avoid the same
Every week, travelers come to me after losing thousands of dollars on trips that should have been simple. They’re all hoping to find out how to get their money back and who is responsible for their losses. But for some, the answers to those questions are not what they expected.
These are the biggest travel mistakes I’m seeing in 2026 — and how to avoid them.
Norse Atlantic Airways customer Joanne Reston joined the airline’s official Facebook group to complain about a missing refund. At least that’s what she thought she was doing. As it turns out that Facebook group had no affiliation with the airline. In fact, it was just a trap set by scammers pretending to be helpful Norse agents.
What happened to Reiss after joining that Facebook group can only be described as a whirlwind of one scam after another.
While boarding a recent United Airlines flight to Mexico, Fred Glatz accidentally handed over his wife’s boarding pass. He says the agent pointed out the mistake but waved him onto the plane without asking for his own pass. As the couple settled into their seats, they had no idea that the unusual oversight would cost them $2,743.
If an airline misplaces your luggage and cannot find it within a reasonable time, the carrier must pay for your loss. If you accept the compensation, that ends the airline’s liability to you, and your belongings are considered permanently gone. But could your missing property eventually reappear on display at Unclaimed Baggage, a resale shop in rural Alabama?
Unclaimed Baggage is an unusual place where all sorts of lost items get a new lease on life.
Here’s what I learned about America’s only retail store that buys, restores and then sells travelers’ orphaned stuff.
No one could fault Kristina for overlooking the expiration date on her family’s $2,622 travel credit from American Airlines. For over a year, Kristina was in crisis mode after her husband’s brain cancer diagnosis. Of course, during that time, taking a vacation was last on her list of things to do.
When doctors deemed Kristina’s husband well enough to travel, her mind turned back to their AA credit. She intended to use it to book flights for a memorable trip while her spouse could enjoy it. Unfortunately, by then the expiration date had come and gone.
Could an ombudsman columnist who routinely writes about tourist scams become the target of one herself? The answer is, of course, “Yes.” No traveler is immune to the possibility of a brush with a bad actor — not even me.
How did a $428 Southwest Airlines ticket end up costing an American Airlines customer in distress $4,500? If you guessed a fake airline call center scam is behind this astounding upsell, you would be right.
Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Info
© 2026 Consumer Rescue / Michelle Couch-Friedman
