How an expired tourist visa ended in a terrible travel nightmare
If you land in a foreign country with an expired tourist visa, you’ll likely be in for a nightmare experience. Just ask Sarita Charan.
AIRLINE PROBLEMS
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.
Why did United Airlines call me a no-show and cancel my return flight?
Bernadine Fong has a strange story to tell. United Airlines called her a no-show for a flight to San Francisco that she flew. As a result, when she tried to fly back home, the airline informed a stunned Bernadine that it had canceled her return flight.
Can we figure out what’s going on here?
This is how an expired green card created her worst travel nightmare
What’s the worst nightmare that could happen if you land in Mexico with expired travel documents? Kush Kanna’s wife recently found out in a most unpleasant way. She thought she was heading for a relaxing tropical vacation in Costa Rica with her family. Instead, she ended up detained in Mexico after authorities rejected her expired green card and Indian passport.
Now Kush wants to know who will pay for this awful travel nightmare.
Hint: He isn’t going to like the answer.
If you’re about to travel internationally, take heed. Customs and immigration agents abroad will not overlook expiration dates on your travel documents, so you shouldn’t either.
This simple passport mistake ended in a $17,766 travel disaster. Here’s how
Ted Kelly says his wife made a simple passport mistake last year that snowballed into a $17,766 travel disaster.
The couple had never heard of the Schengen area or its passport requirements for U.S. citizens. However, when they attempted to check in for their business-class flight to Italy, a Lufthansa representative quickly explained the facts. Ted’s wife’s passport didn’t have the required 90-day validity from their return date, and the airline denied boarding to the couple.
United Airlines stranded us in Morocco! How will we get home now?
It’s ok for United Airlines to sell a family a flight to Morocco and then leave them stranded there when the return flight is canceled. Right?
Wrong. But the airline seems to think so.
This United Airlines business class upgrade wasn’t worth $999. I want my money back!
It’s not likely that any airline would refund a business class upgrade after a passenger completes the trip. But that’s precisely what Juli Talec says an employee of United Airlines promised to do before her recent upgrade.
Juli insists that she never intended to pay to boost her seat into the elite section of the aircraft. So why did she sign a credit card receipt for the business class upgrade at the United Airlines check-in counter?
That’s the $999 question of the day.
If you take $158,000 in jewelry on a flight and it goes missing, who pays?
Traveling with $158,000 worth of anything is a risky endeavor. Rose Cohen found out just how risky when all her high-value jewelry went missing during her recent JetBlue flight.
She believes an organized crime ring targeted her, ultimately forcing her to gate-check the bag that contained the jewelry. Her theory? This move allowed the thieves to help themselves to her gems before the flight even took off.
Now she wants to know who is going to pay for her loss.
Can JetBlue really refuse to let my cat fly home from vacation?!
Flying with your cat internationally can be complicated — especially when an airline changes its pet policy mid-trip. Yekis Fortunato found out just how complicated after flying JetBlue to the Dominican Republic with her 19-year-old cat, Foxxy.
Shockingly, soon after arrival, the airline summarily canceled the feline’s return flight. The reason? JetBlue updated its policy prohibiting any pets from flying to or from the island on its aircraft.
What happens if the name on your passport doesn’t match your ticket?
Can you fly off to an international destination if the name on your ticket does not match the name on your passport?
The answer to that question is “No.”
Ralph Lantz found this out in a devastating way. He booked his friend, Jackie, a ticket to meet him on a dream vacation to Greece. But his generous gesture went all wrong at the check-in counter. That’s where Jackie’s Mediterranean plans came to an abrupt end when a Virgin Atlantic agent pointed out that the name on her ticket was not the same as the one on her passport.
Help! United Airlines sent my refund to a closed credit card account.
United Airlines canceled Eric Noderer’s flight to India and sent his refund to a closed credit card account. Since then, he’s been in an endless battle between the airline and Chase to locate the missing $2,217.
Now he’s hoping our advocacy team can provide the backup assistance he needs to find and retrieve his money.
Can we do it?
It’s never a good idea to close a credit card when you’ve used it to pay for upcoming flight or cruise. There are many reasons this is so, but Noderer’s struggle highlights the primary one. Here’s his frustrating tale.
