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Fiascos and Fixes
Here’s what happens when things go wrong for travelers on the road, in the air, at hotels, and in vacation rentals.
The Travel Troubles category at Consumer Rescue is a collection of real-life stories about travelers who’ve encountered unexpected issues during their adventures. Each tale is dramatic but is a cautionary example, offering valuable lessons and practical advice.
The Travel Troubles section is meant to educate and empower travelers, helping them avoid similar issues and know what to do when things go wrong.
Travelers who encounter a problem they can’t resolve on their own should ask for help from our advocacy team. Our direct mediation service is fast, friendly, and always free!
Tom Suminski intended to redeem his stockpile of $7,762 American Airlines flight credit for a Hawaiian vacation. But he says an airline representative gave him faulty redemption instructions that led the vouchers to expire right under his nose.
The entire $7,762.
That put the family’s tropical dreams in jeopardy. Tom hopes we can convince American Airlines to reinstate his flight credit. But is this just a lost cause?
Attention all American Airlines passengers: If you have any flight vouchers stored away somewhere, don’t try to sell them. If you do, the airline might use high-tech security systems to catch you.
If you try it and American Airlines finds out, it will mark your vouchers stolen, leaving you with nothing.
This tale is a cautionary one for anyone considering skirting the terms of their American Airlines vouchers. There are many hacks out there advising travelers about how to make a profit on these bonuses. But much of that “guidance” overlooks an undeniable obstacle: almost every airline forbids this practice, and offering your vouchers for sale can cause them to become instantly worthless.
Airbnb host Nancy Isa recently got a terrible shock when she discovered hackers had broken into her payout account. Unfortunately, by the time she noticed something was wrong, Airbnb had been making regular payments to the scammers – for five months.
In total, the hackers stole $34,250 from Nancy’s Airbnb host account.
Then things went from bad to worse. With all that money on the line, Nancy contacted the listing giant in a panic. She was hoping for some calming reassurance that all was not lost. Instead, Airbnb immediately locked the host out of her own account and then went radio silent.
That’s when Nancy reached out to the Consumer Rescue team. She’s hoping we can convince Airbnb to give back her access to her host account – and her $34,250.
But after six months, is that possible?
United Airlines canceled many flights early in the pandemic and routinely shoved vouchers instead of refunds at its disgruntled passengers. This unorthodox (and illegal) practice continued until the Department of Transportation put the brakes on it in April 2020.
Earlier that month, United Airlines canceled Michelle Noppenberger’s flight and automatically issued her a voucher instead of a refund. Over two years later, she’s still fuming about the situation and wants the airline to give her money back. And she’s asking our advocacy team to help her get it.
But after all this time, will United Airlines take back this unwanted voucher and refund her $1,764?
Let’s find out.
After a flight from Mexico, Lynda Lebrock discovered that unidentified “goo” had damaged all three pieces of her luggage. She filed a claim and hoped the airline would quickly pay — all $16,000 of it.
As you probably guessed, things didn’t work out the way she hoped. The sky-high damaged luggage claim was swiftly rejected almost in its entirety. Now she’s asking our advocacy team for help. But can we?
What if Orbitz made a mistake and canceled your return flight home from vacation, leaving you stranded abroad?
Before her recent Lufthansa flight to Hamburg, Kate Griffin purchased a Platinum lost luggage protection plan from Blue Ribbon Bags. That plan provides a $1,500 lump payment if an insured bag goes missing and can’t be located within 96 hours.
So when she landed in Germany but her two suitcases didn’t, Kate figured she was covered. She quickly filed a lost luggage report with Lufthansa and Blue Ribbon Bags and then waited.
Those 96 hours came and went, but Lufthansa failed to locate her lost luggage. So why did Blue Ribbon reject her $3,000 claim for the two missing bags?
Shannon Mikus says Hertz made a big mistake during her recent car rental. She says the company charged her nearly $750 extra, and she can prove it. So why won’t anyone at Hertz acknowledge this outrageous error and refund her cash?
Scoring an Air Canada refund during the pandemic was nearly impossible. Which makes this story particularly improbable. But it’s true.
Renette Frank was one of the lucky ones who actually received her Air Canada refund early last year. So imagine her surprise when the airline sent her an extra refund of $4,282. Even more surprising: When she tried to return the extra money, the airline made that impossible, too.
If your Airbnb host asks you to pretend not to be a guest during your stay, would you?
That’s the odd situation that confronted Josephine Avina last July when her family planned a short trip. But pretending not to be guests wasn’t the only thing the Airbnb host wanted the Avinas to do. She also expected them to be OK with living in the remnants of a bachelorette party held the night before.
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