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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!
During a flight across the country, JetBlue forced Samuel Cristol to share his seat.
That’s correct. Cristol had a partial seatmate on his flight — a man who did not quite fit in his own space. And, although the guy seemed pleasant enough, Cristol did not want to share his seat. Now, he wants JetBlue to compensate him.
Brak Moczygemba got the shock of her life after a recent one-night stay in a budget hotel. The manager of that Quality Inn accused her of pillow theft… remarkably pricey pillows for such an establishment. To make matters worse, that same manager then informed a stunned Moczygemba that she was permanently banned from the two-star hotel.
If your child is under 24 months old, United Airlines will allow you to fly with the baby on your lap free of charge. But what happens if your offspring celebrates a birthday mid-trip?
For one family, the answer was unbelievably expensive. Here’s their story.
Could you get sent to collections over a $1,638 repair bill for a rental car you never drove? It happened to this Hertz customer.
If you arrive in a foreign country without a valid passport in your hand, you’re going back home. That’s guaranteed. But sometimes, that’s not all that happens, unfortunately. Here’s how a simple passport mistake landed one female solo traveler with vacation dreams in a Mexican jail nightmare.
Here’s her story.
What happens when an unruly airline passenger refuses to follow the instructions of the cabin crew? This unaware and belligerent United Airlines customer and his family found out on their last flight with the carrier.
And I do mean last.
If you don’t smoke, I’m pretty sure you don’t pack cigarettes, marijuana, or a crack pipe when you go on vacation. Life-long nonsmoker Jason Gladden certainly didn’t bring any of that when he recently took his family to a baseball tournament. However, that didn’t stop his vacation rental host from charging the stunned dad a $250 smoking fee.
But the surprises didn’t stop there.
The Beijing Tea House Scam is one of the most well-known tourist traps around the Forbidden City. Unfortunately, Lawrence Andrews had never heard of it. That is until after he was already a victim of the con game during a business trip to China.
A perpetually leaking ceiling in an Airbnb rental seems like a problem the host should fix immediately. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the experience of one young mom who paid $5,400 for the privilege of living in a soggy apartment.
Can Consumer Rescue help?
What if you used an online booking agent to reserve a hotel, but when you arrived at the property, you discovered it was being used as a homeless shelter? It happened to this solo female traveler, and she wants you … Read More
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