Travel Troubles

Here’s what happens when things go wrong for travelers on the road, in the air, at hotels and vacation rentals. Each cautionary tale ends with solutions and ways you can avoid a similar fiasco.

Aer Lingus aircraft, green and white airplane.

What would you do if you were given this terrible airline seat?

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Have you ever wondered what the worst airline seat in the history of modern-day air travel looks like? Well, wonder no more! Aer Lingus passenger Matt Madrigal sat in it on a flight to Dublin.  

Madrigal endured the dirty “seat” with no cushion and exposed metal for his entire transatlantic flight to Ireland from the United States.

Ouch!

His mom is furious with the airline’s treatment of her son. And she wants to know if our advocacy team can help.

This case underscores the importance of learning how to self-advocate in real-time. If you’re presented with a wholly unacceptable situation, it’s critical to voice those concerns at the time. If you don’t, you may endure unnecessary, unpleasant conditions that should have — and could have — been corrected immediately.

Editor’s Note:  I first reported on this awful excuse for an airline seat in 2018. This article was last updated on March 14, 2023, as it moves to its permanent archive home here at Consumer Rescue.

A black rental car without damage.

I didn’t damage this rental car! Why should I pay $600 to fix it?

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Could a car rental company bill you for damage you didn’t cause — six weeks after you return the vehicle? As you’ll soon read, the disturbing answer is, “Yes, definitely.”

Hertz recently accused Akshay Ghalsasi of causing $600 in damage to a rental car he drove in January. But Akshay says he returned the vehicle in precisely the same state of disrepair as he received it. 

He claims the rental car had a plethora of pre-existing damage, and he’s sure that the company knew about it. Akshay insists he has some powerful evidence that proves he isn’t responsible for the repair of the vehicle.

But unable to get anyone at the car rental company to review his photographic evidence, Akshay is looking for help. He hopes Consumer Rescue can deliver those photos to Hertz and get the car rental giant to drop the damage claim against him. 

So what exactly do those photos of the damage on the rental car show?

This is a dirty rental car being driven through a muddy bog. There are yellow reeds on the sides of the waterway. The car is becoming engulfed in sludge.

You should never return a rental car dirty. Here’s why

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Messy people, beware! Car rental companies will charge you up to $450 if you return a dirty vehicle. 

Avis customer Bart M. recently found this out the hard way. Shortly after returning his last rental car, Avis notified him that the vehicle was excessively dirty. As a result, the company intended to bill him hundreds of dollars to clean the car.

Bart admits he left behind “some” garbage in the rental car when he returned it. 

However, he says there is no way it cost Avis much of anything to remove that trash. He suspects the fee to clean the messy rental car is just an illegal cash grab.

Now Bart is hoping Consumer Rescue can convince the car rental company to drop its pursuit of the cleaning fee. 

But just how dirty was this rental car?

Let’s have a look…

Spain, colorful street in Barcelona, nearby Airbnb

I accidentally locked myself out of my Airbnb. Whose fault is this, really?

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What if you locked yourself out of your Airbnb rental thousands of miles from home? Would your host or the caretaker immediately come and rescue you?

Xiamin Qi discovered the answer to both questions after she locked herself out of her Airbnb rental in Barcelona. Despite the host warning her about the self-locking feature of the front door, she says jet lag caused an oversight. That fatigue led Qi to walk out of the vacation rental and leave the keys inside.

Now she is asking the Airbnb host to refund $500 for her trouble. But is this a reasonable request?

A row of vacation rental homes on a beach illustrating an article about a missing security deposit refund.

My vacation rental host won’t refund my security deposit. Is this a scam?

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Can a vacation rental host refuse to refund your security deposit — no questions asked? I discovered the answer from one unreasonable VRBO host is, “Yes, I can.”

I have news for her: No, she can’t.

This story is another in our file of outrageous tales of travelers being fleeced by vacation rental hosts and franchise hotels alike. These owners are helping themselves to hundreds and even thousands of dollars of their guests’ money with little to no justification. And unfortunately, the cases are piling up at an alarming rate.

Empty gate area after missed flight connection, missed connecting flight, sitting at the gate alone.

What happens if you miss your flight connection (and it’s your fault)?

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What’s the correct thing to do if you miss your flight connection? The answer depends on why you failed to board your connecting flight. But it’s a question that Alla Machavariane is asking.

She has an unusual tale to tell. Alla says she and her husband missed their flight connection in Chicago while sitting at the gate in full view of the aircraft and crew members.

The duo is unsure why they never heard any announcements or noticed all the passengers around them boarding the plane. But they believe Spirit Airlines is somehow responsible for their missed flight connection and want the airline to reimburse them $2,200. That’s the cost of the new tickets they were forced to buy to get home.

But what caused the couple to miss their flight connection? 

That is the $2,200 question.

car rental might not have unlimited miles, car rental mistakes

Warning: Your rental car may not come with unlimited miles

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Richard Wallerstein and his wife made an expensive car rental mistake when they assumed their reservation included unlimited miles. It didn’t. Unfortunately, they discovered the zero mileage allotment on their rented SUV only after they completed a 1,150-mile road trip.

If you’re like the Wallersteins, you may be unaware that not every rental car comes with unlimited miles. Their tale is a reminder that when making your own reservations, it’s important to pay careful attention to all details. The information this couple needed was in plain sight — if only they had looked — before they took their lengthy road trip.

Mexico's blue water, ocean, honeymoon destination

Here’s a honeymoon horror story that could have been avoided. This is how

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Lauren Weichman missed her honeymoon and she wants you to hear her horror story.

After their wedding, she and her new spouse boarded a Frontier flight for their much-anticipated honeymoon to Cancun. Upon landing, the giddy couple made their way to the immigration window and handed over their passports. But when Mexican authorities asked Lauren’s husband for his required visa, the couple’s honeymoon came to a premature halt. He didn’t have a visa — and the border agents rejected his entry to Mexico. 

Now Lauren wants our advocacy team to find out who is to blame for this honeymoon horror story. And who will refund her missed honeymoon?

A Lufthansa aircraft on a runway, Lufthansa flight delay causing problems

After a Lufthansa flight delay, I canceled the trip. Where’s my $5,459 refund?

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How did an extensive flight delay cause a Lufthansa passenger to lose $5,459? 

That’s what Sruthi Samraj wants to know after her bizarre experience with Lufthansa. She recently boarded a last-minute flight planning to make a connection in Frankfurt to Bangalore to attend her grandmother’s funeral. But after an extensive delay, during which the passengers deplaned, it was clear Sruthi would miss her connecting Lufthansa flight.

So she canceled the trip and went home. 

But the disappointment of missing her grandmother’s funeral was soon exacerbated by the airline’s response to her refund request. Lufthansa intended to keep her entire $5,459, calling her a no-show on the delayed flight.