Which travel industry rules need to change?
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(I want to know the rest of the rules!)
Christopher Elliott has apparently been reading my mind. I was going to write up a post regarding the stupidest rules in the travel world, the rules that need changing, but he’s beaten me to the punch.
He offers five great ones: 1) the prohibition against changing the name on an air ticket, 2) the rule against bottled water at TSA checkpoints, 3) the ban on throwaway and hidden-city ticketing, 4) rental car early-return surcharges, and 5) hotel resort fees. Go read the whole thing.
All good rules to grumble about. Chris nabbed some of the biggest ones. I’d add a few:
Airlines’ contracts of carriage generally offer some compensation if something under their control causes a flight to be canceled. (A maintenance related issue, for example.) But not if it can be blamed on the weather. And airlines have gotten very, very loose with what constitutes a weather delay. But, as a passenger, try getting sympathy if you missed your flight because it was raining hard when you left your home. (Try invoking the words “We had a flat tire” instead.)
If it’s impossible to book a flight on the website, I shouldn’t be charged $10, $15, or $20 “convenience charge” to make that booking over the phone with a live person. Codeshares or partner-airline awards fall into this.
Don’t quote me the rate of a hotel room. Quote me the rate of that room plus all taxes, fees, convention center reconstruction surcharges, etc. Ditto airlines and rental cars. If a charge is mandatory, tell me what my total price will be.
Things like United’s mileage expiration policy, which not only changed the lifespan of miles from 36 to 18 months, but started the expiration clock six months before the rule went live.
There are more, I’m sure. Which rules annoy you most? Hit the comments!
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August 9th, 2007 at 12:57 pm |
That point about weather is right on. After all, any small weather anomaly could be blamed to get them out of offering you a thing.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:45 pm |
The image you’ve posted is actually from Tuol Sleng Prison (also known as the S.21 Security prison) in Phnom Penh, and as such, they might not be the most appropriate to illustrate the post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng
August 10th, 2007 at 12:22 pm |
The non-transferability of tickets, either on airlines or cruise ships, is a rule that serves no useful purpose other than (unfairly) increasing airline/cruise line revenues.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:28 pm |
The water one.
I was screamed at for about a half hour about liquids.
I was moving to another state and had tried calling TSA to find out how I should transport my Betta Fish…never could get a living soul on the phone.
Then got there and after being harrassed, yelled at, video-taped??? by some cameraman behind the screaming TSA guy,…while trying to do everything in my power just to get my pet to my home across the country..I finally made it on…while almost killing my fish by having him in only 3 oz of water(which they tested for bioagents because apparently a live fish=he must be swimming in hazardous chemicals).
I am thoroughly ticked. I was even told by the airline(after the millionth phonecall where I actually managed to talk to an actual person(unless you are making a reservation, apparently they don’t want to talk to you) who said unequivocally that I could carry on the fish with no problem. I even asked her 3 times just to confirm that she was understanding my question and that it did involve transporting an animal in WATER(gasp!)
Ok..enough rant…you get the picture…
Water…that is my biggest complaint. It is a scam. They just want to sell more beverages once you get past security…which considering the delays these days, you end up spending a bloody fortune on snacks.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:38 pm |
[…] Industry Rules Need to Change Over at Upgrade: Travel Better (with a nod to Chris Elliot), they put together a list of some of the stupidest airline rules that […]
August 12th, 2007 at 6:15 am |
Certainly there are times when it would be convenient to be able to transfer the name on a ticket - however I have this chilling vision of airline tickets going to the resale market - sort of like concert tickets do now. Can you imagine every Thanksgiving week air seat being snapped up by a reseller? The airline’s pricing games may chap me sometimes, but I definitely don’t want to get into having to buy my Thanksgiving flights on Ebay.