It would have been great to fly first class from London to Bangkok for only the tax, and I was certainly disappointed when Thai pulled the plug on the fare and refused to honor it. But this is a little much. However, a group of disgruntled customers is refusing to let the matter rest and is considering legal action, hoping that the courts will force the airline to issue the tickets.
Avis for half
In a comment on this post, I was asked how I “managed to get my rental car from Avis for half their lowest web rate and for 25% less than my reservation with Thrifty” when I was in Colorado Springs for the Freddie Awards. Simple story, really. When I checked pricing for a one-day rental in Colorado Springs, Avis and Hertz were showing ~ $40. Thrifty was ~ $28. Since Thrifty was cheaper, and they offer 1000 America West miles even on a one day rental, I went with Thrifty — even though they’re off airport. When I arrived at Colorado Springs I didn’t feel like waiting for a shuttle bus to take me to the rental lot. I wanted to get going right away. So I walked up to the Avis counter and naively…
But they’re keeping the hammer and sickle
Aeroflot has hired a marketing firm to help it develop a new image. One of their efforts is friendlier flight attendants (perhaps they should take lessons from Flight Club Airlines). Of course they have a big hurdle to overcome: While the airline has had a good safety record in recent years, memories of a series of crashes and near-misses in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, are still fresh in many people’s minds. During that period, crews regularly took on extra passengers for cash, resulting in dangerously overloaded planes. In the most notorious accident in 1994, a pilot allowed his son to sit at the controls, causing a plane to crash in Siberia, killing 75 people.
They should have just sweet-talked the stewardess for the drinks…
Several employees of airline caterer LSG Skychefs stole more than four hundred thousand mini-liquor bottles.
Who’s watching the watchers?
Two TSA security screeners got into a fight with each other on Saturday at Baltimore Washington International Airport. They then assaulted the police officers trying to break up the fight. But they’re there for our protection, and we shouldn’t feel intimidated if we have nothing to hide.
In the event of turbulence…
Flight Club airlines will take off May 23, offering charter flights from Mighigan to Las Vegas with strippers as flight attendants. $1995 buys a roundtrip ticket and two nights at the Paris hotel.
When the price isn’t the price
Rental car prices are advertised far lower than consumers ultimately pay because of a wide variety of add-on taxes, surcharges, and fees and Ed Perkins is outraged. Adding taxes (of all sorts!) onto the price is pretty standard, but rental car companies seem to be making up their own add-ons for no other reason than to obfuscate the real price of their car and attract consumers by advertising prices lower than they’re really offering.
First prize: a trip to Toronto. Second prize: TWO trips to Toronto
JetsGo is offering free flights to Toronto from Montreal, Ottawa or New York, plus a free one night stay at a participating hotel (a minimum two nights required) and a free rental car up to three days.
I have allergies
Now I have $15. Allegra is offering a rebate.
But isn’t that the very IDEA of a hotel?
In defending itself against a lawsuit where a guest claims to have gotten crabs from his hotel room, the Quality Inn in Hampton, Virginia claims there is no “implied warranty under Virginia law running from a hotel owner or operator to a guest warranting that the premises are ‘fit for human habitation, would be clean and sanitary, and would be suitable for occupancy.’” You’d think that if there was any obligation at all, it would be just that . . .
