A Chicago Midway airport customer service agent for Southwest Airlines has been indicted for selling almost $2 million in travel vouchers.
After working for the airline for about three years ago, the man figured out that he could issue customer service “LUV vouchers” to compensate passengers… and could do this even when there wasn’t actually a disserviced passenger.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) have re-introduced their bill to crack down on credit card interchange. That’s the cost businesses pay to accept credit cards. Since banks and card networks like Visa and Mastercard make money on each transaction, they spend money to encourage those transactions. That’s what funds credit card rewards. It’s even to a large extent what funds the airlines, when carriers like American often don’t make money flying planes but ultimately earn money selling their miles to banks. Reducing interchange reduces card rewards. Of course if that were somehow good for the world, it would be tough to argue for our miles and points. But it isn’t good for the world. Countries that have capped interchange haven’t seen prices fall to consumers. Consumers are used here a fig leaf…
A woman shared her story of flying Southwest Airlines from Montego Bay to Baltimore to Denver where she was refused boarding in Montego Bay, she says, because because the flight was overbooked and they were treating her as a standby passenger. She was traveling with two teenagers on the full flight, and the airline learned that a passenger of size needed an extra seat but hadn’t purchased one. So she was “stuck outside the country” to make room for that other passenger.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Have you ever tried to get your cable fixed by calling Comcast? Or have you ever tried to get advice from the IRS 800 number? Most large organizations become sclerotic. The people hired to field calls may be judged not on whether they help customers, but how quickly they get rid of customers (average time per call). At the very least, they probably aren’t evaluated on whether or not they solve a customer’s problem.
Southwest Airlines denied a baggage claim even though there was video evidence, a police report, and an arrest showing the bags were stolen. Their reason? “A discrepancy.” And Southwest is hardly the Comcast of aviation.
The 1,500 hour rule leads to less well-trained, less-experienced pilots not more experienced pilots. They get hired by commercial airlines and go through remedial training to fix the bad habits they get into building up hours for hours’ sake.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Since delays have increased since European EU261 compensation, the airline industry argues that the financial incentive in imposing costs for delays doesn’t reduce delays. That’s a bit rich, though, to argue that an increasing number of passengers needing compensation for airline flight delays proves it’s unnecessary to pay? The incentive isn’t the only reason!
More hotels should simply state, as this one does, that the add-on fee doesn’t actually get you anything. They should stop pretending you get some bundle of value when you don’t.
I actually like that this hotel doesn’t bother displaying a list of bogus benefits like a once a week yoga class outdoors at 3 a.m. in winter and a free underwater basket weaving class with mandatory extra charge for snorkel gear.
You’re charged 18% more than the actual published price of what you order, and then likely assume it covers the tip. You should add another, say, 18% – 20% on top of the 18%. But since many won’t, not asking the question, this service charge almost certainly leads to lower tips even as it leads to higher profits. In other words, it’s not just the guest being cheated it’s the employees too.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
