Articles

Tagged: consumer-rights

U.S. Airlines Try to Abandon Passenger Rights and Performance Reports—to Secretly Police Themselves

The nation's largest airlines are quietly asking the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to virtually eradicate every meaningful consumer protection we have. If the big carriers…

Frontier Airlines Sells You Passenger Rights That Europeans Get for Free

On Wednesday, no-frills carrier Frontier Airlines unveiled its latest optional fee, dubbed Disruption Assistance for Any Reason. If customers buy the add-on at the time of ticketing,…

Air Passengers Have Fewer Rights in the U.S. Than in These Other Countries

Perhaps the most annoying of all airline fees is the extra charge for a carry-on bag, which several U.S. airlines, including United, can charge. But there's good news from the European…

Warning, U.S. Travelers: Airline Execs Want to Snatch Your Consumer Rights Away

The fight for fair treatment isn't over once a battle is won—especially when powerful interests stand to benefit from keeping things unfair. In the United States, travelers are facing…

DOT Secretary Forcefully Reminds U.S. Airline Passengers of Their New Refund Rights

Some airlines are still struggling to reboot their service in the wake of last weekend's cataclysmic CloudStrike software shutdown. On Monday, Delta Air Lines was still limping its way…

This Airline Is Mining Your Personal Information to Sell Things to You In Flight. Stop That!

Welcome to the spammy skies. United Airlines has launched a new ad serving platform that will exploit the personal travel information of its customers gathered from bookings, and the…

Where is Everybody? "Humanless” Customer Service is Dominating Travel. Can We Be Heard as Consumers?

None of us voted on this, but like it or not, there’s been a tremendous shift in how we interact with travel companies. Speaking to a real live person can be tedious, time-consuming,…

Airline Passenger Bumping Is Back. Do You Know Your Rights?

Lately, it seems like everything that could go wrong in air travel has done just that, from entire airlines going on the fritz to technical glitches temporarily grounding…

Almost Everyone Agrees: American Airlines' New Conditions of Carriage Are Bad for Consumers

A few weeks ago, American Airlines quietly revised its Conditions of Carriage governing what customers can expect for their money. That sounds really boring, but trust us: You're…

The Airlines Are Blindsiding Customers by Switching Itineraries—But You Don't Have to Take It

Americans may not realize it, but the pandemic has made airline schedules far less stable than they were. Travelers now have a much higher chance of getting stuck with an itinerary…

These Last-Minute Rules from the Trump Administration Could Harm Travelers

Yes, travel is our focus at Frommer's. But that doesn't mean we can ignore the actions of government that affect how we travel—our safety, our rights as consumers, and the protection…

Resort Fees Repel Foreign Visitors and Cheat People: They're Destructive for Us All

Americans despise resort fees. But in a shockingly short span of time, we became blasé about them. Appallingly, the people once renowned for feisty individualism and a testy spirit of…

7 Essential Skills for Surviving Summer Travel

Taking a deep breath just doesn't work anymore. Not this summer.No, this summer calls for voodoo planes.Alan Fiermonte owns a collection of them -- "one for each airline," he says…

The Longest Airport Security Waits -- And How to Skip Them

Nobody likes getting stuck in security at the airport. Your gate is in sight, but there's nothing you can do about it. And what's up with the guy zipping through the lane on the left…