The Travel Troubleshooter is a weekly consumer column that solves travel problems. Missing cruise refunds, lousy airline service, car rental surcharges — it’s all fair game for this feature. Each story presents a problem and fixes it in a quick Q&A format.
Julie Schumer’s return flight gets canceled during the Southwest Airlines meltdown in December. Southwest sends the money to her cruise line, but her cruise line won’t refund her. What’s going on?
Overseas Adventure Travel cancels Julie Brown’s pretrip excursion on her Costa Rica tour. But who will pay for her new airline ticket? The company says she’s responsible, but is she?
When Candace Welch returns her rental to Budget in Sioux Falls, S.D., the company bills her $2,133 for hail damage. Just one problem — there was no hailstorm.
Why did Airbnb ban Solange Reyner? The company won’t tell her. But will it tell this consumer advocate?
When William Houck returns his rental car to LAX, Budget tries to charge him a fee for refueling and cleaning. But he brought the car back with a full gas tank, and it was clean. How can he fight these charges?
Peter Holt prepays $66 for two checked bags on his Avianca flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Mexico City. Why did he pay twice?
Angela Hall finds cameras pointed at the bed in her Hawaii vacation rental. She checks out and Vrbo offers to refund her for a hotel and the remainder of her stay. But it never does. What’s going on?
After Debbie Schembri’s brother dies, she cancels her Alaska vacation. Can she get a refund for her airline tickets?
American Airlines changes Allison Bilski’s flight time from 11:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., which is impossible for her to make. Can she get a refund — or at least a credit?
When IcelandAir changes Patricia Boyle’s flights from Baltimore to Washington Dulles, she asks for a refund from her tour operator, IcelandAir Holidays. Why isn’t it responding?
