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LATEST STORIES
Is paying for TSA Aviation Security Checkpoint Fund a tax or an extra fee?
Since 2002, passengers have paid TSA Aviation Security Checkpoint Fund whenever they pay for passengers’ airline tickets. Is it a tax or a user fee? Originally set at $2.50 per segment, Congress raised the Aviation Security Checkpoint Fund (TTSA) Fee to $5.60 per...
Learn to ask yourself this important early hotel check-in question
Most travelers who book hotels and arrive in a city early in the day would love to get early check-in when they arrive. But most hotels have a regular check-in time of 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. Knowing this important early check-in question may make all the difference.
POLICY
Stop costly missed airline connections caused by the aviation system
While airlines in their contracts of carriage assume no responsibility for arrival and departure on schedule, their delayed flights have big financial consequences for passengers who face change fees and cancellation fees in addition to extra airfare for missed airline connections must deal with through no fault of their own.
Airline consumers really want to know the full cost of travel
Two recent stories distorted what consumers want when they buy airline tickets. Passengers really don’t care how many fees there are. Nor, do they hate ancillary fees. Consumers just want a way to see the full cost of travel prior to purchasing a ticket.
Why can foreign transaction fees apply here in the USA?
US consumers waste millions of dollars each year paying foreign transaction fees on credit cards. In many cases don’t even know they are paying these fees. Half of all credit card users don’t know whether their card has a foreign fee. But that is only part of the problem.
Flight Delay Compensation Rule is DOA
Flight delay compensation and checked baggage delay refund rules are DOA. More than three years after it was first proposed, the Department of Transportation announced a new flight delay compensation rule. This would have triggered automatic refunds if flights were...
TRAVEL ADVICE
Learn to ask yourself this important early hotel check-in question
Most travelers who book hotels and arrive in a city early in the day would love to get early check-in when they arrive. But most hotels have a regular check-in time of 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. Knowing this important early check-in question may make all the difference.
Death by selfies. Yes, they are real and happen regularly
Death by selfies is becoming far too common. It seems as though the competition for social media followers, likes, loves, and comments is too often turning smart adult brains into mush and causing deaths and serious injury. I've written about death by selfies by...
Shoe wars at 36,000 feet: Should you leave your footwear on?
You've entered the shoe wars zone. Imagine settling into your economy class seat on a 13-hour flight, only to find a stranger's shoes occupying the space beside you. That’s what happened to Jaskaran Gautam when he was flying from Tokyo to New York recently. The...
Newark Air Traffic Control issues, the budget process, and Congress
The real issues with the air traffic control system (ATC) are the budget rules and the Congress. Travelers United has been working on reforming the ATC system for most of the past decade. I hate to say it, but the biggest problem is the House of Representatives and...
CORONAVIRUS
Why passengers need common airline flight credit rules
We need common airline flight credit rules for airfare refunds and flight credit protection. The refund issue has been screwed up for consumers since the beginning. It is a major issue with more than $10 billion in outstanding flight credits, estimated by the Wall...
Why airlines need to fix a major sick-passenger change fee issue
Major US carriers getting rid of change fees was a welcome change for travelers, even if we weren’t in a pandemic. However, airlines still have no consistent sick-passenger rule for allowing changes due to illness.
Five ways travel may never go back to pre-COVID days — get ready for a “new normal”
After three years American travelers yearn for a "new normal" for vacation and business travel reality. Many Americans and travelers worldwide may feel as if the pandemic is over. Indeed, after almost three years, everyone wanted to return to normal. But the "new...
How COVID still affects travel even if the virus is weaker
COVID still affects travel. Don't fool with the coronavirus. Respect it. As a travel agent and someone who loves to travel, it's been great to see COVID restrictions loosening on travel worldwide. But COVID still affects travel even if the virus is weaker. Loosened...
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Accomplishments
These accomplishments have been achieved by working closely with our members, national media, the travel industry, the Department of Transportation (DOT), Congress and many other agencies.
- Bi-partisan bill to eliminate hotel resort fees introduced into House of Representatives
- Creation of the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections
- Advertised airfares now include airfare plus, mandatory taxes and fees
- Lost/damaged/delayed luggage compensation limit increased to $3,500
- Passengers have 24 hours to change or cancel their nonrefundable tickets without penalty
- Once an airfare is purchased, that airfare and ancillary fees cannot be increased
- Families flying together act passed by Congress that requires family members 13 years of age and younger to sit with other family members at no additional cost.
