US Airways increases baggage fees

by Chris Owen on

Here we go again. On the heels of greatly improved profits, US Airways has announced an increase of up to 80% on the charge for overweight bags.

In addition to the base price for checked bags of $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second, the additional fees for overweight bags are increasing. Overweight bags that weigh between 50 and 70 pounds will see the price increase from $50 to $90. Supersized bags that weigh more than 70 pounds will go from $100 to a whopping $175.

Will other airlines follow US Air’s lead? Probably. In January 2010, Continental matched Delta’s baggage fee increase and American matched United’s fees signaling a green light for others to follow.

At the time, travel expert Arthur Frommer noted “Any hope that the big airlines might move more gently in adopting such fees has been lost”. Looks like he was right.

Increases in baggage fees might not be all air travelers have to worry about on luggage either. The FAA, burdened by reduced demand for air travel since 9-11 expects an estimated $25 billion decline in revenue over the next six years according to a government report released last week.MarketWatch.com reports “Revenues declined early in the decade because of a series of largely unforeseen events, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, that reduced the demand for air travel, resulting in a steep decline in airline industry revenue,” wrote Gerald Dillingham, the director of civil aviation studies at the GAO.

The new US Air fees go into effect, and it says this on their website, “if you bought a ticket on or after February 1 for travel on or after March 1, 2011. They may want to take another look at that policy and/or ask cruise lines about the wisdom of making a retroactive service fee.

Six cruise lines ended up having to refund $40 million in fuel surcharge fees charged to cruise passengers after they had booked their cruises. I’m not offering legal advice here but anyone who booked between February 1st and 9th might have a case.

Regardless, it’s probably time to take another good long look at packing light.

Flickr photo by Deanster1983

Woman dies in Philadelphia hotel after cosmetic buttocks injection

by Laurel Miller on

A 20-year old British woman died in a Hampton Inn near the Philadelphia airport on Tuesday, after silicone injections in her posterior didn’t go as planned. AOL News reports that Claudia Adusei and three friends arrived from London on Saturday, and were staying at the hotel. Adusei and one of the friends had visited Philadelphia last November to have their buttocks’ enhanced with silicone (are you noticing the absence of a medical professional or facility in this story?). The duo returned so Adusei could have additional buttocks injections, while her friend had hip augmentation (are you also noticing the irony of women actually paying money to make their butt and hips larger?).

Although silicone is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for cosmetic use, the injection of liquid silicone for cosmetic purposes is prohibited. Silicone implants are medically approved for buttock augmentation, as is fat transfer.

Adusei received injections at noon on Monday, after two women showed up at the hotel to perform the procedures. Only one woman is believed to have performed the injections, and Adusei began complaining of chest pains approximately 12 hours after the procedure, according to police. The suspects vanished shortly thereafter.

Paramedics rushed Adusei to Mercy-Fitzgerald Hospital in Delaware County; court documents state she died around 1:30 a.m. A preliminary medical exam indicates that Adusei may have died from silicone entering her vascular system, which would have stopped her heart, says the Delaware County medical examiner. An autopsy must still be completed, and toxicology reports won’t be released for at least six weeks.

[Photo credit: Flickr user [lauren nelson]]”In order to make the buttocks big with liquid silicone, you have to inject a lot of it, and use a large-gauge needle because silicone is really thick–and this could easily get into the blood stream,” explains Dr. Steven Victor, a cosmetic dermatologist in New York City who was consulted by FoxNews. “When this happens, there could be several outcomes. You could have a stroke because it could go to the brain. It could also travel to other vital organs like the lungs, the heart, the kidneys, and liver. This could be extremely detrimental, including death…We need to regulate this kind of activity better and educate the public.”

Tip: Before contemplating any type of cosmetic procedure or plastic surgery, contact the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to check credentials. Then do your homework. If something sounds too good–or cheap–to be true, it probably is.

As for the women who performed the procedures? Police are searching for them, after being tipped off that the procedures were arranged over the Internet. Lt. John Walker of the Philadelphia Police southwest detectives division says that it’s unknown at this time whether the “person performing that procedure is licensed or unlicensed.” The FDA as well as British embassy officials are also investigating Adusei’s death.

Woman sues taxi company for hell ride: the same thing happened to me

by Elizabeth Seward on

I checked my email last night and I found a short and simple email from my former roommate, a guy I lived with for a couple of years in Astoria, New York (Queens). He had included a link and a “Does This Sound familiar?” subject line. When I followed the link, my heart sank as I read the story: Woman sues cab company after cabbie’s hell ride.

Amy Ewertz was trying to pay for her New York cab ride home with a credit card–something common in the city, but still frowned upon by many cabbies. The cabbie, according to the New York Post’s story, was angry she was using a card and sped off with Ewertz, terrified, in the back seat of the car. Understandably frightened, Ewertz hurled herself out of the taxi and was injured in the process. She has now filed a lawsuit against the cab company.

In July 2008, the same thing happened to me. Except I didn’t have the option of hurling myself out of the taxi… the cabbie had child locked me in.I was coming home late one night from working and I tried to pay my fare with a credit card when the cabbie arrived to my home in Astoria. The cabbie was blatantly irritated that I wanted to pay with a card and he claimed that the card wasn’t reading and he needed cash. Well, I didn’t have cash. And in New York City, you’re not supposed to need cash to ride in a taxi since you can verify whether or not a taxi has a credit card machine before agreeing to ride–something I had done in this case. (Read more about using credit cards in NYC taxis here).

The cabbie insisted that my card wasn’t reading. He claimed that sometimes it just ‘doesn’t read’, although I’d been paying cab fares with card at least a couple of times a week in that very same spot for years. I requested he try the card at the end of the block, if reception due to location was, in fact, the issue.

The cabbie grew increasingly hostile with me. I could hear him cursing at me under his breath while I tried the card again at the end of the block. I was frustrated. It was his responsibility to have his machine working and I told him as much. But in an effort to eliminate the rising tension, I told him I would get cash from my bank, 5 blocks away, if he’d drive me there.

Upon requesting that he drive me to my bank, he became furious. He child locked the door and sped off down the street. He said he was taking me to the nearest police station and this made no sense to me. Why was I being punished when all I was trying to do was pay my fare? Why was I being locked in a taxi against my will? I became genuinely afraid when I noticed he wasn’t driving me toward the nearest Astoria police station at all.

The grave mistake I made that night was not charging my cell phone before heading out for the evening. I panicked. I started screaming, kicking at the windows, and I even tried to reach my hand through the hole in the glass divider to get his attention. He swatted my hands away violently and I didn’t know what to do.

I got through to 911 on my phone, with my battery light blinking red, ready to die at any moment. I noticed a police car ahead of us on the street, and a combination of 911’s ability to radio the officers and the cabbie’s fear that he’d be making a bad situation worse by continuing to keep me trapped in the car resulted in us pulled over on the side of the street. I frantically tried to explain to police officers what had happened and he angrily explained to them his side of the story: that I was ‘refusing’ to pay and that he was driving me to the nearest police station.

What happened next I had a hard time believing: the police officers told me it would be best if I would just pay my fare and file an official complaint with the taxi company. Completely shaken up and desperate to distance myself from the cabbie and get home to my bed, I paid the fare–which included the distance we’d gone as part of my own taxi hell ride.

A few months later, I was summoned to the NYC Taxi & Limousine Court. I sat in a small room alongside the cabbie before a judge. I told my story. The judge, for what it’s worth, seemed to empathize with me. He scolded the driver on how irresponsible it is to lock a young woman at 3am in his car. He seemed to understand how terrified I must have felt. But here’s the kicker: in NYC, it is legal for a taxi cab driver to child lock a passenger in his or her car and drive the passenger to the nearest police station if the driver believes the passenger will not pay their fare.

I was speechless. This is legal? How is this legal? Why is it ok for a person, in my case, a young woman, to essentially be kidnapped by a complete stranger and he’s allowed to get away with it as long as he claims he was taking me to the nearest police station if he gets caught?

In the end, the cabbie had to pay a small fine and lost some points on his license and that’s it.

When I saw Amy’s story, I felt for her. I understand that cabbies need protection, but this law is unlawful. Any driver who wants to take advantage of a passenger by taking advantage of this law can get away it, and I believe that’s what happened in my case. Furthermore, if this kind of behavior is going to be legal, shouldn’t passengers be made aware of it? Why isn’t there a sign in taxis saying something to the extent of: If you don’t pay your fare, or if the driver thinks you aren’t going to pay your fare, or if the driver is irritated you’re trying to pay with credit card, you will be held against your will in this car and driven, supposedly, to the nearest police station.

If this bogus law is going to be held up in court, as it was in my case, shouldn’t it be common knowledge to New Yorkers and those visiting the city that this could happen? I think so. And that’s why I decided to tell my story in response to Amy Ewertz’s lawsuit.

Quick internet research has shown me that there’s either been a recent spate in taxi kidnappings since my incident or that it has always been a problem. Regardless, these open-ended laws protecting cabbies are harming passengers. Something needs to change. I wish her well with her suit and more importantly, I hope our incidents, and similar incidents experienced by others, help change this terrifying law.

Bad cruise spawns web site, call for travel agents

by Chris Owen on

Norwegian Cruise Line passengers, really mad about a December cruise on the Norwegian Sun, have launched a new web site. It’s just one of a number of ways cruise passengers are going beyond checking “below expectations” on a cruise vacation survey to sound off.

The new site, MyBadCruise.com, is simple and the message is clear. It tells of mechanical problems that ruined a cruise, what you can do to help, asks for “your stories” and has a place to check back for updates. Here’s what they say it is all about:

“On December 4, 2010, a large group of travelers took off on one of Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) 6-night luxury cruises out of Port Canaveral, FL – having paid for a vacation to the beautiful islands of St. Maarten and St. Thomas, among other stops. According to the NCL website, passengers were assured that the Norwegian Sun cruise ship would provide everything they need to have their “perfect cruise vacation.”

OK first thought: define “perfect”.

Sure, that’s an advertising line like “You’re free to do…whatever!” the widely-used Norwegian Cruise Line slogan, but the ship did break down. It was no fault of the passengers who did not receive what is accepted as the normal and customary cruise experience. This sailing was no where near “perfect”. The ship lost power in one engine, bypassing St Thomas and St Maarten, the two main ports of call on the voyage, then slowly sailed back to Florida on a modified itinerary.

The cruise line issued $100 onboard credit per cabin along with a future cruise credit equal to 30% of the price of the cruise. Passengers say that’s not enough and want a full refund.
Odds are they probably won’t all get a full refund. They did go on a cruise. The cruise line always has a right to modify itineraries (it’s in the passenger contract no one reads). As foreign-flagged ships, cruise lines are not governed by consumer protection laws in place for US businesses.

But that does not have to be the end of the story for these people. Those who booked using a travel agent probably have a better chance of receiving more than the cruise line is offering.

Douglas Ward, author of “Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2011,” told the Associated Press that you’re more likely to get help with a cruise problem if you booked through a travel agency and ask your agent to plead your case. “If you book your cruise online, it may be difficult to get compensation when things go wrong,” he added.

Indeed, a good Expert-Agent would have given potential cruise buyers options. Those options would include lines other than Norwegian, pointed out the difference in lines, itineraries and ships noting that Norwegian Sun is an older ship along with their personal experience with the line.

In other words, it’s pretty common knowledge in the travel agent community that Norwegian Sun is not exactly the crown jewel of the Norwegian fleet and clients frequently come back saying “I’ll never sail that line again” or “That was the worst cruise ever”. Any agent worth having would have suggested alternatives.

But it sure is cheap. $449 per person +tax will get you a ride on the November 5, 2011 sailing. Consumers are often blinded by low prices in a cruise world that is seeing prices on the rise.

Still, there is always some wiggle room in negotiations for a fair settlement when a cruise goes bad. A good Expert-Agent would have your back here.

Flickr photo by Suomi Star

Caribbean tourism surges

by Elizabeth Seward on

When the global economic crisis grew into the monster it became and began impacting the lives of people everywhere, the amount of vacations to the Caribbean, not surprisingly, sharply declined. Of all expenses budgeted into any one family’s financial plan, these expensive vacations, once sources of annual pride for members of the bourgeoisie, were among the first to go.

Luxurious beachfront vacations commonly cost thousands to put together for a family–and then there’s the money lost from not working for any traveler without vacation pay (…and here I am daydreaming about what it’d be like to be a travel writer with vacation pay…). Clearly, most other types of spending in everyday life come before this kind of spending during times of economic hardship.

But for the first time since this devasting blow to the Caribbean tourism industry in 2008, travelers are visiting the area again in steadily increasing numbers. Yahoo! News reports that more than 23 million tourists visited the region in 2010, myself included thanks to my September trip to Grenada. This is close to a 5 percent increase from 2009.

The jump in tourism is largely due to cruise ship passengers. Travelers like these spend less money to visit destinations, like the Bahamas, than those actually staying on the islands. Although hotels in the Caribbean only saw a 1 percent rise in occupancy last year, it’s looking like those numbers too will be up in 2011.

Now that Caribbean travel is again popular, I’m curious: which Caribbean destination would you most like to visit this year if given the opportunity?

[photo by Elizabeth Seward]