EasyJet busted for misleading advertising

by Jeffrey White on

Frequent travelers of Europe’s budget airlines have known for years that the industry relies, to a certain extent, on misleading, if not outright false, advertising.

Usually this has to do with their pricing. Log onto any of the big European budget carriers — easyJet, Ryanair or Germanwings, for instance — and you’ll be hit with a great offer. Take Germanwings, for instance. You’ll see them pimping April flights from Zagreb, Croatia to Cologne for €5. Not bad. Click on it, choose a random set of dates (say an April 8 departure and an April 16 return) and you can get both legs for €14. Ah, but then the tax is figured in, and that trip is now €77.36 (more than $120).

European budget airlines don’t usually come under fire for this because (1.) technically there was a flight in this case for €5 and (2.) they make it clear that the prices they pimp often do not include taxes. But that doesn’t completely wash off the stench of ‘scam’ in my book, if simply because I always feel like the promotions these airlines run and the ridiculously cheap prices they quote reflect how stupid they think consumers are. Obviously we’re not smart enough to view a €77 round-trip plane ticket as still a pretty good deal.

So, it’s nice when one of these carriers gets busted for not playing it straight with customers. This has just happened to easyJet, which was running a special recently along the lines of “book by Friday and if you find a better price, we’ll pay you up to triple the difference.”

Well, a Swiss woman did just that, and then played hell trying to get the Luton, England-based airline to pay up. It claimed the woman hadn’t delivered proof, and then tried something along the lines of saying she had not found a comparable ticket, since it was a competitor’s return fare she found rather than the two single fairs (there and back) she booked on easyJet. Gimme a break, right?

That’s what Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority essentially said. They’ve ruled the easyJet promotion was misleading, since the fine print implied that the refund was easy to claim, when it really was like dealing with the IRS. Only bookings made at certain times and dates were eligible. Refund requests had to be made within an hour of the original booking. And so on. The Guardian newspaper reports the whole sordid tale.

There was good news for the Swiss woman, however. EasyJet told the Guardian that she would receive close to $1,500 in her bank account within a week.

JFK drops off list of most-delayed U.S. airports

by Jeffrey White on

John F. Kennedy International Airport has long been a joke in terms of on time departures and arrivals. But there are signs that JFK might be getting better.

The Associated Press is reporting that JFK is finally off the list of the country’s 50 most-delayed airports, while previously it was a perennial Top 3 contender. The secret? It finished 2007 strong, with 73 percent of all flights arriving and departing on time between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31, 2008, the AP says. That’s up from 67 percent.

O.K., so that’s not going to have travelers rushing to reroute their trips through Kennedy. But that should still give us all hope of greater improvements to come.

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation reportedly targeted New York City airspace for a massive improvement initiative starting around Thanksgiving last year, which, among other things, included allowing commercial flights to use military airspace, the AP says.

The Federal Aviation Administration also jumped on the bandwagon in December with its own plans to overhaul NY airspace.

There’s still more in the offing. By the end of this week, DOT is expected to begin cutting the number of hourly flights at JFK from 100 to 83, which means less flights at the most congested times, the AP reports.

Still, it seems that there is little in the way of good news to report over at Newark Liberty International Airport, which topped the 2007 most-delayed list. It hasn’t seemed to improve a lick.

What’s the worst airport in the U.S.? Let us know.

New ‘Zip Lane’ debuts at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California

by Jeffrey White on

The Transportation Security Administration is making a big fuss over its new Zip Lane screening line, which made its national debut yesterday in a trial run at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California.

Now, I’m one of those who never considered Bob Hope that funny. But this Zip Lane has the makings of being a gut-buster. It’s essentially an express lane for business travelers carting one very small bag, i.e. a brief case. The lane is open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., — peak business travel time.

A TSA spokesman told KABC TV in Burbank that since there will be less bags for screeners to check, the line will move twice as fast as regular security. Uh-huh. I’ve traveled at those peak business times, and seen many corporate types with only a laptop bag in the regular lines. In fact, seldom do the regular lines move faster than early in the morning. So, the TSA is banking on less baggage to screen at times when there often is…less baggage to screen.

Still, the Zip Lane does not eliminate the procedures that really slow down lines: Shoes, belts and jackets still need to come off. Laptops still need to be pulled out.

Not surprisingly, few interviewed on KABC TV yesterday found much to praise about the express lane. “Well, so far it’s not very express,” one traveler, Dorothy Johnson, told the channel. “I’ve been waiting in line about half an hour.”

The TSA response? “When you’re talking a 15 minute wait at the security checkpoint and you save somebody five minutes, that’s a third of the time they don’t have to wait at the security checkpoint,” a spokesman told the channel.

Security officials admit the Zip Lane is not perfect, and they will be ironing out bugs in the coming months. But the TSA hopes that if it proves successful, express lanes can begin popping up at airports across the country.

But I have my doubts. I mean, how good a litmus test is Bob Hope Airport in Burbank? Let’s see them test this sucker at O’Hare.

Spring Break scams: Ohio’s AG is on the case

by Jeffrey White on

It’s spring break, you’ve arrived, and the “resort welcome” that was to meet your group at the airport is nowhere to be found. Hoofing it to your digs, the hotel’s front desk has “lost” your reservation. It finally materializes. Sorry, your package isn’t really all-inclusive: booze is extra. Oh yeah, and the package requires your group to spend a day touring time shares.

O.K., so such a chain of events is not likely to befall many spring breakers, but spring break scams do exist, and the fine print certainly has a way of spawning surprises. (I for one have been a victim of the time share caveat on a package to Cancun that seemed too good to be true).

Maybe that is what’s got Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann spooked. Dann issued a news release today telling students to stay vigilant during spring break this year and avoid travel scams, the Associated Press reports.

Beware the low package price, the undisclosed second-ticket requirement and, yes, time share pitches, Dann warns. The release appears short on specific scams, and there doesn’t seem to be much context to explain why the state’s highest ranking law official chose to go to the media with such a bulletin (though I’ve partied with Ohio State folks during spring breaks of yore and can say it’s probably not a bad idea to reach out to the state’s young minds).

Here are some concise ways to protect your wallet from scammers this spring break. The site is obviously run by a packager, but it still makes sense to keep some of this stuff in mind.

And women, beware the guy with the video camera prowling around Fat Tuesday’s, or wherever you happen to be, promising that “no one will see this”…

Budget travel: Arthur Frommer (who else?) chimes in on 2008

by Jeffrey White on

As the mighty greenback slides ever farther down the global monetary toilet, what traveler out there isn’t thinking about how to stretch his or her money more on the road this year?

Travel guru (I cannot decide whether to preface that with ‘universally acknowledged’ or ‘self-described’) Arthur Frommer is chiming in with his 10 best travel bargains for 2008.

Not surprisingly, Asian destinations are well represented: China, Vietnam and Bali all break the top 10 (China and Vietnam occupy the top two spots on Frommer’s list).

But Asia is dwarfed by the number of budget travel destinations located in the Western Hemisphere: Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Chile and Argentina are all touted for being good antidotes to our dollar doldrums. And hey, give it up for Sicily, representing Europe on the list.

Old Arthur seems to be in a list-making mood. Today he chimes in with another compendium, this one dealing with the 14 most significant recent developments in travels. Consumers won’t be surprised to see the dollar’s decline topping the list (though the greenback has been sliding for, oh, nearly a year now, so it seems to me Frommer is stretching a bit to describe that as a ‘recent’ development).

Hey, got a great budget destination that didn’t make Frommer’s lis?. Contact us and give us the details.