Anatomy of a nightmare - it's a doozy!

[mtp51]

"A series of unfortunate events soured Cara Lanza's dream vacation. None of the events is rare, but like the orphaned children in Lemony Snicket's books, Lanza experienced more than her share of unpleasant surprises. The story of her experience, and what she did or should have done at each step along the way, is instructive for us all."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/09/AR2007110900912.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

[tdew]

Wow, talk about a bunch of problems!

I'd have worked with all of them except the request to Pay $7,358

That one would have sent me back home

[NW CTC]

I'd take issue with the advice never to pre-pay the 1st night's stay. Most hotels require either a guarantee or prepayment and most of the time a traveler will be into late cancellation penalties if they miss their flight out. One might as well pre-pay through a reliable source (I use a major wholesaler) and get the generally lower rate and better service.

I think she would have been better off with travel insurance, too; it probably would have covered the cost of a hotel room for the night in Newark. Then again, I'm always surprised when travelers choose to sleep on the floor in the airport rather than paying for the safety and comfort of a hotel.

[Armstrongb]

It definitely costs money when things screw up, and more often than not, it is the passenger left holding the bag.
They have you held hostage because you only have so much time booked for a vacation, in many cases.

I would have balked at the $7000 plus for the business class seat - but would pay for a hotel rather than sleeping in an airport.

I go to London at the end of the month...so I hope I do not suffer the same misfortunes. However, I'm booked on a direct flight - no transfers, stops, etc. And I used points for the hotel in London, so I expect I could straighten that out in time if there's an issue.

I'm sorry she had such a ruined vacation, that's really sad.

[NW CTC]

It definitely costs money when things screw up, and more often than not, it is the passenger left holding the bag.
They have you held hostage because you only have so much time booked for a vacation, in many cases.

I would have balked at the $7000 plus for the business class seat - but would pay for a hotel rather than sleeping in an airport.

I go to London at the end of the month...so I hope I do not suffer the same misfortunes. However, I'm booked on a direct flight - no transfers, stops, etc. And I used points for the hotel in London, so I expect I could straighten that out in time if there's an issue.

I'm sorry she had such a ruined vacation, that's really sad.

Armstrong - you're wise to use a non-stop flight as it certainly helps minimize the chance of problems.

And you're right it is sad that her vacation was trashed that way. Vacation time is too precious to have to waste that way. I wish her much better luck next time!

[icymrot]

I think she would have been better off with travel insurance, too; it probably would have covered the cost of a hotel room for the night in Newark.

An insurance policy could have helped a couple different pieces:

1. It would have paid her $150/day (typical but can vary by policy) for hotel and food expenses had she decided to stay in Newark.

2. Depending on her policy she could have had $300 in Missed Connection that would have helped additional costs. Even though that is minimal since she was being charged $7,000+ in some/many cases that $300 benefit will do the trick. Some policies have a separate coverage for Missed Connection and for others it is built in to Travel Delay/Trip Interruption

3. Baggage delay coverage could have given $100-$300+ for her to purchase the necessities before getting her bag back.

4. Had she stuck to her original itinerary and Continental could not get her out of Newark within 24 hours she could have been eligible for trip cancellation (depending on the plan, she may be required to miss more then 50% of her trip). As is mentioned in the story it is rare that the airline will help book through a competitor

I tell my agents every day that with the state of air traffic control and the capacity airlines are running at today, it is more important then ever that customers by travel insurance. Flying in a day early is never a bad option either....