Author - The Durango Herald

How to get a reluctant airline to compensate you

Sometimes, airlines do the right thing – no questions asked. Gerrard Hattfield knows what that’s like. The entrepreneur was flying from Durban, South Africa, back to his home in C...

DATE: Feb 19, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Before you use a flight-delay compensation company, think twice

If you’ve experienced flight delays while traveling in Europe, you know the drill: At some point, an airline representative pushes a brochure into your impatient hands that promises you comp...

DATE: Feb 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

How to avoid toll roads on your next trip

Whether you’re heading down to Florida for spring break, or out to Denver to go skiing, you need to know about one of the worst kinds of tourist traps you could fall into. In Orla...

DATE: Feb 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Travelers, get ready to be your own advocates

American travelers fear they’ll be left to fend for themselves when they hit the road this year – and for good reason. The incoming presidential administration has signaled that i...

DATE: Jan 22, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Cuba is high on this year’s must-see travel lists

It seems like every travel organization in the country is out with its “must visit” list for 2017. What do they say? They’re literally all over the map, but one place gets repeated mentions:...

DATE: Jan 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Guest surveys count; fill out those comment cards

It’s a good thing Jayne Holland didn’t skip the guest survey after a recent stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta. When the property solicited her opinion through a comment card in her s...

DATE: Jan 8, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Reduced demand could result in vacation bargains in 2017

Where will you go in 2017? If you said “nowhere,” then get in line behind the rest of America. But there’s still time to change your answer – and you might want to. Nearly half of...

DATE: Jan 1, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Roaming fees can catch you by surprise; protect yourself

Wireless roaming charges are “outrageous,” to hear travelers like Karen Pliskin talk about them. And she ought to know. On a weekend visit to Vancouver, B.C., the San Francisco-ba...

DATE: Dec 25, 2016 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Proposed bill could protect online reviewers, until then be careful

If you’ve never heard of a strategic lawsuit against public participation, consider yourself lucky. I hadn’t either until a knock at my door on a January evening seven years ago. ...

DATE: Dec 18, 2016 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Fines on airlines nearly double, but will that help?

The Department of Transportation fined airlines $4.5 million in 2016 for infractions ranging from lengthy tarmac delays to failing to compensate passengers for lost luggage, almost double la...

DATE: Dec 11, 2016 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Is hard-sided luggage an essential tool or a signal of incivility?

If you’re looking for new luggage, I have good news and bad news. The latest travel bags, available just in time for the holidays, are the most exciting ones I’ve seen in years. T...

DATE: Dec 4, 2016 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Travelers fight unfair treatment by reversing credit-card charges

For better or worse, travelers are turning to a last-ditch tactic to resolve their disagreements with airlines, car-rental companies or hotels: instigating credit-card disputes. C...

DATE: Nov 27, 2016 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter