Author - The Durango Herald

When I went on vacation, my Wi-Fi left me

It has been one of the most unquestioned pieces of travel advice since the first Wi-Fi hotspot flickered to life in an unnamed hotel more than a decade ago: If you want to stay connected whi...

DATE: May 3, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What to do when your hotel closes for renovations

After her hotel closes for renovations, Amber Sharma’s vacation package seems to fall apart. Now the online agency she booked it through won’t help her fix it. Q: I recently booke...

DATE: Mar 29, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Are e-checks a safe way to pay for travel?

As she paged through Viking River Cruises’ glossy brochure one recent afternoon, Diane Moskal noticed a new way to save money: If she booked the Waterways of the Tsars itinerary sailing from...

DATE: Mar 15, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What to do when stomach flu takes over cruise ship?

What’s worse than being stricken with stomach flu on vacation? Maybe it’s being quarantined on a cruise ship with hundreds of other passengers suffering from the same illness. Tha...

DATE: Mar 1, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Travel industry’s time-outs can shut you out of a ticket

A casual observer might have thought that Anthony LaMesa was booking a last-minute JetBlue Airways ticket from New York to Cancun, Mexico, on a whim, perhaps to escape the frigid winter weat...

DATE: Feb 15, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

It’s easy for your credit card to be compromised

A day after Sheilah Reardon checked into the Bellagio Las Vegas, she received an email alert from American Express warning that her credit card had been compromised. Among the fraudulent cha...

DATE: Feb 1, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What to do if your hotel doesn’t exist

For just $89 a night, the all-suite hotel in Killeen, Texas, promised Steven Hoybook and his family “European-style luxury” – an offer that seemed too good to pass up. But Hoybook...

DATE: Jan 18, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Fearing long lines at the airport? An app may help

Like many air travelers, Caitlin Ariens used to play it safe when she flew. She’d arrive at the airport two hours before departure to give herself enough time to check in and go through Tran...

DATE: Jan 4, 2014 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What can you do when an airline offends you?

Nothing could have prepared Jeff White for the shock he got after printing his boarding pass for a recent Delta Air Lines flight from Pensacola, Fla., to Albany, N.Y., by way of Atlanta. Rig...

DATE: Dec 28, 2013 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What did federal agencies do for travelers in 2013?

Ask travelers what the federal government did for them this year, and you’ll probably get a shrug, at best – or a rant about sequestration, national park closings and the Transportation Secu...

DATE: Dec 14, 2013 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What’s enough time to make a flight connection?

When Mike Conrad bought an airline ticket from Washington, D.C., to Berlin, the last thing he considered was his connection in Frankfurt, Germany. But the flight, booked through U...

DATE: Nov 30, 2013 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

What’s that airline credit really worth?

It happened to Louise Andrew twice last month. She made reservations on the United Airlines website, tried to cancel them within 24 hours for a full refund and was told that the airline woul...

DATE: Nov 16, 2013 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter