Christopher Elliott, the syndicated travel writer, has come out on his blog with his list of the 20 Most Inspiring Travel Blogs of 2007. We knew he reads our blog for the ‘fun of it’, as he puts it, and we subscribe to his, and often put in our two cents. We thank him for his kind words. It inspires us to be more vigilant in keeping up with our article writing.
In order to keep track of our fellow bloggers to provide links to their interesting perspectives and commentary, we use Bloglines. In honor of his appreciation, we’re going to pull some of his stories we’ve bookmarked.
One of our favorite things to read are his posts as The Travel Troubleshooter. Generally, as individuals we are often stymied by dealing with the monolithic organizations that airlines and other travel organizations have become. As much as we hope that these organizations will provide good customer service, a call from a journalist often yields prompt results. No one wants to be blasted in the press. Here are some recent highlights.
- Just today, Chris rescued someone who was charged for a ticket they were only inquiring about the price of.
- Two passengers wanted reimbursement for a missed connection. They had purchased a ticket from Dallas to Kauai via Phoenix and neither Cheaptickets nor US Airways had notified them of any flight change or reprotected them. The two agencies agreed to send coupons and vouchers for future use.
- Skybus left two people stranded for three days in Burbank waiting for a flight. It wasn’t because they missed a connection. But, unlike most carriers, Skybus waives itself of responsibility for stranded passengers beyond a refund of their ticket. So, even a travel columnist can’t help them there.
- When all else fails, try Small Claims Court…one commenter did, and, as often happens, when the airline fails to show up, they will have a summary judgment against them.
Thank you, Chris, and we’ll both keep reading.