Search Results for: blog unwelcome travel experiences

Must-Have Travel Accessory for Kids

I’ve spent the last eight years racking up more than 160,000 frequent flyer miles with my daughter during our annual jaunts from Wisconsin to Hawaii.  If all goes according to plan, we can get from our home to my parents’ house in roughly 18 hours. Of course, things rarely go according to plan. Honestly, I’ve lost track of how many hours I’ve spent in various airplanes and airports with a young child who would rather be anywhere other than in an airplane or airport. What I do recall are all of the mistakes I’ve made during those seemingly endless flights. … Continue reading →

Get Paid to Share Your Travel Nightmare

Remember the travel nightmare I experienced trying to get from Wisconsin to Hawaii for my beloved grandmother’s funeral? I’ll never forget it. Also, I was never compensated by American Airlines for it. Cough. Cough. Ahem! However, I could still win for losing, and so could you. Thanks to a contest being sponsored by MedjetAssist, you could win a major prize if you have what the company deems “the most engaging and harrowing travel tale.” The more horrific, the better your chances of claiming the grand prize: A free five-night vacation for two at Lost Iguana Resort and Spa in the … Continue reading →

How Not to Travel with Kids This Christmas

I’ve had my share of travel nightmares flying back and forth from Chicago to Hawaii with my daughter. While our mishaps make for funny blogs, I would prefer experiencing incident-free trips. Then again, even the shortest vacations with children can lead to high drama, which is why most parents spend countless hours researching and planning the best ways to avoid meltdowns while on the road or in the air. Believe me; you can not over-prepare when it comes traveling with kids. It’s a lesson parents from North Carolina learned the hard way this week. When Jason and Kathy Fickes of … Continue reading →

Travel Compensation

Imagine forking over $6 for a pair of plastic headphones during a 12-hour flight after being told by an attendant that the headset would work on all future flights on that particular airline. On your return flight you spend 10 minutes trying to cram the cord into the allotted space to no avail. You later learn that the headset is not compatible with that aircraft. You’re now stuck with a very slightly used pair of headphones and nothing to listen to for 12 very long hours. Do you ask the airline to compensate you? You can try, but these days … Continue reading →

Unwelcome Travel Experiences

Subtitle: My Flight From Hell I don’t travel long distances during the chaotic summer months. I’ve had such horrible experiences flying off-season that I don’t even chance boarding a flight during the months of June, July or August. To prove my point, let’s review my last flight to Hawaii. It was by no means a vacation. Rather, three months ago I was forced to fly 10,000 miles roundtrip to attend my beloved grandmother’s funeral. I decided to take my 6-year-old daughter along since she and my grandma shared such a sweet relationship. Unfortunately, American Airlines cancelled our direct flight to … Continue reading →

Avoiding Delays

Airport delays can be a costly inconvenience. I once shelled out more than $250 to pay for meals, ground transportation, clothing and a hotel room during an 18-hour delay that eventually turned into a cancelled flight. Of course, that paled in comparison to the emotional and physical price I paid when the cancellation caused me to miss my beloved grandmother’s wake. Thanks, American Airlines. My sad story is just one of thousands that are logged each year with the promise from airline execs that they will work to improve on-time reliability. According to a recent report from the Department of … Continue reading →

The True Price of Flying

I am constantly on the look out for cheap flights to Hawaii. Last year, I thought I had struck gold when I happened upon a roundtrip, non-stop fare from Chicago to Honolulu for a mere $500. Turns out the actual retail price after taxes and mandatory fees was a not-so wonderful $665. How is that possible? I didn’t bother doing the math to determine the exact breakdown of the additional costs. Rather, I chocked it up to the chokehold the airline industry has on consumers and went about sulking. Fast-forward six months and I’ve turned that frown upside down. According … Continue reading →

Hitting Close to Home

A few weeks ago our washing machine died after suffering a long and agonizing battle with a litany of ailments. As luck would have it, dealing with the death of the washer paled in comparison to coordinating the delivery of a new machine with a well-known big-box appliance retailer. “I’m about to pull out all my hair,” I exclaimed after hanging up the phone with what had to be the most unprofessional customer representative outside of the commercial aviation industry. “Oh Mommy,” my 7-year-old daughter responded a bit sheepishly. “I don’t think you will look good bald.” She’s right. Actually, … Continue reading →

Tips for Flying with Pets

Every time I fly somewhere I always swear I’m never going to do it again. It’s not so much being in the plane itself, but all the stress that comes with it: baggage check, connecting flights, delayed flights, etc. Attempting to cruise the skies with pets adds another major burden to the process. I have a friend here in Maryland who is a cat lover. She adores getting to cat-sit for friends. But she’s a British citizen who will be going home in a few years, and she won’t get a cat for herself until she does so. It’s all … Continue reading →

When Airlines Go To Far

I thought I experienced a horrific string of events on my May flight to Hawaii for my grandmother’s funeral. Turns out a California mom just catapulted herself to the head of the shafted-by-an-airline club. Melissa Bradley set off a media storm when she went head-to-head with United Airlines following the commercial carriers’ decision to give her and her infant daughter the boot from a recent flight. The California mother told news reporters that she bought a separate airline seat for her baby. However, when she boarded the Hawaii-bound flight from San Francisco she found the economy class seats were too … Continue reading →