Cruises

Regular readers will know I love a rant at the travel industry but today I am going to start by ranting at travel consumers! I love receiving emails from you, in fact I am really happy when I have helped you deal with a complaint, but it’s time to take some responsibility when you are booking your holiday.

Consumer’s not purchasing insurance

If you are booking your holiday with 10 months to go before you depart, there’s a high chance that something could go wrong; you also need to protect the £5,000 you’ve spent on the family holiday. So why would you not purchase travel insurance?

I am concerned how many of you who are not purchasing insurance. It’s worrying, it really is. It costs £10-20 per person, it’s worth it, believe me.

You’re responsible when booking online

You have two options; you pay a travel agent to book the fight for you, or if you book the flight online then you are responsible for making sure that the passport details match the passenger details. I am amazed how many emails I have received where consumers have not taken care when entering passenger details online.

I cannot stress this enough. Check and double check the passenger information to passports before booking.

Airlines are money grabbers

The airlines are not completely free from blame; they make millions from consumer mistakes. One disgruntled passenger entered his surname, three letters, typed the wrong way around; a silly mistake I know, but within minutes of noticing the mistake he called the airline to be told that he had to pay £100 to make the change.

Consumers or agents responsibility

One travel agency who shall remain nameless booked a holiday, the consumer thought it was a package, but the flight was booked with a low cost airline, and the accommodation with a third party. One member of the party had to cancel, but the airline will not refund their money.

Had it been booked as a package holiday then surely they could have received a good chunk of their money back? Who is at fault – the travel agent for not telling them it wasn’t a package or the consumer for not asking? Welcome to the murky waters of booking a holiday in 2010.

This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Consumer Blog.

Frustrations with travel consumers rant