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Ticket Scam Resource Center - Travel Scams
This site is primarily related to event tickets, but some travel
scams are worth mentioning.
While airline bumping
may seem like a scam (you buy a ticket but there's no seat), bumping is legal.
In defense of the airlines, a large, fully booked plane is bound to have a
couple of no-shows. Customers complain about reduced services such as meals and
legroom, but when it comes time to choose a flight, we base our choice almost
exclusively on price. We dress sloppy, yak on our cell phones, squeeze our
growing bodies into the seats, and then blame the lousy experience on the
airlines. While certain practices are not regulated, airlines are heavily
regulated in the areas of maintenance, security, flight paths and more. The
industry is losing billions of dollars a year. For the time being, the airlines
are allowed to overbook, as long as bumped passengers are compensated.
Voluntary airline bumping occurs as a negotiated agreement between you and an
airline, when the airline oversells a flight and asks for volunteers to give up
seats. The airline generally offers another flight to the original destination
plus additional flights or a voucher or some other compensation. The
compensation is not regulated, and is negotiable. But if you ask for too much,
the airline might refuse your request and accept other volunteers.
During negotiations, you'll want to know any limitations on destinations
(domestic or international), blackout dates, expiration dates, and the process
for making reservations using a voucher.
If volunteers do not reduce the passenger load enough, or at the discretion of
the airline, the airline will involuntarily bump some passengers. In this case,
compensation is regulated by the
US Department of Transportation.
Non-US visitors to this web site should review their own government's information.
Airlines don't really want to irritate customers any more than they already are
irritated (by flight delays and cramped quarters). It's better for the airline
to give a little more compensation to a volunteer than to force regulated
compensation on unhappy customers.
Travel package scams
are usually not oriented around the tickets themselves. You don't get a ticket
for a vacation; you get a ticket for a flight, and a ticket for a shuttle to
your hotel, and a ticket to a show, etc. You also get promises of an
environment, such as an exciting city or a beautiful park. With cut rate
excursions, you don't get much choice in seating locations or travel dates, and
when a scam occurs, it's usually more insidious than getting a window seat
instead of an aisle seat.
The best way to avoid a travel scam is to determine your own travel desires
first, and then find providers, rather than the other way around. When you are
approached by mail or email with an offer that's too good to pass up, you place
yourself at the mercy of the provider. It's not a trip you want to take;
it's a trip that someone else
wants you to pay for. You don't find these scams in glossy magazines because
the ads cost too much. You get scam offers by email because email is cheap.
If you can get all the trip details, such as travel dates, airline names, hotel
names, sightseeing details, and especially the bottom line cost, you can
double-check the offer. You can ensure that the flights are scheduled, you can
visit the hotel on the web, you can ensure that special events match your
expectations, etc. If you're happy with those arrangements, that's great. Get
your credit card out and have a ball.
With many scams, however, the provider wants money before all the details are
divulged. As the details trickle in, you realize that the arrangements are
impossible or sub-standard, or you're required to pay additional fees, or the
scammer has disappeared entirely, and your deposit is non-refundable. If you
can't get details to double-check, then you should suspect a scam.
The scam, ultimately, is to take your non-refundable deposit and then make it
so difficult to travel that you can't actually go.
The old saying, "You get what you pay for," is not always true. You get what
you pay for when you deal with trusted providers. Unsolicited offers should not
be trusted. When you refuse to pay retail, and focus only on price, you open
yourself up to scams.