The Elliott Show: my scamminess, force majeure and Acts of God

In this week’s episode of The Christopher Elliott Show, I dissect my own scamminess, talk about force majeure events and Acts of God and travel.

What a fun discussion! Thanks for joining in.

Tune in to the hashtag #elliottshow on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter on Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT to see the next episode. Then click on my YouTube channel for a live afterparty wrap-up (see archived video, above).

By the way, there’s still time to answer this week’s question! We’re heading into that time of the year when thunderstorms and hurricanes throw a wrench in our travel plans. But has an airline, hotel, car rental company or cruise line ever invoked the weather or some other natural disaster in a way that didn’t make sense, or seemed inappropriate?

I’m writing a story about the right way, and the wrong way, to invoke the ol’ force majeure clause. What do you think?


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Any hope of saving a “vacation from hell” to Cuba?

Menna/Shutterstock
Menna/Shutterstock
If you were less than impressed with your last vacation, you’re in good company. Say “hello” to Colette Blanchette, who recently traveled to Cuba for what was supposed to be a relaxing tropical getaway.

It was February, and she and her husband were looking forward to escaping the cold Toronto winter. They’d booked a week at the Husa Cayo Santa Maria through Transat Canada. The trip was booked through her sister-in-law, who is a travel agent.
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Has anyone invoked an “Act of God” clause when you traveled?

Nevenm/Shutterstock
Nevenm/Shutterstock

This is the online edition of Elliott’s E-Mail, my free weekly newsletter. Please join me Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT for Travel Live, a half-hour conversation across Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Tune in to the hashtag #travel at 10 a.m., and I’ll explain the rest. Our topic: When travel companies invoke and “Act of God” to deny you a room, transportation or cruise. At 10:30 a.m., I’ll do a live YouTube broadcast, which will be archived on my channel.

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“You are running a scam”

Karen Roach/Shutterstock
Karen Roach/Shutterstock

Maybe I should have said “no” to the case.

All the warning signs were there. The complaint involved an experienced hotel guest who checked his luggage at the front desk of a chain property in Irving, Texas. One of the bags had gone missing, and the traveler filed a claim for thousands of dollars above the property’s legal limit of liability — one clearly disclosed on his receipt and written into Texas lodging law.

Worse, the emails between the hotel and the guest showed that the customer quickly turned hostile, threatening to sue if he didn’t get more.
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154 comments

Can you trust the cruise lines’ new passenger “bill of rights”?

Hellen/Shutterstock
Hellen/Shutterstock

Maybe it was the string of customer-service disasters, starting with the Costa Concordia tragedy last year and leading up to the recent Carnival Triumph “poop” cruise, on which passengers were left adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for five days without working toilets.

Maybe it was the threat of government regulation from Sen. Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.), a vocal critic of the cruise industry, that made it move.

Then again, maybe we should just take the cruise industry at its word on its decision, announced just before the Memorial Day holiday, to introduce a passenger “bill of rights.”
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Oh no! JetBlue breaks guitars, too?

jetblueAdd the word “breaks guitars” after any company, and everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about.

“Breaks guitars” is synonymous with terrible service, bureaucracy and corporate arrogance. And you’d expect an airline to be particularly sensitive to it.

For those of you who missed the whole United Breaks Guitars episode, here’s a recap: Back in 2009, United Airlines destroyed country musician David Carroll’s checked guitar and then basically ignored his damage claim.
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142 comments