Tag: Charlie Leocha

On the Saturday, March 29th, 2025 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, in our weekly “benefits going down” update, United Airlines ups fees for its lounges and credit cards, touting bogus “benefits”; and there’s an effort afoot to get rid of the TSA. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we have tips on how and why you might want to cool your jets a bit when traveling internationally. Expressing your political views on the road isn’t always a good idea, no matter what side you are on. For many years The Travel Guys have supported The Wreath Project, a small, local non-profit that seeks to honor the fallen at the Sacramento Valley Cemetery each holiday season. Collecting enough funds to decorate 38,000 graves is a massive project that must start early. We talk with Susie Stocking, who along with her husband, heads up this amazing project every year. Attention golfers, we’ll tell you how you can get involved. You’re sitting in the boarding area and the announcement comes that the flight is overbooked. Who would be willing to give up their seat and be compensated? Are we talking cash or play money? When does that next flight you are putting me on get me home? What is a fair amount of compensation? Charlie Leocha from Travelers United fills us in.

On the Saturday, March 9th, 2024 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, New York City has toughened up the rules under which you can rent out your place in The Big Apple, and hotels appear to be benefiting from the change. Plus, Costco has a great discount deal for Southwest flyers. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we discuss "authentic" travel experiences. If you want authentic, be careful and do your homework. Authentic in another country might be a fried dog hanging in a shop window (Viet Nam) or cooked eel (Sweden). Maybe authentic to you is having your hotel room overlook the town square. Except if there's a big celebration and noise continues until 4am, you might think that wasn't the best decision. Homework. Do your homework before making any major travel purchase. Charlie Leocha from Travelers United is our guest. Charlie explains that just because Congress passes a law, it isn't really a law until it's written and put into effect. That can often take years and more than one administration for things to actually be enforced. Family seating and compensation for delayed bags are two examples of things Congress approved but we are still waiting for the rules to be put in place. For 6-7 years we have been waiting. Our odds and ends segment offered tips on how to resolve issues with a vacation rental, the scary thought that dynamic pricing could be coming to restaurants and there is a new tipping app to cover those folks you never seem to have a couple of bucks in your pocket to reward their services.

On the Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, most of the news is BAD. Las Vegas hotels are raising resort fees and restaurants are raising their prices for the Super Bowl, Uber's rides continue to cost more, Jet Blue is going to charge you for advance seat selection for more seats on every flight, and the fees on Delta's credit card are going up 50%. Our Smarter Traveler segment talks about an endangered species - customer service. Case in point, American Airlines is cutting hundreds of call center positions that handle travel issues and complaints. And telling us it's going to make American BETTER. Can you say BS? Our Odds and Ends segment features stories about how travel companies are collecting your private information to create pricing, hidden cameras in vacation rentals and why you might need a special class to learn how to negotiate a Disney theme park. Charlie Leocha from Travelers United joins us to talk about the crowd coming in the skies. Charlie says flying cars, drones and other traffic is about to compete with airplanes and it's time to consider some regulations. Crazy? Maybe not.

On the Sunday, August 20th, 2023 edition of The Travel Guys… In The Travel News, tourists continue to make headlines - now it's two guys who climbed onto the Eiffel Tower drunk and passed out; and Las Vegas strip hotels are apparently dealing with an onslaught of bed bugs. They are incredibly difficult to get rid of once they find a home. Last week, Mark suggested you buy AirTags, and offered a link with what would have been an amazing price ($10 for 4). Except he didn't have the right link. They are a little more expensive than that. Like 8-9x as much. Oops. The correct link can be found on this page. A few weeks ago, we discussed the concept of "Skip-lagging," buying an airline ticket, knowing you weren't going to travel to the final destination, throwing part of the ticket away, in order to take advantage of the strange way airlines price tickets. We warned you at the time the airlines don't consider it cool, and indeed now American Airlines is suing an online company which helps people commit the "Skip-lagging" offense. We have an update. The battle against resort and other bogus fees hoisted on travelers continues. Charlie Leocha from Travelers United joins to update us on state and national legislation. Heather Fortes, who is the owner of SacTown Bites, our local foodie tour company, is on hand to discuss some of her offerings, both in Sacramento and in surrounding communities.