Christopher Elliott Page 12

On the Sunday, November 8th, 2020 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, Southwest Airlines tells a passenger she isn't covering enough of her body, removed her from the plane and then relents, but only with a qualification. Is it fair? Key West, a small destination over run by cruise ships in the past three years, saw its residents vote to put serious limitations on who and how many can disembark in their city. Are they the first of many to tell cruise ships to sail on by? Our friend and Consumer Advocate, Chris Elliott, returns to discuss the challenges of travel during Covid and when he thinks things might get back to normal. The hospitality industry has been crushed by Covid. Restaurant Cares helps those impacted, including restaurant employees. Find out how you can get involved and even win a $500 dine out card. In our final segment of the day, entertainment shines through. Tom has an exclusive interview with Al Pitrelli of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Covid means the annual Christmas concert at the arena won't happen, but the orchestra is offering a way for you to hear them live. Tom has all the details on how to get tickets. Al says you can watch from home, in your pajamas in you want!

On the Sunday, February 9th, 2020 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, Marriott, in two separate moves, cuts the value of your Bonvoy points pretty significantly.  Between the new "peak/non-peak" award chart, and the "annual realignment" of awards for individual properties, considerable value has been lost for some. Cruise ships are scrambling to respond to the Coronavirus, dropping planned stops in China, refusing Chinese passengers and even getting stuck in quarantine.  Plus, Disney will open a Star Wars Hotel in 2021! Our Smarter Traveler segment features ways you can ditch single use plastics while you are traveling; and we talk about how major credit cards are quietly removing many of the travel-related benefits you used to get with your annual fees. We share the 2020 Elliott Customer Service Awards, as voted by the readers of Elliott.org, regular Travel Guys contributors Chris Elliott's consumer advocacy website. We close the program visiting with Anna Harris.  Anna is a lady with a mission, a mission to improve life for some people she has met in her travels.  It's a most unique story.

On the Sunday, January 19th, 2020 edition of The Travel Guys… In The Travel News, Harrah's Reno, the original downtown club (started as a bingo parlor in 1937) was sold by Caesar's for $50 million dollars.  Jet Blue has raised the price of baggage fees by $5 to $35 bucks for your first bag.  Now it's probably just a matter of a few days until the other carriers join them at that level. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we read back a "Love Letter to Spirit Airlines" from one of their flyers.  OK, so it might not be a TOTAL love story. The Last Ship, starring Sting, will arrive in San Francisco in just a few weeks.  We have Sting''s co-star, Oliver Savile, with us to talk about the show. When people need help from a consumer advocate with a travel problem or issue, do they always tell a truthful story.  Or do they fudge just a little bit sometimes.  We ask Chris Elliott the question and his answer probably won't surprise you.

On the Sunday, October 6th, 2019 edition of The Travel Guys… In The Travel News, the entry of Southwest into the Sacramento-Hawaii market has seen it's first casualty.  Alaska Airlines will stop flying non-stop to Kona in March.  The airline has been flying the route 3-4 days a week since the spring.  With Southwest adding non-stop flights to Honolulu and soon to Maui, with direct service to Kona, Alaska decided to cut and run.  A bay area Kona route was also dropped.  Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants have set a November 20th strike vote date, after negotiations with the airline over two years have failed to get them the deal they want.  With Southwest ramping up service to the islands, it might be an inopportune time for Hawaiian to have any sort of service disruption.  Finally, Mark has the story of an elderly couple who say they were tricked into smuggling more than $1million worth of drugs inside of four suitcases in their cruise ship cabin.  (Upon closer examination, the couple was convicted of trafficking cannabis near Norway in 2010, and despite a low income, had taken a string of luxury cruises recently).  They could face up to 12 years in jail if convicted. Chris Elliott, our consumer advocacy friend (www.Elliott.org) updates us on legislation which might be moving resort fees (and their cousins, urban and other "destination" fees) towards the exit door. We open the phones and ask you to play "What overpriced things should I not purchase at the airport?"  Should be easy, since everything is overpriced at the airport.  Tell us the worst offenders and perhaps win a $50 Macy's gift card, just in time for Christmas shopping. Finally, we tell you why you should put one of your shoes in the hotel safe.  Yes, really.  Why?  If you are prone to leaving things in your room, particularly in the safe, you aren't likely to walk out with only one shoe on, are you now?  Pretty good idea, if you ask us.