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☆ Help! Japan Airlines Downgraded Us From First Class and Skimped on the Refund.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dear Tripped Up,Last year, my husband and I splurged on round-trip first-class tickets on Japan Airlines from San Francisco to Tokyo for $13,474 each. On the same day, I also bought business class tickets for a couple who was traveling with us at $8,429 apiece. In September, Amex notified me that we had been downgraded to business class for the return flight. I contested this with Amex Travel, but they rejected our claim. All three airlines I contacted delayed, obfuscated or otherwise dillydallied before getting me answers, but let’s start with your travel agent, American Express.

Persons: Amex, Teri, I’ve, ”, Emily Vicker Organizations: Japan Airlines, American Express, Amex, British Airways Locations: San Francisco, Tokyo

☆ Help! Air Canada Ruined Our Trip to Ireland but Won’t Take the Blame.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Dear Tripped Up,Last September, my husband and I left our kids with their grandparents and set off to Ireland. Our $2,132 itinerary took us from Minneapolis to Toronto to Dublin on tickets booked on United Airlines through Expedia but ultimately operated by Air Canada, a United partner. Checkout time came and went without a word, so we went to the airport and were told to call Air Canada customer service. I skipped over Expedia, since your trip had already started, and reached out to United and Air Canada — as you flew on an airline’s partner, it’s a code share arrangement. Air Canada, on the other hand, took almost two weeks to get back to me, and its response was underwhelming.

Persons: Michelle, it’s, Erin Jankowski Organizations: United Airlines, Air Canada, Air, United Locations: Ireland, Minneapolis, Toronto, Dublin, Expedia, United, Air Canada, Newark, Edina, Minn

☆ He Rescued 1.5 Million Yiddish Books. Now He Will Have Time to Read Some.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Joseph Berger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aaron Lansky was a young graduate student in Montreal in the late 1970s when he had an epiphany that changed the course of his life. He had been taking courses in Yiddish literature at McGill University, but was finding it hard to find the books he needed. At times, he relied on older neighbors in Montreal’s vibrant Jewish community who would welcome the opportunity to chat with a young visitor over a cup of tea or a plate of noodle kugel before surrendering their books. As a result, whole libraries filled with works of writers like Sholem Aleichem, I.L. Peretz and Sholem Asch — as well as science and history texts, translations of classics like Shakespeare and Guy de Maupassant, even cookbooks and sex manuals — were being consigned to dumpsters, attics and cellars.

Persons: Aaron Lansky, Sholem, I.L, Peretz, Sholem Asch, Shakespeare, Guy de Maupassant Organizations: McGill University Locations: Montreal, United States, Canada

☆ Help! My London Rental Apartment Vanished and I’m Out $3,100.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dear Tripped Up,Last May, I reserved a two-bedroom apartment in London for eight days through Booking.com, using a credit card to hold the reservation. I sent the equivalent of $3,100 dollars to the account of a man named Nyholm Peik, which I now know was a foolish thing to do. Soon afterward, Booking emailed to tell me the property was no longer available. Airbnb was just hitting 100,000 listings (compared to seven million today) and most people still thought Vrbo was a typo. Plus, I had wired money for a rental apartment via a similarly dubious-sounding website, rentflat.com.br, in Rio de Janeiro the year before without a hitch.

Persons: Nyholm, Sylvia, Kali Muthu, Airbnb, Vrbo Locations: London, Booking.com, Sylvia , New York City, Rio de Janeiro

☆ Help! I Missed a Cruise and the Cruise Line’s Own Travel Insurance Won’t Pay.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Dear Tripped Up,After graduating from college in 2022 and working for a year, I used my bonus and some of my savings to book a nine-day Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line for my partner and me. Our $7,657 cruise package included airfare from Atlanta to Barcelona, Spain, via Newark, and Norwegian’s own BookSafe Travel Protection Plan, which included travel insurance and also allowed me to “cancel for any reason” for a 75 percent credit. So we spent the night in the Newark airport, paid for a return flight to Atlanta the next morning and canceled the cruise and remaining air legs. I would have moved on to help another Tripped Up reader, but Norwegian’s use of the responsibility-shirking phrase “as a gesture of good will” bugged me. I wanted to know why BookSafe didn’t cover you, and what other cruise customers can do to protect themselves.

Persons: Atlanta Dear Ivy, You’re, — Organizations: Norwegian Cruise Line, United Airlines, Atlanta Dear, Better Business Bureau, Department of Agriculture, Consumer Services Locations: Norwegian, Atlanta, Barcelona, Spain, Newark, Georgia, Florida

Mendes' account is one of seven given to Reuters by first responders or others dealing with the dead that attest to alleged sexual violence. VICTIMS DEAD, TRAUMATIZEDIn Israeli criminal law, sexual violence includes rape, but also indecent acts, harrassment and sexually demeaning a person – including forced nudity – among other offences. Some of those purporting to show sexual violence could not be authenticated – one seen by Reuters appeared to date to 2021. The news agency verified the locations of two other videos that suggest sexual violence, shared on social media within a day of the attack. Israeli lawyers say its evidentiary requirements on sexual violence are less challenging than Israel's.

Persons: Ronen, Shari Mendes, Mendes, It's, Deen al, Beeri, Taher al, Nono, Orit Soliciano, Neubach, Shelly Harush, Chen Kugel, Kugel, Dana Pugach, Rabbi Israel Weiss, Nachman Dyksztejn, Rami Shmuel, Shani Louk, Yael Vias Gvirsman, Vias Gvirsman, Geert, Jan Knoops, Israel, Peter Hirschberg, Anthony Deutsch, Stephanie Van Den Berg, Edmund Blair, Sara Ledwith, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Nova Festival, REUTERS, Rights, Shura, Reuters, Israel's Association, Association, Authorities, Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine, Ono Academic, Zaka, Police, Criminal Court, ICC, Israel's, Israeli Defence Force, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel's, Israel, Israeli, The Hague, Tel Aviv, Shura, Amsterdam, London

☆ Where the Flavors of the Amazon Rainforest Delight
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Seth Kugel | More About Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

While the broader region offers these and other rainforest-based adventures, the top three attractions in urban Belém are breakfast, lunch and dinner. Marcos Antônio Gonçalves Bastos, known by a childhood nickname, Medici, has documented the local cuisine on his Instagram account. He compares Belemenses to Italians in how they care for and protect local tradition. Real tacacá is cloudy yellow because its base is tucupi, perhaps the region’s most defining and addictive flavor, created centuries ago by Indigenous groups. The result is not so much sweet and sour as sour and sweet, and it pairs magically well with rice and fish, and stars in the local duck dish, “pato no tucupi.”

Persons: Marcos Antônio Gonçalves Bastos, Medici, Belemenses, ” Medici, “ pato, ” Organizations: das Locations: Brazil, Combu

☆ Help! Our Trip to Orlando Was Ruined and We Want Our Money Back.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Seth Kugel | More About Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The trip included three domestic flights over five days on Frontier Airlines: Philadelphia to Orlando, Orlando to Atlanta, and Atlanta back to Philadelphia. The total cost for four people on three flights was an affordable $939.75, including a $99.99 “Discount Den” membership on Frontier. We were given a QR code at the Philadelphia airport to file for a refund, which we did for all three flights. Since Frontier does not operate in India, the credit and vouchers are useless. Yet it turns out the email was trying to inform you that a refund was coming.

Persons: Hari, Jennifer de la Cruz Organizations: Universal Studios, Frontier Airlines, Frontier, Universal, Transportation Locations: India, United States, Orlando, Fla, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Hari, Bangalore

☆ Help! The Police Seized My Rental Car and Avis Won’t Refund Me
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Seth Kugel | More About Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

On day two, I parked the car in Waveny Park in New Canaan and when I returned, it was gone. The local police told me they had impounded the rental because Avis had reported it stolen to the New York Police Department. I asked Avis not to charge me for the rental, but they did, $653, and when I disputed the charge with Capital One, Avis fought me. I can’t believe Avis is renting out cars they have reported stolen, and then charging its clients. In it, Ms. Gibson said Avis apologized to you and has now refunded the rental cost, and implied that the company had not known the rental was reported stolen.

Persons: Avis, Lorraine, ”, renter, Edelman, Beth Gibson, Gibson, “, Lorraine “ Organizations: Kennedy International, New York Police Department, Capital Locations: California, New York, Avis, Connecticut, Waveny, New Canaan, El Dorado Hills, Calif

☆ Help! I Fell in Sicily and my Travel Insurance Ditched Me
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Seth Kugel | More About Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

I had purchased the RoundTrip Choice plan from Seven Corners Travel Insurance, so I called, expecting they would help coordinate my medical care with Italian-speaking doctors. But they told me to seek help on my own, save the receipts and file a claim when I got home. Seven Corners finally paid $5,772 for my bills and missed trip, but refused to reimburse me for most of my business-class fare. I have registered complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the state insurance agencies of Florida and Indiana (where Seven Corners is based), but I’ve gotten nowhere. Seven Corners says it will, according to its website, boasting of “a 24/7 multilingual team available to help with travel emergencies,” including help finding medical care and second opinions as well as “interpreter referrals” and medical evacuations.

Persons: I’ve, Makenzie, Greg Jung, Ilaria Organizations: Seven Corners Travel Insurance, Google, Better Business Bureau, Seven Locations: Sicily, Palermo, Munich, New York, Jacksonville, Florida, Indiana, St, Augustine, Fla, French, Belgian, California

☆ Help! JetBlue Stranded Our Boy Scout Troop in New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Seth Kugel | More About Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But when our refunds from JetBlue came through, they totaled $261 for nine of us, only 18 percent of the original cost. A customer service representative later explained to me by phone that we had been reimbursed for only the New York to Savannah leg. I thought you were going to ask me how to feed six growing Boy Scouts on $12 meal vouchers at an airport food court. You had every right to receive a full flight refund from JetBlue Airways. Derek Dombrowski, a spokesman for the airline, admitted that JetBlue erred here, and told me that someone would reach out to you.

Persons: —, Dear Spencer, Phew, Derek Dombrowski, apologetically, Dombrowski, ” Organizations: Colorado Rockies, Boy Scouts, Troop, Kennedy Airport, JetBlue Airways, JetBlue, Transportation Department Locations: Savannah, Ga, Denver, Atlanta , Charleston, S.C, Jacksonville, Fla, New York, Spencer

Titles from a handful of trusted brands appeared near the top of the page: Rick Steves, Fodor’s, Lonely Planet. Also among the top search results was the highly rated “France Travel Guide,” by Mike Steves, who, according to an Amazon author page, is a renowned travel writer. “I was immediately drawn by all the amazing reviews,” said Ms. Kolsky, 53, referring to what she saw at that time: universal raves and more than 100 five-star ratings. Its price tag — $16.99, compared with $25.49 for Rick Steves’s book on France — also caught Ms. Kolsky’s attention. When it arrived, Ms. Kolsky was disappointed by its vague descriptions, repetitive text and lack of itineraries.

Persons: Amy Kolsky, Rick Steves, Mike Steves, “, ”, Kolsky, Rick Steves’s, France —, Amazon’s Locations: France, Bucks County, Pa

☆ Help! I Signed Up for a $4,800 Bird-Watching Trip but the Company Shut Down.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dear Tripped Up,In 2021, my husband, my sister and I signed up for a five-day Tremendous Tawas Lake Huron tour run by Pardson, the Ohio company that publishes Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine. Shortly before the rescheduled trip was to leave in May 2022, the company emailed to tell us it was going out of business, and someone would contact us about a refund. No one did, but through my own efforts I got in touch with Jack Harris, the receiver responsible for the dissolution of Pardson. Paige, AtlantaDear Paige,My inbox is full of messages from people who, like you, gave no thought to whether the company they booked a trip with would remain solvent until their departure date. What this avian cutie has against the shade of more mature trees is beyond the scope of this column.

Persons: Jack Harris, Paige, Atlanta Dear Paige Organizations: Pardson, Express Locations: Huron, Ohio, Atlanta, Michigan, Wisconsin

☆ Help! A British Travel Agency Has Our $3,891 and We Want It Back.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

We didn’t hear from them for weeks, eventually filing a dispute with our credit card issuer. That seemed to jolt them, because then Jetline got back to us: They would give us a two-year credit. We ended up booking a trip to Portugal for April 2022, but were concerned when Jetline didn’t send us confirmation details. We complained, waited weeks for a response and eventually were told we owed $800 dollars because of a fare increase. I reached out to Jetline, which also goes by the more British name Jetline Holidays.

Persons: Jetline, Jetline didn’t, Meghan, Jay, Richard Levy, ” Locations: Iceland, Portugal, Clifton, Va ., London

☆ A Walk in Rio de Janeiro: Along Fabled Beaches
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For first-timers, a five-mile stroll along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches — Rio de Janeiro’s two most fabled sand parentheses — will stir up feelings even in those who have long and unironically listed “walks on the beach” as a favorite pastime. Such reactions may range from counterfactual nostalgia (“Imagine coming of age in a place like this”) to cultural aha moments (“Bossa nova makes so much sense now”) to medium-term reverie (“What are the rules on Brazil’s digital-nomad visa again?”). More than 20 visits in, I still turn some kind of emotional every time I return to Rio and set foot on the boardless boardwalk where the vast majority of this stroll takes place. Brazilians call such a beachfront sidewalk the “calçadão,” but forget pronouncing it and focus on its official sound: a thousand flip-flops slapping the wave-patterned Portuguese pavement.

Locations: Copacabana, Ipanema, Rio

☆ Help! United Owed Us $8,370 in Cash, But Offered Credit. That’s Not What We Paid For.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Because of health issues, we intended to book refundable tickets. I called United immediately, and an agent changed those tickets to refundable for a $300 fee. And if you paid with an electronic travel certificate, or E.T.C., you get that certificate back to use for future travel. for your mistakenly booked tickets, then used that certificate to purchase your refundable tickets. So the technical “original form of payment” was an E.T.C., even if the original original form of payment was a credit card.

Persons: Ellen Locations: San Diego, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Chile, La Jolla, Calif

☆ Help! My Tour Got Canceled but Travel Insurance Won’t Pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The tour organizer canceled the trip, citing health and safety issues, and refunded our money. I had bought my airfare ($1,504) separately, so I assumed my GoReady Pandemic Plus insurance policy would cover it. If travel insurance doesn’t cover this, what does it cover? Khatiba, Sebastopol, Calif.Dear Khatiba,You are forgiven for thinking that the “trip cancellation” portion of your policy would cover, say, trip cancellation. My inbox is flooded with messages from travelers whose similarly reasonable-sounding claims were denied either because of a policy’s fine print or because the documentation process became so mind-bendingly bureaucratic that they simply gave up.

☆ Help! Spirit Airlines Left Us Behind in Guatemala City
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Dear Tripped Up,My two sons and I checked in at the Guatemala City airport three hours before the first leg of our return flight to Detroit. When we returned to our gate at 3:40, we were told the plane had been readied earlier than expected and the doors had closed. The gate staff said it would be three days before another flight was available, and they refused to book us on another airline. We eventually received a partial $297 credit from Spirit, but we want them to reimburse us for the JetBlue flight, since they should have alerted us when the departure time was again revised. “They always tell you not to go too far,” said one wizened veteran, a consultant who flies nearly every week.

Explore Brazil’s African rootsFifty-six percent of Brazilians identified as Black or mixed race in 2021, and race relations here are as complex as they are in the United States, making the Museu Afro Brasil in the city’s glorious Ibirapuera Park a must-see. The museum is at once an exuberant celebration of the contributions that the majority and their ancestors have made to the artistic, intellectual and economic life of the country, and a searing reminder — with the restored remains of a slave ship, instruments of torture and photography of enslaved people — that Brazil was the last country in the Americas to fully abolish slavery, in 1888. Entry is 15 reais, or about $3.

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