The nasty weather in the UK through Christmas and the New Year meant many travellers plans were disrupted, with flights delayed or cancelled. There’s not a great deal you can do about the weather but I wish our airports and public transport in general could cope with the bad weather; it is winter after all.

Airline tricks and unhelpful customer support

As you can imagine my inbox was full of stories from consumers, many asking if they were entitled to compensation for being delayed or their flight cancelled. To be honest I was shocked at the types of tricks that the airlines used and how unhelpful some of them were.

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Most of us have been guilty of rushing to the airport to catch our flight, or worst still, arrived at the wrong airport. I remember reading a story about a group of Newcastle football fans who had arrived in the city where the team was playing a day early, and were flying home the day of the game.

I am always giving out travel advice, yet, sometimes, I fall foul of my own stupid travel mistakes.

Checked into the wrong hotel

This incident happened last year. I decided to take a long weekend trip to Venice, and all was going well. I found the street where my hotel was located, checked-in, unpacked, had a shower. Then, I looked at the notepad on the bedside table and noticed that it was the wrong hotel!

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I have just heard that accommodation only company Apartments abroad has today ceased trading. The company sold accommodation all over the world including popular tourist destinations in Europe and the US. They do not appear to be ABTA members, I thought they were though.

Independent traveller protection issues

I am not sure at this point how many consumers will be affected.

Consumers were able to book accommodation via the website but I understand that travel agents also used them. The company also owns resort taxis, a specialist airport transfer service. I wanted to post this now in case any consumers are looking for assistance.

The problem is most consumers who have booked through a travel agent will not be aware.

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I can’t imagine what the residents of Haiti are going through and when I watch the news I wish I could do more to help. I wasn’t going to write this post but felt I needed to get it off my chest. When disasters such as Haiti we have to come together and help, and it is great that millions were raised so quickly.

Helping Haiti or PR

In the last week though I have seen a number of companies (including a few in travel) promoting the fact that they have helped people in Haiti by delivering some form of aid or donated a chunk of cash. I cannot help but think that this is more about PR, hoping for media attention from their kindness.

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One of my least favourite parts of flying is queuing and going through airport security. It never seems organised. Airport security has been in the news a lot recently and with the introduction of full body scanners in British airports, sometime in 2010, I don’t think it’ll get any better.

Baggage searched at Schiphol airport

This year I will be taking my first jaunt over to the US and I cannot wait to experience the security there. I remember back to when I was 17 and travelling through Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. I must have looked guilty because all of my bags were searched, probably for drugs.

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