Travelers flying on Alaska Airlines have access to the best Wi-Fi in the skies in the United States, according to a new study.
22.02.2024 - 10:37 / nytimes.com / North America / London
Last May, I reserved a two-bedroom apartment in London for eight days through Booking.com, using a credit card to hold the reservation. Soon afterward, I received what looked like an official email from the company offering me a 20 percent discount and insisting I pay the host directly, in advance, via wire transfer. 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. I got in touch with Booking and spoke with several agents about getting a refund, but they gave me the runaround, continually insisting on more documentation. Can you help?
What New Yorker would be gullible enough to wire money across the Atlantic to the account of a person they’d never so much as spoken to on the phone?
You and me, for starters. In January 2011, I fell for a very similar scam, transferring about $625 to the bank account of a person named D. Kali Muthu after booking accommodations through an amateurish-looking site called privatelondonaptletting.com.
In my defense, the online vacation rental market was like the Wild West back then. 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.
In your defense, the online vacation market has since matured. So don’t giants like Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com have systems in place to prevent scammers from posting fictitious listings? And don’t they try to prevent renters and owners from communicating off-platform to prevent just this kind of problem?
Yeah, mostly, sort of. But not in your case.
There also was some confusion about what the company’s refund policy is when users get scammed. Angela Cavis, the company’s director of communications for North America, said in a statement that Booking.com does reimburse the losses customers suffer in these cases.
Travelers flying on Alaska Airlines have access to the best Wi-Fi in the skies in the United States, according to a new study.
The ever-popular transatlantic corridor between New York City and London-area airports sees millions of yearly passengers and represents one of the busiest routes in the world.
Kayak is making it much easier for travelers to ensure they get the best flight deal thanks to the rollout of its new PriceCheck tool.
Located in Indigo Bay on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, Vie L’Ven is a collection of 280-units which will include fully furnished residences and a five-star resort that are architecturally designed with both the island’s Dutch and French influences.
Holland America Line is setting sail for adventure with the opening of bookings for its 2025-2026 Panama Canal and Hawaii cruises. With a focus on longer voyages and destination immersion, the premium cruise line is set to offer sailings out of five North American homeports on five separate ships for the 2025-2026 season.
Amtrak has expanded its Northeast Regional service to offer more travel choices along the U.S. East Coast. This enhancement includes the introduction of four extra weekday roundtrips and two new weekend roundtrips between New York Penn Station (NYP) and Washington Union Station (WAS), along with a fresh weekday morning departure from Philadelphia’s William H. Gray III 30th Street Station (PHL) to NYP. In addition, one new weekend departure now also connects PHL to Boston South Station (BOS).
The non-stop three times a week flight takes-off from Johannesburg on 28 April 2024 and has seen a keen uptake of seats particularly in the economy class
Next time you plan a trip to Dublin, consider bypassing third-party booking sites and going straight to the source. It could enhance your stay and make your travel budget stretch further.
ALTOUR will be the first Atriis client to go live in March. The content will become widely available to all Atriis users during Q2 2024.
All hotels are eligible for a category award at the TUI Global Hotel Awards 2024.
To address the main topics, the meeting will focus on health and wellness tourism, sustainability, the promotion of premium tourism in mountain areas, emerging tourism products and the training and recruitment of human talent.
It is easy to see why Bangkok is such a popular travel destination. Bursting with color and culture, exuberant temples and delectable street food, it is no wonder that this is one of the world’s most-visited cities.