And let's not forget the exorbitant booking fee for using miles for one of our tickets. The actual FLIGHT was only $280 round trip per ticket, but with the booking fee TO USE THE MILES TO PURCHASE A TICKET, we wound up paying over $500.

When Dean tried to convert the two tickets into travel vouchers, the airline charged him another $300. And that, readers, is when the airline killed off one of their better customer relationships.

For a trip that requires two roundtrip tickets priced at $280 each, or $560 before taxes, United managed to tack on over $800 in additional fees:

Dean doesn't have a permalink to his post—it's just up on the "News" section of his front page—so we're reprinting it below for posterity:

There seems to be a trend with me lately - it seems that, without fail, if I am on the phone with United Airlines, it's going to end in me cursing them out.

First, let me point something out. I used to be a devotee to United Airlines. For years, when we had trouble flying on American or Delta or *shudder* Southwest, United was always there as our rock - flights were usually smooth, we got decent service, and life was good. We signed up for frequent flier cards, (Even got a free upgrade to First class from L.A. to Chicago once) and I got a credit card that would give me bonus miles with them. I also had sort of a soft spot for them in my heart, given that my Grandfather worked maintenance for them for most of his life in San Francisco. After his memorial, I wound up taking a bunch of his old United memorabilia home with me, and I'm always going to treasure it, no matter what.

But coincidentally, that particular flight was where the love affair started to go south. See, it was around June, and it was when they started adding on fees for the second checked bag - which we didn't know about until we got to the gate, of course. I understood, to a degree - fuel prices were at an all-time high, and the airlines had to make up for the difference somehow. But I do clearly remember mentioning to the gate agent that "Heh... you KNOW those fees aren't going to go away when fuel prices come down again." How right I was.

Now, of course, fuel has dropped to the lowest price it's been in YEARS, and have they removed the fee? HA! They went one step further... because in early October, we booked a flight home so we could spend Christmas with our families. During that phone call, I discovered that not only had they added a fee for the FIRST checked bag (WHO flies without checking at least ONE bag?!) but they had increased the pet-in-cabin price from $85 per direction (It had previously been $75 the year before) to ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS per direction. Considering we'd be taking Selphie both ways, that adds up to MORE than the price of a ticket - just for the privelege of putting a dog carrier under the seat in front of us. And let's not forget the exorbitant booking fee for using miles for one of our tickets. The actual FLIGHT was only $280 round trip per ticket, but with the booking fee TO USE THE MILES TO PURCHASE A TICKET, we wound up paying over $500. The pet-in-cabin charge would be paid at the gate, of course. And don't forget the roughly $80 extra we would have to pay just to check our bags. This was the first instance where the phone call ended in extreme profanity.

Now, of course, we're MOVING BACK to California. We no longer have need for a flight from Austin to Sacramento. So, I decided to call United and see if it would be possible to convert the tickets into travel vouchers that we could use at another time. Certainly, said the reservations agent! There's only a fee of $150 per ticket to do so.

THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS?! FOR YOU TO PRESS A FEW BUTTONS AND CHANGE SOME INFORMATION IN A COMPUTER?! Needless to say, that phone call did not end in a civil fashion. I don't care if these people aren't personally responsible for these fees. They're representatives of United, and as such, they deserve to hear what I have to say. Take your fees and shove it.

And so, here and now, I officially renounce United Airlines. Call it whatever you want. A denouncement. A boycott. I don't care - the long and the short of it is this - I will never willingly fly United again, and I would urge anyone to whom customer service is important to boycott them as well. And not just United - I pledge, here and now, to never fly on another Star Alliance airline, either - domestically, this means no flying on US Airways. (Not exactly a huge loss) And I'm going to keep this up until United elects to rescind their fees for the first and second bags, and until the silly fees like $175 for a pet-in-cabin go away. But I'm not silly enough to think that the actions of one man are enough to get something done. That's why I'm calling on you guys.

I'm sure I'm not the only one furious with United Airlines for the treatment I've recieved - I'm sure many, many others have had the same experiences. Tomorrow, I will be writing up an actual, paper letter and sending it off to United, and I encourage you to do the same. If you feel so inclined, their mailing address is as follows:

Customer Relations
WHQPW
United Airlines
PO Box 66100
Chicago, IL 60666

Whether the fees go away or not is immaterial. I'm just pissed that United has $500 of my money that I'm never going to see again, and they're holding it hostage unless I pay an ADDITIONAL $300 to make use of it sometime in the next year. And so, I'm going to throw in my one profanity in this entire post - I say this so that people like my mom who don't really care for profanity can stop reading now.

Fuck you, United Airlines. You just lost a devoted customer.

Real Life Comics (Thanks to Arthur!)
(Photo: Getty Images)

• Sidestep
• Kayak
• Yapta
• Farecast
• Priceline

[Lifehacker] (Photo: balmes)

A Modern Monopoly

Did you know you aren't Ticketmaster's primary customer? Sure, you and your friends bought 141 million tickets last year, but Ticketmaster's loyalty belongs to their true customers: venues and promoters. Ticketmaster secures its monopoly by goading them into multi-year agreements that empower Ticketmaster to act as their exclusive vendor. In exchange, Ticketmaster gives them money. Lots and lots of money. Several million dollars upfront, sometimes.

Ticketmaster doesn't earn a cent from a ticket's face value. It all goes straight back to the venue, promoter, and talent. To sweeten the deal, Ticketmaster also shares a slice of its exorbitant fees, giving venues and promoters an incentive to support Ticketmaster's outrageous markups. "It's not us!," they can whimper. "It's that damn TicketBastard!"

Ticketmaster's 9,000+ exclusive agreements makes them the gatekeeper to 90% of the nation's arenas and amphitheaters, 70% of our clubs and small theaters, and most of our basketball, hockey, and football games.

So What Am I Paying For?

• The Service Charge

  This is Ticketmaster's cash cow. The majority of their $1.2 billion in revenue comes from this all-encompassing charge. It appears on all tickets, and cannot be escaped.

• The Facility Charge

  This is the venue's cash cow. Sure, they also take a slice from the ticket's face value, but they want more, dammit, and they get it here.

• The Processing Charge

  Wait a minute... didn't you pay a service charge? What's the difference between processing and service? Right, there is none. Well, technically that's not true. The service charge is refundable and the processing charge is not. Ticketmaster claims that the processing charge covers their expenses for taking your order and finding you seats. Sounds like service to us.

• The Convenience Charge

  By far, the most annoying name for a fee. It's the price you pay for printing out the tickets you bought, even after paying a service and processing fee.

It's supposedly an accomplishment that Ticketmaster is even willing to disclose its fees, but knowledge in this case leads to anger, not power. In any other instance, pricing transparency by itself is a good thing because it empowers consumers to compare prices and shop around. Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements, however, undercut any potential price shopping.

Why Hasn't Anyone Destroyed Ticketmaster?

Pearl Jam tried and failed. The band landed before Congress to publicly brand Ticketmaster as an evil monopoly.

The heart of their issue was ticket pricing, but Ticketmaster had a history of screwing Pearl Jam:

• For a Seattle concert, Ticketmaster agreed to donate $1 of their $3.25 service charge to charity. Right before the tickets were set to go on sale, Ticketmaster reneged and threatened not to sell the tickets unless they could boost the service fee by $1 to cover the cost of their "charitable" contribution. Ticketmaster ended up stiffing the charity.
• Ticketmaster then wanted to charge a $3.75 service fee on an $18 ticket. Pearl Jam forced them to list the charge separately, and it wasn't until the band threatened to go to another venue that Ticketmaster acquiesced.
• When Pearl Jam tried to bypass Ticketmaster in Detroit by selling tickets through their fan club, the ticket giant threatened to sue the concert promoter for violating their exclusive agreement. Ticketmaster ended up disabling the promoter's ticket machine.
• In New York, Ticketmaster threatened the Paramount Theater for violating their exclusive agreement after Pearl Jam told fans over the radio to visit the theater to buy tickets at the box office.

For the band's 1994 tour at the height of their popularity, they tried to cap prices at $18 and limit surcharges to 10%. Ticketmaster refused and the tour was canceled.

How The !@#$ Is This Not A Monopoly?

We dunno, but President Clinton's Justice Department thought Ticketmaster's arrangements were a-ok. Pearl Jam retained the über-corporate lawyers at Sullivan and Cromwell to needle the Justice Department into investigating Ticketmaster for antitrust violations. After a brief investigation, the Justice Department ruled that people were only indirect buyers, and that Ticketmaster's true customers were venues, since they were the ones consuming Ticketmaster's services. The venues weighed in on Ticketmaster's side and seemed to voluntarily hand over their business, so there was apparently no monopoly.

If Only They Weren't So Evil

Ticketmaster might be less reviled if it wasn't so frustratingly difficult for consumers to beat out resellers and other middlemen to buy tickets for themselves to popular events. Chicagoist's failed attempt to get tickets to the American League Championship Series is all-too familiar:

A refresh of the page gives us a new scrambled word to fill in and then we're thrown into a que. Wait time estimated at 15 minutes or more! WTF? We watch in anticipation for the number to get smaller and after a few minutes, it does. Now it says 11 minutes. A few minutes more, and it's down to 7 minutes.

But wait! Now it says 14 minutes! What's going on here? We think something fishy's going on, so we open another browser window to see what those wait times do. It remains at 15 minutes. The first one keeps jumping from a short as 6 minutes all the way back to 15 minutes again. Not good

Finally, we seem to be getting close. Now this is about 25 minutes after Noon, but it's finally at 4 minutes. Then 2 minutes, back to 4, then 2, now 1 and then...

We get some sort of warning because another Ticketmaster window is open! We close that window, but in the meantime the first window sends us back to the original event page to select quantity and level again. We're shit out of luck! There will be no ALCS tickets for Chicagoist, all because Ticketmaster's computer system isn't built to handle exactly the type of transactions that are most critical to their business.

The same thing happened to us last year when we tried to buy playoff tickets for the Rangers. We were working computers, phones, anything with a hook into Ticketmaster, but we couldn't connect to anyone. Within 10 minutes, all the available tickets were gone. Real fair.

Are There Any Viable Alternatives?

Cracks are finally starting to form in Ticketmaster's money-encrusted shell, but the competition doesn't inspire confidence. Everyone looks at Ticketmaster's 30% surcharge and thinks how good all that undeserved cash would look in their pocket.

Live Nation, the largest U.S. promoter, is in the process of ditching Ticketmaster to build their own ticketing system, but only because they want to upsell junk and expensive packages while keeping the lucre for themselves.

Major League Baseball bought up a stake in Tickets.com, which will soon become their primary ticketing agent, but Tickets.com also levies a 30% service fee. MLB also ditched Ticketmaster for secondary ticket sales in favor of StubHub, which charges the buyer and seller a combined 25% fee.

TicketWeb was once an alternative for smaller shows, but they were gobbled up by Ticketmaster. Bandsintown is still around as an aggregator for small shows. While they don't sell tickets directly, the site will point you to Ticketmaster alternatives, if any are available.

You can also try using Brown Paper Tickets, which bills itself as "Fair Trade ticketing," but it can be difficult to find a participating venue.

Oh Come On, There Has To Be Some Viable Alternative

For the committed, there is really only one true alternative: abandon hope and the internet and take an urban field trip to the box office.

PREVIOUSLY: Why Do Ticketmaster Events Sell Out Instantly?
Ticketmaster Levies Entirely Believable $327 Per Ticket Convenience Charge
Live Nation To Challenge Ticketmaster, Sell Fans More Junk

Sprintholidayoffer.com [Official Site via Fry's Forum] (Thanks to Luis!)

[Parent company] Event Tickets LLC has an unsatisfactory rating from BBB due to its performance, which includes nearly 100 instances of non-delivery of tickets, nearly another 100 complaints involving refunds and exchanges, and on about 200 occasions, the company has failed to even respond to BBB or consumers to resolve issues.

Remember, avoid this company when buying tickets. We've heard only bad things about them, and have yet to hear of any sort of resolution or follow-up story that would make us change our minds.

"BBB Warns Sports Fans, Concert-Goers, and Theater Buffs: Beware of TicketsMyWay.com" (Thanks to Cheriset!)
(Photo: Getty)

His story hit the Digg front page. As it was on its way to becoming popular on Digg, a gal named Carly at Zocalogroup, apparently the PR firm Orbitz has hired to monitor blogs and maintain a Twitter presence, reached out to help Josh. An Orbitz insider said that over 16 Orbitz employees have forwarded Josh's story to the internal customer experience team.

For his part, Josh writes, "Thank you for posting my story. I'm contacting Carly right now and will follow up with you about how Orbitz DID send me to collections, my communication with that company, and whatever Orbitz is willing to do now that they couldn't be bothered to do before."

PREVIOUSLY: Orbitz: Pay For Ticket We Never Sold You Or Else

Imagine a mugger holding a gun to you and saying, "I need you to pay for that gold watch I gave you last week." Confused, you say, "Uh, you never gave me a gold watch." The mugger says, "Hey buddy, pay me for that watch or else..." He cocks the hammer. Ok, that's a little melodramatic, but essentially that's what Orbitz is doing to Josh; they want him to pay for a ticket they never sold him, or else they'll send him to collections.

June of last year, I tried to book a ticket for my brother through Orbitz. The process went as usual and when I completed my transaction, I was presented with a screen telling me to expect a confirmation email shortly.

Several days later and with 48 hours to go before the flight, still no email. So I called the fine customer service folks at Orbitz and was told, in no uncertain terms, that they did not have a reservation for my brother or myself (just in case I had made a mistake on my end filling out the form). I was then offered the opportunity to buy a new ticket at $200 above what I had originally signed up for. I had to pass and my brother missed a very important family event.

Move forward in time a week, and I find that my BofA checking account has charges from Orbitz and the airline I had originally booked through (American Airlines). You know, the flight that didn't exist.

I called Orbitz again and was now told that Orbitz never gives refunds. I escalated from one outsourced call center worker to another equally inept call center worker who read from the same script. Since that went nowhere, my next call was to BofA.

It took a lot of time and documentation, but I finally received a letter in October from BofA letting me know that the funds I had been forwarded when I initially disputed the charge was to be made permanent.

So what's the problem? The call I got today from Orbitz telling me that they got a letter from American Airlines hadn't received payment and that I would be sent to collections.

Is this true? How can this be? I am lost and confused and just plain fed up. Any guidance or suggestions would really help.

Let's see, some options:

1) Resubmit your disputation of the charges with Bank of America
2) Forward your complaint to BoA's CEO (address here).
3) Hire an attorney specializing in consumer debt cases

Any other notions out there?

(Photo: Shermeee)

• Vann's: Klipsch iGroove HG iPod Speakers $100 Shipped
• Mac Connection: Apple iMac $1099 + Free VMWare Fusion Software
• Chefs: Labor Day Sale: Save up to 80% off Cookware, Kitchen Tools, & More

• Southwest: Fares starting at $59 one-way
• Purina: Free bag of Purina Yesterday's News cat litter
• Arizona Jeans: 50% off select jeans and all shoes

• Holding $5,000 in tickets from a family for six months, then telling them the day before that the flight has been canceled;
• When confronted with the fact that the flight hasn't been canceled, telling the family that the reservation has been lost;
• Finally admitting that they've bumped the family from the flight and were lying about the cancelation and the lost reservation;
• Offering replacement seats on multiple planes and days, splitting the family up on different flights and depositing them at different islands;
• Offering to get them there 5 days into a 7 day vacation, part of which was scheduled to spend time with a family member who was dying in a hospice in Hawaii;
• Refusing to write a letter on the family's behalf so that they can collect their insurance payment on the house they rented but never used.

How could United mess up a trip so badly? The mother who arranged all of it, Anita Cabral, suspects it has to do with the bottom line:

Cabral has a theory for this shabby treatment: fuel prices.

Between January and June, as the oil industry mounted its historic shakedown of consumers, the price of those tickets tripled. The folks who paid the most got to fly.

The columnist who wrote about the Cabrals' problems said he called United directly for a response, and was never called back.

"Bad airline stories are nothing like this" [Sign On San Diego] (Thanks to Randy!)
(Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas)

Sold out? No problem [CNN Money] "Here's how to score the hottest ticket in town without paying an arm and a leg."

New Rules for the Age of High Energy Prices [Yahoo Personal Finance] "Here are some rules to help you adjust to the new realities of high energy costs."

Getting Around Airlines' New Minimum-Stay Requirements [Smart Money] "Here's what fliers need to know to avoid getting hit by an airlines' minimum-stay requirements."

Preserve Your Savings for Life [Kiplinger] "New ways to spread your nest egg over the next 30 years."

— FREE MONEY FINANCE
(Photo: striatic)

1. Buying really far in advance usually doesn't matter
The lowest prices get released in the period 2-8 weeks beforehand. Buying earlier than eight weeks in advance won't usually won't get you any deals, and you might even miss out.

2. Buying really far in advance DOES matter for peak travel dates
Spring Break flights leaving on Friday, Sunday returns during summer months, and, of course, anything around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

3. Snatch up price drops
Fare cuts are usually bye bye in 2 days.

4. Spurn high fares
Hiked prices are often cut when airlines have to make up for all the lost business from prices being too high.

5. Day of flight is important
The cheapest days to fly are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Don't believe me? Read this.

6. Day of ticket purchase matters
Price drops usually get rolled out earlier in the week

7. Leave earlier, stay longer
You can save during holiday rush times if you depart a day earlier and come back a day later than most people would.

What are your favorite tricks for saving on airfare? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tracking Air Fares: Elaborate Algorithms Predict Ticket Prices [WIRED]

(Photo: iwantamonkey)

Travelocity stole $2,594.55 of my honeymoon money.

Travelocity is a giant warehouse for wholesale airline tickets who doesn't care about its customers and is masquerading as a travel agency. They route calls to customer service call centers in foreign countries with agents with false names like "Simon" who regurgitate scripts with absolutely no quality control or back tracking ability. Details below.

I booked two flights, a honeymoon, through Travelocity on March 18th to Brazil for June 2nd at a total cost of $2,594.55. On May 27 it became clear our visas were not going to come through on time, and I called Travelocity and spoke to "Simon". Simon assured me if I mailed my paper tickets and was willing to pay whatever cost difference the trip could be rescheduled within 14 days. I quickly Fed-Exed the tickets. On June 4th Travelocity called reporting that the tickets were received and I could now reschedule my trip. I was out of town and returned the call on June 12th. Despite the fact I notified Travelocity that I would not be using my tickets, Travelocity failed to notify the airlines I wasn't going to be on the flights, and the airline credits were lost.

Travelocity is refusing to reschedule or refund my money, because the airlines are considering us "no shows". I totally understand the airlines' perspective, we were not there. However, why did travelocity neglect to inform the airlines of my desire to reschedule or "not show up"? Is that not the function of a travel agent? Do they honestly feel they can just take $2,594.55 of our savings and not provide ANY services to us? After spending 10 hours on the phone with Travelocity, their only answer to me was an email address: customer.relations@travelocity.com. They promised 48 hour response. I've sent two. I've gotten nothing back.

We live in an age were gigantic monolithic corporations are okay with losing customers because it doesn't affect the bottom line due to the total size of their customer base. I am not okay with this. $2,594.55 isn't much to Travelocity, but it's a lot of money to my new wife and I! I'm asking for a full refund from Travelocity.

We're going to assume that you paid for these tickets with a credit card, so we're going to recommend that you get your credit card company involved in this dispute. Call them up and explain that due to an error on Travelocity's part, you were denied the services you paid for. Tell them that you'd like to do a chargeback for the entire amount.

If this isn't successful, you may have to file a small claims lawsuit or talk to a lawyer. Good luck.

• 1. Why pay anything? Many theaters offer free family film screenings on weekday mornings.
• 2. Keep an eye out for movie ticket coupons at grocery stores.

  Safeway's "Flicks for Free" promotion offers two free movie passes to shoppers who buy $40 worth of products from participating brands such as Coca-Cola and General Mills in one transaction.

  Perfect for that rowdy Soda & Cereal party you've been planning!

• 3. Seek out a drive-in. If you can find one, you'll be rewarded with $6 tickets.
• 4. Ditch the theater chains. Independents may take an extra few weeks to get the summer blockbusters, but the tickets can be 70% cheaper.
• 5. Sign up for reward programs. Unlike frequent flier miles, theaters aren't depreciating their rewards programs.

  AMC MovieWatcher Rewards offers coupons for a free small popcorn each week, plus two points per ticket purchased. After you've earned 30, you'll get a free ticket. The Regal Crown Club awards one point per $1 spent. Rack up 120 points and redeem them for a free ticket.

• 6. Buy in bulk with your friends. AMC sells blocks of 50 tickets at $6 apiece. The tickets don't expire, but they can't be redeemed until two weeks after a film debuts.
• 7. Don't go on Friday or Saturday night. Instantly halve the cost of tickets by checking out a matinee.
• 8. Skip online reservation sites. Save the $1.50 and spend a few minutes waiting on line.
• 9. Be careful with the concessions. Theaters make their profits on popcorn, so if you need to buy, buy big and share with your friends. Even better, buy your snacks at a convenience store for a fraction of the price.

• 9 Ways to Save on Movie Tickets [Smart Money]

  (Photo: Getty)

Those extra airline fees, compared airline by airline [Airfarewatchdog]
Checked bag fees, airline by airline [Airfarewatchdog]

As if that wasn't hostile enough, when a local sports reporter contacted the Lions for comment, and suggested that the tone of the F-bomb email shed some light on the larger issue of the Detroit Lions producing a generally poor football "product," the Lions executive vice president and chief operating officer, Tom Lewand, replied: "If you write that, it will be factually incorrect and bordering on slander," Lewand said. "And I will come after you." Boy, they sure are grouchy up there at Ford Field. Cheer up! Brett Favre retired!

From the Oakland Press:

Furlong owned season tickets for three years. He had two in the club level the first year. The second year, he received two more in the lower level stands after being on a waiting list — so he had four. The third season, they reduced the size of the club level, including a portion where his seats were located, which were on the aisle.

He said he wanted to keep those two seats, add two club-level seats and asked that two seats he had in the stands be combined with his seats from the club level that were moved to the stands. The Lions agreed. It gave him six season tickets.

But when he went to sit in his old seats, somebody else was sitting in them. He asked them to leave, but when he looked at his tickets, he noticed his seats had been moved.

"It was an embarrassing and awkward moment," Furlong said. "I was stunned."

When he contacted the Lions, he was told nothing could be done about it during the 2007 season, but he was promised aisle seats for 2008.

Yet, when Furlong received his season ticket invoice for 2008, it was for the same seats he had in 2007.

It was then that Furlong canceled his season tickets in an e-mail to Schul. Powser then e-mailed Furlong with an offer for more desirable seats, but Furlong said it was a matter of principle — and he wouldn't accept the offer.

Then Furlong received the inadvertent e-mail from Schul.

The entire e-mail reads, "Lance...he is not talking about you here. Mark was asked to speak to these people and he said no. F... 'em until next year."

"Mark" is Lions ticket director Mark Graham.

Once he heard of the e-mail, Lewand called Furlong and invited him to a game.

"I did so before I heard from any media on this," he said.

Lewand offered no excuses for the incident, but absolved Graham from blame, although the e-mail in question indicates Graham refused to discuss the issue with season ticketholders such as Furlong, who had their seats unexpectedly moved for the 2007 season.

"It was an inaccurate characterization of a conversation held in 2007, not this year,'' Lewand said of Schul's e-mail.

Lewand said he was, "deeply disappointed with the e-mail and light it portrayed, and I have addressed it."

"There are a number of different levels this could have been avoided and we realize that," Lewand said. "One, with the invoice we sent out for this year. If it had been correct, none of this would have happened. We never condone our fans being discussed in that manner, whether it be in an e-mail or any type of discussion among members of our organization."

Whoops. We'd always assumed that season ticket holders got good customer service, considering the amount of money they spent. Guess not.

The Detroit Lions have since "clarified" that "I will come after you" wasn't meant as a threat towards Pat Caputo, the Oakland Press writer.

Does e-mail show how Lions really feel about their fans? [Oakland Press](Thanks, Kraig!)
(Photo: yodie ann )

This week, travel guy Christopher Elliott talks about the growing worthlessness of buddy passes—the travel vouchers airline employees get for family members, or unhappy customers sometimes get as a peace offering. For examples, "on American Airlines, it’s often less expensive to buy an advance-purchase ticket than to use a buddy pass, once you factor in all taxes and fees." And Continental will add a $100 to $400 surcharge per buddy pass starting this Monday, rendering the "perk" of a buddy pass entirely moot.

But wait. It gets better.

As a result of current market conditions, CO is no longer in a position to absorb additional fuel costs for the weight of a Buddy Pass rider’s second checked bag. Like non-elite revenue passengers, Buddy Pass riders will be assessed a $25 service charge for their second checked bag. When applicable, excess, overweight, and oversized baggage charges will still apply.

This is sending a clear message to Continental’s employees: Our elite frequent fliers are more important than your friends and family. What a shame.

So the next time some airline apologist points out that Gokhan Mutlu, the JetBlue toilet passenger, was flying on a buddy pass, it’s worth noting that these passes hardly pass for a perk anymore.

"You call that a perk? The truth about airline buddy passes" [Elliott.org]

RELATED
"JetBlue Forces Passenger To Sit On Toilet For Flight"
(Photo: Getty Images)

From the Washingtonian:

We heard from a few readers today that, in attempt to placate people who were turned away from Nissan due to the flooding, that Nissan's offering fans free lawn tickets to an August Radiohead concert—in New Jersey. (Calls to Nissan to confirm this were not returned.) Needless to say, those folks weren't thrilled with the offer.

Did they offer this to you? Are you happy?

Radiohead Fans Offered Make-Up Tickets—in New Jersey [Washingtonian]

Santiago writes:

To whom it may concern at IAC,

Recently I found out you are the owners of Ticketmaster, I don't know if you are aware but in April 19 tickets for the Radiohead concert in Toronto went up for sale by Ticketmaster at 10:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. it was already impossible to find tickets, they had sold out. Instead Ticketmaster was offering the chance of going to their partner website Ticketsnow.com, and buying the tickets from there, which of course meant that a ticket with a regular price of $70.00 could now be found with a value of up to $500. I intended to purchase two tickets and I am not willing to pay $1000 for them. It is not clear to me how tickets might sellout in the first minute of their launch. Should Ticketmaster and your company be abiding by a business code of ethics this wouldn't happen, I refuse to buy tickets from scalpers and even more so when those scalpers are linked directly (and protected) to the company that was supposed to provide us with the tickets initially.

I expect this letter to cause no effect whatsoever in your companies policies, but would just like to let you know the frustration that my girlfriend, me and many fans of Radiohead feel towards your company and Ticketmaster.

Sincerely,

Santiago

Here's Dave's story.

I just wanted to take the time to commend Regal Cinemas in Boise, ID. On Friday 2 May 08 I bought 2 tickets to see Iron Man on Saturday 3 May 08.
 
The next morning I was getting ready to go and see the movie and I happened to check my email and received one from Fandango asking me if I had liked the movie that I had not yet seen. I was somewhat confused so I checked my receipt and I then noticed that I had accidentally bought tickets to the Friday show.
 
Thinking I was now pretty much out the $15.50 for the two tickets, I decided to call the theater to see if anything could be done. When I called the theater the person I spoke to just told me to bring the copy of the receipt for the Friday showing and they would give me two tickets to the Saturday showing.
 
When I arrived, the individual I spoke to on the phone wasn't there and another individual came out to see me and upon explaining the situation the manager went back and got me two tickets for the Saturday showing.

Nice going there, Regal.

 
(Photo: tvol)

Fortune interviewed American Airlines' CEO Gerard Arpey, who had this to say:

In this climate, Arpey won't rule anything out. If Delta were able to complete its purchase of Northwest, American would be toppled from its perch as world's largest carrier. And a combined United and Continental would be even larger. That would leave American in arguably the weakest position among the network carriers. But Arpey says the size of his company doesn't matter as much as the strength of its assets. "We believe we will remain competitive irrespective of any consolidation that occurs," he said. "The real challenge is being profitable."

Later, as we were walking down the jet bridge, Arpey paused. "There is no business," he said, "that can go on forever selling its product for less than the cost to produce it."

Mergers would allow airlines to trim routes and, by reducing capacity, further raise prices, though carriers say that's not the plan. (Riiiiight.) This is all good news to one company, though. Virgin America is keeping fares low by burning through investor cash...

American Airlines loses $3.3 million a day[Fortune]
Airlines Finally Passing Higher Costs on to Passengers [Jaunted]
(Photo:Zonaphoto)

From AtEaseWeb.com (a Radiohead fansite):

Radiohead purchased ads in print and on radio to promote the sales of their concert tickets on Ticketmaster, but after those tickets are sold out on Ticketmaster, customers using the Ticketmaster website see a page with options with the "Find Tickets" link directing customers to TicketsNow, which is listed as Ticketmaster's "partner site." However, TicketsNow is a secondary ticket seller owned by Ticketmaster.

Ticketnews.com reveals that a source close to the situation, who requested anonymity, a TicketsNow executive helped assist with the sale of more than $1 million worth of Radiohead tickets on the TicketsNow website, which at a margin of 25 percent allowed TicketsNow to generate a gross of more than $250,000 from the deal.

What do you think? Should Ticketmaster be profiting off of ticket reselling?

Ticketmaster scalps Radiohead tickets [AtEastWeb] (Thanks, Clayton!)

Drew write:

Hey guys!

I really enjoy your site and always love to see articles about companies going the extra mile. I thought y'all would enjoy this.

Background: I'm 24 and in law school. I was cruising through life when about a month ago I was diagnosed with cancer (pre-b cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma). This has definitely put a kink in things but the outlook looks good!

For Valentine's Day this year, I bought tickets for Laura Beth (the girlfriend) and I to go to The Lion King when it came to Atlanta in April. On the day of the show, April 5th, I had been on chemo for three days and there was no way I was going to make the show. I tell her to take one of her girlfriends and they love the show, of course (it is pretty spectacular). On the way out Laura Beth stops by the show's management office to see if they have anything special that they could give her to bring me in the hospital. She tells her story about how her boyfriend bought the tickets for Valentines Day but now has cancer and is in the hospital and missed the show to these three girls who were described as "young and just married." They said they didn't have anything on hand but promised Laura Beth they would do something special.

Fast forward to this morning when DHL pulls up with a package. Inside is a Lion King coffee mug, sippy cup, t-shirt and note from someone at the production company. Pretty cool, huh?

The tickets were supposed to cost 1775 Euros. Whoops!

The airline is refusing to honor the tickets, saying:

"It is a genuine mistake, a fundamental mistake on our part. We rectified it as quickly as we could. We have contacted the customers and given them the opportunity to re-book," he told RTE state radio.

"To sell a business class flight for a fiver... that is a genuine mistake, people are going to know that there is something up.

"It is really a case of 'if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true'," he added.

"The offer was made, it was accepted by Aer Lingus. Consumers booked and paid to bind the contract.

"Realistically I think Aer Lingus is going to have to do something to abide by it (the booking) and to help them,' he said.

Airline seeks to cancel 'accidental' sale fare [The Age] (Thanks, Mandy!)
(Photo:Cubbie'N Vegas)

I guess I will never get tickets to the Masters, because I am not sending them my SSN.

"The deadline for 2009 applicants is July 15, 2008. If you are not on the Practice Rounds mailing list, and would like to be added for 2009, please send your name, address, daytime telephone number, email address and Social Security Number no later than May 1, 2008 to..."

Why do they need your SSN? Is this normal behavior for golf-types?

Tickets [Masters]

RELATED: Round 3: Ticketmaster vs Wachovia

Despite having several opportunities to check the car's license plates, the only thing Steinberg got from the police was a $200 ticket for the parking violation the thief had committed. Steinberg sent letters to the police and DMV and informed them that his car had been stolen and he would not pay the ticket, so the DMV reported him to a collections agency.

Ticketed While Stolen: Theft Victim Vows He'll Never Pay [WUSA9] (Thanks to Dyniece!)
(Photo: Superchou)

It turns out that the Cincinnati Reds, a once-proud baseball team that used to win games but is now managed by Dusty Baker, have realized that a series against the defending-champion Red Sox could be a big draw. But instead of just calling this a "premium series" and boosting the price, the Reds also forced Patrick to buy tickets in four-packs, that is, for every Red Sox/Reds ticket Patrick wanted, he also had to purchase tickets to three other, non-Red Sox games. Patrick wanted to buy eight tickets for each game of the three-game series, for a total of 24 tickets. The Reds wanted him to buy 96 tickets. When he called to complain, the rep told him that since he was a Red Sox fan from Boston, he should be used to paying high prices. The rep also advised him to buy tickets to other big series, such as the Cubs or Indians, and scalp them. That's right, the rep advised him to buy tickets, then scalp them. With the cost of all the extra tickets, Patrick's family and friends were only able to buy tickets to two games, and will have to tune into ESPN for the third game, where they will be able to listen to Joe Morgan ramble about 1975 while cursing the Reds' existence.

Patrick's emails are below.

Dear Consumerist—

I moved to Cincinnati over 5 years ago from Boston, and have been waiting for the years since to see my hometown team play in Cincinnati. So, to my surprise, the scheduling gods smiled upon me and scheduled the Sox to play the Red 3 games over a weekend in June (13-15). So now for months I have been waiting for information on when the tickets go on sale and any limitations that may be in place for ticket purchases (I have about 10 people flying in that weekend to attend the games). So I called the ticket office today and was told by a CSR that the Red Sox series is a premium game (one of only 2 the whole year which means the tickets are about twice as expensive, but that's ok) and that they are only being sold as a part of a package with 3 other Reds Games! Basically, if my family and friends want to see the 3 games that the Sox will play in Cincinnati, they will have to purchase 9 additional tickets to 9 additional games when they wont be in town (which amounts to almost $200. The CSR then told me that this is the only series that this "rule" is being applied to (I've since called back twice and now have been told the same thing by 2 additional CSRs.) This is complete BS, they are taking advantage of fans from one team and forcing them to either 1) not attend the games 2) buy marked up tickets from scalpers or 3)pay an additional 200 dollars to buy tickets to games they cant attend! I have e-mailed as many members of the Reds organization as I could find e-mails for (you can't find information for an EECB for baseball teams) and have overnighted a letter to the person whom I was told is in charge of ticket sales. I thought I would bring the matter to your attention in hopes that others can realize this ridiculous situation.

I received a phone call from a member of the Reds yesterday evening, who pretty much told me that what the CSRs had told me was correct and I would have to purchase a pack of tickets for each of the single Red Sox games I wanted to see. He then went on to tell me that since I am a Red Sox fan originally from Boston, I should be used to paying these prices for baseball games! He proceeded to tell me that I get packs that include other "big games" such as the Indians or Cubs that I could resell or scalp and most likely get my money back for, but most likely would get stuck with 1 Red Sox Game/1 Good Game/2 games that will suck. I am still furious and now will have to shell out close to 200 dollars to see 3 Reds games (compared to the 80 dollars I was anticipating my family/friends to spend considering the Reds are one of the cheapest ballparks in the Majors). Not even Bronson himself could play me a song on his guitar to make me happy at this point in time. The Sox haven't been to Cincy since the 75 series, and this is how they are treating their visiting fans!

Here is what happened when the tickets went on sale. They were sold online and you had to click on a special icon to get to a special virtual waiting room for Red Sox tickets. Once in there, they were sold as 4 packs, so you go to pick 1 of the games the Sox were playing the Reds (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and pick your seat (remember the seats for the Sox game were about 3 times more expensive than a regular Reds game since it is a premium ticket). Once you pick your section for the Sox game, you are then forced to purchase 3 more tickets to games on the same day to any other Reds games. So, since I purchased 8 tickets (for friends and family that are flying out to Cincinnati) to all 3 games, in essence I had to purchase 72 tickets, when I only want to use 24 of them. And of course, when I tried to purchase tickets to other "bigger" Reds games on weekends (Cubs, Mets, Indians, etc.) I was told that they didn't have tickets to those games available (whether they were already sold out in the sections I wanted or it was sketchy, I don't know). So now I am stuck with games to see the Washington Nationals, Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates among other awesome NL teams. So much for the CSR's advice of just scalping them or selling them online, I dont think there will be much demand for the games I got.

One final note to the story, turns out that when my brother purchased the tickets (I unfortunately had to work that Saturday they went on sale) most of the people could not afford to do all 3 games with the extra ticket prices, so we only purchased 8 tickets to the Friday and Saturday game. Meaning we had to purchase a total of 64 tickets (16 tickets to 2 Red Sox games, 48 tickets to random Reds games). Now I'm even more pissed than before! Way to rip off paying customers so they cant even attend all 3 games!

"Has your department tested every parking meter in the city within the past three years?" I asked Deputy Commissioner Dominic Verdi. "No," he replied. So how many have they inspected? The Deputy Commissioner wasn't clear, saying "The exact number I don't have in front of me."

But we know, after 3 On Your Side reviewed the inspection reports ourselves. Out of 14,500 meters, only around 2,000 have been tested and certified for timing from 2005 through 2007, that is less than 15 percent!

Verdi blames lack of man power, L&I only has one inspector assigned to that job.

"There is no way possible for us to handle all of those meters," said Verdi.

But when we checked, we found some meters were being checked time and time again! A meter on South 9th Street was tested at 11 a.m. one morning and approved, then hours later it was tested again, and approved again!

When I asked Verdi if the inspector was clueless, he just shrugged.

Then there is the situation we found on Ridge Avenue, a meter was tested and approved eight times last year, and it happened in other places too!

Our town—which is full of parking ticket sticklers and has this suburban cowboy ticket inspector guy who revels in ticketing parents who dash into stores while their kids wait in the car—was caught issuing tickets that listed only the month and year of a registration's expiration, not the exact day. As a result, the town's tickets were invalid. The townspeople celebrated and the suburban cowboy cried. True story.

Anyway, if you live in Philadelphia and have an outstanding parking ticket, click on this link (PDF) to see if the meter was properly certified. If it wasn't, the ticket is not legally enforceable and will be tossed out by any law-abiding judge.

If only this applied to New York City's $150 parking tickets...

3 On Your Side: Parking Meter Investigation [CBS3]
(Photo: Getty)

Ticketmaster won an injunction in October barring RMG from accessing their services, but RMG is countersuing, claiming that Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly. We're torn because Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, but $195 is way too much to pay for tickets to the Police.

Man claims agency helps scalpers horde tickets for Hannah, Police, sports [AP]
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
PREVIOUSLY: Why Do Ticketmaster Events Sell Out Instantly?

Julie asked Christopher Elliott, ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler, for advice. His suggestion will sound familiar to Consumerist readers: escalate it! "You could have—and should have—appealed this to someone higher up." When Julie took his advice, Delta apologized and gave her a $250 voucher.

As far as plus-sized passengers go,

Delta, and most of the other network airlines, tends to look the other way when someone unusually tall or wide boards their aircraft. At least one carrier, Southwest Airlines, doesn't. It requires that plus-sized passengers buy an extra seat (but they get their money back if there are empty seats). I could find no policy regarding these above-average travelers on Delta's Web site, which says to me that your seatmate wasn't out of line in booking only one seat.

"Hey, where's my airline seat?" [MSNBC]
(Illustration: Getty)

Live Nation, like other concert promoters, receives a part of the service charges added to tickets sold through Ticketmaster: that money added roughly $90 million to Live Nation's books in the last year. In the Eventim deal, Live Nation would have the right to set — and keep — virtually all fees added to tickets in the United States, a person briefed on the deal said. The two companies would operate under a more traditional revenue-sharing deal in certain international markets.

Live Nation has long pushed to take a bigger role in ticket sales, and recently told investors that such a move could bolster profit. The company's concert promotion business has thin margins. Live Nation could add $25 million by taking the ticketing process in-house, according to an investor note last month from John Blackledge, a JPMorgan analyst.

Live Nation's chief executive, Michael Rapino, has also sought tighter control over the relationship with fans. In particular, Mr. Rapino has pressed for Live Nation to control customer data from ticket buyers as part of a strategy to sell fans additional merchandise.

Top Concert Promoter Sets Up a Challenge to Ticketmaster [NYT]
Live Nation to Team with CTS Eventim for Ticketing [TicketNews.com]
PREVIOUSLY: Wolfmother Won't Rock, But Live Nation Will Refund
Live Nation Continues To Rock!
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

• Buy direct from the venue, which can guarantee the ticket you purchase online will be valid to attend the event.
• If you buy tickets through an online auction, choose a seller with a long, continuous history of satisfied customers. Scammers can hijack old accounts, so make sure they have recently bought or sold other items.
• When buying from an individual through an online exchange don't be lured away from the Web site by the seller. Even if you met the seller on the exchange Web site, the company may not guarantee any lost money if a transaction occurs outside their domain.
• Never pay with a cashier's check or wire money to a seller. Instead, use a credit card or PayPal, which offer some protection and potential reimbursement.
• Scrutinize photos of the tickets closely for any inaccuracies or alterations, and cross-check the seat assignment with the map on the venue's Web site.

Beware of phony football tickets [All Consuming]
BBB Advises College Football Fans: Be Smart When Buying Bowl Tickets Online [BBB]
(Photo: veganstraightedge)

How brokers can jump to the front of the line is described in supplemental documents filed in Ticketmaster v. RMG Technologies, an active Federal District Court case asserting that the defendant's automated ticket-buying software violated the Ticketmaster Web site's terms of use. The papers describe a subterranean world of software designed to enter Ticketmaster's online ticket-purchasing system at will and to scoop up tickets without limits.

The lawsuit was filed in April, after Ticketmaster had tired of what its spokesman, Joseph M. Freeman, called a "cat-and-mouse game" between Ticketmaster's security systems and automated ticket-purchasing robots, or "bots."

"We began detecting an increase in attempted online purchases by automated programs about two years ago," Mr. Freeman said, adding that the company thinks RMG is not the only maker of this type of software.

Kevin McLain, Ticketmaster's senior director of applications support, estimates that on some days, 80 percent of all ticket requests that arrive at its Web site are generated by bots.

The company looked for purchase anomalies and found four individual brokers who had bought a total of 115,000 tickets online. One of the four, Chris Kovach, agreed to cooperate and led investigators to RMG and its Web site, ticketbrokertools.com, which was open only to its clients. Mr. Kovach also agreed to permit security specialists to make a copy of his PC's hard drive.

Ticketmaster said it had found evidence that RMG clients, with the help of RMG's "PurchaseMaster" and related software, submitted millions of automated ticket requests, in Mr. McClain's estimation. The RMG software disguised the clients' Internet addresses to create the appearance that their ticket requests had originated in many different places, Mr. McClain said.

A federal judge granted Ticketmaster an injunction against RMG, but nobody knows how many evil ticket-gulping bots exist. Not that we like Ticketmaster and their 30% markups, but next time a concert or playoff game sells out in less than five minutes, we know where to direct our anger.

Hannah Montana Tickets on Sale! Oops, They're Gone [NYT]
(Photo: themikelee)

From ESPN:

We are going to be opening up a case looking into the possible compromise of the Web server in Irvine," said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles.

The Irvine, Calif., Web servers are operated by Paciolan Inc., which handled the ticket sale.

Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB.com, Major League Baseball's Internet wing, has said the system had been overloaded by powerful computers programmed to constantly generate five-digit codes that are meant to prove that an actual human is trying to buy tickets. Bowman said those computers were blocked from buying tickets but their attempts to connect weren't discarded, allowing them to clog the system and ultimately knock it down.

FBI opens investigation into 'attack' on Rockies ticket system [ESPN]
(Photo:guano)

From NBC 9:

Amid an angry crowd chant