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☔ Hello from Mangwon — It's raining in Seoul but we're going to walk along the Han River anyway this morning. The coffee hunt I mentioned yesterday paid off when we discovered a place where the owner roasts his beans over charcoal in the basement, makes chocolate in the same room and repairs espresso machines between orders. I have details in an On The Road post.

Today's lead story is about a Porter Airlines flight that never left Victoria, British Columbia, because a child wouldn't stay in a seat belt. Nobody defied the crew and nobody was met by police at the gate, but a planeload of passengers spent the night in Victoria anyway. Over on Backchannel, a couple in their 80s asked how to get out of two timeshares before their kids inherit them, which is a harder question than it sounds.

In our Members Only section, Amazon just paid $2.25 million over records that identity theft victims have a legal right to see, and the same law works on airlines and hotels. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! — Christopher Elliott

Catch up on the latest stories from the Elliott Report

A child wouldn’t buckle up, so Porter Airlines canceled the entire flight
A crew found a young child standing on a seat after the plane pushed back in Victoria, British Columbia. The airfield closed at 12:30 a.m., everyone deplaned, and the airline still hasn’t said which category it filed the cancellation under.

States are doubling down on consumer protections. But why do airlines get a pass?
Washington has stopped fining airlines, so states and cities are writing the consumer rules instead. A 1978 law keeps every one of them out of the airport.

In Queenstown, tourism sustainability comes down to earth
Hotel food waste from 95 percent of the town’s luxury properties becomes 1,200 tons of soil a year. The produce goes back into resort kitchens, and the surplus sells from a roadside stand that runs on the honor system.

StubHub says the Rick Springfield concert was postponed, but it wasn’t. Can I get a refund?
A rescheduled date never made it into StubHub’s system, so his tickets stayed locked on the night of the show. The venue confirmed the concert went ahead, but the company’s records still list it as pending.

Who pays for a flat tire on a Turo rental? It’s complicated
A blowout at 40 mph in the New Hampshire mountains turned up two front tires worn down to the metal. Turo cleared him of fault, reversed itself an hour later and billed him $500.

Booking.com rented him a room with blood on the walls. Why won’t it refund his $313?
A studio apartment in Penang, Malaysia, came with bloodstains, mold and someone else’s hair in the bedding. Booking.com says the refund is the host’s call, and the host says cancel.

The ugly truth about August travel: Why you should stay home—or do this
August travel means thin staffing, dirty rooms and more cancellations, all at peak prices. Why the system breaks down every summer and how to work around it.

A reader wants out of two timeshares, and what you said about the Turkish Airlines case

William Law and his wife are in their 80s and want to be rid of two timeshares before their children inherit them. They’d heard a new law makes that easier. But does it? Here’s what works, and why no heir has to accept a timeshare.

Yesterday’s story about the reader who lost $1,808 to Turkish Airlines drew a lot of comments, and most of you weren’t on her side. Joe X pointed out that nobody canceled her flight and that neither Istanbul nor Cairo is in a war zone. 7cats mom read the story twice and saw no sign the airline broke its own contract, then asked whether the reader had tried for a credit. She could have, and I said so. Was the airline in the wrong?

Information and insights for Elliott Confidential PRO subscribers

If somebody steals your identity and goes shopping, you have the right to see that company's records of what they bought. Amazon just paid to settle a case about making that difficult.

The Justice Department announced the stipulated order in a case the Federal Trade Commission investigated and referred. The government alleged in federal court in Washington that Amazon failed to give identity theft victims the transaction records they'd requested, and failed to deliver them inside the 30 days the law allows.

Amazon admitted nothing. It agreed to pay the penalty, provide those records free within 30 days once a victim's identity and claim are verified, and post a notice on its site telling victims how to ask.

The reason this belongs in your inbox and not just in a legal newsletter: the right at issue isn't an Amazon rule. It's Section 609(e) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and it reaches any business a thief transacted with in your name. That includes airlines, hotel chains, online travel agencies and car rental companies. None of them advertise it.

Here's how it works for you:

Fraudulent travel bookings are a favorite with identity thieves, because the merchandise is consumed immediately and there's nothing to repossess. If your name turns up on a ticket you didn't buy, the airline has the booking record, the IP address and the payment details, and you're entitled to all of it.

The takeaway: If you're an identity theft victim, send a written 609(e) request by certified mail to every company where the charges appeared, and give them 30 days. Start your file with an FTC identity theft report, because most companies won't move without one.

FORBES EXCLUSIVE

Here’s our next report from Japan, where a quiet valley in Saitama prefecture shows how community activism and ancient traditions can sustain a destination without a master plan. Here are the details.