🐫 Up in smoke — We're getting ourselves into a little trouble this morning. The Joe Camel cartoon down in the podcast section had everyone here laughing, which is usually the sign that I should have run it past someone first. Oh well.

Today's featured article is about a $450 smoking charge on an Avis rental. Neither woman in the car smokes, both are breast cancer survivors, and Avis has photos it calls evidence. Then listen to this week's podcast, where Iden and I go through that gallery picture by picture and get to the gas charge that gave the whole thing away. Over on Backchannel, we have a troubling case involving one of our readers and a window seat without a window.

In our Members Only section, the Federal Trade Commission is mailing refund checks this month, and the clock on yours starts before it reaches your mailbox. I'll have all the details on the other side of the wall. — Christopher Elliott

Remember the Washington Post Travel Chat? Sure you do. I was part of it—every Monday, my friends and I from the Post travel section answered your questions live. No scripts, no spin, just real travel talk. We had fun.

Then Bezos pulled the plug.

That's OK, because we're gettin' the band back together. It's happening on Backchannel, our new private community.

You're already debating United's new seats, asking whether travel insurance is a scam, comparing notes on a hot air balloon mishap, and grilling me directly in our new Ask Me Anything thread.

Come see what you've missed, and bring your own question. I'll be there.

P.S.: PRO subscribers get even more: your own private, members-only channels inside Backchannel. Here's how to upgrade now.

Taking a road trip to Camel City in an Avis rental (cough, cough)

Avis billed Tasha $450 for smoking in a rental Chevy Malibu. She doesn’t smoke, her friend Cori doesn’t smoke, and the two of them met more than 10 years ago through an organization for young women with breast cancer.

Iden and I go through the photo gallery Avis called “evidence,” the four-gallon gas charge that gave the whole thing away and the one email that killed the charge in 10 minutes.

Catch up on the latest stories from the Elliott Report

Avis said she smoked in her rental car, but she had an alibi
A $450 deep cleaning fee for smoke damage, backed by photos of what looked like water spots. Both women in the car are breast cancer survivors, and neither smokes.

No-service summer: Why your vacation feels so cheap (but costs so much)
A first-class cabin with no meal and a $500 hotel room with no coffee maker. Companies cut service instead of raising prices after the pandemic, then found no reason to bring it back.

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.

A reader paid Delta for a window seat and got a wall. Plus, COFFEE! (I had to write that in uppercase since I’m so caffeinated.)

Leslie A’s daughter paid Delta for a window seat on both legs between Boston and San Antonio and got a blank wall each time. Delta and United were sued last August by passengers who paid extra for window seats on 737s, 757s and A321s, where a duct or conduit sometimes sits where the glass should be. American and Alaska flag those seats at booking, and Delta and United don’t. A California judge refused last month to throw out the United case, which gives her a decent shot at getting the seat fee back. Is a wall still a window seat? (See Leslie’s photo and then tell us.)

Yesterday's story on the no-service summer got you talking, and a surprising number of comments were about coffee. GaryMak now travels with a collapsible drip stand and his own beans, because the coffee in hotel rooms isn't worth drinking even at the high end. Gerri Hether packs her own amenity kit, down to earplugs that fit. Others said the extras were never the point and you're cargo either way. What do you take with you? Our comments are open.