Nobody in this family smokes. (Illustration by Dustin Elliott)
🚗 A clean receipt, then a $450 shocker — Car rental companies are charging customers for cleaning based on flimsy evidence and with little recourse. Ray Oswald thought the receipt in his inbox meant the rental was closed out, but he was wrong. You can read the full story today.
On Backchannel, S Du Bois De Filippis has Global Entry and a British Airways booking, and there is nowhere in the airline’s profile to put a known traveler number. I also filed a trip report from over Kazakhstan yesterday. Am I hogging the armrests in this photo?
For Members Only: Two Florida men billed Medicare $34.8 million for orthotic braces nobody asked for, and the beneficiaries whose numbers they used did nothing but answer the door. Their sentences add up to four years and nine months. What you need to know about medical scams. — Christopher Elliott
FEATURED ARTICLE
Help! Budget says I smoked in my car — but these photos prove nothing!
Ray Oswald and his wife returned a Mazda CX-5 to Budget at O’Hare International Airport and walked away with a receipt for $312. An email arrived five days later from an “ERS Billing Team,” demanding $450 for “smoke-related ash residue.” The photos attached to it showed a cup holder, with no license plate and no VIN anywhere in the frame. How do you prove a car doesn’t smell?
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Travelex Insurance Services is a leading travel insurance provider in the United States with over 55 years combined industry expertise of helping people dream, explore and travel with confidence. We offer comprehensive travel insurance plans with optional upgrades allowing travelers to customize the plans to fit their needs. Compare plans, get a quote and buy online at Travelexinsurance.com.
📌 Here’s what you missed this week
Catch up on the latest stories from the Elliott Report
Help! Budget says I smoked in my car — but these photos prove nothing!
Ray Oswald and his wife returned their rental to Budget at O’Hare after a family funeral and left with a clean receipt for $312. The company billed them $450 for smoke residue five days later, citing photos of a cup holder that could have been taken in any white Mazda.
How AI bots are deceiving travelers—and what to do about it
A Baltimore engineer booked a Hershey, Pa., hotel on reviews praising its upscale amenities and attentive service, then found a broken air conditioner and dirty sheets. He checked the timestamps and saw the reviews had all posted in the same week.
Why I turned down a $15,000 case
A Pennsylvania carpenter says a fraudulent Western Union transfer cost him $15,000, and my team couldn’t take the case. It’s also the peg for our relaunched podcast, which opens on another file we lost and the twist that brought it back two years later.
JetBlue, Southwest and a week that changed everything
JetBlue announced a domestic first class cabin on Sept. 1, and the next morning Southwest said it’s opening airport lounges in four cities. For 25 years these were the two airlines that did it differently, and that ended in about 24 hours.
How to find $4,762 when Comcast says it’s gone
A San Francisco reader meant to pay her credit card and sent $4,762 to Comcast by mistake. The refund came back on a prepaid debit card, and by the time she checked the balance it read $82, with no transaction list anyone could produce to explain it.
Banned by JetBlue after booking through the wrong website
A caregiver who flies Hartford to Fort Lauderdale twice a month paid $468 through a site called Farehub. JetBlue’s records show the ticket was bought with someone else’s travel voucher, and an agent stopped her at the gate.
Do you have a high travel IQ? Here’s how you can tell
A behavioral researcher watched one traveler come apart over a gate change in Tokyo while another passenger walked away and solved it. Travel IQ is the gap between what you think you know and how the world works, and there are seven signs yours needs work.
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TravelInsurance.com makes it fast and easy to compare and buy travel insurance online from top-rated providers. Our unbiased comparison engine allows travelers to read reviews, compare pricing and benefits and buy the right policy with a price guarantee, every time. Compare and buy travel insurance now at TravelInsurance.com.
💬 What you’re saying in Backchannel
Hey BA, why can’t I add my number?
S Du Bois De Filippis holds Global Entry and a British Airways reservation, and can’t find a single field in the Executive Club profile for a known traveler number. Calls to the airline haven’t turned up a person who can add it either. So where does the number go? Here’s what our team said on Backchannel.
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Yonder Travel Insurance is an online travel insurance comparison site offering 5-star customer service from friendly humans, guiding you from quotes to claims. Our experts have poured over hundreds of policies from the top travel insurance providers in the US to provide the best travel insurance recommendations for the type of trip you take. Compare travel insurance options at Yonder Travel Insurance.
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