You paid for the front of the plane. The airline has other ideas. (Illustration by Dustin Elliott)
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✈ The refund that was already paid — Swiss told a couple from Pompano Beach, Fla., that it had handed them a cash card at the Zurich airport. The couple says no one did. Only one of those can be true. Find out which one is.
On Backchannel, Bo Tran's SAS confirmation email says June 9 and the airline says June 8. Two tickets are still unrefunded. Now what?
For Members Only: The Federal Trade Commission took more than 1 million imposter scam reports last year, and its newest move looks past the scammers to the platforms selling them ads. If it goes through, the job of spotting the fake airline hotline stops being yours alone. What would change if platforms had to vet the ads? — Christopher Elliott
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Help! Swiss bumped us to the back of the plane, and now our refund is gone
Mila Schoun and his wife paid $3,274 for premium economy from Miami to Prague, and on the way home Swiss moved them to the back of the plane. Lufthansa sent the refund request to Swiss, which answered that nothing was owed because the flight landed on time. Then a representative said the couple had already collected an Easy Cash card at the Zurich airport, a card they say nobody ever handed them. So where did their $165 refund go?
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He emailed them.
“The same day the customer care supervisor apologized and gave me a voucher,” he says.
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OUR UNDERWRITER
Faye Travel Insurance provides whole-trip travel coverage and care that brings out the best in each journey with industry-leading technology that enables smarter, faster, smoother assistance and claims resolutions. Our robust travel insurance covers your health, your trip, your stuff, and even your pet, via an app that provides real-time proactive solutions, quick reimbursements and 24/7 support from anywhere in the world. Wherever you go, we're there too, taking care of the details so you can make the most of each moment, with the only travel protection that is by your side and on your side every step of the way.
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Help! Swiss bumped us to the back of the plane, and now our refund is gone
Mila Schoun paid $3,274 for premium economy from Miami to Prague, and Swiss moved him and his wife to economy for the long leg home, a downgrade worth $165 under European rules. The airline told him he had already collected an Easy Cash card at the Zurich airport, and he had never seen one.
Honest pricing works in travel. Just ask Airbnb.
U.S. airlines collected $2.1 billion in checked bag fees in the second quarter alone, and the industry says a fare that includes the bag and the seat would confuse travelers and push prices up. Airbnb moved to all-in pricing in April 2025 and its revenue rose 17% last quarter.
How Queenstown, New Zealand, is creating a greener adventure capital
Shotover Jet has built a prototype electric jet boat and can’t get it light enough to deliver the 360-degree spins its customers pay for. Charging a fleet would draw a megawatt on a river that floods up to 16 times a year, and the Ngāi Tahu iwi that owns the operation has told it to move off fossil fuel anyway.
My GE washer is a heavy metal drummer, but I didn’t buy tickets to the show
Six months after installation, a $1,856 GE Spacemaker washer still bangs into the walls of Laura Bartholomew’s Ventura, Calif., laundry room on every spin cycle. Five technicians ran controlled tests with no water or with four matching towels, reported the machine was working properly, and GE closed her case.
My tour operator promised a price lock — and then broke it
Michael Hughes prepaid a Spain and Portugal tour 10 months early under Overseas Adventure Travel’s Good Buy program, which advertises protection from cost increases. After Air France canceled his flight, OAT billed him $670 more and gave him two conflicting explanations for the charge.
When your Daryl Hall concert is canceled but the refund is out of touch
Robert Logan paid $489 for a pair of StubHub tickets to a Daryl Hall show in Denver, and after Hall canceled it he called six times and got the same promise to escalate the refund in four or five days. His bank turned him down too, saying the Fair Credit Billing Act’s 60-day window had closed because he bought the tickets in June.
Is it worth paying extra for a “risk-free” vacation?
Celia Dunlap paid $805 for travel insurance before a 40-day Southeast Asia tour, and when the operator cut the trip to 10 days the policy didn’t cover her cancellation, leaving her with a nonrefundable $4,500 ticket. The Atlantic hasn’t produced a hurricane all season, and Caribbean bookings through one insurance marketplace are running 21% ahead of last year anyway.
OUR UNDERWRITER
Flying Angels provide medical transport anywhere in the world on commercial airlines with a Flight Nurse or Doctor. A Flight Coordinator handles the logistics. The client receives care during the entire transport—bedside to bedside. Visit FlyingAngels.com or call 877-265-1085 to speak with a flight coordinator.
💬 What you’re asking over in Backchannel
Hey, where’s everyone?
Bo Tran bought three nonrefundable Chicago to Copenhagen tickets on SAS at about $1,800 apiece, and the confirmation email that came back listed a June 9 departure. The family showed up to check in that day and learned the flight had left June 8, which made all three of them no-shows. SAS then refunded one ticket and kept the money for the other two. Why would an airline refund one seat on a booking and not the rest? Here’s our team’s advice on Backchannel.
OUR UNDERWRITER
Generali Global Assistance has been a leading provider of travel insurance and other assistance services for more than 25 years. We offer a full suite of innovative, vertically integrated travel insurance and emergency services. Generali Global Assistance is part of The Europ Assistance (EA) Group, who pioneered the travel assistance industry in 1963 and continues to be the leader in providing real-time assistance anywhere in the world, delivering on our motto – You Live, We Care.
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