Travel Solutions: Nonrefundable ticket means just that - unless writer helps

Q: I'm trying to help my sister get a refund on her daughter's nonrefundable airline ticket. Her daughter went to Spain in January as an exchange student. Her return was scheduled for May 29.

Travel Solutions: Wyndham should've fixed smoking-room problem at Days Inn

Q: I have a concern that I tried addressing with a specific Days Inn and with Wyndham, which owns Days Inn, but have not received a response. I recently stayed at the Days Inn in Fernandina Beach, Fla. I made a reservation for a nonsmoking room and was given a smoking room when I checked it.

Travel Solutions: Cruise line was right to insist ailing passenger leave ship

Q: We were recently scheduled to sail on a seven-day Carnival cruise to Mexico. A few minutes after we boarded in Long Beach, Calif., I had horrible kidney pains. I couldn't walk, and felt as if I was going to pass out.

Travel Solutions: Christopher Elliott: When airline wants to change your ticket, follow the money

Q: I recently booked two tickets through an online travel agency for my husband and me to fly to the Philippines. When I got his ticket, I noticed that "Jr." was missing from his name. I went back to the site and saw there was no space provided where I can put a "Jr."

Travel Solutions: Ask agent to step up, or transfer travel job to colleague who can

Q: My fiancée and I are planning our wedding in Jamaica this summer and are using a travel agent to book our guests and us. We're also using the travel agent for our honeymoon at a different resort on the island. We will be in Jamaica for two weeks. There are about 40 people booked at this t…

Travel Solutions: Car-rental snafu sets off scam alert; customer must be more careful, too

My husband and I rented a car from Hertz in Munich last summer. The rental process was incredibly time-consuming, and after 45 minutes at the rental desk a five-minute walk to the garage and then another 30-minute wait in the garage, we received our vehicle.

Travel Solutions: $55 in taxes should have been refunded by Hotels.com

Q: We booked a 10-day vacation package in Cancun, Mexico, through Hotels.com that included air, hotel and a rental car. Taxes were included in the price of the rental car.

Travel Solutions: Check amenity confirmation to make sure all is in order

Q: I recently booked a hotel room for a three-night stay at the DoubleTree Beach Resort by Hilton Hotel Tampa Bay - North Redington Beach through Expedia. I opted to pay the higher rate of $239 a night to guarantee a beachfront room. The lower rate of $199 was refundable but would not guaran…

Travel Solutions: Rule No. 1 when you're booking a flight: Save all the paperwork

Q: My husband and I recently flew from Mexico City to Fiji for our honeymoon. One leg of our flight between Los Angeles and Fiji was canceled by United Airlines. We booked tickets on a different airline for that portion of our trip.

Travel Solutions: If a travel agency stalls on refund, get credit card company involved

Q: I recently booked an American Airlines flight on CheapOAir.com from Kansas City to the Virgin Islands to attend my brother's wedding.

Travel Solutions: Rental car company that added fees after trip probably broke law

Q: I'd like to share my recent Budget Car Rental experience with you that has me committed to never doing business with them again.

Use 'em or lose 'em: Don't let airline miles languish, expire

Q: My 16-year-old son and I have had our US Airways miles taken away from us. He had 27,893 miles and I had 829 miles. They expired a few days ago.

Travel Solutions: Car agency tacks on extra charges after rental cancellation mix-up

Q: My husband and I recently rented a car from Auto Europe for a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic. We received a prepaid voucher for a rental from Hertz.

Travel Solutions: Need to cancel your flight? Don't forget one important step

Q: We had to cancel a cruise recently because my husband needed to have surgery. I called American Airlines to cancel the flight and was told that the tickets would be good for one year from the day they were purchased.

Travel Solutions: Circumstances should've prompted cruise line to treat her better

Q: We booked a cruise to Alaska on Norwegian Cruise Line last summer. NCL notified us that we would be sailing a day after our scheduled departure because they had to fix a propeller on the ship. This meant that the ship would not be stopping in Juneau for an originally scheduled excursion.

Travel Solutions: No 'super savings' and no 'Las Vegas Strip' with this hotel deal

Q: I hope you can help me with a Hotwire Hotel reservation. I booked a three-star "Las Vegas Strip - South Area Hotel" on Hotwire recently. I got a room at Hooters Casino Hotel for $47 per night, plus taxes and fees.

Travel Solutions: Don't accept a damaged rental car unless you have it documented

Q: I'm having a problem with Dollar Rent A Car. When I picked up my car at Southwest Florida International Airport, they did not inspect the car with me, but told me to just go "pick one out."

Travel Solutions: Rental-car dispute might have been settled with direct contact

Q: My wife and I traveled to Las Vegas for a trade show. I decided to use my credit card points to cover my car rental through Dollar Rent a Car.

Travel Solutions: Read fine print when you book with Net travel sites

Q: Maybe you can help me with this little problem. I booked a trip for my nephew to Reno, Nev., through Expedia. I made the reservation by phone. The trip went well, but I was promised a $50 gas card.

Travel Solutions: Want better airline service? Power up your smartphone

Liz Owen needed help, and she needed it fast. She had rescheduled a flight from Washington to Los Angeles on Virgin America to avoid superstorm Sandy, which was about to slam into the East Coast. But she'd forgotten to order a wheelchair.

Travel Solutions: 'Connected' reservations vital if flight's delayed or late

Q: A few months ago, I bought tickets to Lilongwe, Malawi, for church missionary work through a full-service travel agency. I had two sets of round-trip tickets: One from San Francisco to Cairo by way of Paris on Delta Air Lines and Air France/KLM and one from Cairo to Lilongwe by way of Nai…

Travel Solutions: In the superstorm's aftermath, who has your refund?

The recent superstorm and series of nor'easters that slammed into the East Coast grounded tens of thousands of travelers, including Neil Weiss.

Travel Solutions: Photograph car before, after rental to avoid trouble

Q: I rented a car from National Car Rental in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. I did not take photos of the car at pickup or drop-off. Big mistake.

Travel Solutions: Make sure your rental car runs right beforehand

Q: I rented a car through Auto Europe. During my rental, the car didn't work properly. The vehicle wouldn't move when I pressed on the accelerator, and it felt dangerous to drive. I called the company from my hotel and asked for another car.

Travel Solutions: Traveler who fell ill in UK is reimbursed her frequent-flier miles

Q: My wife used her Delta frequent-flier miles for a trip to Manchester, England, to visit her mother. She bought trip insurance through Allianz. Two days before she was supposed to return, she called me to let me know she had been taken to the hospital with severe stomach pain.

Travel Solutions: Be careful before signing off on car-rental contract

Allen Friedman says he declined the optional insurance when he rented a Chevrolet Impala from Dollar Rent a Car at Denver International Airport recently.

Travel Solutions: Be careful when booking a hotel at 'opaque' sites like Expedia

Q: I recently tried to book a four-star hotel in New York through Expedia's unpublished rates section, which doesn't reveal the name of the hotel until you pay for it.

Travel Solutions: 'Complimentary' long-distance access doesn't mean free calls

Q: I stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham Charlotte Airport, and on the first night, I was having some cellphone problems. Knowing that other Wyndham properties offer free long distance, I decided to look in the hotel services book provided in the room. Under the telephone section, it says: "Loc…

Travel Solutions: Consider insurance when making nontraditional travel plans

Q: I recently booked a retreat to Costa Rica through a yoga studio in New York. Just before I was supposed to leave, I was admitted to the emergency room and had to cancel my trip.

Travel Solutions: Point-to-point ticketing became problematic on Manila-Osaka trip

Q: At the tail end of a trip last year to Southeast Asia, I had a pair of tickets on Cebu Pacific Airways from Singapore to Manila, and then from Manila to Osaka, to connect with my overseas flight back to the States. I bought the tickets separately because Cebu only does point-to-point ticketing.

Travel Solutions: Passenger loses camera after carry-on bag is gate-checked

Q: I need your help with a missing camera. I flew from Boston to Minneapolis on US Airways. When I boarded the flight in Boston, the overhead bins were full. A flight attendant told me I would have to gate-check my carry-on bag.

Travel Solutions: If booking leaves you on the street, demand help right away

Q: I booked a stay in Ocean City, Md., through Hotels.com. When I arrived to check in, I found it was closed for the season. All numbers I was able to find for the hotel - front desk, reservations, housekeeping and administrative offices - either rang forever or had a voice mail saying that …

Travel Solutions: Document those dings, protect yourself from rental-car charges

Q: Please help me with a bogus damage charge by Alamo. We picked up our car in Kona, Hawaii, at dusk and saw numerous small dents and dings and scratches on the vehicle.

Travel Solutions: A tale of two Londons - a confusing one for Priceline's system

Q: I tried to make a hotel reservation in London, Ontario, Canada, through Priceline. The site displayed three tabs. The first two displayed the correct city, but when I switched to the "best deal" tab it automatically switched to London, UK.

Travel Solutions: TripAdvisor's handling of questionable reviews falls far short

Who is hunnyb62?

Travel Solutions: Air reservation suddenly gone

Q: I booked a ticket on United Airlines through Cheaptickets.com from Washington to Colorado Springs, Colo. My reservation even appeared on the United Airlines website (I'm an elite-level customer on United). All's good, right? Five days before my flight, I checked and the reservation was go…

Travel Solutions: Airline shoulders some blame for 'dog-eared' passport's denial

Q: My husband and I were scheduled to take a Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to San Jose, Costa Rica. The afternoon before my flight, my dog chewed a corner off the front page of my husband's passport and we were concerned about having proper documentation.

Travel Solutions: Reservations are firm, but customer deserves respect, too

Q: I booked a trip a few weeks back to Regent Palms in the Turks and Caicos through a website called SniqueAway (www.sniqueaway.com). It didn't allow for any refunds or changes. The booking appears to be made through a company called Classic Vacations.

Travel Solutions: Stuck with $2,305 hotel bill for room she never slept in

Q: I was scheduled to attend a veterinary dental seminar in Colorado a few months ago. Somehow, I accidentally booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Colorado Springs for an entire month - Feb. 16 through March 16 - and I didn't realize the mistake until the day before my departure.

Travel Solutions: Study your travel insurance policy to make sure it will cover your needs

Q: I am hoping you can help me get a refund for a cruise that my husband and I booked last June with Princess Cruises. Jim, my husband, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the spring.

Travel Solutions: Airline got thrown off balance when traveler tried to play fair

Q: Last year my husband canceled a flight on United Airlines and received a ticket credit. A few months later, he was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

Travel Solutions: Even in bereavement, get fare refund promises in writing

Q: My grandfather recently passed away, and I needed to travel to Austin, Texas, for his funeral. Because I was already scheduled to fly from Baltimore to Austin on American Airlines on Nov. 24 for Thanksgiving, I thought it would be easiest to just move my outbound flight up a few days to Nov. 19.

Travel Solutions: Amtrak fails to deliver on Zephyr trip

Q: We recently traveled on Amtrak's California Zephyr from Chicago to Sacramento. It was not a good experience.

Travel Solutions: Double booking spurs big runaround

Q: I recently booked a two-night stay at the Hotel am Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria, through the Accor website. I was supposed to prepay $135 per night, but somehow, I made two reservations. My card was charged twice for one stay.

Travel Solutions: A checklist of basics to master before you drive off in rental car

Alix Davidson says she was "totally excited" when her car rental company recently offered her the keys to a Toyota Prius in Seattle. It was her first time behind the wheel of a hybrid electric vehicle.

Travel Solutions: Idea of Google dominating travel a scary prospect

If you haven't Googled a flight itinerary recently, you should try it.

Travel Solutions: Plane trip a nightmare when seated beside morbidly obese passenger

When Elisabeth Haas took her window seat on an American Airlines flight from Orlando to Dallas earlier this year, she discovered a problem - a very big problem.

Travel Solutions: Cruise line won't help with transfers

Q: My wife and I are booked on a Viking River Cruise. We plan to go from Washington to Moscow three days early, take the river cruise to St. Petersburg and remain there for three days before going on to a four-day stopover in Paris en route home. It is because of the diversions and deviation…

Travel Solutions: Magic is missing in Disney time-share experience

Q: We recently purchased 350 points in Disney Vacation Club, Disney's time-share program. New members of Disney Vacation Club are given help with their first reservation, and salespeople can go into Disney's cash inventory, if necessary, to get a better selection.

Travel Solutions: Expedia wrongly canceled tickets and was bad-mannered

Q: We recently canceled a trip from Minneapolis to Asuncion, Paraguay, that we had booked on Delta Air Lines through Expedia. We were issued two flight vouchers, which we are trying to redeem. But Expedia isn't letting us.