Worst Rip-Offs in Travel

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

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Last month, the folks at Budget Travel published their list of the 10 Biggest Travel Rip-Offs. While it is with some considerable trepidation that I disagree with anything connected to the redoubtable Frommer’s clan or with Terry Trippler, the source of many of the story’s entries, I take exception to at least some of the list.

Number 1: Budget Travel‘s biggest travel rip-off is excess baggage charges. I disagree. Yes, airlines’ excess charges tend to be high. But anyone who tries to schlep more than the two pieces of baggage they can check at regular rates deserves to be fleeced.

My biggest travel rip-off is full-fare coach/economy-class air tickets. That’s paying top dollar for the airlines’ rock-bottom product. I’ve been saying that for almost 30 years, when we started Consumer Reports Travel Letter, and not much has changed since then. At bottom prices, economy air travel is a good value, but four times the bottom price for the same lousy product is a lousy deal!

Number 2: Budget Travel‘s second-biggest travel rip-off is trip insurance. Again, I disagree. Yes, some of it is unnecessary and duplicative, but you don’t have to buy that. My take is that any time you have more money at risk in nonrefundables and cancellation penalties than you can afford to walk away from if your plans change, you should consider trip-cancellation insurance—specifically, the “cancel for any reason” type.

My second-biggest travel rip-off is car-rental companies’ collision waiver. You pay something like $30 a day for coverage you can buy from a third-party source for less than $10 and can get free through many credit cards.

Number 3: Budget Travel‘s third-biggest travel rip-off is shady taxi drivers. I concur. Watch out for being “taken for a ride” anywhere you go, especially over the Triborough Bridge coming in from LaGuardia and exiting Las Vegas airport through the south exit.

Number 4: Budget Travel‘s fourth-biggest travel rip-off is eating like a tourist. I concur, sort of, but with a different focus. To me, the real rip-offs are those high-priced “trendy” or “hot” places that serve overly ornate, over-tweaked food in minuscule portions at astronomical prices.

Number 5: Budget Travel‘s fifth-biggest travel rip-off is Manhattan hotels. I only semi-concur. Yes, Manhattan hotel rates are off-the-scale exorbitant, and unless you pay $400 per night, they can be dismal. The same is true for London, Paris, and Rome, where mid-priced rooms can be equally dismal. But what you’re paying for is, in the old real estate cliche, “location, location, location.” And I disagree with Budget Travel‘s remedy: branching out to reputable hotels in other boroughs. When I visit New York, London, or Paris, I don’t want to spend two or more hours riding subways every day. Instead, my choice is to get a deal through Hotwire or Priceline.

Number 6: Budget Travel‘s sixth-biggest travel rip-off is airport airline clubs. Again, I only partially agree. Yes, the price tag is high, at around $500 a year for most lines, but if you travel a lot—or can get in through a credit card or some other system—they’re a godsend in what is otherwise any large airport’s hostile environment.

Number 7: Budget Travel‘s seventh-biggest travel rip-off is uniformed “guides” at airports. Right on. But add the self-appointed guides you encounter (more accurately, that encounter you) around tourist centers purporting to offer guide service but really shilling for some souvenir shop.

Number 8: Budget Travel‘s eighth-biggest travel rip-off is changing money on the black market. I disagree. Yes, you can get fleeced. But black markets are virtually irrelevant these days, with convertible currencies and ATMs for exchange in most of the developed world. You do, however, have to be careful in some developing countries.

My eighth-biggest travel rip-off is exchange booths at airports, where you get terrible rates. On my last trip, I saw euros posted at 1.55 to the dollar at Munich airport, compared with 1.35 wholesale and no worse than 1.39 from an ATM.

Number 9: Budget Travel‘s ninth-biggest travel rip-off is minimum fees at restaurants and clubs. Agreed.

Number 10: Budget Travel‘s tenth-biggest travel rip-off is insanely high booze taxes. Yes, on hard liquor, and especially imported hard liquor. But most places I’ve visited offer local beer and many have local wine at reasonable prices.

So what are your nominations?

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