[Commentariat]

Our resort in Los Cabos was destroyed by Hurricane Odile in September 2014. The management contacted us and offered us great alternative accommodation in Nuevo Vallarta. We agreed and instructed our travel agent in Australia, we were in Canada, to offset our current tickets for new flights.

'No', said United Airlines. Our agent went to bat for us to no avail. New tickets or else. On top of that the overnight delay in time difference between OZ and USA saw UA up the per ticket price by AUD$461 each. We had travel insurance so bit the bullet and paid an outrageous amount for new tickets. Nearly AUD$1,400 more than our original booking.

Our travel agent tore into UA and provided feedback from our conversations with fellow hurricane refugees at the resort pool bar that Alaskan and US Air, as examples, had transferred all their passengers without penalty or added cost.

Some weeks later UA agreed to a refund of our original fare only having made a super profit out of us in the meanwhile. Our insurer is none to pleased.