We're smart travelers. Really we are. But when we read the UK Times list of the 14 best travel scams last weekend, we realized that we might be smart but the scammers are sometimes smarter.
This list should be compulsory reading for all travelers, just so you're aware of how nice-but-nasty some scam artists can be. Among the usual phony free trips, credit card theft and drink-doping "buddies," there were a few scams we hadn't heard of yet.
One of these was "the metal detector shuffle," where the scam-artist, without baggage, waits until you've put your bag on the conveyor belt, but then rushes through ahead of you. With enough coins or other metal items in his pockets, he gets held up and has to go through the detector several times; meanwhile your bag has gone through and the scam-guy's accomplice, in front of him, has taken off with it.
And finally, there's one we can't imagine we'd fall for, but apparently some people have:
You are approached by someone in a bar who guarantees you thousands of dollars if you join in a scam by getting on a bus that they will rear-end somewhere along its route. Most of the passengers, you are promised, will be in on the fraud, and will all protest that it was the driver's fault, while rubbing their hips and necks. And the bus company will start handing out cash and liability-waiver forms immediately.
We hope we don't have to tell you to beware of strange men promising a bus crash.
Oh, that zany Grand Canyon Skywalk. Gadling picked up a tourist's report that says cameras aren't allowed out onto the walk. We'd be inclined to agree, seeing as how you'll probably have to hock your camera to pay the $75 admission. (We even called up to confirm that, no, cameras aren't allowed.)
But then a Jaunted tipster (Thanks!) dropped some photos taken from the Skywalk in our inbox. Sure looks like some cameras got out there. If they won't let you out on the monstrosity with your digicam, check out more snaps after the jump.
Big news in the world of Czech taxis! Last week, Prague City Hall declared that taxis in the city would all have to be painted yellow, air-conditioned, and be no more than eight years old by 2009. Over the years, Prague taxis have accumulated a horrible reputation for rip-offs; the call-in services (Profitaxi, AAA) are much better, but most visitors aren't aware of them.
Prague taxi drivers agree with essentially none of the new rules.
Miroslav Žežulka, who runs Profitaxi, says the maximum age of the cars should also be more flexible. "It should depend on the car's condition, not on how old it is," he says. "There are 3- or 4-year-old cars out there that belong in the junkyard." The yellow color should be optional as well, he says.
OK, we can understand that. Maybe they'll have inspections instead of age restrictions, and they can always pick white instead of yellow as a color. Says another Czech taxi driver:
Every taxi operator should be able to set his own fare. The fare you set is part of your business strategy, and no one should interfere with that."
So, to review: In response to the new regulations, Czech taxi drivers want to add air-conditioning only if they can charge extra. Everything else, forget it. What a spirit of compromise!
There's trouble, friends, right here in River City. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for, uh, Price Fixing! And by River City, you know we mean London. (Shush! There's a river there) Two British Airways officials are on a "leave of absence" after the Office of Fair Trading in the UK and the Justice Department in the U.S. announced that B.A. is being investigated for colluding with other airlines in a price fixing scandal.
In short: Notice how a lot of airlines have added hefty "fuel surcharges" on long-haul flights in the last two years? Well B.A. is accused of making them twice with what they should be by conspiring with other airlines on JFK-Heathrow flights (the route is also served by Virgin, American, and United, all of whom levy the exact same surcharges). Keeping the fees high on transatlantic flights allowed B.A. to compete with low-cost carriers on shorter routes. In the meantime, B.A. has promised to cooperate, and possibly name names.
No wonder B.A. has been doing so well the past few years--they've been stealing passengers blind. We agree with Ryanair's spokesman, who called the fees "rapacious". We've always called those fuel surcharges a scam--we just never knew how right we were.
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by amandak
