Mrs. Y was thrilled to find a four-night trip to Florence, complete with flights and a hotel, for just $399. Imagine her surprise, then, when she discovered the bill added up to $899.
You see, she was traveling alone, which meant a single supplement of $150. She was flying from Boston, not New York, which cost $80 extra. She was flying on a weekend, which brought a $50 surcharge. Finally, she hadn't realized that air taxes, fees, and surcharges would add $245 to the bill.
Mr. X, on the other hand, was going to New York for a week and booked a hotel on the Internet for $252.50 a night. Why then, he wondered, was his seven-night bill not $1,767.50 but $2,037.47?
The answer, of course, was taxes and fees. Somewhere on the website, this sentence could be found: ''The charge [in his case, $269.97] covers any taxes and government fees applicable to the travel products you have purchased, and also includes a charge for our services."
Ms. W, unlike the others, had done her homework. She knew the cost of her warm-weather cruise would be higher than the advertised price because of port charges, tipping requirements, and various fees. Nonetheless, she wound up with a more startling surprise than any of the others: Because of impending bad weather, her ship would be visiting not a balmy island but New Brunswick! The material she got with the cruise specified that ports may be changed at the discretion of the captain, who would be acting for the safety of passengers.
The story gets worse because the woman lived in . . . yes, New Brunswick. (This actually happened, but such an event does not occur as frequently as the others.)
All of these people had one thing in common: They didn't read the fine print. Whether at a travel agency or on the Internet, when you sign off on a trip's terms and conditions, you are signing a contract. So even though reading the fine print -- all of it -- is one of a traveler's most tedious chores, it is worth the effort.
