Latest news with #travelersrights
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Aussie shares 'degrading' and 'traumatising' experience of travelling to the US
An Australian woman has warned travellers after US border officials made unfounded accusations she was a prostitute before hauling her into a private area and trawling her phone for 'proof'. Sydney woman Everlyn 23, said she went to Los Angeles in October last year but her holiday was derailed when she was subjected to the 'beyond degrading' ordeal from customs officers at the airport. The young woman said she was singled out by Transport Security Administration (TSA) agents as soon as she arrived at the airport. One female agent was 'extremely hostile' when asking about the 23-year-old's job and lifestyle. The agent then appeared skeptical when she told her she worked in the public service for a branch of the Australian government. 'They accused me of being a sex worker from the outset, before they had even checked my phone or any documentation,' she told Daily Mail Australia. She said she waited in a secluded area of the airport, before an agent arrived and asked her directly, 'do you have sex for money?'. Everlyn informed him she had never done such a thing in her life. She said the agents must have stereotyped her. 'They were making assumptions and treating me in a humiliating manner whilst completely unfounded,' Everlyn said. Unsatisfied with her answers, officials made her wait at the back of a line before taking her to a detention area where she had to undergo an even more humiliating ordeal. Officials searched through her phone for 'proof' of her supposed double life. One agent had searched the word 'sex' in Google and forced the 23-year-old to open her private messaging and banking applications. Everlyn's stomach began turning when authorities discovered personal messages and explicit photos she had shared privately with her boyfriend. 'I wasn't made aware that they were looking through such personal content, and they were showing these photos to the other male agents in the back,' she said. 'It was beyond invasive and degrading. There were multiple men in the room, and I felt completely violated. After the invasion was over officials tried to convince her to admit to conducting sex work, even trying to coax Ms T into talking to him like a friend. 'Obviously the answer was still 'no'.' The officials at one point threatened to fly her back to Australia. The ordeal lasted two to three hours, she estimated, as she opened up about the experience to 'help others avoid such a traumatic experience'. Everlyn said she believed officials targeted her because she was travelling alone. 'I do think the main reason they made such an absurd assumption is because I was traveling alone as a young woman,' she said. 'It felt like they saw 'solo female traveler' and immediately jumped to conclusions, completely disregarding anything else.' The tourist, who goes by evrlynbb on TikTok, shared a clip yesterday telling part of the story. The video amassed tens of thousands of views, and garnered more than one hundred comments. Many women shared the same things had happened to them or their friends. 'This exact thing happened to me too!! I missed my connecting flight it was horrible,' one woman said. 'Why must they do this?' 'This has happened to so many Australian girls I know, especially if they're flying into LAX and solo,' another added. 'Some customs officers seem to show misogynistic bias by assuming that pretty women must be escorts. That's sad,' a third commenter wrote. In a later comment, the Sydney-sider said she felt denigrated by the episode. 'Two to three hours and I got sl*t-shamed by a female TSA agent when I didn't do anything,' she wrote. In June 2023 TSA agents were caught on surveillance video at Miami International Airport stealing from passengers as they went through security. The shocking footage showed Labarrius Williams, 33, and Josue Gonzalez, 20, working together to steal money from passengers' bags at security checkpoint E on June 29. Video provided by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's office showed Williams shifting around items in a bin and then walking away while Gonzalez puts his hand on the item. Gonzalez was then seen gripping something in his hand while removing it from the bin, then immediately dropping something in his pocket before returning to the conveyor belt. Another clip showed Gonzalez starting to unzip a purse as the bin works its way down the belt. On July 6 of that year, Williams, Gonzalez and a third TSA agent Elizabeth Fuster were arrested for allegedly removing $600 from a passenger's wallet while they were going through security.
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Hotels can no longer hide this one thing from travelers
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a new rule that will help protect travelers from all those unwanted add-on fees. The rule tackles "Unfair or Deceptive Fees." These are sometimes applied to short-term lodging as "resort" or "destination" fees when customers use hotel amenities such as pools or gyms. Short-term lodging includes hotels, motels, vacation rentals and businesses like Airbnb. About 6% of hotels charge resort fees, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. "The rule prohibits bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and mislead people about fees in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries," according to the FTC's press release. Taxes or other government fees are excluded from the rule. Short-term lodging and live-event businesses must include the pricing information in their ads and give the total price "upfront." "The total price includes all charges or fees the business knows about and can calculate upfront, including charges or fees for mandatory goods or services people have to buy as part of the same transaction," says the FTC's site. A Marriott spokesperson told Fox News Digital the company began "providing customers with clear and transparent pricing in May 2023." "We were the first hospitality company to ensure non-government fees charged by hotels are upfront and included in the total price displayed to customers," the spokesperson said. "This enhanced display has been in place for two years, so guests are unlikely to notice a difference from what they see today," Marriott also said. Fox News Digital also reached out to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), based in Washington, D.C., for comment. "Consistent, upfront pricing will bring much-needed clarity to the marketplace." Earlier this year, the group's president and CEO, Rosanna Maietta, said in a statement that it had "led the charge in establishing a federal standard to provide travelers with consistent, upfront pricing that will bring much-needed clarity to the marketplace." She added, "We strongly believe that all consumers deserve transparency in the booking process, no matter where they choose to book their stays." There are a few ways travelers can avoid paying resort fees, according to Nerdwallet. "When you book rooms on points, some resorts still tack on resort fees, which you must pay in cash on top of the points rate," reads the website. Travelers who have hotel elite status are sometimes exempt. Nerdwallet suggests using hotel points to avoid the fee.
