Willy Volk - The dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

Travel Insights 100 Survey SummaryDumbest Travel Moments of 2009January, 2010

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This wasnt a contest, but it seems as if the airline industry wins for the dumbest acts in travel in 2009. The dishonorable mentions were:The overshot of MSP by Northwest pilotsUnited and its guitar episodeThe TSA raid on two bloggersThe eviction of a family due to crying childrenThe nickel & diming by most airlines, e.g. checked baggage feesThe denial of a first class seat to a passenger due to his attire-a track suitStrangely enough, no hotels were mentioned by our experts Several travel twitterati disliked the hijacking of a twitter tag for promotion of anothers personal causeread on to see summaries of each participating of the Travel Insights 100 experts favorite dumb moment

Summary- Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

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Willy Volk - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"Hands down, the dumbest moment in travel in 2009 was when the pair of Northwest pilots overshot MSP by 150 miles" - Willy Volk

See Willy Volks Profile; Follow him on Twitter @WillyVolk

NWA Flight 188 Pilots (Timothy B. Cheney & Richard I. Cole)

On Oct 21, 2009, the flight overshot Minneapolis St. Paul Intl Airport by 150 miles because the pilots were distracted.

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Chris Christensen - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

Dumbest moment in travel during the past year United breaking guitars" Chris Christensen

See Chris Christensens Profile; Follow him on Twitter @Chris2xUnited Breaks Guitars United Airlines breaks Dave Carroll's guitar, refuses to make good. Carroll protests with a music video on Youtube, which todate has been viewed by 7.31 million people, and turned a small story into an international PR fiasco for United.

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Jeanne Dee - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

Dumbest? (And most outrageous) I'd say it has to be the TSA "raid" on two gentlemen travel bloggers who have young children!" Jeanne Dee (Soultravelers3)

See Jeanne Dees Profile; Follow her on Twitter @soultravelers3TSA Blogger Subpoenas

Travel bloggers Christ Elliott & Steven Frischling were threatened by the TSA and served with subpoenas for publishing a leaked TSA directive.

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Mara Gorman - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"I'm no fan of screaming children - my own or anyone else's. But given the wide range of human behavior to be seen on airplanes, much of it beyond the pale, I find it ridiculous that this mother and child were singled out so dramatically. - Mara Gorman

See Mara Gormans Profile; Follow her on Twitter @motherofalltripsPamela Roots Eviction

The 38 yr. old San Jose resident was kicked off Southwest Flight 637 in Amarillo, TX because her 2-yr old son was yelling before takeoff. Southwest later apologized.

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Mark H. - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"My personal pet-hate is this new lexicon of staycation and petcation and other equally horrible marketing words. Can't we just go back to traveling?" Mark H.

See Marks Profile; Follow him on Twitter @TravelWondersLexicon of StaycationThe recession forced many people to limit their travel to attractions in their own backyards. Destinations have started advertising staycations for local residents with special deals and discounts.

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Gary Arndt - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"I'd have to go with the trend of airlines charging for checking bags. Passengers feel nickel and dimed and Southwest, who has openly advertised that bags fly for free, has picked up about $800m in business because of their policy" Gary Arndt

See Gary Arndts Profile; Follow him on Twitter @EverywhereTripChecked Baggage Fees2009 was the year when airlines tacked on all sorts of ancillary fees to make up for their losses, but the checked baggage fees look like the last straw. Southwest has won over a lot of business from the other airlines by keeping it free.

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Scott Carmichael - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"Fees - or better said - the perception and bad marketing around fees. I understand that airlines feel they need to introduce these new charges, but the way they were imposed on passengers created a really bad environment for travelers." Scott Carmichael

See Scotts Profile; Follow him on Twitter @itsmescottyAirline Fees2009 was the year when airlines tacked on all sorts of ancillary fees to make up for their losses, but the checked baggage fees look like the last straw. Southwest has won over a lot of business from the other airlines by keeping it free.

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Kim Orlando - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"Cathay Pacific randomly increasing fares for lapbabies by 15%. Crying fee? Fuel tax? I know, baggage surcharge. Kim Orlando

See Kims Profile; Follow her on Twitter @kimorlandoChecked Baggage Fees2009 was the year when airlines tacked on all sorts of ancillary fees to make up for their losses, but the checked baggage fees look like the last straw. Southwest has won over a lot of business from the other airlines by keeping it free.

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Anil Polat - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

"It's hard to narrow down but I'd include any of the arguments about 'the best way to travel' - to each his or her own. Every method and type of travel has its benefits and its followers. Anil Polat See Anils Profile; Follow him on Twitter @foxnomadBest Way to TravelLocking horns over the best way to travel is a meaningless pursuit. As Anil says, to each his or her own. One such issue which made headlines in 2009 was when ResponsibleTravel.com dumped carbon credits, saying it wasn't helping save the earth. Many Environmentalists vocally disagreed.

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Jessica Spiegel - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

From what I hear the cruise itself was fine and the Twitter folks who were on it had fun. But anyone who was on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the cruise was more likely to be inundated not by people gearing up for the cruise but by one person using the #followmeatsea hashtag to talk about how environmentally unfriendly cruising is. Jessica Spiegel

See Jessica Spiegels Profile; Follow her on Twitter @italylogue#FollowMeAtSeaPrincess Cruises invited some travel bloggers to a Caribbean cruise aboard the Crown Princess, and asked them to talk about it on twitter under the hashtag #followmeatsea. The hashtag got hijacked by a blogger cribbing about the environmental impact of cruises, and the controversy went viral.

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Nancy D. Brown - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

As for a dumb moment in travel, I think the hijacking of the #FollowMeAtSea hashtag from one particular blogger didn't further her environmental message. Nancy D. Brown

See Nancy Browns Profile; Follow her on Twitter @Nancydbrown#FollowMeAtSeaPrincess Cruises invited some travel bloggers to a Caribbean cruise aboard the Crown Princess, and asked them to talk about it on twitter under the hashtag #followmeatsea. The hashtag got hijacked by a blogger cribbing about the environmental impact of cruises, and the controversy went viral.

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Kara Williams - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

On TheVacationGals.com, I wrote an entire blog post about the "wackiest and weirdest travel stories of 2009 naked hotel guests, disruptive airplane passengers and Danny Devito's feet top the list. Kara Williams

See Karas Profile; Follow her on Twitter @karaswWacky Travel Stories 2009Karas top ten weird and wacky travel stories include blogger Nicoles TSA rant, a German tourist falsely claiming to have bombs, nude people wandering in hotels and airplanes, a civilian passenger who accidentally ejected himself from a military jet and Danny Devitos troll feet tweet pics from the road.

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Mary Jo Manzanares - Dumbest moment in travel during the past year was

Travel arrogance - My travel is better than your travel. Please -- there are lots of different types of experiences to go around, and they aren't all for everyone. Let people enjoy what they enjoy without condescension or a sense of superiority. Mary Jo Manzanares

See Mary Jos Profile; Follow her on Twitter @flyawaycafeBest Way to TravelLocking horns over the best way to travel is a meaningless pursuit. As Mary Jo says, let people enjoy what they enjoy. One such issue which made headlines in 2009 was when ResponsibleTravel.com dumped carbon credits, saying it wasn't helping save the earth. Many Environmentalists vocally disagreed.

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