Some Airlines Prepare For Thanksgiving Snow Storm, Waive Flight Change Fees

Airports in the Northeast could look like this tomorrow if winter storm predictions come to fruition.

With the first major travel day of the 2014 holiday season upon us and weather forecasters predicting significant snow across the Midwest and Northeast, some airlines are taking a proactive approach by waiving change fees for Thanksgiving travelers.

Bloomberg reports (Warning: video auto plays) that several airlines including United, American and Delta have already waived their customary fee for flight changes in as many as 23 airports in the Northeast.

United Airlines waived fees for flights traveling into, out of or through its hub at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago as snow began to fall yesterday. It later extended the waiver to 23 Northeastern airports. Airports include those in New York, the Washington, D.C. area, Philadelphia and Boston.

A spokesperson for the company says the airline experienced more delays than normal because of winter weather, but only had six cancellations at O’Hare at its mainline and regional flights.

The airline’s wavier extends to travel on November 26, but requires rebooking by November 28.

American Airlines waived change fees for flights out of 18 airports. The waiver applied to travel on November 26 and allows travelers to rebook flights through November 27. Affected airports also include those in New York, the Washington, D.C. area, Philadelphia and Boston.

Delta waived fees for 19 airports toward travel on November 26, with rebooking plowed starting no later than November 28.

According to Delta’s website if a flight is canceled or significantly delayed, travelers are entitled to a refund. If the flight is not canceled, customers may make a one-time change to your ticket without fee if they are scheduled to travel to, from, or through the affected destinations on Delta, Delta Connection, or Delta-coded flights.

Affected airports also include several in New York, the Washington, D.C. area, Philadelphia and Boston.

Air travel this Thanksgiving holiday is projected to be the highest since 2007, with 3.55 million consumers traveling by air.

Weather forecasters have predicted a storm will dump as much as six inches of snow across the northern portions of New York City on Wednesday. Additionally, a winter storm watch is in effect for November 26 to November 27 for parts of Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut, the National Weather Service says.

Airlines Waive Rebooking Fees as Winter Storm Delays Fliers [Bloomberg]

Short Range Forecast Discussion [NWS]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Check Out Consumer Reports’ Interactive Gift Guide

Still don’t know what to get the people on your shopping list? Or maybe you haven’t decided what you should ask your loved ones to get you to demonstrate that they don’t hate you. Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have put together a fully interactive guide to this year’s most sought-after electronics, cars, exercise equipment, and more.

It’s pretty easy to use, just play the video above, and then click on the glowing tabs and boxes you want to check out. Follow the CR testers from lab to lab and get info on everything from TV and headphones to grills and generators to blenders and treadmills.

Neither Consumer Reports nor Consumerist accepts any outside advertising and all products tested by CR are purchased at retail instead of using test samples provided by the manufacturers.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

TGI Fridays Sued For Not Printing All Drink Prices On Menu

(photo: TGI Fridays on Instagram)

Given the vast number of available cocktails and beers available at most bars, it’s rare — if not impossible — to see a list of prices for everything you could drink. But in a recently filed class action suit, a man in New Jersey alleges that TGI Fridays is deliberately omitting drink prices to trick customers into paying more than they should.

According to the complaint [PDF; starts on p. 13], originally filed in a state court but moved last week to a U.S. District Court, the plaintiff visited a Fridays restaurant in September and says he ordered a mixed drink that had been “offered for sale” on the menu without a price. The customer says that he’d previously ordered soft drinks and beer at various Fridays restaurants without prices, but this drink was apparently the tipping point, as he claims it wasn’t until after he received and drank the beverage that he learned it would cost him a “staggering” $10.38.

“Defendants’ practice of making an affirmative offer for the sale of beverages without prices on otherwise comprehensively priced menus is an intentional and carefully planned act,” reads the complaint, which alleges that Fridays and the franchisee defendants named in suit engage in “‘menu engineering’ — the deliberate and strategic construction of menus to exploit consumer psychology and manipulate customer perceptions.”

The plaintiff maintains that the omission of drink prices from the menu is designed to increase impulse buys and to allow Fridays to charge “slightly excessive prices on some drinks without losing sales” while “charging grossly excessive prices on other drinks.”

Additionally, the suit contends that Fridays is “charging different prices for the same beverage depending on where in the restaurant the beverage is ordered.”

The plaintiff argues that marketing drinks but not telling the customer about the price until after the drink is ordered is a violation of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act, and is seeking penalties of $100 per drink for every member of the plaintiff class, which would include anyone who bought a drink without a listed price at one of several Fridays locations after July 14.

The Courier-Post reports that this is just one of three lawsuits against Fridays over the same issue in the state. The two other complaints were filed against the franchisees who previously owned the New Jersey locations.

Regardless of whether you agree with the plaintiff or not, let this story be a reminder that you can always ask how much something costs before you order it.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Woman’s Conviction Overturned 10 Years After Fatal Wreck, GM Says Ignition Switch Could Be To Blame

(frankieleon)

Millions of General Motors vehicles have been found to contain a deadly ignition switch defect. Among those cars is the 2004 Saturn Ion. And while that may seem insignificant to the vast majority of consumers, it resulted in a judge clearing a Texas woman for a car accident that killed her fiancé.

The Associated Press reports that the judge’s decision to expunge the conviction from the woman’s record came after General Motors acknowledged that the woman’s 2004 Saturn Ion was among millions recalled for a problem that may have contributed to her fiancé’s death.

On Monday, nearly 10 years after the fatal accident, General Motors provided documentation noting that the death wasn’t the woman’s fault.

An attorney for General Motors provided the court with a letter confirming that the woman’s Saturn was among the 2.6 million vehicles recalled in February to address ignition switches that can slip out of the “run” position, causing the engines to stall and disabling power steering, brakes and airbags.

The letter called the crash “one in which the recall condition may have caused or contributed to the frontal airbag non-deployment in the accident.”

Back in 2004, the woman was driving her car when it suddenly veered off the road and slammed into a tree. The driver, then 21, was severely injured when the car’s airbag failed to deploy. Her 25-year-old fiancé was killed.

Shortly afterward, the woman was charged with criminal negligent homicide because there was no clear explanation at the time why the wreck occurred. She plead guilty to a lesser charge in 2006, and was sentenced to five years’ probation, ordered to perform 260 hours of community service, pay court fees and cover the cost of her fiancé’s funeral.

The woman’s attorney expressed outrage at GM’s previous non-action regarding the accident, despite the fact that documents how the company knew of ignition issues at the time of the woman’s conviction.

“GM knew this defect caused this death, yet instead of telling the truth watched silently as [the driver] was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter,” the attorney tells the AP. “It took 10 years for GM to find its voice.”

Officials with GM say they fully cooperated in the matter, saying it was up to local law enforcement and the courts to consider the woman’s case.

A federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of the woman and her late fiancé’s family, was dropped after the parties agreed to resolve their claims through the victim compensation program set up by GM.

So far, the program has approved 35 death claims and 44 injury claims related to the ignition switch defect.

Woman cleared in fatal car wreck after GM letter [The Associated Press]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

FDA Issues Sweeping New Calorie Requirements For Everything From Vending Machines To Chain Restaurants

(Coyoty)

If new requirements from the Food and Drug Administration end up sticking, you could be seeing calorie counts for most things you eat outside the home — from vending machines to chain restaurants, movie theater popcorn to pre-made sandwiches at the grocery store.

The rules are meant to show Americans how many calories are packed into our favorite foods, as we consume a third of our total calories outside the home, reports the New York Times.

“This is one of the most important public health nutrition policies ever to be passed nationally,” Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest told the NYT. “Right now, you are totally guessing at what you are getting. This rule will change that.”

Included under the rules are any food establishment with 20 or more outlets, which covers fast-food chains and sit-down restaurants; pizza chains; food in vending machines; amusement parks; prepared foods in supermarkets, grocery chains and convenience stores (if the food is meant to feed one person); and will even cover alcoholic drinks that are on the menu at establishments that serve food, but not, for example, a mixed drink at the bar.

The rules will go into effect a year from now, though we’re probably going to see plenty of legal and political challenges from certain parts of the food industry, including grocery stores and other places that make food for takeout.

The National Grocers Association said: “Grocery stores are not chain restaurants, which is why Congress did not initially include them in the law. We are disappointed that the F.D.A.’s final rules will capture grocery stores, and impose such a large and costly regulatory burden on our members.”

Vending machine operators were also trying to get out of the regulations, and will get an extra year from the FDA to comply with the new rules. Vending machines will have to show calorie counts on stickers or signs near each specific food for sale, or near the button to select it.

Sen. Tom Harkin, who helped create the labeling requirement in the law, said the rule “closely mirrors congressional intent.”

“This rule is consistent with our bipartisan agreement and will help to protect and strengthen access to healthy, nutritious foods for families around the country,” he said in a statement.

Many chain restaurants, like Panera and McDonald’s, already include calorie counts on their menu boards nationally. And in cities like New York, where chains have had to post calories on menus since 2006, or the 18 or so states that already have menu-labeling regulations, consumers are already used to this kind of thing.

Previously: Report: Chain Restaurants Have Cut An Average Of 60 Calories From New Menu Items

F.D.A. to Require Calorie Count, Even for Popcorn at the Movies [New York Times]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Honda Failed To Report More Than 1,700 Death And Injury Claims, Could Face Record $35M Fine

(frankieleon)

Honda’s issues with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration aren’t looking any better after the manufacture announced that it failed to report more than 1,729 claims of injury or death to the regulators. And that violation could lead to the biggest fine in the history of NHTSA, totaling more than $35 million.

The revelation comes as Honda officials provided NHTSA with an overview of an internal investigation into possible inaccuracies in providing information for early warning reports, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

In its synopsis of the internal review, Honda blamed the underreporting on “inadvertent data entry or computer programming errors” that spanned 11 years.

In all, Honda’s audit found more than 1,144 omissions of injury-claims from July 1, 2003 to June 20, 2014. Eight of the cases involved Takata airbag inflator ruptures.

“The audit identifies difficult facts where we did not meet our obligations,” Rick Schostek, executive vice president of Honda North America, tells Businessweek.

Schosteck also says the company used an overly narrow interpretation of “written notice,” and that information from third parties, such as from police reports or private investigators hired by the company, wasn’t considered subject to the law.

Honda President Takanobu Ito said the manufacturer’s reporting inaccuracies occurred in part because of fact that automakers didn’t share the same understanding as authorities of its obligations under U.S. law.

He tells Businessweek that local management made many mistakes filing early warning reports.

Officials with the car maker say they have corrected programming errors and will voluntarily include both written and oral claims of injuries and death in future early warning reports.

Car manufacturers are required under law to report death and injury claims to NHTSA. Those figures allow the regulatory agency to identify potentially fatal and dangerous defects.

The internal report came as a response to criticism from consumer safety groups over Honda’s lack of reporting. The groups claimed that Honda’s reporting inaccuracies hampered regulators ability to spot safety defects, leaving dangerous vehicles on the roadways.

In early November, NHTSA announced it would begin a third-party audit into Honda’s reporting practices. The regulators have yet to make the report they received from Honda on Monday public, citing the ongoing investigation.

Issues with Honda’s reporting came to light over the Takata airbag defect and subsequent recalls. So far four of the deaths tied to the recall occurred in Honda vehicles.

Former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook tells Businessweek that she’s confident Honda will receive a $35 million fine for its reporting issues.

“It’s quite shocking Honda would behave this way. They’ve put their company reputation at risk,” she says.

Car manufacturers face fines of $7,000 per violation per day for not abiding by the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act (TREAD), which requires companies to tell regulators about customer injuries, lawsuits, warranty claims and complaints.

So for Honda, the company’s lapses, which average at least three days each, could exceed the law’s $35 million maximum civil penalty.

To date, the largest fine NHTSA has levied for lack of early warning reporting compliance was a $3.5 million given to Ferrari just last month.

Still, some industry officials believe that Honda’s cooperation with NHTSA regarding the early warning reporting failures could mean the company receives a less severe fine.

“It is certainly possible that Honda’s cooperation and proactive efforts, and agreement to institute certain changes, will mitigate the magnitude of this fine,” Neil Steinkamp, a managing director at Stout Risius Ross who studies warranty and recall issues, tells Businessweek. “More importantly, this is likely to serve as a significant warning to other automakers.”

Honda May Face Record U.S. Fine Over Unreported Deaths [Bloomberg Businessweek]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Home Depot Facing At Least 44 Civil Lawsuits So Far Over Recent Breach

(Nicholas Eckhart)

There’s no ifs ands or buts about it — the fallout from the recent massive data breach at Home Depot is far from over. The company wrote in a filing today that it’s got the specter of state and federal investigations looming over it as well as at least 44 civil lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada.

Those probes and lawsuits “may adversely affect how we operate our business, divert the attention of management from the operation of the business and result in additional costs and fines,” according to a filing reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The investigation is still ongoing, the company said, and it’s still figuring out how the business has been affected financially and otherwise.

And it’s not time to rest easy yet, customers — Home Depot floated the possibility that it could still identify other data that was leaked or compromised in the breach.

Going forward, Home Depot said it has finished a project that takes customer credit-card data at the point of sale and encrypts it, at all of its U.S. stores. It’s also planning to implement an encryption system in its Canada stores by early 2015, and begin using EMV chip-and-PIN technology, which helps protect customer data during transactions.

Home Depot Facing at Least 44 Civil Suits in Data Breach [Wall Street Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

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Matriz de las 9 cajas para la revisión del Talento #infografia #infographic #rrhh

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Una infografía sobre la Matriz de las 9 cajas para la revisión del Talento. Vía

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Matriz de las 9 cajas para la revisión del Talento

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